You've probably heard the phrases, "accent reduction," "accent improvement," "get rid of your accent."

你或許聽些字詞「口音矯正」「口音改善」「擺脫口音」。

In fact, when I tell people that I didn't grow up in the U.S., the most common response I get is "You have no accent!"

老實說，每次我告訴別人美國不是我的出生地，大部分我得到的反應都是「妳完全沒有口音啊！」 。

Usually I just say, "Thank you," but technically, I could say, "Actually, I do. I have an American accent. You just can't tell it's an accent because you have one, too."

通常我都會說聲謝謝，但以專業的角度來看，我可以說：「其實我有美國口音啦，妳分辨不出來是因為妳也有相同的口音。」

"Um, well, this is awkward...maybe learn how to take a compliment?"

「嗯，實在挺尷尬的... 或許你該學著接受別人的讚美？」

English is used globally, so it's spoken differently all around the world.

英文是國際語言，全世界的人詮釋語言的方式都不一樣。

There are national accents, and in English-speaking countries, accents can be different between regions and between social classes.

英語系國家有國際口音不同的地域，不同的社會階級，必然有不同的口音。

Countries also have the "news anchor" accent, which a lot of people think of as the "standard."

「新聞主播」的口音在所有國家都可以聽見，很多把他們的口音當成一套標準來審視自己。

So I suggest that instead of thinking of it as removing an accent, you do what actors do.

所以我建議別急著擺脫口音，你應該要跟演員做一樣的事情。

Actors learn new accents. This is Hugh Laurie. In real life, he has a British accent.

演員會學習新口音，這是 Hugh Laurie，現實生活中，他有英國口音。

But he played an American doctor on TV for 8 years.

但是他整整八年在電視上飾演美國醫生，

The interesting assumption that a lot of Americans will say...in a kind way, they will say, "You managed to lose the accent."

很多美國人有趣的推測說：「你成功擺脫了英國腔」，

I have to sort of explain that I don't..I'm not losing an accent, I'm putting one on.

我就千方百計地解釋，我並沒有擺脫英國腔呀，我只是把美國腔用上了而已。

So why would a non-actor want to learn a new accent? One of the reasons is to be better understood.

那為何不是演員的人會想要學習新口音呢？有個原因顯而易見。

Let's say you're from Italy, and you come to the United States.

假設你是義大利人，你前來美國，

If we put your accent on a scale, then the further you are from the American accent, the more difficult it might be for American English speakers to understand what you're saying.

如果我們衡量口音，你離美國口音越遠，美國人就越難理解你在說什麼。

To be better understood, you can learn and practice American sounds to move over on the scale.

為了被理解，你可以學著練習美國口音讓你更靠近完全的美國口音。

But how do you do this? I'll give you some tips here, but I encourage you to do your own research and find techniques that work well for you personally.

該怎麼做呢? 我會給你一些撇步，但我鼓勵你深入去發掘真正對你有幫助的東西。

1. Find out what elements of your target pronunciation are different from the way you speak now.

1. 找出目標語和母語的發音的不同之處。

I'm going to leave a link below to a website called "Pronunciation Studio," where you can find the most common pronunciation challenges for people whose native language is Japanese, Italian, Spanish, Thai, Portuguese, Polish, and many others.

我會在網站下方留下一個連結，叫做「發音工作坊」你可以找到最常見的發音問題，針對母語為日語，義大利語，西班牙語，泰語，葡萄牙語，波蘭語等等的人，

If you don't see your native language in this list, let me know in the comments and I'll see if I can help.

如果你沒有在選單裡看到你的母語留言讓我知道，或許我能幫忙。

2. Create phrases using the sounds that are the most difficult for you and practice them out loud, all the time.

2. 用目標語造出困難的片語，然後反覆練習，大聲地唸出來。

Here's Hugh Jackman, another actor who's amazing at doing accents, talking about this.

這是 Hugh Jackman，這也是個對口音有相當研究的演員。

"Create a sentence which contains every major vowel or consonant, particularly different from his own and he'll just run that in his head.

他說「用主要母音或子音造一個句子，尤其要跟母語不一樣這樣一來，那些字詞就會反覆在頭腦播放。」

'How many times...have I asked Sam whether or not his daughter has a learning disorder.'

「我問山姆...多少次她的女兒是否有學習障礙。」

Right, so that was my sentence.

好的，這是我的句子。

Makes no sense but I'll say that and it just tricks my tongue, my mind and then I can forget it."

毫無邏輯可言，但是我已經善用我的舌頭和頭腦最後忘記我說的話。

Remember that your accent is created by the muscles of your throat, jaw, tongue, lips, among others.

記得，口音的衍生是利用喉嚨、上下顎，舌頭，嘴唇等部位的肌肉摩擦。

You have to train them and it's normal for new sounds to feel uncomfortable.

你必須好好訓練這些肌肉，因為新發音而感到不舒服是很正常的。

You have to practice them consistently until they become more and more comfortable.

你必須不斷練習，你就會越來越習慣這些口音。

Two Youtube channels I highly recommend are Rachel's English for breaking down American English sound and figuring out how to make them, and Elemental English for awesome explanations of stress, rhythm, intonation, and the musicality of English.

我極力推薦兩個 Youtube 頻道，一個是 Rachel's English，主要在破解美式英文腔調的迷思並且找出最適合的發音方式，另一個是 Elemental English 對於英文的重音，節奏，語調，流暢度有很精闢的解釋。

3. Listen to content that uses the accent you want every single day.

3. 每天用你想要的口音聆聽影片內容。

Your hearing and your speech are closely connected. You have to be able to hear the sounds in order to make them yourself, and you have to hear them over and over to get your ears used to them.

你的聽力和口說有密不可分的關係，你必須要聽懂發音才能夠把那些音化為自己的東西，你必須反覆聆聽才能讓你的耳朵習慣。

Native speakers have been listening to these sounds their whole lives, so you have a lot of catching up to do.

母語人士畢生都在聽這些發音，你必須反覆練習才能跟上他們的腳步。

I particularly recommend podcasts because you can listen to them on the go, there are so many to choose from, a lot of them are really interesting, and a lot of them use natural conversation, which is an ideal model.

我非常建議你可以聽廣播，因為廣播可以帶著走其實選擇非常多，很多都很有趣，很多生活對話都可以練習發音，是很理想的學習工具哦。

That's it for today, thank you so much for watching. I want to give a quick shoutout to ASAPScience, who posted an awesome video about accents right as I was getting this one ready.

今天就到這裡，非常感謝您的觀看。 我想快速向 ASAPScience 表示感謝，在我準備這個影片時，他們發布了一段關於口音的精彩影片。

It's concise and it's interesting as are all the videos on their channel, so I recommend their channel in general.

影片簡潔又有趣，所以我推薦他們的頻道。

I'd love to hear from you in the comments about what accent you currently have and if there's another accent you want, then what are some of your struggles with it?

我很想在評論中聽到關於您目前的口音的信息，如果您想要其他口音，那麼您對此有何掙扎？

As always, if anything I said wasn't clear, please let me know. And until next time, take care!

一如既往，如果我說的話有任何不清楚的地方，請告訴我。 下次之前，請保重！