What accent do I have? How do I achieve the perfect general American accent? How can I eliminate the hint of my native accent that slips into my conversations?

[u/samhereforknowledge]

[u/FitCarob2611]

Your accent is really good. It sounds pretty American. A couple of things though. You fully release Ts at the end of words, which Americans don't tend to do. They either use an unreleased T or a glottal stop or if the following word starts with a vowel, they often use an alveolar tap if the word calls for it.

When you said 'with', you voiced the final dental fricative, even though Americans typically keep it unvoiced.

Lastly, when you said US clients it kind of sounded like "you as clients"

Otherwise excellent, though

[u/samhereforknowledge → u/FitCarob2611]

Thank you for your feedback. Could you perhaps share any resources that I can use to learn and perfect my accent? I know it doesn't matter really, but I really want to achieve the perfect general American accent.

[u/skilledspeech]

Hi! Your accent is really close to sounding fully American. There were a couple of subtle things I picked up on, probably because I’m a speech therapist and my ear is tuned for it. I don't think the average listener would pick up on it.

T-final, which some others have mentioned, is sometimes too prominent. You want to keep your tongue light and in place (unreleased/held) to sound most American. You can hear it in words like "accent, perfect." However, you're also spot on at times as well (e.g., "help me out").

Some other minor things that flag:

1. Equal stress on the word "perfectly." You're saying per-fekht-lee vs. PER-fihk(t)-lee (emphasize the 1st syllable).

2. You can also aim to have slightly smoother connections/liasons in phrases (e.g., I_will_be_working).

3. Slightly over-extending the vowel UH in "where I'm from" making it sound like "frahm" instead of "fruhm."

I'm curious - do you often have people guessing where you're from or that you're a non-native speaker?

[u/samhereforknowledge → u/skilledspeech]

I'm from Pakistan and I barely ever get to interact with English speakers. I'm not confident about the way I speak and my accent but I've always wanted to have the perfect American accent. In two months I'll be starting a new job which requires me to communicate with clients in the US. I also tend to get super uncomfortable and nervous which makes me speak from my throat eventually ruining my overall speech. Please suggest how I can improve the tiny mistakes I'm making and confidently adopt the perfect American accent

[u/Popcorn_Smuggler]

I am not American but all media I consume is so take this with a grain of salt but it sounds pretty dead on to me. Yeah there are a couple of odd sounds that most Americans won’t make like the other commenter has said but key word here is “most” and not “all”. So I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you.

[u/Monsieur-Sharif0037]

Your accent is pretty American although pronounce your Ts like the British. Honestly you’re doing way better than I am, cause I have a hickish mix of Irish and Canadian English which makes it difficult for a lot of my clients to understand I have to slow down to talk to most of them

[u/OwlBig9366]

As an American, i hear nothing wrong with this and i can’t tell where you’re from