American Accent Training with 5 Audio CDs

Since I thought Americans say every word as it's written, no matter how hard I tried I still couldn't match their speed. I believed that they had the special ability to move their tongue and lips incredibly fast. In addition, although several English teachers tried to teach me how to pronounce the final "l", I made "eo" sounds all the same. I was frustrated and convinced that after a certain age, learning a new accent is just impossible. Fortunately, I stared to take American Accent Training. I was amazed by all those brilliant techniques that are so easy to use and so effective. Ever since I started practicing the Reduced Sounds Exercise, like a miracle, the "speed" was no longer a problem. A week later, I was astonished to find out that not only my accent had significantly improved but also I could understand Americans much better. And with my instructor, I have learned to pronounce the final "l" properly in just a few minutes although I still couldn't hear the difference between "l" and "eo". I've tried almost every pronunciation book on the market, this one is definitely far superior than any others, it teaches much more than pronunciation. And it would be nice if there are also digital versions. By the way, I think the publisher, BARRON'S, really should have hired a book designer.

I purchased AAT to help a couple of ESL students who have excellent English comprehension, but need extensive work on conversational English. This program is a great supplement. It provides a multitude of explanations and drills to improve non native American English. I especially like the practice exercises on slurring words together and the mini lessons on things like the silent w at the beginnings of words. Strong points: It's very well organized. Specific lessons targeting aspects of pronunciation are easy to find, as are the corresponding CD tracks. The chapters addressing ethnic specific difficulties with American English have been invaluable to my students and me. Weak points: I'm working with this program in a classroom, and am able to sort through the plethora of information presented. It's all good stuff, but I think it would be confusing, if not overwhelming for the average ESL student to use alone. It's second nature for a linguist to identify sounds using the technical terms, but it's a bit bewildering for the rest of us, who just want to be understood when we talk! If you're a teacher, you'll want to supplement this book with listening exercises, tongue twisters, and reading aloud, but it's a great framework for improving American English.

I was originally born in Malaysia and immigrated to the United States at an early age. I needed to learn how to pronounce words correctly and fluently. In Malaysia, people do speak English but mix it with different dialects which confuses the language. After using this book, it dramatically increased my fluency in English.

I just received my copy of the third edition of American Accent Training from Amazon. As an ESL instructor, I've actually been using this book since the first edition --- yes, I'm old! But hopefully with age has come some wisdom, and I definitely think that's the case with AAT's third edition. It's clear that the author listened to student feedback that pronunciation should be at the beginning of the book and Ann Cook has completely restructured the book with that in mind. Simply from an aesthetic perspective, I have to say I really like the clean design of this book, from the cover and throughout the contents. And from a green aspect, I appreciate that it doesn't come in that big box that the second edition came in. Yet this third edition still manages to cram as much and more linguistic information into a leaner presentation. I really like that the psychology of picking up and using the accent is addressed with techniques to make the process more comfortable. There are still those great CDs, and this time it seems like there are more voices for my students to emulate. As an instructor, I keep abreast of all these types of publications. And it seems like when everyone has copied Ms. Cook and there are lots of imitations being published using her methodology, she skips a couple of steps ahead and comes up with brand-new ideas to help my students learn a typical American accent.

Many (including native English speakers and other non-Chinese speakers) people have asked me how I managed to acquire such a heavy American accent, despite the fact that I've never been to any English-speaking countries. Furthermore, many ESL learners and even some native speakers (Americans included) thought I was an ABC (American-born Chinese), until I told them otherwise. Well, this is the answer. It was very helpful during my early years of studying how to speak "the American way." It goes without saying that consistent, frequent practice and actual application (i.e. by conversing with Americans) are essential for your pursuit of the otherwise elusive American accent (that is, if you weren't born and raised in the States). I can't praise this masterpiece enough. Ann Cook surely knows what she's talking about. If American accent (by which I mean the so-called "standard American accent" commonly heard in public broadcasts such as NPR and among educated Americans) is what you're aiming for, then you do not want to miss this book. It's not a hyperbole to call it the Holy Grail of American accent. Period. P.S. I finished reading this book sometime around 2012-2013, so this book review is long overdue!

This course isn't perfect, but it's one of the only resources I've used that seems to be universally helpful and appreciated by my students. Among my top 5 of all time. You may hate the notation she uses for phonemes, you may hate that there aren't more pictures, you may even hate her voice (seems impossible, she's very pleasant to listen to)... but the course achieves its purpose. Learners do improve their accent and their listening comprehension if they follow through with the exercises. It's also enjoyable and fairly painless to teach. Again, very few ESL resources manage to be enjoyable for the learner and teacher, in my experience. Thanks for this resource, Ann Cook! And you're welcome for helping you sell an additional ~200 units over the past few years. :)

more than half way through CD1 and I was very disappointed. I bought this book with high hope but it definitely didn't deliver. Some content just clearly doesn't make sense or hard to believe - such as a person doesn't say certain sound because he didn't like that sound. People think American are loud, etc, etc as a reason not say american english properly. Come on. Another example, the author touched on linking, or liaison, which is clearly very important. So I paid attention and only to found out the author pretty much only said pay attention to linking (more or less). I will try to finish all the CDs and may revise the my ratings. So far, I feel it's a lot of talks of nothing.

I bought this book to use with ESL students. I find that it's very text-heavy; there are pages of explanations without much opportunity for hands-on (tongues-on?) practice. The CDs are OK, but as another reviewer noted, they move quickly, without giving the listener a chance to repeat. This would probably be a good book for someone who has near-native comprehension skills and already knows the basics of pronunciation, but wants to reduce his accent. Not so good for someone whose pronunciation is hard to understand, or who would have trouble reading and processing huge chunks of fairly technical text.

Ottimo prodotto. Ben spiegato, imprescindibile l'utilizzo dei cd per la piena comprensione e la pratica. Ho provato altri corsi, ma questo é quello che ritengo migliore. Spedizione puntuale.

Déjà grosse et bonne surprise, tout les textes qu'il contient sont en audio sur les CD. On peut donc rapidement se familiariser avec le rythme de la langue, voir les mots tout en les entendant, ce qui franchement est un plus puisqu'on apprend la bonne prononciation en même temps. Avec un livre sans audio on aurait tendance à le prononcer d'une façon complètement éloignée de la réalité et donc retenir quelque chose de potentiellement faux. Il ne faut surtout pas être déstabilisé si on ne comprend pas tout d'un coup, l'oreille s'habitue au fur et à mesure et parfois sans même s'en rendre compte. Je dirai que ce livre peut être à la portée de tous, à condition bien sûr d'avoir des bases. Je le recommande sans hésitation.

Excelente e de alta qualidade

Es el mejor curso de inglés que he encontrado, incluyendo las clases de Inglés que recibí antes. Este libro explica cosas que ningún profesor me había dicho y que no había leído en ningun lugar antes.

Ich wollte dieses Buch als Geschenk für einen Freund kaufen, der seine Englischkenntnisse und vor allem die Aussprache verbessern möchte, und hab es heute endlich bekommen. Die Qualität ist sehr gut, alle CDs sind dabei, die Übungen finde ich auch nützlich. Alles wird gut erklärt und es gibt viele Möglichkeiten, verschiedene Laute und Intonationen zu trainieren. Ich musste ziemlich lange warten, aber trotzdem habe ich die Sendung sogar früher bekommen als erwartet. Also ich bin sehr zufrieden, danke!