Directed to speakers of English as a second language, a multi-media guide to pronouncing American English uses a "pure-sound" approach to speaking to help imitate the fluid ways of American speech.

Mastering the American Accent is an easy-to-follow approach for reducing the accent of non-native speakers of English. Well-sequenced lessons in the book correspond over eight hours of audio files covering the entire text. The audio program provides clear models (both male and female) to help coach a standard American accent. The program is designed to help users speak Standard American English with clarity, confidence, and accuracy. The many exercises in the book concentrate on topics such as vowel sounds, problematic consonants such as V, W, TH, the American R and T and others. Correct lip and tongue positions for all sounds are discussed in detail. Beyond the production of sounds, the program provides detailed instruction in prosodic elements such as syllable stress, emphasis, intonation, linking words for smoother speech flow, common word contractions, and much more. Additional topics that often confuse ESL students are also discussed and explained. They include distinguishing between casual and formal speech, homophones (e.g., they're and there), recognizing words with silent letters (e.g., comb, receipt), and avoiding embarrassing pronunciation mistakes, such as mixing up "pull" and "pool." Students are familiarized with many irregular English spelling rules and exceptions, and are shown how such irregularities can contribute to pronunciation errors. A native language guide references problematic accent issues for 13 different language backgrounds. Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product.

Five audio CDs and one guide book. Focussing on the core English pronunciation problems, 'Accent America! Essentials' addresses the needs of non-native speakers who desire to express themselves more clearly and confidently. The practice exercises on the audio CDs along with explanations and illustrations in the guide book will help develop the fundamental features of an American accent. The book is for those who can speak and understand English but wish to reduce their native accent to build self-confidence and thus better their careers.

When John Simpson hears of a bizarre animal attack in his old hometown of High Moor, it stirs memories of a long-forgotten horror. John knows the truth. A werewolf stalks the town once more, and on the night of the next full moon, the killing will begin again. He should know. He survived a werewolf attack in 1986, during the worst year of his life. However, the consequences of his actions, the reappearance of an old flame and a dying man who will save or damn him are the least of his problems. The night of the full moon is approaching, and time is running out. But how can he hope to stop a werewolf when every full moon transforms him into a bloodthirsty monster himself?

Intended to help develop communication skills for professional advancement and social situations. It is recommended that students use the book in the initial stages of learning. Then practice again and again relying primarily on the sound discs.

A phonetic analysis of accents in North American film and television: how they vary and how they have changed.

Is American English in decline? Are regional dialects dying out? Is there a difference between men and women in how they adapt to linguistic variations? These questions, and more, about our language catapulted Robert MacNeil and William Cran—the authors (with Robert McCrum) of the language classic The Story of English—across the country in search of the answers. Do You Speak American? is the tale of their discoveries, which provocatively show how the standard for American English—if a standard exists—is changing quickly and dramatically. On a journey that takes them from the Northeast, through Appalachia and the Deep South, and west to California, the authors observe everyday verbal interactions and in a host of interviews with native speakers glean the linguistic quirks and traditions characteristic of each area. While examining the histories and controversies surrounding both written and spoken American English, they address anxieties and assumptions that, when explored, are highly emotional, such as the growing influence of Spanish as a threat to American English and the special treatment of African-American vernacular English. And, challenging the purists who think grammatical standards are in serious deterioration and that media saturation of our culture is homogenizing our speech, they surprise us with unpredictable responses. With insight and wit, MacNeil and Cran bring us a compelling book that is at once a celebration and a potent study of our singular language. Each wave of immigration has brought new words to enrich the American language. Do you recognize the origin of 1. blunderbuss, sleigh, stoop, coleslaw, boss, waffle? Or 2. dumb, ouch, shyster, check, kaput, scram, bummer? Or 3. phooey, pastrami, glitch, kibbitz, schnozzle? Or 4. broccoli, espresso, pizza, pasta, macaroni, radio? Or 5. smithereens, lollapalooza, speakeasy, hooligan? Or 6. vamoose, chaps, stampede, mustang, ranch, corral? 1. Dutch 2. German 3. Yiddish 4. Italian 5. Irish 6. Spanish

This book provides a very readable, up-to-date description of language variation in American English, covering regional, ethnic, and gender-based differences. contains new chapters on social and ethnic dialects, including a separate chapter on African American English and more comprehensive discussions of Latino, Native American, Cajun English, and other varieties, includes samples from a wider array of US regions features updated chapters as well as pedagogy such as new exercises, a phonetic symbols key, and a section on the notion of speech community accessibly written for the wide variety of students that enrol in a course on dialects, ranging from students with no background in linguistics to those who may wish to specialize in sociolinguistics

Finally, the go-to handbook for pulling off a convincing New York Accent. Hollywood dialect coach Ivan Borodin invites you to benefit from twenty years of preparing actors for stage and screen. The New York born instructor outlines the major aspects of this famously aggressive accent, including: *Monotone delivery *Increased nasality *Favoring the upper lip *'Yuge' changes *Unraveling contractions After going through this program, you'll have the audience convinced you're a New Yorker mid-way through your first sentence. This course is innovatively supported by free-to-access YouTube videos. Study this book while a veteran dialect coach spoon feeds you the subtleties of the accent. Interested in mastering a New York accent? Then this course will take you there in a very different way. Benefit from the best of two decades of experience. Awaken the New Yorker in you with this straightforward publication from a dialectician with a profound love of accents. 'Speak with a New York Accent' takes the exotic art of performing with dialects and delivers easy-to-follow lessons. Break all barriers to learning the New York accent with this book, and at your next audition the casting directors will be scraping their jaws off the floor. This program is also extremely helpful for comedians and voice-over artists. Ivan Borodin has taught dialects and accent reduction since 1993 at Los Angeles City College and Los Angeles Valley College Community Services, and several other schools. He has worked as a dialect coach on several films, including 'The Truth about Angels'.