Mastering the American Accent

I get so tired of bad reviews by people who don't bother to read the directions and, instead, complain that no CDs are included. No, they're not, because most computers don't come with CD players anymore. That's why the author has kindly put all 390 audio files ON THE WEBSITE FOR DOWNLOADING to your computer, phone, tablet, or other digital device AND has put the directions for downloading on the inside of the front cover of the book. This is a great book. The audio files are clear with correct Standard American English accents and use both male and female voices. I only wish there were also audio tracks for the very last section of the book that covers problem words for native speakers of various languages. The first part of the book provides practice in vowel and consonant pronunciation, first at a basic level, and then in more depth. I found only two small errors in this section, which is in contrast to some popular books that consistently provide incorrect pronunciation guidelines in this area. The section on "The Various t Sounds of American English" in the "Problematic Consonants" chapter is second-to-none. The chapters on syllable stress, including some coverage of prefixes and suffixes, and word stress, including reduction, are also quite good, as is the section on problems specific to native speakers of various languages. There is also a brief section on intonation. Overall, I find this book to be a very useful book for introducing the intricacies of the American accent.

No audio download, but very helpful

This book is well-structured and easy to follow. The practical exercises effectively target intonation and stress in American pronunciation. The online audio materials are easily accessible and greatly enhance the learning experience. Despite some negative reviews about audio access, I had no issues at all. Overall, it’s an excellent resource for anyone looking to improve their American accent. Highly recommended!

I started using this book in my ESL private tutoring sessions about a year ago and it is confusing for my beginning students to just go through the drills, so I have had to just read it myself and use the pronunciation/phonetic principles it teaches and explain it to my students. I have had to think up other pronunciation drills for my beginning students, but it works great to use directly with my intermediate and advanced students. The phonetic explanations have helped me to better coach my students.

I am a native Spanish Speaker who has been living in the US for over a decade. I took Accent Reduction Classes at my local university and I got bored and confused with all the intricate phonics (short vowels and long vowels were the most difficult part for me). I speak really fast in spanish and I tend to do the same in english, I kind of sound like Sofia Vergara's character in Modern Family (I am also Colombian). I have been looking for a book that I can work with and I thought that this one had some CD'S included (one of the review's show some pictures of 2 CD'S). Without a CD, if you are just a regular person like me, there is no way you can pronounce correctly all this phonetic sounds, you HAVE to hear them you repeat them. My cat, always helpful, tried unsuccessfully to decipher the book. Even though she was born and raised in the US, she found this task quite difficult. I guess if you are an ESL teacher or tutor this book provides good guidance and instructions for you to follow up with your students. If this is something you are doing on your own, I don't think its gonna work for you.

Mastering the American Accent es una herramienta increíblemente útil para quienes buscan mejorar su pronunciación en inglés. El enfoque detallado en la fonética, la entonación y el ritmo del habla americana hace que sea un recurso valioso tanto para estudiantes como para profesionales. La inclusión de audio en línea permite practicar de manera efectiva y comparar la pronunciación con hablantes nativos. Las explicaciones son claras y fáciles de seguir, lo que facilita el aprendizaje progresivo. Sin duda, un libro imprescindible para quienes desean hablar inglés con mayor fluidez y confianza.

I'm an American culture coach and I use this book with my clients. My clients are professionals who know their areas of expertise very well, but know they aren't always understood in the workplace. I like that the book has sections dedicated to specific native speakers of other languages. I also love that it not only covers consonants and vowels, but phrasing and where the stress falls in words and sentences (eg. the difference between "Are you at HOME?" and "Are YOU at home?"). It's a very thorough book, and with the downloadable audio tracks you can even work on your own, without a coach or instructor. Whenever an expat in the U.S. asks me how to reduce their accent, I direct them to this book.

Once you purchase and have the book in your hands type in Google: "register book barron's", then open the website and follow the instructions, it will let you create an account that in turn gives you access to the online audio, however this has an expiration date, in my case Dec/30/2023 (1 year, 9 months), the audio is not available for download, but I will try to get it from the author through Facebook as other reviewers suggested, in the meantime I have what I need. I think a language is like a muscle, so you may lose your diction after some time, this is the kind of material that even after years you may keep checking, so I need the offline audio files and will try to get them.

1-It has ALL the exercises on the downloadable online audio. 2-It addresses, not only the general learners' pronunciation errors, but also errors specific to Asian, Persian, ... learners as well. 3- The accent is non-dialect accent. It's American media (e.g. CNN. not Fox ;) accent if you know what I mean) 4- The audio is very clear and distinct. I'm happy I paid for this book. Good books deserve some support.

O livro explica todos fonemas do sotaque americano. O conteúdo do livro é todo disponibilizado em áudio para download no site da editora. Um dos pontos fortes é a parte que mostra as dificuldades específicas dos falantes de Português, Espanhol, Japonês, Russo, Francês etc. Excelente para todos que buscam uma pronúncia precisa e clara do inglês americano.

best book with audio support must go for this ...brought it with my scholarship money and I don't regret about it ....got to know about this from YTchannel-linguamarina

Acabo de recibir el libroy es muy bueno pero no funciona el link para bajarte los audios tan necesario pues el libro sin el audio no tiene sentido. Alguien sabe cómo poder acceder a los audios?

アメリカ英語のアクセントを学ぶために購入しました。 英語耳を数回回したけども、オンライン英会話でうまく発音できないし、音声とは程遠いのはなぜかと調べたところ、イントネーションや複合語のアクセントの規則を知らないことに気が付きました。 今はこの本を回しており、少しですがアクセントが改善しているような気がします。これからも続けます。