Many people take it for granted that the brilliant actor, Hugh Laurie who played the American doctor called “House” on TV is actually American. I know I did, and I remember being quite surprised when I saw him on a TV talk show speaking in his native British accent. Not that there is anything wrong with that accent–it’s lovely–but it is obviously British and not American. And he had me fooled!

The same is true for the british actor Andrew Lincoln of the super-popular Walking Dead series. Also, the beautiful and talented South African actress, Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road and many others). Let’s not overlook Academy Award nominated Australian actor, Hugh Jackman who played Wolverine in the blockbuster X-Men franchise. I can think of a dozen other well-known actors who are not American but speak convincingly with an American accent on screen.
“OK” you say, “So, doesn’t that prove that some people can completely lose their non-native accents?”
Well, actually, it doesn’t!
It seems like it should, but if you think about it, you will realize that it doesn’t. As brillaint as Mr. Laurie was in his role on television, it is highly unlikely that he could effectively and convincingly “impersonate” an American 24/7. Oh, possibly in buying a pack of gum at 7-11 or taking a taxi to the airport or in any situations that did not require sustained, spontaneous, complex conversations, the kind you and I have every day, all day long. In those more real life situations, it is doubtful that any native speaker who was paying attention wold fail to think there was something “strange” or off about the way Mr. Laurie spoke. If they were unable to spot that he was British, they would at least notice that “someting” was different about the way he expressd himself.
Think about it. For his performance on television, Mr. Laurie had a script to work with. He knew exactly what he was gong to say, and exactly how is fellow actors were going to respond. He could take as much time as he needed to memorize his lines, to rehearse and to concentrate on perfecting his American pronunciation. During filming, if he felt he got it wrong, or if the director noticed that his British accent and emerged, fiming would stop, and the scene would be done again, as many times as necessary to get it right.

While Mr. Laurie is a forminable talen, and his performance as Dr. House was thorougly convincing, this is not at all the same as losing his British accent and “passing” as an American 24/7.
So, let’s be gentle without ourselves, and adjust our goals to be more realistic as discussed in the previous “Can I completely lose my accent?” This will make your life much easier while at the same time have a dramatic effect not only on your ability to communicate, but also way others perceive and relate to you. It will positively impact your professional and personal succes.

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Of course you can! And should! We live in a magical electronic digital age where you can take advantage great free lessons on Youtube as well as inexpensive online courses all over the internet. We will tell you about our favorites and even share some of them here. However, your progress with “self-help” materials is necessarily limited, and until we

develop super AI, is likely to be limited for the foreseeable future. You can follow along with a lesson and practice the sounds and patterns the teacher suggests, but you cannot know if you are getting right! How could you? That’s the problem. Therefore, to make substantial progress, you still need the “ear” of a trained native speaker who can provide immediate feedback when you are getting the sound right or wrong, and who and guide you to practice and in the correct way, and repeat it until you are “in the zone.”