Hey there, Gabriel Barofato here from GB Voice Academy, your voice coach to help you master the American accent.
I'm going to fill you in on a little secret.
I'm going to share with you how I came across this groundbreaking technique to learn the standard American accent.
It's a system that's changed lives from people all over the world.
Now, in this video, I'm gonna share with you the exact technique that opened my eyes to this new discovery.
Stick around to the end of this video, because I'm going to be sharing with you exercises that helped me discover this groundbreaking accent reduction technique.
But before I do, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you get access to all of these videos I put out on a regular basis to help you get closer to mastering the American accent.
So now we need to go back 20 years.
Now, a lot of you know who follow me on this channel know that I'm also a singer, a singing teacher.
I've performed on Broadway national tours.
I was in the original Broadway company of Bombay Dreams where I got to work personally with the great AR.
Rahman.
And as a voice teacher, what I notice is that students of mine with very thick accents who would sing a standard American song, their accents would disappear effortlessly.
For example, if you look at the great singers like Freddie Mercury from Queen or Adele or U2 or The Beatles or a lot of the European bands, they have accents from their own country.
But when they would sing a standard American song, their accents would disappear.
And I started to notice this pattern, this trend, and I wanted to get to the bottom of this.
Well, how is that possible?
So through trial and error and a lot of research, I finally came up with the system.
It's called my target map system.
Before you tune off and say, well, I don't want to start singing now, this isn't about singing.
This is about the approach to singing.
For example, if my friend John, who is not from America and has an accent, if I were to say to him hey John, happy birthday.
His brain hears several sounds coming at him at once.
Happy birthday.
The brain isn't able to process all that sound at once.
So when trying to say that or repeat that, it's a little more challenging.
But if I were to sing it to John, Hey John, happy birthday to you.
He's able to hear every American sound one by one coming at him.
He is able to then process that sound Happy birthday to you.
It's like we're slowing things down and we're spoon feeding one sound after the other into the brain, allowing them to process it, allowing you time to be able to place these sounds and deliver it because, as we know, when americans speak, it's it's too fast.
Sometimes we get overwhelmed and we don't understand what they're saying, let alone trying to say it.
So let's dive into this even further.
Let's look at a song, for example twinkle, twinkle little star.
Now, I don't know the song, so I have the lyrics right here.
If I were to say to you hey John twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder where you are, up above the world, so high like a diamond in the sky.
Again, that information is coming to us too fast.
So if I were to ask you to repeat that, you'd be like uh, now let's slow things down and let me sing it to you.
Twinkle, twinkle little star.
Now i slowed it down.
Your brain is able to process one sound at a time.
Repeat after me, don't be shy, it's okay if you can't sing or if you're not a singer, don't worry about it.
Sing along with me and See how easy that was.
See how you were able to fit every sound with no issue?
Now, let's speed that up a bit.
Repeat after me. twinkle twinkle little star excellent let's speed that up a bit i'll give you an example twinkle twinkle little star go for it twinkle twinkle little star awesome now let's double time that twinkle twinkle little star Twinkle twinkle little star.
Awesome!
Now ready for this?
Let's do the same thing but not sing it.
Twinkle twinkle little star.
See what I mean?
Twinkle, twinkle little star.
We slowed things down.
We allowed your brain to process the information first, and then we were able to speed up the process and eventually get to that point where we could actually say it in real time.
Let's move on.
How I wonder where you are.
Let's speed that up.
How I wonder where you are.
Let's double time that.
How I wonder where you are.
Now let's do it without words.
How I wonder where you are.
Bam, there it is.
Let's sing the whole thing first and then speak it twinkle, twinkle little star, how i wonder where you are now.
Let's just say it Twinkle twinkle, little star, how I wonder where you are.
There's no overthinking.
There's no analyzing.
Where do I have to place my tongue?
No matter where you're from, no matter what language you speak, you have an ear.
You have an ability to listen and repeat.
This is how we learn languages.
By doing it this way, what we're doing is we're making those sounds digestible for the brain.
Now, I'm not saying I want you to go out there and start singing.
We don't live in a musical.
But believe it or not, singing really does help elongating sound.
So if there's a phrase or something that you have complications with, for example, I'm having problems understanding the concept.
If English is not our first language, we listen to that and get intimidated by it.
I'm having problems understanding the concept.
Why don't we sing that?
It doesn't matter what note.
It could be any note.
Let's just choose a note.
I'm having trouble understanding the concept.
I'm having trouble understanding the concept.
Again, your brain is able to slow things down.
Take it in one at a time.
Let's speed that up.
I'm having trouble understanding the concept.
A little faster I'm having trouble understanding the concept.
I'm having trouble understanding the concept.
Let's speak it.
I'm having trouble understanding the concept.
See what I mean?
If you come across a phrase, it could even be a word.
Let's use this word for example.
Mischievous.
Now I'm saying it in real time.
Let's break that down into a song.
A little faster.
Mischievous, mischievous, mischievous, mischievous, mischievous, mischievous.
You see how that works?
Here's another one.
Specific.
I'm saying it in the actual time an American would say.
Hey, I need specifics on that.
See how fast that is?
Let's break that down. in a song.
Specifics.
Specifics.
Now I'm using this melody.
I could use specifics.
The melody doesn't matter.
You don't have to sound like Michael Jackson.
You just want to be able to elongate these sounds.
Once again.
Specific.
Speed that up.
Specific, specific, specific, specific, specific.
Put that in a sentence.
I'm gonna need some specifics.
You're getting it now, aren't you?
Couple more.
Humor.
Humor.
You know, Sally has a great sense of humor.
Humor.
So much going on in that word, right?
And again, I'm saying it like an American would say it.
An American wouldn't say humor.
Humor.
Let's break that down into a song humor humor humor humor humor humor humor humor, humor.
Now let's put all of that together in a sentence.
She has a specific sense of humor now.
Even if that becomes a challenge, we could break that whole sentence down.
She has a specific sense of humor Now.
I have a lot of singing exercises and singing videos on this channel.
That will help, and I've seen it happen time and time again with your pronunciation.
It allows you to open up creating more open vowel sounds that are in the American accent.
Awesome! optimize.
That's a very big open American sound that we're just not used to making.
But on my videos and I'll do some of it here we could actually do these exercises to help open up that bowel.
See how I'm allowing myself to open that sound.
Now, those are just examples, but check out these singing videos i have on my youtube channel, guys.
It's gonna help open up those sounds so you could be more receptive, so you could take in the information, process it and physically able to deliver.
Because remember, like I say in all my videos and I'll say it again, learning an accent is like going to the gym.
Think of me as your personal trainer.
A lot of people come to me and say, how long will it take me to learn American accent?
It's like going to the gym and seeing somebody who is ripped with lots of muscles and you asking me hey, how long will it take to look like him?
It takes training.
It takes time.
You have to retrain your muscles to create these sounds that you're just not used to making.
So remember, if you're having problems with a word, a phrase, a sentence, break it out into song elongate, position those sounds and then slowly speed it up.
Follow me on my social media platforms so I have other ways of getting my material to you.
Also check out my five-star best-selling accent reduction course, with reviews from people all over the world, getting them that much closer to mastering the American accent.
