DesertNaiad:

erinja:

DesertNaiad: H and ĥ are harder for me than either c or r though. I can't even hear the difference most of the time, yet.

Really? I find them quite different. The ĥ is like the ch in "Bach", which I don't think anyone would ever confuse for a plain h.

You're right that I'm a native English speaker, and I do say Bach correctly, so that does help. *imagines correcting my pronunciation with "Bach" and "Tsar" for the next few months* lol

No, I don’t think anyone might claim that in his (her) country the Spanish language is “the best spoken ever”. Not even in Spain! What you find everywhere is that cultured people speak very alike, close to a highly literary and refined standard. Uncultured people, by the other hand, don’t follow those standards, pronounce poorly and use a very limited vocabulary. They are the creators of our local dialects, some of them quite peculiar and spicy. I’m pretty good detecting accents, and there are some educated guys that puzzle me for several minutes or even hours!

About the way I learn to speak English: It isn’t that hard! I used to watch the same film dozens of times. There is around 60-70% of information that is reinforced by actions, so you learn by association. Even now, when I’m watching an American film I can (almost 30% of the time) predict what phrase or word is going to be used next by the context! Believe me, if you open your mind it isn’t that tough. At the beginning you feel like a “frosted fish” but little by little you warm up and start learning.

Depending on which films you've watched, you might speak like the Queen of England, or you might speak like a ghetto gangster
An American speaking like the first is seen as a snob, speaking like the second, an absolute moron
You could mix both together and be seen as eclectic.

In the US, there are regional dialects that have definite stereotypes. Some are true, some not. For example, I live in NYC, and is home to the famous "Brooklyn" accent (Bugs Bunny, Goodfellas, Rocky, Godfather, any NY cop movie or ANY movie with firemen), and has alot of truth to it, although I don't speak like Louie Walnuts, my accent is definitely regional. Then you have the Southern accent (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Texas etc.), which can either be absolutely nauseating or cute. The American mindset portrays the southern accent automatically as stupid, ignorant and in bad taste in mixed company (unless its cute and spoken by a woman).
You can be a nuclear physicist or a top surgeon in your field and you speak with a thick southern drawl, you are automatically crossed off guest lists My good friend (who was a Theology professor in University South Carolina) promptly lost his accent the minute he left the south. He was born in Maryland and had to train himself to speak with the accent or he wasn't respected, and if he didn't lose it once he left, he wasn't respected!

Then there's the unofficial CNN accent which is used by actors, news reporters and other phoneys like them (Even though CNN is physically IN the South, the non-descript non-regional accent is Standard American English.
But I think that Chicago has the closest "American English" accent.
I was never fond of some Australian accents, but they never sickened me like some southern accents do (Apologies to the proud southerners here).
I guess many cultures believe that their dialect is the proper one, but do we have standard Esperanto? Who is our guide for pure Esperanto? Is it Radio Verda? Radio Polonia? (I hope not) or is it Erinja's accent?

I vote for Radio Verda!!! Arono has a very “universal” accent, no doubts. The first time I heard him was in “Vere aux Fantazie” and I would have never guessed he was an anglophone canadian. I was unable to track down his original mother tongue by his Esperanto pronunciation. In contrast Karlina (though lovely) sounds quite “gringa”. I have never heard Erinja; where could I find a record with her voice? About Radio Polonia… no way!

Mendacapote: I have never heard Erinja; where could I find a record with her voice? About Radio Polonia… no way!

I'm the voice of Ana Pana. Go to the Ana Pana course and listen to the audio recordings of the stories (not the listening exercises, though, some of which may be someone else).

And Arono's accent is probably better than mine! He is very good, and a very cool person besides. We were all crushed when he and Karlina moved to Vancouver.

pastorant:My good friend (who was a Theology professor in University South Carolina) promptly lost his accent the minute he left the south. He was born in Maryland and had to train himself to speak with the accent or he wasn't respected, and if he didn't lose it once he left, he wasn't respected!

Maryland is very mixed, accent-wise. I was born and bred here and I don't sound remotely southern. My region of Maryland has a fairly distinctive accent which does sound a tad southern, but my parents don't come from here and I didn't go to local schools, so I escaped it (though my sister, who did go through the town schools, has it a bit more than me). For such a small state, I think people would be surprised at the range of accents we have. In the western part of the state and on the eastern shore, they tend to sound more southern. Baltimore has its own unique accent, and the DC suburbs in the center of the state tend to talk more like DC people (which is not southern either).

Who is our guide for pure Esperanto? Is it Radio Verda? Radio Polonia? (I hope not) or is it Erinja's accent?

Zamenhof suggesting an Italian accent was good to imitate. RAI International (the Italian national broadcasting service) has a weekly short Esperanto program, I believe.

I have heard some bad accents from Italians. I once met an Italian woman and I thought she had some kind of speech impediment, so I didn't ask her about the accent. Then I asked another Italian friend later and he said that she had no speech impediment at all, what I heard was her Italian regional accent showing through to her Esperanto!

But bad Italian pronunciation is the exception rather than the rule.

Hungarians are also considered to have good pronunciation, though they tend to speak with a fairly unique cadence, very recognizable when you know what to look for.

Your pronunciation is pretty good too!

I have serious doubts about mine, I feel to self conscious. May I send you a record of my pronunciation and you send me back your (no mercy, please) opinion?

Mendacapote:Your pronunciation is pretty good too!

I have serious doubts about mine, I feel to self conscious. May I send you a record of my pronunciation and you send me back your (no mercy, please) opinion?

Yes, I would be happy to listen to it. Send it to zhadum@gmail.com

OK, I did send you my voice record. Tear it off!!!