Easily the most common question I get from prospective clients is “How long will it take me to reduce my accent?”
Unfortunately, there’s not a simple answer to this question. In my opinion, anyone who gives you a guarantee or a specific time frame by which you’ll have mastered the General American accent, is doing that to “make you happy” but, realistically, they can’t know how long it’ll take you.
I know, I know, in today’s world, we want guarantees. We want to know exactly what we’re spending our money on. We want to know exactly how much we’re getting for the money we’re spending.
Now, the thing is that, with any skill you’re trying to master, the speed of progression is not the same for everyone. I’ve trained in martial arts almost my whole life so I like using Jiu Jitsu ( / Judo / Wrestling) as an analogy here. I’ll go with Jiu Jitsu for now because the belt progression system is familiar to lots of people.
If you sign up at a Jiu Jitsu gym and you ask the instructor how long it’ll take you to get your black belt, they also can’t really give you a concrete answer. There are people that have been training for ten years and they don’t have their black belt. There are people who have trained for four years and they have their black belt. And this isn’t even going into the problem that a lot of people get their belts without actually having the skill level to match that belt (this is a whole other rabbit hole we don’t need to go down further).
In accent reduction, just as in Jiu Jitsu / Judo / Wrestling, the speed at which you progress, relies on several factors:
How many classes a week are you taking?
How long are those classes?
How focused are you inside the class?
How good of a teacher is your coach?
Are you getting lots and lots of practice time in to hone your skills inside the classes?
Are you getting immediate feedback?
Are you getting actionable drills?
Are you rewatching / re-listening to the class recordings?
Are you practicing with intention outside of the classes?
Are you recording yourself while you practice? (I made a video about this recently!)
Are you practicing consistently? (ideally, every day. Doesn’t have to be for hours!)
Your innate ability to pick up sounds (sometimes, certain sounds are just trickier for one person, while another person can pick it up easily. That does happen. — and it’s completely normal!)
Now, I know that can sound discouraging but you have to remember that this is assuming your goal is to master the General American accent.
In regards to being aware of sounds (meaning, you know how to say them and where they should be used), this awareness will be one of the first and fastest things you’ll gain. It won’t take long to have a pretty good ability to say the sounds we’re working on together, especially when you know that this specific sound is present in a word.
In my experience, you will definitely see and notice improvements (especially in awareness) very quickly. The thing that will take longer though, is the ability to flawlessly apply all of your knowledge in a live conversation. This is the hardest environment to do so.
This is where consistent and intentional practice comes in, and all the other factors I mentioned. Ultimately, our goal is building and honing habits. This takes time.
Again, going back to my martial arts analogy: when you’re brand new, you might become aware of a lot of techniques and moves very fast, but the ability to weave them together and go for them, more on instinct than because of a conscious decision (because that’s really what you need in a match/competition round) takes way more time to build.
Another thing I’ll mention here is that “just showing up to class” is not enough to progress quickly. Yes, you will progress but not nearly as fast as somebody who dedicates time outside of class to deepen and solidify what they’ve learned in class. Going back to Jiu Jitsu again, I like to think I’ve progressed pretty quickly because I made an active effort to watch what’s called “instructionals”. I actively sought out ways to practice and improve, even when I wasn’t on the mats.
So the good news is, you will see improvements fast. You’ll be more aware and you’ll know sound mechanics early. The thing that takes time is building habits. The next piece of good news here is that all that takes is consistency and practicing with intention. Personally, I find that very encouraging! If something feels like it just depends on vague talent, the path to mastery feels out of reach.
Alright. Enough rambling for today. I hope that helps answer your question of how long it takes to reduce your accent. If you have any questions or have any specific topics in the world of accent reduction that you’d like me to cover, let me know!
BONUS: Get a FREE TH Video Course here https://www.dialectwork.com/free-video-guide-for-ths
Want to work on your accent?
Work with me 1-on-1 (all online via Zoom)
For learning on your own, my video course American Accent Fundamentals (5hrs of content, 10 modules, 86 video lessons) will teach you the cornerstones of the American accent so you can sound more clear, confident and more American
In case you missed it, I turned one of my posts into a video. Recording yourself is one of the best tools you have available to you to fast track your progress!