variety of american dialects

PBS has aired a program a few years back, here is the link of "vowls shifting" related to the regional dialect;

http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/changin/

You can browse whole program using navigation menu from the page.

As an ESL, I always consult my Longman dictionary on the pronounciation. The dictionary has audio going along with it, so I can listen to it. I cannot follow any fellow coworkers since it will confuse me. I have a few american coworkers with their own regional accents. We should be very careful not to fall into a particular trap of a regional dialect. As an ESL, unless you can speak that dialect perfectly, it will always confuse the listeners with the inperfect regional dialect since the listeners have presumedly you pronounce them wrong instead of treating as a regional dialect.

所有跟帖： 

• general american dialect--california dialect or Hollywood dialec -englishreader- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 10:10:40

• well said - and good site recommended - thx -billnet- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 10:27:41

• PBS's site is for linguists and ESL educators to be aware of dia -englishreader- ♂ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 11:25:39

• Thank you, it's very helpful! -blueswan- ♀ (0 bytes) () 09/19/2009 postreply 15:17:52