(http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/20/accent_reduction/)
The issue of speaking English without an accent is quite important in today’s competitive world. As it is mentioned in the article, many professionals see an accent as a weakness in a competitive workforce. So how can we improve our speaking ability to the next level in which we would sound much more like a native speaker? Take Sourav Bhunia, mentioned in the article, a native Indian who started studying English in grade school, for example. Although he leads quite a successful life in Massachusetts, Bhunia is still one of the many non-native English speakers who strive to be better understood. He decided to take a course at the University of Minnesota to improve his accent. His goal is to sound more like a native American, and less Indian, when he speaks English. It brings us back to the point: is it necessary to immerse yourself (e.g., traveling, working, studying) in the American culture in order to learn English well? Or in this case, in order to pronounce your English well? From the article, we could know that if you are in the United States for a period of time, you are supposed to be able to express yourself enough in English, but not necessary mean you would be understood by others completely. It requires personal training, like the course Bhunia takes. But the courses would not be found in a not English-speaking country as easily as they would be found in an English-speaking country. But if you really try hard to find help, you can still learn the pronunciation well in your own country.
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In order to be understood, we must strive to improve our pronunciation. But here I would like to bring up some different ideas about accents, though I might be a little carried away. Because now English is the most domineering language in the world there are so many peoples use it as a second language or official one in their own countries. But to be specific, that does not mean that they must to amend their accents. There is even a statement that in some years English is going to be Engish(es). English nowadays is no belong to U.S.A. or UK.
There are some spelling mistakes in your annotations, pay attention.
Accent is really a big challenge for non-native speakers. For example, it is hard to underatand what Japanese said in English, because of this reason I would be distracted when they are speaking.
You make a clear summary for readers. Good job! There are some suggestion for you. As what you mention in the article, accent is a big problem we need to overcome. I think the article is not strong enough to convince readers that we don't need to go abroad to learn a new language. Besides, I think that you need to read more article which can provides strong ideas.
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