My Little English Corner
A new accent is an adventure. Be bold! Exaggerate wildly!
抒情為主，匆忙寫完，沒注意語法和措辭，磚頭我晚上收拾完娃再來接。
It all started with 泡泡’s recording of AAT. Before that, I had got back into the good old “silent” way of learning English by reading novels and practicing writing weekly essays. I was tired of 900 sentences and didn’t feel it was helping me as much as before. 泡泡’s near-native reciting of AAT shocked me. I regained my hope, thinking: mmm, maybe I can do it too! 泡泡 shared with me through QQH that she attended an accent reduction class three or four years ago and suggested me to do the same.
I got really excited. On the morning of Monday, Aug.15th, I started looking for accent reduction classes. I wanted to attend a class in person. My google search results are mostly in Los Angeles, which is not so desirable, given that I am working from home and LA’s traffic can easily make the one-hour class a half-day commitment. I was pleasantly surprised that Lisa Mojsin, the author of Mastering American Accent, offers classes in LA. I called her but didn’t reach her. So I left a message asking if she has any branch offices around my area. Before she got back to me (she didn’t until the next day), I called AAT’s 1800 number listed in the book, thinking I could at least talk to someone and ask if they have branches near me. The other end didn’t give me many choices but directed me to a telephone analyst for me to take the diagnosis test.
童鞋們，這一塊兒我必須用中文啦，你們猜這個analyst是誰？就是咱們天天念叨的俺廚師！！！長話短說，俺廚師跟俺約了第二天skype上談話一小時，給我的口音做做diagnosis。(哦，當然，收費是100刀, 俺想也值了，她的書俺是花錢買了，但是CD是網上down的，嗬嗬)
After that, I found out that my company offers pronunciation class. That was when I decided to take a break from the forum. It was a decision on the spur of the moment. I thought I could spend more time on my pronunciation by quitting the forum. But, man, wasn’t I wrong!
The next day, I had an hour-long skype talk with Ann, which was pretty helpful. She pointed out some of my problems, esp. about my voice quality (too nasal when I get excited, 就是咱們常說的前位發音). She actually said she was working on the third edition of the book. There will be a big change and a more in-depth discussion on voice quality will be added). At the end of the skype session, she promised to give me a report in a couple of days.
After that, while waiting for her report, I kind of went into depression. I tried hard to stay away from the forum. I didn’t want to read 900 sentences because I had already announced my 休學。So I practiced a little bit reading from AAT but got restless within 5 minutes. I felt like a heroin addict, sneaking into the forum to get a “puff” of the chatting and laughing at DCH’s poem and Jennea’s 恩師 picture. Then I closed the browser, feeling guilty. Occasionally, I log in to check QQH (thank you, 美風， 泡泡，lilac，小千，新聲音姐姐 for your messages). Then I log out, being afraid that I might get the urge to post messages.
Yesterday, I finally couldn’t stand it and broke my silence because, as NewVoice put it, I wanted my voice heard. Also, I am thinking: if you truly love yourself, why are you pushing yourself so hard on the goddamn pronunciation drilling? If you truly love yourself, why do you want to deprive yourself of the opportunity of voicing your opinion, be it wrong or right， be it offensive or defensive? If you truly love yourself, why don’t let yourself follow your heart and have a good time? What the heck, life is short, do what you really enjoy doing, and let yourself surrounded by your friends, online or in reality.
That’s why I came back, and to make it even worse, I am actually going to apply for the position of 版主，go crazy! or should I?
