How to reduce your accent in English
Most adults keep some accent in a second language, and you do not need to lose yours: the useful goal is English that is easy to follow, which comes from a few things you can practise, the ends of words, which syllable is stressed and the rhythm of the sentence. To work on them, copy short lines from one speaker, record yourself and compare your take with theirs by ear. Sada gives you the lines and the side-by-side playback free in the browser; it checks recognised words and timing, not your accent.
Not sure which sounds to start with? Read six short sentences aloud in the free English accent test. Each is written for one sound, so the words that were missed point to the sounds to practise. It gives no accent score.
Can you get rid of your accent?
Not completely, for most adults, and no course or app can honestly promise it. What you can get rid of is the part of an accent that makes people ask you to repeat yourself:
- Dropped word endings. “Work” for “worked” or “cost” for “costs” changes what you said.
- Stress on the wrong syllable. A familiar word with the stress moved can sound like a different word.
- Flat, word-by-word rhythm. English gives the key words more time and squeezes the small ones; even timing makes a sentence hard to follow.
- A few missing sounds. Sounds your first language lacks, such as TH, V or W, which you can learn one at a time.
What usually stays is a trace of your first language in the vowels and the melody. That is normal, and it rarely gets in the way. The plan below works on the four points in that order.
A plan for reducing your accent
- Choose one speaker whose English you understand easily and would like to sound like, American or British, and one short line of theirs. Or start with the beginner line.
- Listen and read the caption, and mark three things: the last sound of each word, the strongest syllable in each long word, and the small words that go by quickly.
- Record the line, then open Compare and play your recording and the original one after the other.
- Fix one difference per take: an ending, then a stressed syllable, then the rhythm. Record again after each change.
- Keep to the same speaker for a few days so that your ear learns one voice, then move to another line or speaker.
What to change first
Change the things that make a listener stop and ask you to repeat before you polish the rest. This order is a practical guide rather than a rule:
| Work on | Why it comes early | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Word endings and consonant clusters | A dropped ending changes the word or the tense: “work” and “worked” are different. | -ed endings |
| Word stress | Stressing the wrong syllable can make a familiar word hard to recognise. | Word stress practice |
| Sentence stress and rhythm | English gives the important words more time and weakens the small ones. | Sentence stress |
| Sounds that your first language lacks | For Arabic speakers this includes P, V and the two TH sounds; for many speakers of Indian languages, V and W, and Z; for Spanish speakers, the short vowels, V and Z. | For Arabic speakers, for Indian speakers, for Spanish speakers |
How to tell whether it is working
Record thirty seconds about your day. Play it to a friend who has not heard the topic and ask them to write down what they understood. Words they missed or asked you to repeat show you what to practise next. Do this again after a few weeks of practice and compare the two lists.
What Sada can and cannot tell you
It can: give you real lines to copy, play your take beside the speaker’s, and show which words were recognised or missed and how your timing compares.
It cannot: measure your accent, tell you how close you sound to a speaker or find the sound behind an error. Judge the accent by listening to your take beside the original.
Three real lines to try
“I was stressed, and I was frustrated.”
Oprah Winfrey · 6:01 · Practise this line →
Endings: the T of “stressed” against the “id” of “frustrated”.
“My contention is that creativity now is as important in education as literacy,”
Sir Ken Robinson · 3:14 · Practise this line →
Word stress in five long words, from a British speaker.
“It isn't what they do, it's who they are.”
Sir Ken Robinson · 3:46 · Practise this line →
Sentence stress: the contrast is “what they do” against “who they are”; listen to how little time “it isn’t” takes.
What Sada does and does not do (checked 30 September 2026)
- Price: free, with no account, sign-up or paid plan.
- Where it runs: in a web browser on a computer or a phone; nothing to install and no extension. Recording needs microphone access.
- What it plays: any YouTube video with usable captions (not every video has them), or a pasted transcript or an SRT or WebVTT file when captions cannot be read.
- What it shows: which words of a line were recognised, missed or added, and how your timing compares with the speaker.
- What it does not do: grade individual sounds, rate an accent, give a test score or an IELTS band, or hold a conversation.
- Where your voice goes: speech recognition runs in your browser and recordings stay on your device. The first recording downloads a speech model once (about 75 MB on a phone).
Related pages
Questions people ask
Can you get rid of your accent completely?
Some adults reach a very native-like accent, but most keep some accent, and no practice method can promise it. A better goal is speech that is easy to understand.
How long does it take to reduce an accent?
No time can honestly be promised: it depends on how often you practise and on how far your first language is from English. Short daily practice with one speaker is a reasonable start.
Does Sada detect or score my accent?
No. Sada shows which words it recognised and how your timing compares with the speaker. It does not rate an accent or grade individual sounds.
Does shadowing help with accent?
It gives you practice following a speaker’s rhythm, stress and linking, which are large parts of how an accent sounds. It does not guarantee that you will acquire their accent.
Should I aim for an American or a British accent?
Choose the one you hear most and like, and stay with one speaker for a while. Copying one voice consistently matters more than which accent it is.
Practise again tomorrow? Get one short sentence a day, ready to record in one tap.
You don't need to speak fast.
A slow line to begin with: listen to how “don’t need to” runs together, then say it at the speaker’s pace.
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