duanja Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Anyone interested to be my online-tutor? I could tutor speaking Thai in return ja. As I wanna go study in USA, or elsewhere, so I am going to hit the TOEFL test in a few months. But I feel not so confident about my Thai accent and my flow of talking. Previously, TOEFL test does not have a speaking test, but its new version of Toefl iBt adds ' the speaking test' to challenge me. In Singapore there is also an old version of Toelf available. (Toefl cbt) with No Speaking Test. I don't understand why Singapore is left behind Thailand.... 1.Does American find it very difficult to understand our Thai accent ? 2.Should I try to speak an American accent? 3.Any Thai succeed in changing their accent (from Thai accent to a more American Accent) ? 4. But Toefl is just a beginning, real hard things are GRE. Does GRE easy or difficult for American ? 5. But is American a dangerous and too crazy for a simple girl like me? As I see it, many American Celebs are...em em...too radical for my taste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khun_lung Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 As you know, TOEFL is comprised of four parts, speaking being one of them. I doubt that you will increase your ability to speak with an "online tutor" because you need to hear and practice the sounds. You need a real eyeball-to-eyeball tutor so that you can hear the sounds, and watch the mouth of the native English speaker. What accent you have, British or American, is totally unimportant. It is the ability to speak and to be easily understood that is important. Because I speak Thai, I understand the fundamental differences between Thai and English and one of the most difficult factors for Thai people is the concept of "aspirated consonants". As an example, the words "bet" and "bed" are pronounced the same by Thai people. In fact they are pronounced differently. Other examples are the name "Wallace" and the word "wallet". They are pronouced identically by Thai people. A tutor can teach you to distunguish between them and learn to pronounce them differently. Yet another example, the words "share" and "chair". Since Thai has no "sh" sound, both words are pronounced the same by Thai people but in fact there is a difference in pronunciation. I hope you get the idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duanja Posted January 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Thank you ka khun_lung. So I do not have to imitate the American accent na ka? As I sit many hours in front of computer, and sometimes I wanna chat ja. I don't like friend from skype now, often they ask for is x-webcam! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunsnow Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Duanja: I have noticed by own experience and from others than when you start having conversations in English, in start and for very long time you have the "own mother language" accent to it. But most of those who have a) studied languages in unis have gone to exhange year c) worked outside their home countries d) or even just hanged around foreigners and used english, the "home accent" starts to fade away or atleast pushed back and be replaced with more "universal" with some ppl. Like one thai friend of mine, she has very nice English accent, very non thai, very non finnish, very clear. But the funny thing is to talk with her when once and in awhile she uses very (horrible) Finnish english accent or her original Thai accent comes through... sO yes, you can pick up other accent, or it becomes most probably a more "levelled out" mixture...and no, i dont believe you would need (or want to learn US-English accent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duanja Posted January 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Thank you sunsnow. Not really aim for speaking American-accent. I just hope that an American examiner gives me ''decent scores'' ja. I am afraid that the examiner will say: ****, I dont know what she is talking about. But if i do not get good scores, I plan to take a TOEF cbt in Singapore ja. No speaking test. :oops: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbyboy112003 Posted January 14, 2007 Report Share Posted January 14, 2007 Duanja, Take kung_lung's advice because I have talked to many Thai's with different English accents and understood them all. Hard study and practice will make you pass this test! Are there any native English speakers where you live krap? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silicacarbide Posted May 28, 2012 Report Share Posted May 28, 2012 Hi there, I'd be glad to help whenever I can! We could chat over the internet or internet call if you fancy. Just simple talking about our day would be good. I think I could use a chatting friend! Do drop me a pm if you are interested! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympos Posted May 28, 2012 Report Share Posted May 28, 2012 Hi there, I'd be glad to help whenever I can! We could chat over the internet or internet call if you fancy. Just simple talking about our day would be good. I think I could use a chatting friend! Do drop me a pm if you are interested! Mate you just have replied to a 5 years old topic - last reply before you was on 01-14-2007. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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