<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>drivers99</author><text>You didn’t ask for feedback but based on context I think you might appreciate it. I’m also assuming you’re going for a standard&amp;#x2F;midwestern American accent. If not, this won’t apply. The only phonemes that stand out to me in your stand up are the “r-colored” vowels like “ar” in farm, the “er” in “New Jersey” and “nervous”, and the “or” in “for”, the “ir” in “shirt”. (Actually “ir” in shirt and “er” in “nervous” are the same phoneme &amp;#x2F;ɝ&amp;#x2F; and you did pronounce it at the end of “power” at one point.)&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wBuA589kfMg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wBuA589kfMg&lt;/a&gt; In this video at 4:28 she demonstrates these “r-controlled” vowels (I was wondered what they were called).&lt;p&gt;This one has a fuller explanation of “r-colored” vowels and even gets into what makes “ir” in bird even more unique. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;GbLcJ1G6Fiw&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;GbLcJ1G6Fiw&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;But then, these are the types of sounds that are different by region, like the “paak the cah” example you said for Boston, certain southern accents, let alone other countries (England RP etc) which are often non-rhotic.&lt;p&gt;I enjoyed your standup talking about pronouncing emoji and banana, and about emoji finally letting us let out our feelings. :) I checked out your other clips. I guess the one you linked here is unlisted.</text><parent_chain><item><author>senthil_rajasek</author><text>I went through this process on my own. I grew up in India and my first language is Tamil which is very distant to the European languages. I now live in the midwest. I can&amp;#x27;t tell the differences between regional American accents except the very famous Bostonian &amp;quot;paak the car&amp;quot; but I&amp;#x27;ve listed some tips on how I improved my pronunciation.&lt;p&gt;When I started doing stand up comedy 12 years ago I realized I needed to work on my accent[1].&lt;p&gt;Here are some tips,&lt;p&gt;Pronunciation of english sounds is influenced by your first language.&lt;p&gt;Understand phonetics.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;LearnJapanese&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;fohull&amp;#x2F;a_year_to_learn_japanese_reflections_on_five&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;LearnJapanese&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;fohull&amp;#x2F;a_yea...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Follow the links to 
Pronunciation: Basics, prosody and phonetics on the page above and understand how sounds are made.&lt;p&gt;If you don&amp;#x27;t understand the mechanics of tongue position, lip shapes, where the sound originates (front of the mouth or back of the throat) then you may not be able make the right sound.&lt;p&gt;If you can spend money get expert help (speech therapist, though I haven&amp;#x27;t done this personally).&lt;p&gt;Practice. Speaking involves physical muscles so practice those muscles.&lt;p&gt;Record yourself and listen ( after a few days). Observe pronunciations that need to be fixed and repeat.&lt;p&gt;In time, the mechanics of tongue position, lip shapes etc., will become subconscious and you will not have to worry about this consciously and you will speak naturally.&lt;p&gt;1. Most recent stand up comedy performance.
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;845a6wyO5h0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;845a6wyO5h0&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Tutors / tips to change your English accent</title><text>Let&amp;#x27;s start with that my accent is clear enough and I don&amp;#x27;t have communication issues at work. I actually feel quite comfortable.&lt;p&gt;But I&amp;#x27;d love to have a perfect west coast American accent when I speak english. Having learned a few other languages myself, it feels pretty good when you can surprise a native.&lt;p&gt;Anybody that went through that process of improving their accent with a tutor or on their own could share their learnings on it?</text></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>dominotw</author><text>I personally found that learning the intonation and &amp;#x27;rhythm&amp;#x27; of the language has way more  influence on how easily the other person understands you.&lt;p&gt;If the goal to for people to understand you ( vs sounding like a native speaker). I would focus more on the flow and the music of the  language. Unfortunately this is cultural and can only be picked up passively  through cultural immersion. You cannot pick this up as an outsider.&lt;p&gt;btw, your standup was really funny, kudos for putting yourself out there like that. That&amp;#x27;s amazing.</text><parent_chain><item><author>senthil_rajasek</author><text>I went through this process on my own. I grew up in India and my first language is Tamil which is very distant to the European languages. I now live in the midwest. I can&amp;#x27;t tell the differences between regional American accents except the very famous Bostonian &amp;quot;paak the car&amp;quot; but I&amp;#x27;ve listed some tips on how I improved my pronunciation.&lt;p&gt;When I started doing stand up comedy 12 years ago I realized I needed to work on my accent[1].&lt;p&gt;Here are some tips,&lt;p&gt;Pronunciation of english sounds is influenced by your first language.&lt;p&gt;Understand phonetics.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;LearnJapanese&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;fohull&amp;#x2F;a_year_to_learn_japanese_reflections_on_five&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.reddit.com&amp;#x2F;r&amp;#x2F;LearnJapanese&amp;#x2F;comments&amp;#x2F;fohull&amp;#x2F;a_yea...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Follow the links to 
Pronunciation: Basics, prosody and phonetics on the page above and understand how sounds are made.&lt;p&gt;If you don&amp;#x27;t understand the mechanics of tongue position, lip shapes, where the sound originates (front of the mouth or back of the throat) then you may not be able make the right sound.&lt;p&gt;If you can spend money get expert help (speech therapist, though I haven&amp;#x27;t done this personally).&lt;p&gt;Practice. Speaking involves physical muscles so practice those muscles.&lt;p&gt;Record yourself and listen ( after a few days). Observe pronunciations that need to be fixed and repeat.&lt;p&gt;In time, the mechanics of tongue position, lip shapes etc., will become subconscious and you will not have to worry about this consciously and you will speak naturally.&lt;p&gt;1. Most recent stand up comedy performance.
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;845a6wyO5h0&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;845a6wyO5h0&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Tutors / tips to change your English accent</title><text>Let&amp;#x27;s start with that my accent is clear enough and I don&amp;#x27;t have communication issues at work. I actually feel quite comfortable.&lt;p&gt;But I&amp;#x27;d love to have a perfect west coast American accent when I speak english. Having learned a few other languages myself, it feels pretty good when you can surprise a native.&lt;p&gt;Anybody that went through that process of improving their accent with a tutor or on their own could share their learnings on it?</text></story>