Shruti C.

We have two major accents- 

1. British - In a British accent, people not at all pronounce the /r/ sound, and it makes British Accent a but a strong one.

2. American - People with American Accent do pronounce the /r/ sound known as the rhotic /r/ sound. Even /r/ sound in American Accent is very important, which makes American Accent so smooth and flawless, and this creates one of the major differences between British and American Accent.

Moreover, schools in India teach British English but not the British Accent, and so we are quite influenced by the queen's English, Indians don't pronounce the /r/ sound.

Firstly you need to understand what American Accent does to you-

American accent training vastly includes fundamentals to a proficient level. Remember to choose a tutor who speaks the Accent which you want to learn.

Also, American Accent Training includes American sounds, phonetic sounds, intonations, jaw and mouth exercises, syllables, linking and connections and advanced level of voice modulations with fast speech speaking practices.

MTI is mother tongue influence, also known as first language influence which means you speak English with an influence of your mother tongue.

How to reduce it?

1. You can undergo proper accent training which will take you through every vocal practice to have an accent and to reduce your MTI. Always choose a tutor who speaks with an accent which you want to learn.

2. You can search for Youtube, Google, etc. To learn the proper pronunciation of every sound which is included in the phonemic chart. So, you need to master those 44 sounds and boom! You'll reduce your MTI.

The phonetic chart doesn't teach you accent.

Firstly you have to understand the difference between fluency and accent.

It is fluency when you speak with proper sentence construction with appropriate pauses in your speech. In contrast, the accent is how to pronounce the English sounds correctly within rising and fall of speech (intonations) and with linking the sounds to the words and words to sentences.

Now, how to speak like a native?

To speak like a native, you need to undergo proper accent training because there's a difference between faking an accent and acquiring a new skill of speaking with an accent.

If the tutor teaches you phonetics, phonics, grammar, vocabulary, fluency in voice and accent training, then it's 90% worthless. Instead, it would help if you always chose a trainer who speaks with the same accent which you want to learn.

Please find answers to your questions below -

1. Firstly you have to understand that there's a considerable difference between faking an accent and acquiring a new skill of speaking with an accent. 

So, the answer is you can improve your accent only by knowing the techniques, habits, exercises and most importantly, tongue positions of each a very sound to speak with a standard accent.

2. The best way to practise the sounds to learn an accent is voice modulations and tongue and jaw exercises by repeating different sounds and words.

3. It depends upon your pipes that how long you're going to take as some people have fundamental accent issues which could take more time. Usually, our mouth takes 24-48 hours to adopt a sound.

4. Trust me; you can never learn a proper accent without proper training unless you spent years. So, the best way is to get trained by an expert.