Shadowing Practice: Which American Accent Is Better? - Learn English Speaking with Video

Hello everyone.

I'm very excited about this video.

I have been wanting to make this for a while.

I grew up in the state of Maine

and I grew up about a couple hours from Boston

and my grandmother has a classic Maine accent which essentially

when she travels around the country people think she's from Boston

because the Maine accent is kind of like a it's basically like a Boston accent

but it sometimes can sound a little bit like drunker

or a little bit I don't know a little bit different

but it's like it has a lot in common with the Boston accent

so kind of like Boston but cooler

and a bit more drunk like we gotta go up to Baja

but I get some loves to supper for you know the purpose of the video we're basically just gonna say

that my grandma has basically a Boston accent

so I can put on the you gotta park the car

and have the yard and give the god a quarter for some chowder.

That's a standard Boston accent right there.

The way she talked has always like entertained me and inspired me to be interested in this.

And I always wondered, like, I can listen to the New York accent, the classic New York accent.

I can hear it.

And I know that it's different in the Boston accent, but I don't really know how it's different.

So I wanted to actually analyze like, what is the difference?

Like, what is it that they're doing differently with their mouth that makes it sound that way.

I'm not an expert on this.

I have a standard American accent.

This is just like a very standard accent.

It's rhotic.

You know, I pronounce my R's very like R, you know, strongly.

The thing about the Boston and the New York accent is that they're non -rhotic.

So they both don't really pronounce R's.

So in that sense, they're actually kind of more like British and less like American,

but they don't sound like British at all because they're mixed with a lot of other American influences.

So they're definitely very famous American accents, but it is interesting that historically they have been non -rhotic,

which originally the reason why they don't pronounce the R's is because of British influence, but other aspects of their speaking are super American.

So it's just like basically a mix.

And I'm obviously generalizing in this video there are multiple accents

in new york like there's variations like there's different you know

new york city has five different boroughs like there's different variations obviously

but i'm just kind of generalizing for this video

and it's just my opinion and my perspective

so don't take it too too seriously i just wanted to share what i what i know about this

and how i perceive it so for me the main main difference between new york and Boston, talking about the accent, of course,

is the fact that in so many words and sounds,

the New York mouth is smaller and the Boston mouth is bigger, wider.

So New York, they keep the mouth smaller, Boston, bigger, wider.

So we see this in words like water.

I say water.

Water is standard American English, but in New York, they're going to say something like water, water, water you see how like small my mouth is water

water war war water in boston they're gonna open it up

and they're gonna say water water wah wah wah

so new york water boston water water they both are saying

like uh at the end right they don't say water they

say uh water water uh you know the er at the end it's just uh

but the way they start the word water is very unique to boston

and new york water water so we're going to see this pattern again and again

so let's look at some other examples the word car now

i would say car we always make fun of my grandma

because she says car car so she doesn't say car she says car

so they don't say park the car they say park the car So this is, this is like a classic Boston thing.

Pak the ka.

Now, New York is also not pronouncing the R of course, but the jaw is a little bit dropped.

Like it's a little bit lower.

The sound rests a little bit lower in the mouth.

So it's not, it's not up here with the pak the ka.

It's pak the ka, pak the ka.

It's a little bit more British sounding.

Like I'm almost like, shit, am I saying this too much?

Like British English, like I'm like wondering in my head

because it's closer it's closer

because it's it's a little bit lower it's a little bit

more like reserved it's not up in the ah it's ah

ah you know park the car boston is out here saying

park the car big open mouth park the car wide park the car New York, park the car, park, park the car.

New York has that really like small mouth on a lot of words.

Another example, coffee.

People love to make fun of New Yorkers in the way they say coffee, coffee, coffee.

We see this in words like talk, walk.

New York is going to say like talk, walk, aw.

So it's a lot of New York loves the sound aw, aw.

Hey, I'm walking here.

You have words like daughter.

Boston is going to say daughter, daughter.

New York is going to say daughter, daughter.

So you have daughter and you have daughter, daughter.

New York, it kind of sounds cooler.

I will, I will agree with that.

I will give it to you.

New York sounds cooler, even though I, you know, my, my heritage is more closer to Boston, but, but New York, it does sound cool.

It goes with that vibe of like the cool New Yorker, you know, Boston doesn't have such a cool sound and a cool kind of vibe.

I personally think Boston sounds a little bit more like white trash, like a little bit more,

a little bit more like redneck or like a little bit more trashy than New York, but that's just my opinion, I guess.

It's just an accent.

Another one I like is the word argue.

So we, we normally just native, um, not native, um, standard American English.

We just say argue, right?

Argue.

Boston is going to say argue.

Ah.

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So they love to just get rid of the R and replace it with ah.

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Argue.

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Argue.

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Whereas New York does more of a W.

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It's more of like a ah.

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Argue.

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Argue.

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I think this is a perfect example between Boston and New York.

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So Boston is going to say argue.

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Argue.

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And New York is going to say argue.

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Argue.

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Ah.

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You also see this in words like army.

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You have army in Boston, you know, you were in army, New York army army.

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So generally for a lot of words, we see this Boston, big, wide open mouth, a lot of the, ah, ah sounds.

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And then New York, we have smaller, smaller mouth.

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We have a lot more of the, ah, sounds, or, or, or that kind of stuff.

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Right.

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However, there are some exceptions.

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There are some exceptions.

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There are sometimes when it's kind of flipped like the word cop

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and lot the words cop

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and lot boston pronounces these words essentially like standard american english

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you know cop lot basically normal right this is how i

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would say it to cop lot normal might have a little bit extra you know a little bit wider mouth

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but it's generally the same but new york takes this and goes really wide with it And for some reason, they say cop, lot.

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So it's like, it's not even an O, it's like an A -H.

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So they say lot, it's a lot, it's a cop, ah.

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So I don't know why, for the most part, New York keeps a small mouth, but on certain words like cop and lot, they really open it up and they go cop, lot.

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Whereas Boston just says cop, lot.

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So there are some words where New York actually does a bigger mouth than Boston, but I would say it's like the exceptions.

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I don't think it's like the most common I think generally it's the other way

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but there are exceptions we see this also in the word soccer

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so I say soccer as normal normal English normal American English

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soccer in New York they actually open it up they do like soccer soccer

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so there are these examples where it flips

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and New York opens up wider and goes ah and and Boston doesn't But there are,

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I think, even more examples of where Boston is opening up wider and New York is smaller mouth.

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But anyways, essentially, that's the general difference between New York and Boston.

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There are probably some other like little differences, but that's the general difference is like the mouth size.

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It's like the position of the vowels, you know, how wide you're opening your mouth and what you're doing with the vowel sounds,

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that's really going to be the main difference.

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For somebody who is not a native English speaker, who is not from the US and doesn't have a lot of experience with it,

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they might not be able to tell the difference between the two

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because they do have some things in common like being non -rhotic, not pronouncing the r they often end words like uh you know

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if it has an r

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so just to end the video let me let me do some phrases

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so in new york they they're gonna say like talking what

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are you talking about what are you talking about uh call your mother call your mother

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so instead of call call call call your mother call your

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mother to showcase the boston accent really good uh really well you can say, did you find your car keys?

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Did you find your car keys?

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Your car keys would be car keys.

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Did you find your car keys? we were talking about star wars star wars

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so not star wars star wars star wars star wars star

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wars another thing they do in boston is instead of you want coke

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or pepsi you want coke or pepsi they might say you want coke

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or pepsi coca coca pepsi uh some words are really funny

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in the boston accent like um instead of divorce they say devoss we're getting a devoss we're getting a devoss So,

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um, we always laugh at my grandma because instead of saying the word for, she says FOA, FOA.

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So yeah, some of the words they say is really silly sounding.

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It's really funny, but it's good.

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It's entertainment and it's, it's slowly dying.

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It's dying out.

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Um, because nowadays the young generations, we tend to have a more homogenized standard American English like me.

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Like even though I grew up in the same place that my grandma grew up, I don't talk anything like

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and my mom was like a like in the middle between me

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and my grandma so i can see in my family

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and in other families too and other um people

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that the accents are kind of dying they're kind of decreasing

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and standard american english this kind of homogenized um standard american english

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that you're going to hear most of the time on social

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media you're going to hear on the news you're going to hear in a, in, in like most media, this is becoming more normal.

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And the only times you're really going to hear these unique accents, like the New York accent or the Boston accent is if you,

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one, you watch a movie that takes place in that specific kind of culture and place where there's an accent like that,

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or you are living or you go visit those specific places where there's a lot of people like that.

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But even, even you could go to New York and Boston.

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And a lot of people who live in New York

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and Boston are either not from there or they did not get that accent, right?

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They just grew up kind of imitating a more neutral accent.

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So they didn't actually learn to talk like that.

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So there are these people, they exist and there is media, there are movies and stuff where you can witness these accents,

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you can experience them, but it is decreasing

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and it's generally not something you're going to have to encounter most of the time.

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So it's this video is mostly just for like fun

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and entertainment and

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if you're interested it's not really to make you like worried about your english learning journey

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and like oh no now i have to learn these accents

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and stuff you don't you don't have to learn to understand these accents

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if you don't understand these accents is no problem at all

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you will rarely encounter them it's not an issue um

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if you want me to do other videos about other u .s accents like southern accents

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and stuff that would be fun I could do

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that too I could try to do that

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but most of the time you just need to focus on

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standard neutral American English you need to focus on the way

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that I speak this kind of way this kind of pronunciation

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that's really the main thing the accent thing is it's French entertainment it's fun to know

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but it's not it's not really like a big issue it's

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not really a big concern I think for for students

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or it shouldn't be so so that's it I hope you enjoyed this video

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and let me know what you think in the comments

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and by the way I offer conversation classes

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if you want to take a conversation class with me

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and you want to practice talking in standard American English with me I would love to do

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that so the link is in the comments

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and in on my channel page as always so see you in the next one bye bye

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Exploring American Accents: A Fun Look at Boston vs. New York

Ever wondered why Boston and New York accents sound so distinct? The video dives into this, with the speaker sharing personal stories—like their grandma’s Maine accent, which often gets mistaken for Boston’s—and breaking down key differences. It’s a great resource for anyone curious about regional American English, whether you’re prepping for IELTS speaking practice or just want to sound more natural in daily conversations.

Top 5 Phrases to Practice from the Video

"Park the car and have the yard" (Boston accent example)
"Give the god a quarter for some chowder" (classic Boston phrasing)
"Water" (New York vs. Boston pronunciation: "wawter" vs. "waw-tah")
"Standard American accent" (rhotic, with strong R sounds)
"Non-rhotic" (not pronouncing R's, a key trait of both accents)

Step-by-Step Shadowing Guide to Master These Accents

Shadowing (or shadowspeak) is a fantastic way to improve English pronunciation. Here’s how to use the video for practice:

Listen closely: First, watch the video without repeating. Notice how the speaker’s mouth moves—smaller for New York, wider for Boston. Pay attention to R sounds (or lack thereof!).
Repeat immediately: Pause after short phrases (like "park the car") and mimic the tone, rhythm, and mouth shape. Don’t worry about perfection—focus on copying the "feel" of the accent.
Compare with standard English: After practicing the regional phrases, say them in a standard rhotic accent. This contrast will help you spot differences and strengthen your overall pronunciation.
Record yourself: Use your phone to record your shadowing. Listen back and compare it to the video. Did you capture the non-rhotic "r" in "chowder"? Adjust as needed.
Practice daily: Spend 5-10 minutes a day on these phrases. Consistency is key to making progress with shadow speak and sounding more confident in English.

Whether you’re into accents for fun or serious about improving English pronunciation, this video offers a playful yet practical way to learn. So grab your phone, hit play, and start shadowing—you’ll be nailing that Boston "chowder" or New York "water" in no time!

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	somebody who is · people who live
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	might have · might not be · might say
Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group	the most part · the most common
Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — something happening right now or around now	they're doing · are saying · is also not pronouncing

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: Which American Accent Is Better? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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