Preparation

• 1). Figure what American accent you want to imitate. American accents differ greatly between, say, a Southern drawl or a Midwestern twang, between a California laidback tone or a New Yorker's fast-paced one. You might want to listen to tapes online or watch movies with your chosen accent to get a feel for it.
  
  
• 2). Study which regionalisms apply to the dialect you have chosen. Southerners are marked by their use of the contraction "y'all", meaning you all. New Yorkers, especially those in the Brooklyn or Bronx areas, might say "youz" to express the same thing.
  
  
• 3). Consider learning a little American slang. Phrases such as "in the doghouse," "sweet tooth," "couch potato" and "roll out the red carpet" are all examples of what will give your accent a little authenticity.
  
  

Practice

• 1). Widen your mouth when speaking, in order to pronounce the sounds correctly. "Ee" should sound like "weed," and "L" should sound like the final letters in "bell."
  
  
• 2). Smile when speaking, which places your voice more in the nasal register.
  
  
• 3). Position your tongue further back in your mouth, avoiding the teeth.
  
  
• 4). Change your vowel sounds to wider, shorter sounds -- for example, the "a" as in "bath" and the "awh" sound in "cloth."
  
  
• 5). Incorporate your regionalisms. For example, East Coasters pronounced "asked" without the "k." Bostonians pronounce "parked" like "pahked" with a short a. The Upper Midwest states use an elongated "oo" sound for "o", such as "Minnesoota."