I'm looking for a good accent reduction courses around Zurich or Rapperswil. I think I'm pretty advanced (not a native English speaker, but above C1) but I'd love to sound more natural. Do you know of any courses aimed at improving accent or maybe anyone specialized in teaching pronunciation?
A native English speaker will spot a non-native accent fairly quickly. If anything, the lack of a distinctive accent will mark you out just as much as having a "foreign" accent.
A non-native English speaker will only really be interested in your ability to speak clearly and well. The rest will probably pass them by.
I'm not sure what you're asking for. Is it a course to reduce your English accent, or to reduce your native accent when speaking English? Do either of these even exist? If so, why?
My recommendation would be to speak English with a French accent, because all English speaking people think that the French are extremely sophisticated.
As a bonus, you can pretend that you are a world champion!
You can easily learn it. Just watch the Pink Panther movies.
Imho, accents are in, however, accents of English native speakers: Newcastle, Yorkshire, Scottish, Welsh, Liverpool, Cornish... There are as many accents as counties and major cities.
The trend is: use it, don't lose it. The era of the Queen's or BBC English is long gone.
However, you are not a native English speaker, so I understand your desire to shed whatever accent you may have at the moment, even though I haven't heard you speak.
You must find not just any person, but a teacher specialising in phonetics. A normal person may not be able to explain to you glottal stop, aspiration, sintagma, rhythm. Not all native English speakers (unless they are specialists) would be able to instruct and correct you, eg, how do you pronounce sound 'r' or the long 'ur' sound in the word 'purpose', half stresses in compound words, neutral sound? All the books and audios do not provide the feedback and do not correct you.
So, yes, I understand you and hope you find someone.
Failing that, and to make my post worthwhile: though I haven't taught this for years and years, PM me if you need guidance or further assistance. (But I have to charge!)
I think it is a lot more internatonally acceptable to have a foreign accent (eg: French) while speaking English, than it is to have a strong regional accent such as Scouse, Brummy, Yorkshire etc where no-one can understand what you are saying. I am very happy I lost my accent as a kid.
I've worked and socialised with a few Swiss people who have learned English as adults (ok, probably young adults / university age) in English speaking countries and not only have they totally lost their Swiss accents (as well as all the false-friend pitfalls), but they've flawlessly picked up the accent of wherever they were staying. It's gobsmackingly accurate and you'd never know they weren't native speakers.
Love them to bits as friends but hate them just a wee bit for being so good at the language...
I know several Swiss who are married/partnered with Irish or Scots and they speak English with broad Scottish/Irish accents. It's quite funny to hear actually.
Yes, know a girlfriend of Irish lad who speaks english in the thickest Dublin accent. I must come across as terribly rude.. am sure I have constant smirk on my face whenever she speaks.
Well if you want a broader range of learning materials, I'd recommend the British documentary series that ran from 1982-1989 specialised in recreating accents.
I've found that an American accent is a signifier of a foreigner speaking english more than someone with a British accent.
More students studying English come out of school sounding american and therefore I'd recommend a British accent as something that would be native but also a little more unexpected from a non-native speaker.