February 16, 2001

Teaching New Zealanders to Talk Like Americans

By DAVID COHEN

Speaking like an American -- if there is such a thing -- didn't come easily to Craig Forsberg. When he first encountered the so-called American accent in a course at New Zealand's Unitec Institute of Technology, it was all he could do to get his mouth around the vowels and consonants. Hammering the correct "r" sound in a word like "gear" was like chasing a phantom. (New Zealanders drop the "r" in such sounds.) Mastering an unmodified "o" vowel sound proved more elusive still. New