Accent elimination in Berlin

My accent is ok most times, but it could really be much better. My husband is useless with helping me on my accent, he has a tin ear. I thought perhaps there are people who could help me pinpoint my worst accent offenses so that I'd sound less idiotic in a shorter period of time...

Is what I'm talking about called Logopädie?

Keep talking to as many Germans as possible. It just comes with time. Watch lots of TV. The more you hear and speak it, the better your German flows.

Good suggestions of course, but I really am looking for professional help. I know people who've been here, fully integrated with perfect grammar, for decades and still have horrible accents. I don't want to be one of those people. It's difficult for me to hear it on my own.

I suspect you will not "get rid" of your accent. Unless you are wanting to be passed off as a genuine local just be proud of it.

My accent hadn't done me much harm. Initially everyone knew I came from UK, then they "knew" I came from Holland. More recently I was asked if I came from Emden so its getting closer...

Right; phone book it is.

(but I appreciate the sentiment, honest.)

Well I know a few Germans that did it and if they can pass off as Americans I'm sure an English speaker could pass off as German with enough practice.

Like Dr. Wernher von Braun (US citizen with very strong accent)!

Anyone know the Tom Lehrer song with the famous words: "Vonce ze rockets go up who cares ver zey come down - Zats not my department says Wernher von Braun"

Find a starving artist, singer or actor, and have them help you work on your aussprache.
Post a sign at the Uni, or theater or ask a friend to recommend someone.

you'll learn some grammar in the process, i'm sure.

Tor's suggestion is a good one: I did this in the past for Chinese - getting my pronunciation corrected by a guy who had previously worked doing radio broadcasting and dubbing.

It's a while back now, so I don't remember exactly how long I spent on it, but it was something along the lines of a 2 hour session once a week for 6 (???) weeks. Just that short length of time was enough to make a huge difference. Everyone I knew (Chinese speakers, that is) were saying things like: Wow, what happened!

Fribble, if you find out how to do this, can you post it please?
I also want to improve my accent but havent done anything about it yet; the only thing i know is that my teacher said we pronounce things too softly, sort of slurring the the W and D, T and Z and all the things that one should pronounce more staccato.

It is difficult as there will be sounds that your ear will not be able to hear because you were not exposed to them early enough in your cortical development but it's not impossible to get really, really close. My father learned German in his late 20's and is mistaken for a native speaker 99% of the time.

The only advice I can give is enunciate the hell out of every consonant and exagerate the movements of your mouth.

Haha that's why I can hear my own accent...I grew up hearing my oma speak.

The only trouble is i find its quite hard to do this without spraying the other person in saliva.

At least you are not trying to speak Swiss dialect...

Actually Im so clueless, I very probably could be.

Don't worry, Germans have trouble with that too.

Stop writing about it and just open the ears. You'll need to decide if you want speak Hochdeutsch or with a regional accent. In Berlin it's likely that that's what'll happen anyway. So woar dat joot !
In reality, you should stop worrying about accent and concentrate on communication i.e. dialogue. Accent will come later, if you're interested. I made far too much effort with accent at the beginning and it began to work against me until everybody thought I knew what they were talking about so made zero concessions.

Try www.dialekt.ch The Appenzeller's wonderfully unintelligible !

Yes but some times communication and dialect are linked, if im pronouncing stuff unintelligbly to someone who is used to Berlin dialect or hochdeutsch but i sound to them like a Martian then its not going to help matters.

Because people don't move to Berlin from the rest of Germany and every Berliner has an awful Berliner accent...

Good luck, my mother in law has been in the usa for 50 years and still has a strong German accent.

Try recording yourself! I taught English here for a while and that's what I would instruct my students to do. The problem as someone said in an earlier post, is that it's difficult to really hear yourself when you speak. I often think I'm pronouncing something correctly, because it sounds right in my head, but what it sounds like to the average German is shit! After recording yourself, perhaps get your boyfriend (?), or a German friend say the same thing with their German accent into the recorder and than you can hear the differences.

That's actually really useful advice. Singers do that all the time to help their pitch, and I know some actors that videotape themselves. Sometimes things just sound different in your head than they do in real life and it's great to get some perspective.