The Power of Intonation

Much of our focus when changing our speech is on pronunciation, or how we say the sounds in words.  This is important for being understood, but it is not the only element of an accent.  It might not even be the most important element when trying to make yourself understood in English.  The musical patterns of our speech, or intonation, might just be more important than how we say the words.  Intonation is complex and conveys meaning.  There are some rules and distinct American patterns. 

For an entertaining look at how much we use intonation to convey meaning, check out this video.  If you can't understand quite what they are saying, it's probably because they aren't actually speaking English.  But despite this, you can almost get the message.