As strange as it may seem, I hate my accent and want to speak like an American because I think it sounds cooler and more like how I want to sound.
I’ve more or less perfected my version of an American accent on my own, I think.
But whenever I’m with other people who know me, I revert back to my old accent instinctively because that’s how they know me to sound like. I’m unsure about how I can subtly transition without them noticing a sudden change, such as through gradual exposure to my accent changing more each time they hear it. That way I could argue that I don’t know how it happened and it was a slow progression if they eventually realise it’s different, rather than something forced that I started doing one day.
The biggest thing I think is changing the pronunciation of certain words with “a”, such as going from “fahst” to “faast” for the word ‘fast’, or “mahsk” to “maask” for ‘mask’. Because it’s really one or the other, there’s no in-between. I feel like for most other sounds, a gradual transition into more American sounds can be possible, but that one’s like, how can I make the plunge and will people notice it straight away and think it’s weird?
Are you in the US? If so it makes a bit of sense if you want to “fit in” socially, but it’s also fine if you just like the accents. If you don’t live in the US then it might seem bizarre to people if you switch up your english accent (whatever it currently is). Bare that in mind.
But it’s your life, you do what you want. Plenty of people have elocution lessons for various reasons. If you feel embarrassed for whatever reason then tell people you’re taking elocution lessons. You could tell them you’ve chosen an American accent as you like the sounds, or it helps you project confidence or even because you feel it will open doors for you when communicating with other English speakers as it will remove bias or prejudice against your current accent.
There are lots of ways of justifying it if you feel the need. But hopefully your friends and family will just understand if you say you just like the way it sounds.
From their description of words they sound Swedish or something, which I think is sexy af and American is just normal and boring, but… I’m an American, living in America.