Ana

I think it's very nice to compliment the Australian and British actors when they are able to do a standard American accent... Yes, I'm jealous. But also begging for some understanding... It's not as hard for them, they all speak the same language! I can switch from my Azorean accent to the standard Portuguese accent and to the Brazilian accent easily too... When we are dealing with the language we grew up hearing everyday for more than twenty years it's obviously not that difficult to switch some sounds, not only because you are totally comfortable with the sentence structure and familiar with almost all the words, but also because you know which sounds in your accent sound differently from the other accent- and you know it naturally, without having to write down pronunciation codes and memorizing them.