Do You Have to Sound like a Native Speaker?

Does becoming fluent in English mean that you have  to sound like a native speaker? In my opinion,  

no. If you're learning English, then the only  people who need to sound exactly like a native  

speaker are spies and actors. So, if this isn't  you, you may rethink your goals because I don't  

believe in accent elimination. I believe in  accent reduction. You want to speak clearly and  

naturally. These are realistic goals. The truth  is a lot of native speakers don't speak clearly,  

and they don't always have rich vocabulary, so not  all native speakers are the best speech models for  

you. You should aim to speak accurately and  appropriately. Consider your speech models  

because, depending on your goals, you probably  want a model that uses standard English -- in  

my case standard American English. No one has  perfect grammar. I don't have perfect grammar,  

but I try to use standard grammar because  it serves me best in the greatest number  

of situations. So again, don't get too tied up  in trying to sound like a native speaker. Sound  

like yourself, but speak clearly, accurately,  naturally, appropriately, and confidently!