Does it really matter? Pronunciation Guide #2

In my last blogpost, I discussed which accent I want to acquire and how to overcome my pronuncation weaknesses. However, I ignored one basic question in terms of accent reduction: does a native-like accent really matter?

Well, yes, it does. Significantly to be frank. Most people think that expressing themselves in a understandable way suffices; that the "what to say" is more important than the "how to say it". However, the better your accent is, the better your foreign language skills are judged. Having a perfect and native-like accent will make you appear like a native speaker and hide the little grammar and lexical mistakes you may make. It will allow you to completely integrate into the country where the language is spoken since you will impress native speakers as a friend rather than a foreigner.

This thought has circulated in my mind for the last few days and really made me contemplate about how to master the American accent. I did further research on the topic of accent reduction and improvement and found an incredibly interesting text:

The Virginia Theatre
This passage contains all the sounds in American English.
It is usually rather easy to reach the Virginia Theatre.
Board car number 56 somewhere along Churchill Street and ride to the Highway. Transfer there to the Mississippi bus. When you arrive at Judge Avenue, begin walking towards the business zone.
You will pass a gift shop displaying things which often look so clever that you will wish yourself young again. Such things as book and toys and, behind the counter, a playroom with an elegant red rug and smooth, shining mirrors. Beyond this shop are the National Bank and the Globe garage. Turn south at the next corner. The theatre is to your left.

How you should use this text to improve your pronunciation skills? Well, as it contains all American English sounds, you "simply"
have to master this one text. I asked an American friend of mine to read the text out loud to me and I recorded him. Then I started practising, reading the text over and over again while listening to the recording of my American fellow. I tried to imitate his sounds as best as possible and paid close attention to the prosody of his pronouncing.

I really hope that I can enhance my pronunciation skills with this method -- because I don not want to be seen as a foreigner by the Americans, but as one of them.