Learn the Standard American Accent

My non-native students tell me the same thing…Even though the feel they have a good understanding and use of the English language, they lack confidence in communicating with their colleagues, managers, supervisors, and customers in the workforce. Many of my students have been approached by their supervisor or manager to seek out accent modification to improve speech clarity to help them communicate more effectively with their colleagues and their customers.

Well, let me start by saying your accent is “not bad”, but just different in the way it sounds to the American ear, and in turn native speakers then have difficulties understanding what you say. Just speaking clearly and slowing down does not help you automatically speak in the Standard American dialect, because the English language in how it is spoken is typically not “slow” at all.

Learning the pronunciation of vowels and consonants and connection of words is important. The use of word stress and intonation patterns you can learn are actually more important than the words you use.

We as accent instructors provide professional feedback that leads to the functional improvements you may be seeking.

Please let me know if you have any questions 🙂

Kimberly

East Coast Accent Modification and Corporate Speech Training