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YOU AND YOUR ACCENT is a monthly feature in
the Asian Fortune Newspaper. Articles from the past six months can be
accessed here. To view other articles from this newspaper go to
www.asianfortunenews.com/
Speaking
Successfully
February, 2008
Happy New Year! The
year of the Rat celebrates new beginnings.
I hope this year brings many good beginnings to the special readers of
The Asian Fortune.
We are planning some new beginnings ourselves.
February, 2008, our new PRISM CD and workbook will be released, and will
now be sold commercially to other trainers across the country.
We’ve added new material and made lessons easier to locate.
All of our new clients who attend either the group or
private program will be using our new PRISM materials.
If you are ready to begin focusing on new and improved
communication skills, the year of the Rat is an excellent time to start.
Communication skills are key to job and personal interaction.
Reading, writing and speaking are all important business skills that
require on-going improvement. Those
who communicate best within their fields are highly valued and respected. As you rise within an organization, those skills become even
more important.
People often have wonderful ideas that fail to gain
attention due to an inability to effectively communicate or sell the concept to
others. Sometimes this is due to
limited vocabulary, poor grammar, unclear pronunciation or just plain lack of
proper vocal enthusiasm.
These deficit areas are not limited to non-native speakers
of English. Many Americans fail to
convey the proper message in either written or verbal communication.
They too, can be limited in job advancement due to failure to
communicate.
Make this the year to begin re-dedicating yourself to
developing those skills that will enhance your communication.
If a clearer and more professional speech style is one of those skills,
contact us about our March/April group program.
If
you wish to be alerted to our group programs or receive our newsletter for tips
and additional information, please subscribe to our newsletter at www.accentmodification.com
January, 2008
Happy New Year. I
hope 2008 will be a great year for all of you.
I am very excited because 2008 is the year our new PRISM accent
modification program is available to other trainers for use with their clients.
We’re going national!
Change can be very motivational, frightening, or exciting;
sometimes all three at once. The
New Year is a great time to consider what you need to change in your life;
a new job, a new house, a new you? No
matter what change you make, it requires hard work and risk.
Developing new speaking skills requires dedication and risk
taking. The in-class pronunciation
work is easy and fun, especially in groups where everyone is in the same
predicament. Learning what changes
you need to make and how to make them in the safety of the classroom is exciting
and motivational.
The hard part is the carry-over to the day-to-day speaking.
People are often afraid someone might ‘notice’ they are speaking
differently. But isn’t that what they wanted?
To speak differently?
The problem is that we can be very self-conscious of our
speech. We want to change, but we
fear the change. We fear the
failure of trying and not succeeding. We
fear people may notice we are speaking differently.
Yet, the reason they want to begin a program is because they are
self-conscious and people are noticing their errors. The reality is, there is little to lose and much to gain by
working to improve your communication skills!
For those willing to take the risk and expand their
communication skills, the rewards are great:
clearer communication, more self-confidence, and more options in the
workplace. Call to
learn more about our spring program if you are ready to make 2008 your ‘year
of change. Class begins March 8.
December, 2007
To
speak effectively we must first be heard! Too
often clients complain that they are frequently asked to repeat, which they find
frustrating.
Obviously,
the quick fix is SPEAK MORE LOUDLY. This
is easy to say, but difficult to do if your culture or upbringing equates
speaking up with yelling. In
addition, some clients developed a softer speaking voice as a defense mechanism
to ‘hide’ their insecurity of speaking a new language.
This softer way eventually became a habit, even though their
communication skills improved.
There
are physiological differences between voice projection for more volume, and
yelling. The first uses lung- power
to increase volume and does not cause an increase in tension in the vocal
mechanism. Yelling increases
tension in the throat and can cause damage to the vocal folds over time.
Voice
projection is an important skill to have for meetings and conversations,
especially
in
noisy environments. Rustling
papers, coughing, air conditioning or heating fans all impede our ability to
hear. If your voice must reach someone sitting 15 feet away, you
need to make changes to your speaking style so they can understand you more
easily.
An
interesting side benefit of voice projection is an improvement in articulation.
As you increase the volume you automatically begin to use more and lip
movement. It’s hard to mumble
when speaking up. Try it and see what happens.
Correct
posture and breath control are important requirements for voice projection to
avoid abusing your vocal folds. These
skills can be addressed as necessary during our communication skills improvement
program.
Due
to the potential for bad weather during the winter we will not offer our small
group program until later February. We
continue to offer private and corporate programs during this time.
If you wish to be alerted to our group programs or receive our newsletter
for tips and additional information, please subscribe to our newsletter at www.accentmodification.com
November, 2007
The
/r/ sound is a difficult sound for many non-native speakers to incorporate into
American English. We use this sound
as both a vowel (as in early) and a consonant (as in red).
The primary difference is that the r vowel has a slight vowel that
precedes it.
Most
cultures use a reduced r sound which sounds like our ‘uh’ sound.
The British and parts of the American northeast and southeast don’t use
the strong /r/ that most Americans use. But
these are exceptions. If you watch
Wheel of Fortune you will notice most contestants choose r as one of their
letters due to its high frequency use.
The
r ‘s can be produced in two different ways.
The tongue tip can be pointed up towards the roof of the mouth, or the
bulk of the tongue can be pulled back in the mouth (close to the position for
/k/ sound.) In either position, it
should not be making contact with other parts of the mouth.
I am unconcerned about which way a client uses, as long as it is clear
and produced well. We work from
client’s strengths when improving communication skills; our goal is to improve
communication skill, not to force clients into producing sounds in the exact
same manner as we do.
While
most clients are concerned about pronunciation of sounds, it is critical that
the melody, timing and rhythm are correct.
Throughout our pronunciation improvement work, we focus on integrating
these other skills. This results in
a much better over-all improvement in communication skills.
We
continue to offer small group, private and corporate programs.
Private and corporate programs can begin at any time.
If you wish to be alerted to our group programs or receive our newsletter
for tips and additional information, please subscribe to our newsletter at www.accentmodification.com
October, 2007
Final consonants are important features of American English
and one we address with nearly all of our clients. Including final consonants can be difficult if your native
language has few final consonants, or if it doesn’t change nouns and verbs by
adding sounds or syllables after the root word. For us, there is a difference between 1. I work every day,
and 2. I worked every day. The
first implies that you are still working, the second, that you are done working.
If you are dropping the ed in the second
example, confusion can result.
Final consonant deletion can be
critical for physicians. If you ask
for a dosage of ‘eighteen’, and omit the /n/ an inexperienced nurse, intern
or transcriptionist may hear eighty, resulting in severe consequences.
For consultants,
credibility is often at stake. Failure
for nouns and verbs to agree by deleting the s is often seen as a lack of
education in a speaking environment. It
can also confuse the listener, requiring them to ask for clarification.
Many non-native speakers have
excellent knowledge of English grammar as seen by their writing skill. But their
competency isn’t reflected in the spoken words if they omit sounds.
It is easy to determine where the problem lies by looking at routine
writing.
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