• Out of all the foreign accents, the one which is most popular amongst Americans is the British accent.  The Australian accent comes in second.
• As per an analysis, most Americans don’t like really strong foreign accents, since such accents and their respective intonation tend to confuse Americans regarding the context in which a particular statement has been spoken.
• Americans find certain accents interesting especially if they are uncommon like the Scottish or Irish accent..

Apart from these facts, pronunciation also holds a vital place in communication; sometimes even more than the grammar, since it creates the first impression of the speaker in the listener’s mind. Poor pronunciation and lack of command in English may make Americans uncomfortable. They may ask you to repeat some sentences, if they don’t understand you. It may become quite awkward for the person to repeat the same thing over and over again.

This can vary from culture to culture, as well, in addition to the differences in languages being spoken. Studies show that Americans find Asian accented English more difficult to understand. Most of the South Asian languages have a very different grammatical structure from the Indo European languages, and there are many vowels, which are not shared with other Indo European languages.  Moreover, the prosodic characteristics (rhythm, intonation, etc.) of Asian accented English is very different from the Indo-European accent.

Non-native English speakers should focus both on grammar, vocabulary and prosody as well as pronunciation. Accented English is fine as long as your listener can understand you.

EnglishWithoutAccent.com staff

Speaking in monotone is more than just a problem. It is boring. There is no other way to say it. The problem with a monotone delivery is that it puts your audience to sleep and it does so very quickly. If actors were to speak in monotone, television and movies would not be one of our greatest forms of entertainment. The other problem if you speak in a monotone is that it gives the wrong impression to your listeners. It says that you do not care because no emotion is being seen, heard, or felt.

I worked with a lovely woman by the name of Dawn. In person, Dawn displayed a lot of color when we talked. Not comfortable on the telephone, however, Dawn would speak in a monotone which left the impression that she was a cold, distant person. Nothing could have been further from the truth. While her heart may have been saying one thing, her reaction on the phone was saying something totally different. Dawn recognized the problem and made the change, both in her delivery and in her acceptance of the telephone.

Imagine watching a television program or a movie and everything the actors said was expressed with no emotion, no feeling, no life, no animation, no color. Chances are you would quickly change the station or turn the television off. Can you appreciate that were you to hold a presentation or give a speech with a voice that displayed no emotion or no feeling, your audience would not be very impressed?

In public speaking, we all have something to sell. It need not be a tangible product. It could be an idea or an opinion. Even delivering an informative presentation has something to sell and that is simply for your audience to want to listen to you. If a group of people have gone out of their way to give you 20 minutes, 40 minutes or an hour of their time, it is your responsibility to make your presentation entertaining.

Do you know why Zig Ziglar is so successful? Because he speaks with passion. Ziglar could sell anything to anybody, not because of his products or ideas but because of his passion. His passion is mesmerizing, inviting, and motivating. But, passion can only be felt or perceived with a colorful delivery. You may indeed be very passionate about your product or your idea, but if your vocal variety, your facial expression and your body language are flat, then your passion is in hiding.

Learning to speak with color is much easier than you may think if you will allow your emotions to be seen and heard. It will take some practice but a good exercise that I recommend would be to video-tape yourself saying the sentence below with no expression whatsoever. Then say it again allowing yourself to be expressive – by means of your voice, your facial expression and your body language. (Do this in private at first.)

I want to go to the game tonight even though I don’t have any tickets.

[If you need some help with this exercise, after you record it the 1st time with a flat, emotionless delivery, try saying it the 2nd time with a smile on your face, nodding your head in agreement at the same time. You may feel foolish doing this but trust me, you will sound much better in your 2nd attempt than your 1st.]

Now, play back the 2 takes. Was there a difference in expression between the two? Did you actually look or sound foolish in your 2nd read as you may have thought? If you gave this exercise a fair try, I would be willing to bet that your 2nd take was definitely more interesting than your 1st.

Don’t keep your passion hidden the next time you give a speech or presentation. Allow your emotion to be seen and heard and I guarantee the sales will follow.

The Voice Lady Nancy Daniels offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as Voicing It!, the only video training program on voice improvement. Visit Voice Dynamic or watch Nancy in a brief video as she describes The Power of Your Speaking Voice.

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Major sections that constitute business communication include advertising, marketing, customer support, public relations and consumer activity. In order to expand the business to reach more and more people, it is necessary to be familiar with the communication style and customs of the prospective customers. In addition, the business entities involved in verbal interaction face challenges in communicating effectively and efficiently as they frequently struggle with understanding accented English. Some of the issues that are regularly faced in business communication regarding the foreign accent include the following:

1) Waste of time, money and resources in trying to understand the other party: Communications done in fields like customer support and public relations cover a wide range of languages and cultures. The presence of a foreign accent when dealing with customer complaints and concerns may cause problems in clearly understanding the words said by the other party. For example: The native American English speakers pronounce certain words by combining two words to make one. These are called contractions (e.g. can’t, don’t, shouldn’t). Speakers of English as a second language very often substitute certain vowel sounds. For example “ship” may sound like “sheep”. These differences in pronouncing English can cause both parties to struggle to understand the basic meaning of what is being conveyed. This leads to inefficient use of time, money and resources.

2) Frustration and lack of confidence: For the reasons stated above, frustration and lack of confidence may prevail in both the parties thereby leading to fewer clients and finally impacting the business directly.
Successful business communication can be achieved only when such issues can be addressed. A business’ growth relies on its ability to connect and successfully communicate worldwide. This can be done by providing proper training and workshops for intercultural language awareness and English pronunciation to both native and foreign English speakers.
Source: EnglishWithoutAccent.com

Video Lesson for Spanish speakers: Pronunciation of initial /r/ in English

Developing good communications skills is important, so that we convey our messages clearly and prevent any misunderstanding. When we have communication breakdowns at work, we spend time and energy trying to make amends. It is hard for anyone to admit that their unclear communication caused the breakdown, and thus apologize. It’s wiser to make a conscious effort to prevent communication breakdowns instead.

One way to avoid conflicts at work is to communicate clearly and frequently with your colleagues on the following:

• what you are currently doing for the company

• what are some goals you are striving for at work, and even some of your personal ones that may affect work

• some of the difficulties you are facing with customers, management, colleagues etc (without sounding like you are whining and complaining)

With the increased use of e-mails and text messages, we may forget the value of face-to-face interactions. When we communicate with a person face-to-face, we can build trust and open-ness with our verbal and non-verbal cues. We can also sense and understand the other person’s point of view and what they feel.

Use e-mails if you have specific requests or updates for a colleague, and the message can be read at their convenience. With e-mails, you can still sound cordial, instead of distance. Just a few more seconds of typing some niceties like “Have a great day!” can bring a feeling of goodwill to the reader.

At work today we tend to communicate more via e-mail and this has an impact on our interpersonal communication. For example, if you communicate your unhappiness or anger via email, pause a moment before you hit the ‘Send’ button! Cool down, review what you have written, and edit it so that it sounds more objective. Stick to the facts and avoid character attacks. Be objective and constructive. If you are criticizing something, offer a solution to improve the situation, if possible.

As you learn to communicate more effectively at work, you will be better able to achieve your goals, garner more support during setbacks, and feel much happier at work.

Communication is an art of conveying message to the other party. Imagine in the game of “Pass it on”. One has to convey the hidden message that he received to another party without uttering a word. Similarly, an email message can only convey the content over but not the emotions.

A face-to face communication is crucial. In some books, there are some eye assessing cues that tell us the eye can indicate the truth being said by the party.

In fact, 55% of the communication is actually done through visual communication. 38% is done through vocal communication. The remaining 7% will be through verbal communication. This clearly indicates that the body language – a combination of visual & verbal gives a very high percentage while communicating with one another.

If you like my article, you may go to my website and register yourself to receive more.

Cheers

Dennis Kwan is a trainer, speaker, author, a volunteer at Changi prison and also a Neuro-Linguistics Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner, Hypno-Therapist, Time-line Practitioner. He graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Commerce. He is also certified in Project Management Professional (PMP), Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) and Certified ISO 9001:2000 Auditor. For more information, please visit his website http://www.dennis-kwan.com or email him at [mailto:dennis-kwan@dennis-kwan.com]dennis-kwan@dennis-kwan.com

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Whether you’re standing before an audience of businesspeople or your classmates, the effect is the same. All of your preparation flies out the window, your knees knock together and you must force yourself to take the stage. Public speaking is a terrifying experience for most people, but it need not be. Most people would rather have a root canal performed than speak in front of a group of people. However, performing well in this environment is not as difficult as it sounds. In fact, it can be an enjoyable experience once you get past your fear of public speaking.

To succeed in the corporate world and to some extent your own personal world, overcoming your fear of public speaking is essential. Which poses the questions: How do you get past this seemingly insurmountable obstacle? How do you bury that fear deep in your heart and not let it overwhelm your defenses? How do you survive such a ghastly ordeal?

1. It’s Not as Bad as It Seems
The very first thing you need to understand is that it is not as bad as it seems. You are focusing on the bad things, the things that might happen or could happen that would make you seem foolish or unprepared, that would make your audience laugh in derision, rather than in good humor. Such fears are natural, but baseless. The audience is not there to laugh at you; they have no desire to pick apart your performance looking for absurdities. They have come to hear you speak. They believe you have valuable information to impart and they want to know what you have to say. They obviously place a great deal of value on your opinion and expertise; else, they would have found somewhere else to go.

2. Everyone Experiences a Fear of Public Speaking
Everyone experiences a fear of public speaking, no matter how experienced a speaker they might be. This is important to understand – everyone feels the same fear, the same trepidation. Everyone gets the same butterflies in their stomach and experiences the same sweat-slicked palms; even those with years of experience under their belts still succumb to the fear of public speaking. So what does this tell you? It tells you two things: first, the fear you feel is natural and nothing of which to be ashamed. Second, it tells you that you are not alone and if you work through it, you can reap tremendous rewards.

3. You are the Expert – You were Chosen to Speak for a Reason
Perhaps you have the most in-depth understanding of a particular product’s features. Perhaps you are responsible for developing and implementing new techniques with wide-ranging ramifications. Maybe you are the only person who understands your company’s new product/service and must explain how it works to potential investors or even to company sales reps. Regardless of the reason, you are the expert – it was no mere accident you were chosen to speak at this event. You have important, vital, unique information to impart, which brings enormous value to your audience. This is your chance to share your information, so that alone should help you resolve your fear for public speaking.

4. Understand the Value You Bring to the Table
Once you understand the value you bring to the table, the rest of the process is very simple. While overcoming that fear of public speaking might seem impossible, you can use numerous techniques to help you move past it. For instance, meditation-style breathing techniques, used before you take the stage, will help slow your racing heart and stem the flood of adrenaline surging through your body.

Remember that the audience is likely not going to notice your sweating palms or your nervousness; in many ways, fear of public speaking is simply all in your mind. Having a positive mindset and the right outlook on the event will help you move past this fear. Remember, you are the expert here, take that to heart, and all else will fall into place and you can confidently deliver your engaging speech.

David Wilkins has put together a complementary 20 page report full of simple and effective ways to reduce your fear of public speaking, which will help you quickly deal with and solve any anxiety issues. To download it instantly visit: http://www.publicspeakingmentor.com/banishfearreport.html

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Adapting to another country can be an overwhelming experience by itself, but add the difficulty of working in another language, and you may find yourself feeling like a helpless child. Here are some tips that can help you be better understood when speaking English.

Believe it or not, you should probably slow your speech down. Not too much, just a little. You may feel that Americans speak quickly and you need to keep up. But give the other person some time to adjust to your accent. Surprisingly, in such a multicultural country as the U.S., many people haven’t had a lot of exposure to foreign accents.

Don’t say you understand if you don’t. Say “I’m sorry; I didn’t quite understand what you meant.” If you think you know what the other person has said, but want to make sure, you should paraphrase. For example, say “Let me make sure I understand. You want me to be here tomorrow at 10:00. Is that right?”

Don’t let your limited English keep you from talking. One of the biggest mistakes people make is thinking they have to be perfect before they speak. The truth is- the only way to become perfect is by speaking the language.

Get help with your English. For general English, try an intensive language program or a community college ESL class. Or if you want to specifically work on your pronunciation, get a coach or enroll in the American Accent Workshop at www.accentworkshop.com.

Whatever you do, don’t give up. Becoming a fluent English speaker is definitely an obtainable goal… but only if you keep working on it.

Sheri Summers is an Accent Modification Coach. She works with individuals who speak English as a second language to help them communicate more clearly and gain more confidence.

One-on-one, small-group, and workshop-type classes are offered in person or over the internet. Please visit http://www.accentworkshop.com or http://www.sherisummers.com for more information.

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More Bad Habits That Spoil the Development of Good English Language Speaking Skills

In the first part of this article post, we began a discussion of seven bad habits which spoil the development of good English or other foreign language speaking skills. In this second part, we’ll continue with some additional aspects to be considered when teaching and learning to speak English or another foreign language.

4. Leaning Face, Chin or Head Against Hand, Fingers or Palm

By all means, learners need to avoid leaning their head against their arm, fingers, palm or hand when speaking. This prevents correct enunciation in a number of ways which can be easily avoided. Be sure that you and your foreign language learners sit or stand up straight during speaking practice sessions with hands and arms away from the head or face.

5. Having Generally Poor Posture

When speaking, neither you nor your foreign language learners should stoop, slump or be hunched over in any manner. This restricts the chest cavity, overly compresses the diaphragm and muffles breathing and tone production.

6. Elision, Slurring or Generally Poor Enunciation of Spoken Sounds

If the practice of “cutting off” or eliding word endings is common in your or the EFL learners first language (L1), careful attention should be paid to avoiding this habit crossing over into the speech of English or other foreign language. One technique that is very helpful with this is the “mirror technique”. Briefly, a mirror is used by the foreign language learners to watch themselves speaking and pronouncing in the target foreign language.

7. Not Correcting “Problem Sounds” When Speaking

When someone is learning English as a foreign language, they tend to get stuck on a certain series of problem sounds in English. These “problem sounds” tend to be quite specific depending on the first language (L1) of the learner. Since these problem sounds are predictable, for the most part, in a particular L1 language group, the English as a foreign language teacher must take care in teaching their correct formation and pronunciation. Native Spanish speakers, for example, will need to work on the correct formation and pronunciation of letters and sounds such as: sh, ch, x, g, w, p, b, v and “th”, among others.

Promote the Development of English or Foreign Language Speaking Skills

One final point for now in regards to good speaking skills development is the use of dental prosthetics and appliances. If your learners have them they can either be removed, if possible, during English class as an aid to better pronunciation, if applicable. Alternatively, the EFL teacher and EFL learner must take impediments caused by dental or other prosthetics into account when practicing speech and pronunciation in English or other foreign languages. Be sure to consult with a qualified Dentist or Orthodontist too in order to better understand the inter-related relationship between dental mechanics and speech production.

Prof. Larry M. Lynch is an EFL Teacher Trainer, Intellectual Development Specialist, prolific writer, expert author and public speaker. He has written ESP, foreign language learning, English language teaching texts and hundreds of articles used in more than 120 countries. Get your FREE E-book, “If You Want to Teach English Abroad, Here’s What You Need to Know” and English language teaching and learning information at: http://bettereflteacher.blogspot.com Need a blogger or copywriter to promote your school, institution, service or business or an experienced writer and vibrant SEO content for your website, blog or newsletter? Contact the author at the above blog address for more information.

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One student struggles to learn English.  His speaking is slow and hesitant.  His pronunciation is garbled and heavily accented. He is painful to listen to.

Another student speaks easily.  English flows from her, seemingly without effort.  Her pronunciation is clear; her voice is strong.

We all know both types of students.  The question is, what creates the difference between them.  Why do some students forever struggle to speak English fluently, while others seem to do so naturally, with a minimum of effort?

Some teachers believe that genes or ingrained talent determine a students success.  But there is no research to support this opinion and it is, in fact, totally false.   Students do not fail or succeed because of talent or genetics.

Success or failure are ultimately determined by one simple thing:  how the student learns.   Students who use inferior learning methods get inferior results.  Students who employ the very best learning strategies get superior results.  It is that simple.

The trick, of course, is knowing which methods to use.  There are, of course, a wealth of highly effective English learning methods.  Unfortunately, most are not taught in traditional schools.

One of the most effective methods for learning English is to learn the language physically.   Research by Dr. James Asher shows that combining physical movement with language learning produces powerful results.   Dr. Asher developed a method called Total Physical Response as a way to teach language through physical movement.

What we find is that combining physical movement with intellectual learning creates stronger neurological connections in our nervous system.  In other words,  we more quickly wire our brains..  thus learning faster, remembering more, and remembering longer.

Studies at San Jose State University show that students who moved their bodies while learning English learned more vocabulary and grammar in a shorter time, compared with students who learned the same material while sitting still.   More remarkably, when tested one year later, the students who learned with movement still remembered 80% or more of what they had learned, while the non-moving students had forgotten over 80%.

So how can you put this to use?  One simple suggestion is to always be moving while learning English.   Go for a walk or run as you listen to a lesson- do not sit still as you learn.

For even better results, try this:   as you listen to a story or article, physically mime the action.  For example, if you hear the word go, move your feet as if walking.  Pretend you are an actor who is physically acting out the action of the story.

By doing this, you wire the language deeply into your nervous system and subconscious.  As a result, you will learn more English, remember it longer, and be able to use it more easily.

AJ Hoge helps international students [http://www.EffortlessEnglishClub.com]learn English. He is the Director of The Effortless English Club.

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Nowadays it’s necessary for every modern person to know at least one foreign language, as it can help to find a high-paid job, improve social status and get acquainted with people from other countries. However when someone teaches a foreign language often very little attention is paid to learning pronunciation. Indeed, it’s very strange that this very important language skill is usually set aside as secondary important and when it comes to pronunciation we often have at best only basic oral skills and slight knowledge of phonetics.

However it is very important to place high emphasis on phonetics and pronunciation when learning a foreign language. Native speakers won’t understand you, if your pronunciation of words incorrect or word order is wrong. That’s why one should have a great concern in using pronunciation guide, doing pronunciation exercises, learning pronunciation rules, consulting pronunciation dictionaries. Before starting any course in phonetics or downloading any pronunciation software it is useful to have some prior knowledge of phonetics and pronunciation teaching.

In the most general sense Phonetics may be defined as the study of sounds and the human voice. Phonetics has three main branches: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics. But for those who want to learn to speak a foreign language it is articulatory phonetics that is of primary importance.

You may be interested in the question: what pronunciation exercises are the most efficient and useful for a person who wants to improve his/her pronunciation skills? Here are some tips, which can help you to solve your pronunciation problems and obtain [http://www.qwertystudios.com/speech/tts-study/study-accurate-pronunciation/study-accurate-pronunciation.html]accurate pronunciation:

1.Learn pronunciation rules

2.Consult pronunciation dictionary

3.Pay attention to word stress

4.Listen to songs and film dialogues to improve your intonation skills

5.Record your speech and compare it with the original

6.Master your pronunciation skills uttering tongue twisters

7.Use computer programs to make language learning easier

8.Listen to texts in background mode

9.Read aloud to polish the pronunciation of difficult sounds

Today among numerous language teaching aids, it is learn to read programs and pronunciation software which are of vital importance for those who want to communicate easily with native speakers.

Speaking Notepad is the very pronunciation teaching program which will give you an invaluable opportunity to listen to pronunciation of words as many times as you need it. You can choose by yourself the themes of the texts and their complexity. With Speaking Notepad attaining powerful pronunciation and improving reading skills turns into a pleasant pastime.

Konstantin Artemev http://www.qwertystudios.com

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