Transform your Accent: Avoid Costly Mistakes
In the FREE Transform your Accent: Transform your Life Kit at www.masteryouraccent.com, we share three mistakes of accented professionals that ultimately limit earnings. The BEAUTIFUL REALITY is that there are SOLUTIONS to avoid continually making those mistakes! If you haven’t downloaded that kit, go ahead and do it. Consider it another INVESTMENT in your CAREER and PERSONAL LIFE. The solutions are there to advance your ability to FULLY express your skills, talents, personality and amazing spirit!
Here, we share another mistake that international speakers of English make and GIVE YOU the SOLUTION to shift beyond making it!
One Mistake that Causes International Professionals to limit their Success and Earnings and how to Prevent it:
Accented professionals practice on their own and keep putting off getting help to reduce their accents.
Solution
Before we talk about the solution, do you find yourself experiencing the following?
The clients that come to us for help share how they tried faithfully, but were unable to refine their accents on their own. They start out with complete motivation but get stuck. They read the articles we post on our website and they truly BEGIN to learn the tools to master their accents. They not only begin noticing MORE FREQUENTLY when their communication partners AREN’T GETTING THEIR INTENDED MESSAGE AS QUICKLY AS THEY’D LIKE. They also start noticing the SPECIFIC SOUND PATTERNS THAT ARE DIFFERENT FROM THEIR LANGUAGE AND ENGLISH. They increase their AWARENESS of how they make the sounds compared to how native English speakers make the sounds. What happens, however, is that they CAN’T QUITE GRASP HOW TO CHANGE the way they are making the sounds.
On the other hand, some clients experience yet a different response. Sometimes our clients tell us they TRY to HEAR the difference in sounds and they just can’t. THEIR EARS ARE SIMPLY NOT ACCUSTOMED TO THE SOUNDS. Their listening skills are simply refined for their native, or first language-not for English sounds. The truth about English is that some sounds have just SMALL differences in how the tongue is placed, or how the lips are shaped, or how the jaw is positioned. By making just those slight changes, THE SOUND ITSELF CHANGES. IT CAN MEAN SAYING “SAD” INSTEAD OF “SAID.” When the slight shifts in positioning are not made, the sound may is either distorted or is made to sound like a different sound.
Do you want to make QUICK GAINS to advance your accent knowledge to communicate? Are you trying to take responsibility for your communication breakdown but run into obstacles because you’re looking for more SPECIFIC TOOLS? Read on.
Recently, I worked very closely with a client on hearing the difference between the short “a” sound and the short “e” sound. The short “a” sound as in the word “sad” and the short “e” sound as in the word “said” are different in the positioning of the tongue, lips, and jaw. In order for her to be able to know when to make the changes in production, she needed to be able to identify words that had each of those sounds. I provided her with MANY SPECIFIC LISTENING EXERCISES CONTAINING ONLY THAT ONE SOUND AS THE DIFFERENCE IN ALL THE WORDS. With my providing specific exercises based on whether she was hearing the difference in the sounds, SHE WAS ABLE TO PROGRESS to the next step. We then started practicing saying the two different sounds. She made very QUICK gains that she wasn’t otherwise able to make on her own. In our upcoming articles and videos, we’ll be giving tips on how to make specific English sounds. You’ll be able to advance your communication skills as long as you’re able to identify opportunities to make these changes. If you have difficulty hearing the sound differences, that is a sign you could benefit from setting up a CUSTOMIZED accent modification program with an accent reduction specialist.
Clients progress to mastering the pronunciation of English sounds. Beyond refining pronunciation, our clients learn additional ways to effectively communicate. Linking sounds together, emphasizing specific syllables in multi-syllabic and compound words, using intonation to reveal true intent, and using figures of speech are additional techniques with which an accent modification specialist will help you master your accent.
Solution
Contact a certified accent modification specialist.
Many times when clients take the step of contacting an accent modification specialist, they immediately feel a sense of RELIEF and SUPPORT. The reason is that they are investing in their growth, professionally and personally. They finally valued the part of them that had for a long time been needing and wanting the SUPPORT, GUIDANCE, and EXPERTISE of a specialist.
If you’ve tried to “do it on your own,” it hasn’t been a matter of energy and intention. It’s been a matter of not knowing the speech science-based techniques, getting IMMEDIATE FEEDBACK and SPECIFICALLY SELECTED AUDITORY AND SPEECH PRODUCTION MODELS. Clients immediately notice results in their progress once they begin working one to one to reduce their accents. Honoring the value of your career and personal growth will allow you to fully express your skills, talents, spirit, and personality! Contact a certified accent modification specialist. Why try to be stoic when it’s holding you back from success in your personal and professional relationships? Why limit your earnings in order to feel strong because you are “doing it on your own?” Strength comes in asking for help. When you get help, you access the support you need.
We look forward to helping you take the next step in advancing your career and personal life through your accent! Remember, accent reduction is about changing your accent; not you. If you liked this article, you may enjoy the blog Change your Accent-not you. We are here at (920) 362-2359 to support you. You can also email cher@masteryouraccent.com. We understand accent modification may be a sensitive topic for you. You may have questions or you may want to just get to know us before deciding whether we would be a fit for your needs. We welcome your inquiries without pressure or obligation.
