The importance of Pronouncing English Numbers When you pronounce English numbers accurately, your communication partners will focus on WHAT you’re saying and not on HOW you’re saying it.  You’ll sound more natural in your speech rhythm.  In this article, you’ll learn straight-forward rules for pronouncing numbers when speaking about time, amount, and money. Pronunciation of […]

Many times I hear complaints that speakers aren’t able to engage their audiences and get the reactions they want.  These speakers begin to doubt themselves and experience nervousness. They are frustrated because they spend a lot of time on crafting a beautiful speech with great words only to feel like they’ve still failed. 4 Common Speaker […]

Communication Barriers: Expressing your Gifts “I know my game very well.  It’s a gift.  The point is to use it.”  -Roger Federer, US Open Champion What does communication have to do with expressing your gifts?  Roger Federer, famous tennis player, and US Open Tennis Champion with 17 Grand Slam titles, spoke on one of my […]

Public Speaking Successes you already Possess There are many situations in which you are already successful with speaking.  You just may not know it. There are certainly techniques and strategies to empower you when you speak your story.  What you have RIGHT NOW  are tools you may not realize that you have. 5 Confidence-building Strategies Make a […]

Definition of Heteronym Many fluent speakers of English as a second language experience trouble with pronouncing heteronyms.  There’s a quick way to learn the pronunciations.  Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker & Lynda Katz-Wilner, authors of  Rules for Using Linguistic Elements of Speech: A Resource and Interactive Workbook, provide straightforward information for mastering pronunciation of heteronyms.  Heteronym pairs are word […]

Moving through Public Speaking Fears: Testing it There are two components to moving through fear.  One component consists of actually creating your own test for the fear.  The subsequent component involves preparing for the test.  Think about that.  Most of us have taken tests both when we were prepared and when we weren’t prepared.  What is the common thought and feeling before and after having taken […]

The Importance of Multiple Meaning Phrases There are benefits to using phrasal verbs in conversational speech. When you use them, your speech sounds more American. It connects you on an emotional level to your American communication partners.  When I was speaking and listening to Spanish as an American, figurative Spanish language gave me trouble.  I […]

Afraid People will see the REAL YOU? Visibility means more than someone seeing you physically.  It means people seeing your insecurities, your flaws.  Are you afraid of people seeing the REAL you?  You’re not alone.  You’re not wrong for feeling that way.  Are you afraid that if you advertise your craft, your skills, your professional […]

Accent Reduction Tip Syllable reduction is different than syllable stress. When you place stress on a syllable, you raise the pitch, volume, and length of your voice. When you reduce a syllable, you omit the syllable (or in some cases, the vowel of the syllable) completely. You simply don’t pronounce the syllable.  Marjorie Feinstein-Whittaker & […]

What you DO versus what you REPRESENT The key to unlocking the potential to inspire people while speaking or writing, is to engage them so they see  not only what you DO, but more importantly, what you REPRESENT.  So you’ve gotten your business running and are actively overcoming your fears of speaking so that you can […]