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 […]

Accent Reduction: Emotional Support Accent Reduction is a powerful method for improving your ability to be understood by others, whether in professional or social situations.  Aside from the technical components, it’s important to consider the psychological factors.  When you implement your techniques with the added ingredients of support, structure, regular practice, fun, and much more, […]

Moving through Doubt Our doubts in our abilities tend to show up most when we are in career transitions such as starting a new job, changing careers, or starting a business about which we are passionate.  It’s important to acknowledge these doubts.  However, necessary to move through the doubts in order to be successful.  In […]

Interference from Famous Chess Player’s Accent A very interesting number one-ranked famous chess player, Magnus Carlsen was recently talking to Charlie Rose, one of my favorite interviewers.  Magnus was consistently pronouncing the letter “s” without voicing in all contexts.  This caused a problem for the following reason.  Depending on the surrounding speech sounds, the letter “s” […]

Why Y-insertions are Important for Sounding American Y-insertions are important because it transforms your non-native English language pronunciation habits to American English pronunciation habits.  It’s a straightforward concept that is easy to understand.  Applying this rule will prevent future communication breakdown.  It is one American accent tool, that when combined with other accent modification tools, […]

Why it’s Important to Fuel your Audience It’s important to fuel your audience because you want to stand out as unique in your niche market.  Your audience craves value.  These strategies will create value for your audience in your live presentations and copy material. 3 Straightforward Strategies to Fuel your Audience to Want More 1. […]

Exaggeration Leads to Disrupted Speech Linking—-means—–that—-we—-continue—-breathing—-and—-voicing—-in—-between—-words.  When you read that sentence it didn’t sound connected.  Speakers of English as a second language experience a common challenge.  When they begin learning pronunciation in accent reduction, they over-exaggerate their pronunciation. Overcoming exaggerated speech Linking will result in your speech sounding natural and flowing. When your speech sounds […]