Speech improvement: "Why doesn't my speech improve when I work on it by myself?"

As a speech coach, I get this question often.

A person decides to change some aspect of his speech. He tries to say a word differently, and sometimes sounds better. Then when he has a conversation, he sounds like he always does.

Does this sound familiar?

Here's what's wrong with this approach. A baby does not go directly from babbling to having a conversation, and neither should anyone else changing his speech.

Instead, make sure you are working on the right skills to change your speech.

(Many people don't know exactly what to change.) Then practice the skill in the same sequence as when you learned to talk: sounds, words, sentences, short and longer conversations. (Reading aloud can fit in well before conversations.) Over-practice each step, and listen to yourself on a recording, to make sure the skill is truly learned well.

How does having a speech coach help?  An expert speech coach knows  the right skills you need to develop, uses correct exercises to do it efficiently, and gives you sufficient feedback on how well you are doing. A speech coach has the expertise to get you through the process as efficiently as possible, so you don't waste time and effort,  and has the experience to know alternatives to use when needed.

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive speech coaching, customized to your specific needs.  If your own efforts to improve your speech didn't work, visit Business Speech Improvement for expert help!

Worried about your communication skills affecting your job performance?

The telephone rang at Business Speech Improvement with a call from a person I'll call "Pat".  "I really want to improve my speech so I can get promoted."  Another call came from "Bob" (a pseudonym). "My assistant is great, but customers say she's so hard to understand, especially on the telephone.

Do you, too, see the connection between your (or your employee's) speech and job performance?

The first thing you need to do in this situation is to write down examples of exactly what you want to improve. Is the concern due to mispronunciations of various words, and if so, what are they? Is a fast rate of speech, or tone of voice, part of the problem? Maybe the primary issue is giving a presentation in front of  your supervisor or a client. Is the concern due to a regional accent, sometimes called "country speech"? Does the problem occur all the time, only when you are nervous or speaking to a certain type of person or group?

Then, decide how you want to get training. Do you want to get help through in-person or online coaching? These would give you helpful feedback and customized exercises for your specific needs. Another option is inexpensive e-books on communication, which give practical exercises and are available 24/7.

 Business Speech Improvement offers some small group in-person seminars, too; one on American English Pronunciation Improvement for Non-native Professionals is enrolling learners now. This is a three day intensive, customized seminar with  a follow-up plan.  Get  the help that you, specifically, need, in a small group environment. Time is included so you can practice some of the words you use at your job! Check it out now and find out how past learners felt about this seminar!

Great speech makes business sense; enroll in the seminar or coaching program of your choice and take the first step today!

American English Pronunciation: Which "th" sound ( ø or ∂) do I use?

                          

English has two "th" sounds, and there is a phonetic symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet for each one. Attendees in the seminar on American English Pronunciation Improvement for Non-native Professionals often ask me which "th" sound they should use for a given word.

If the word has a long vowel sound, use the voiced "th". An example is the word "bathe". If the word has a short vowel sound, use the unvoiced "th", as in the word "bath". If you are not sure,  use whichever sound comes naturally!

 

For more on Business Speech Improvement's seminars and e-books on verbal communication, click here.

Surprising rules of American English Pronunciation

Surprising rules of American English Pronunciation

American English comes from many other languages and countries. Non-native speakers are often surprised by some of our silent letters and exceptions to the rules.

There are  5 words in English with a silent "th" in them. They are asthma, clothes, months (but not month), isthmus and northeaster (which is a type of blizzard).

Five words in American English pronunciation have a silent "h" at the beginning of the word. (There are many more with a silent "h" in the middle of the word.) These 5 are heir, honor, honest, hour, and herb (although some people do pronounce the "h" in herb).  Many words have a silent h in the middle of the word, in English. When ""gh" and "rh" are at the front of a word, such as ghost and rhinoceros, the "h" is silent.

Do you want to learn more of these rules and exceptions? A seminar on American English Pronunciation Improvement for Non-native Professionals is now enrolling learners! Get the details and enroll today at www.Business SpeechImprovement.com/accents !

How people can learn to speak American English more clearly - in only three days

People in the corporate world from other countries may want to learn to speak American English more clearly - and fast. Possibly they are going to a meeting in the USA, or to give a presentation there. People in the Raleigh-Durham area of N. Carolina (USA) will now have the chance to experience this. Business Speech Improvement will soon be moving there! The first step, as in solving any problem, is to determine what needs to be changed. What sounds are mispronounced? How are the rate of speech and the intonation pattern (how the voice goes up and down for questions, excitement, etc)? An expert corporate speech pathologist has years of experience and education to determine this quickly. Certain sounds are easier to change than others are. A customized plan is designed, considering the difficulty level of the specific sounds, which may have to do with where the errors are being made, the person's native language patterns and other factors. Finally, the training can start. Using the customized plan for each learner, the group learns the process of change and specific exercises needed to make the sounds correctly. Each learner receives a lot of feedback, to give him knowledge and confidence. Throughout the process, each learner has practice in rating his own attempts, so he can later judge his speech patterns accurately. Finally, when many new sounds have been mastered, learners practice on simulations of their own work situations, such as doing an interview, giving a lecture, making telephone calls or a business presentation. Doing this intensive process for eight hours a day, with frequent feedback and a variety of exercises, has helped many people make real progress. As a satisfied client, an engineer, reported, "Our speech, like our products, should be right - the first time!" People wanting to enroll in the small group and individual coaching programs offered by Business Speech Improvement should visit here. For those living elsewhere, click here for information about our e-books and mp3 files. Training in other speech topics is also available.

The secret to saying tongue twisters!

Many people who speak in public worry about how to pronounce long, unfamiliar words or other words in a phrase when they have similar sounds, called tongue-twisters. Tongue twisters come in many languages. American English ones, Russian ones, German ones, Spanish ones and ones in many other languages. The secret to saying tongue twisters is to practice them 3 times very slowly, without using your voice. Just move your lips, tongue and jaw slowly while you think about the movements you are making. Let's use Business Speech Improvement's slogan as an example. We are a "one stop speech spot". Say that 3 times very slowly, without using your voice. Think about the "st" in "stop" coming before the "sp" in "spot". Then try the slogan three times fast! Then, whenever you get a single difficult word to pronounce, or a difficult phrase, try this method: 3 times slowly and then 3 times fast. It's easy! Business Speech Improvement offers many types of communication e-books and coaching. Visit us online now!

Silent letters in American English pronunciation Many readers of this blog come from other countries. If you are one of them, or know someone who is trying to speak English more clearly, this blog post is for you! American English, first of all, is pronounced differently than British English. Many of the vowel sounds are made slightly differently, and have a different intonation pattern as well, which is what gives it a British or an American sound. This blog is about American English. We have a lot of silent letters. In some cases, the letters are silent only in specific words. For example, "th" is written but not spoken in 5 words. One of these words is "asthma". When "l" comes after an "a", as in calm, walk, talk, and psalms, the "l" is not spoken either. A third example is when there is a "sch", as in school or schedule. In these cases, Americans pronounce this as a "sk" sound. Business Speech Improvement provides intensive training in American English Pronunciation Improvement for Non-native Professionals. Training is offered through open enrollment seminars, individual coaching, e-books and an mp3-file.

Speech improvement training for non-natives who already speak English

A big concern of many professionals who speak English as a second language is whether they are pronouncing it correctly. Many have learned it from teachers who speak British English.
Thus, they say "schedule" as "shedule" instead of "skedule", and other different patterns of pronunciation and sometimes grammar.

These professionals often worry about their pronunciation, as they may get many confused looks from some listeners, especially those who do not know them well.

Intensive training in American English pronunciation patterns can make speech considerably better in as little as 3 days. Business Speech Improvement offers a seminar on American English Pronunciation Improvement for Non-native Professionals. Individual coaching and e-books are also offered.

Foreign accent modification training: the challenge in the southern USA

Many non-native professionals in the USA who speak English are frustrated by their difficulty pronouncing American English clearly. In their native countries, they report, work groups are expected to do whatever is needed to help workers do better, which may include helping them speak more clearly if needed.

In the Southern USA, many employers are hesitant to bring up the topic of unclear speech, fearing a possible discrimination lawsuit or that the worker will at the least be offended and possibly resign.

The result is the worker is left wondering why no-one cares to help him, and the company is hesitant to offer accent modification training services.

There are two ways to resolve this. Employees who want this help need to ask their Human Resource or Training and Development Department if the company will pay for this training. If the company chooses to offer the training, it should be done by explaining the impact unclear speech has on the department or company, and offering this training as an option if the employee wants it. (An unmotivated employee will learn very little, if anything.) The company can also offer this training to all employees who request it, so it is not limited to specific ones.

Business Speech Improvement offers many types of verbal skills training, from intensive seminars in American English Pronunciation Improvement for Non-native Professionals to regional accent modification, seminars on how to speak slower for those who talk too fast and need help to improve, and more!

How to assess your American English pronunciation

You want to improve your American English pronunciation. Maybe you want a chance at a professional job. Possibly you are frustrated by people giving you puzzled looks and asking, "What did you say". Try this self-test. Count the "no" answers.

1. You can say the two American "th" sounds clearly - in conversation.

2. You know which 3 words are spelled with "th" - but the "th" is silent.

3. In British English, "pro" is always pronounced as "pro", with a long o sound. In American English, you know which words have a "pro" that is pronounced as "prah" instead.

4. You can say all of the following sound combinations clearly:
str (as in "street"), asks (as in "tasks"), sp (as in "special") and st (as in "first").

5. You can say the following single consonants the American way: l,r,v, w.

6. The vowel- r sounds ar (as in "hard"), er (as in "person") and or (as in "born") are clear.

7. When you speak, your rate is reasonably slow so others can understand you.

8. You can emphasize the correct syllable of at least most all of the words you use.

If you score is less than 8, here are three ways to improve it.

Business Speech Improvement offers intensive small group open enrollment courses in Pronunciation Improvement for Non-native Professionals. The program takes only 3 days, which may be consecutive. This makes it ideal for those who want to improve in a hurry!Individual coaching is offered as well, for those with strong foreign or regional accents that impede clear communication. Economical e-books are also available for those living far away.

The bottom line is that your speech matters. Poor communication may be costing you. How will you improve it?

Want speech improvement to speak American English more clearly?

Do you need to improve your American English,but coaching is not an option right now?

Learn from an innovative combination of a down-loadable audio file and a pdf, " Learn how to pronounce American English more clearly". Hear a professional speech coach and native American English speaker read specially written paragraphs with many examples of a given sound. Listen as often as you like, and repeat! Each part of the series has several sounds on it; get one or all of them at www.BusinessSpeechImprovement.com.

Business Speech Improvement provides intensive coaching in verbal communication skills, including accent modification, executive communication skills, presentation skills and much more. Training is offered through in-person coaching, e-books and this new audio/pdf series. Great speech makes business sense!