What is it about changing your accent that's so strange? Do you feeling like you are changing your identity? When you learned to speak, you followed the teacher - imitate and repeat, right?

Your teacher said, "Say it like this - "APPLE", and you did.
It seems like an easy concept -

....But it's something more.

Let's look at the psychology behind it. You think of yourself as this person who grew up speaking a certain language easily and fluidly..someone who sounds fine speaking that language. If your first language is Spanish, then you are awesome at Spanish! Then you learned English. Ahhhh! What frustration, right? When you learned it, you may not have had a native speaker to teach you correct pronunciation. This is most likely the case. And even if you did, you were too busy just trying to find the right words with the right grammar, and you didn't focus on the way it sounded when you spoke.

Now you have arrived at today - today you want to focus on the speaking part, but you don't know where to start.  Even when you listen to native speakers, you think you can't possibly sound like them. Well, guess what? You can't because you're YOU. Your identity that is connected to who you know you are needs to create a "new accent" that's only for you. So, if I'm Maria who is a native speaker of English and who sounds like "this", meaning a certain way, when I speak English, I want to now build a way that I want to sound when I speak ANOTHER language. This happened to me when learning to speak Italian and Spanish.

For me, speaking in Spanish, I feel more comfortable expressing my emotional side because it is spoken so expressively. In high school I didn't think about my pronunciation. But when traveling in Spain in my 20s, I listened and noticed how emotionally expressive everyone sounded. Now, when I am around friends I hear different inflections of emotions and I think, "Oh, I can feel comfortable saying it that way." So I try to say it myself after I hear the way someone said it. And if I can manipulate it to my own style, I keep it. But, I won't go too far.  I'm not going to sound like I'm in a  telenovela,! That's not my style. Italian is a little bit different for me.

I studied Italian more formally and was a little older when I learned to speak it. The people I was around when I did the "listening phase" to learn how to pronounce, were more mature. In turn, I think of myself as more controlled in my speaking. Maybe that's because my professors in college were more subdued than my high school Spanish teacher!

How did you learn English? Who was your role model? Whatever your situation was, you can start today by getting back into the 'listening phase' to pick the way you want to sound. It won't take away from your identity of who you are. In fact, it will just add to it. When students say they are afraid to speak, I tell them that this is their chance to create any voice they want for themselves in English. Just listen to others, isolate a phrase or two and decide if you can say it that way. If you can, practice it then make up your mind to adopt it. The more you speak in English, more comfortable and relaxed you'll feel and the more you will want to create your own accent - one that fits just you!

http://english4professionals.webs.com

A little pronunciation humor..

I couldn't resist. Here are a few humorous examples of how difficult English pronunciation really is!

Here is Ricky Ricardo from I Love Lucy trying to pronounce words that end in 'ough':
https://www.schooltube.com/video/8d94448e0ba3a3f756b9/

"Dearest Creatures in Creation" poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzMaMDu_VQU

And here is the poem "I take it you already know"...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRe-j2EC1j8

To see the script including IPA symbols, click here:
http://www.jochenenglish.de/misc/phonetic_symbols_itakeit.pdf

I hope you have fun with these!

All the best,

Maria

http://english4professionals.webs.com

Practice makes Chemistry

Have you dreamed of better pronunciation in English? Do you imagine yourself talking effortlessly to English-speaking colleagues and friends?

I advocate the method of self-monitoring together with awareness of muscle memory when speaking. Self-monitoring is the process of monitoring your speech by recording it, transcribing, checking for target features, and correcting over time. What does all this have to do with changing old habits of pronunciation?

In order for old habits to change, they must be replaced and reinforced. This is why repeated practice is the key. But even before repeated practice is implemented, the awareness of the way your muscles move in your mouth must be solidly learned. You need to learn the correct ways to move your muscles in your mouth and its environs.

 In his book Evolve Your Brain, Dr. Joe Dispensa, a Doctor of Chiropractic states that, “The repeated action of learning semantic knowledge with attention and awareness initiates a strong enough signal to make new intellectual data that we never experienced before form long-lasting and more synaptic connections. The key ingredient here is focused attention. By paying complete attention to our task, we produce a strong enough signal to form that new synaptic connection. In doing so, we have created a more refined memory. The more numerous synaptic connections formed in the brain, the greater the working mind at that level. When we turn on that particular neural network, we will have more enriched machinery to process more enhanced mind. We can therefore perceive more information from our environment, demonstrate a skill with greater ease, or learn more readily because we paid attention to the stimulus to make more circuits.”

What does this mean for my students? Once I teach you the correct movements, you will need to make sure you understand them. This means asking me to re-teach and show you again and again until you “get it”.  Then you have in place the knowledge to train yourself through structured practice. As your practice progresses, you will be speaking with greater ease.

Can this be done, actually done? Yes, I’ve seen it. But first you must remove your limiting beliefs that say, “I can’t do this. It’s too hard.” It’s not brain surgery, just brain ‘chemistry’!

To work with me, go to http://english4professionals.webs.com

Why do you need accent training?

There are many reasons why people who speak another language want to improve their accents.

See if these are some of your reasons:

1) People can't exactly get your point sometimes. It seems like you have to repeat yourself several times. Even then, you are not sure if your message was completely successful. You end up sending an email just to clarify.

2) Even though you might not care what others think of you, something about the way you speak affects your confidence. You feel that if you could just pronounce English more correctly, you would feel better about yourself. It's like buying a new pair of shoes. You would shine!


3) You feel that if you spoke more eloquently, or more like a native speaker, you would be offered better job roles, leading to more career advancement. Like it or not, the more you can fit into your company or industry's culture, the more you will rise to the top!

4) You just want to perfect some problem areas. You always pronounce a certain word incorrectly, so you want to learn the rules or just the correct way to pronounce it. It is a personal achievement to say that you have accomplished correct pronunciation.

Which category do you fit into? More than one?

Please leave a comment describing your pronunciation difficulties. I promise to write back!

and visit http://english4professionals.webs.com for more information on how to improve.

Did you catch that?

If you did not grow up in the United States, chances are that there are some strange pronunciation rules about American English that you didn't learn in your native country. So, when you got here, you heard people speaking and couldn't catch the meaning of some sentences. At first you thought it was strange, but after time, you saw some patterns in some of the everyday expressions. For example, when someone asked "What's your name?", did it sometimes sound like "Whatcher name?" Instead of the "ts + y" sound, it changed to "ch" sound. Have you noticed that? Look at a few more examples and then I will introduce some other patterns.

1. /t/ + /u/ = "ch"
Examples: Can I "getchu" something?  "Cantchu" do it?" "Whatchu" want? I'll "letchu" know. "Haventchu" done it yet? I "betchu" he won't come. 

This pattern also happens in words that have a t+u spelling:
Examples: actually "actchually"; virtual "virtchual"; natural "natchural".

2. /z/ + /j/ = "zh" (the word "your" becomes "zhur")
Examples: Who "doezhur" nails? "Whenzhur" birthday?
"Whenzhur" birthday? "Whozhur" doctor?

This pattern also happens in words that have an s + u spelling:
Examples: casual "cazhual"; usual "uzhual"; version "verzhion".

3. /s/ + /j/ = "sh" (you becomes "shu")
Examples: "Yeshu" can. "Bleshu". 

This pattern also happens in words that have sur spelling:
Examples: insurance "inshurance"; sure "shure".

4. /d/ + /j/ = "ja"
Examples: "Didja" like it? "Couldja" come here? You tried "jer" best. "Congrajalations".

This pattern also happens in words that have d + i or d + u spellings:
Examples: individual "indivijual"; gradual "grajual"; educate "ejucate".

I hope this helps in your speaking and listening. For more on my classes and private lessons, please go to http://english4professionals.webs.com

Are you a good public speaker?

When you think of the words public speaking, you may think of giving speeches in a formal setting, such as at conferences or formal events. Yes, that is public speaking. But other jobs also require you to speak in front of 'people'. Flight attendants give announcements about safety on a plane; professors and teaching assistants give lectures. But also on a smaller group level, telling a story to your coworkers while you are eating lunch. Do you want these people to understand your story, your announcement, your point?

Maybe you think your pronunciation is 'good enough'. You are just getting by. When you come across new words that you've never seen before in English, you just take a guess as to the correct pronunciation. Sometimes you may speak rapidly, thinking that people will understand you more or will not notice any mistakes. The end result, however, is that you do not get your message successfully delivered. What you get is a lot of blank stares.

Because it's so common for people to 'not understand' the announcements or messages from people who's first language is not English, people usually shrug and say, "I didn't understand a thing that person is saying." It's common because most people are just surviving in the world. You are just doing your job. But are you satisfied? What if some tips for guessing correct pronunciation can help you?

Here are some pronunciation tips:

1) When you see a preposition as a prefix to a verb, stress the verb. (A prefix is in front of the word.)
     Ex: outdo (stress do); overlook (stress look); foretell (stress tell); understand (stress stand)

2) When you see a preposition as a prefix to a noun, stress the prefix.
     Ex: outlook (stress out); upbringing (stress up); overage (stress over); forehead (stress fore)

3) If a noun has two syllables, stress the first syllable.
    Ex; ending (stress end); reason (stress rea); section (stress sec); dental (stress dent)

4) Study a list of prefixes and suffixes because most of the time, the prefix/suffix is not stressed.

    Common short prefixes that are not stressed: de, dis in, im, pre, re, un, sub, en, em, il, ir
    Ex: depict (stress pict); disrespect (stress pect); indeed (stress deed); imprison (stress pri)
           predict (stress dict); reduce (stress duce); undo (stress do); submit (stress mit); enjoy (stress
           (joy); embody (stress bo); illegal (stress legal); irrelevant (stress rel)

    Sometimes it looks like a prefix, but it isn't. That's because many words have been added to
    English from other languages. So, it's best to look them up in an online dictionary and click on the       pronunciation. Or you can go to FORVO, a web site where native speakers list words and their
    pronunciations: http://forvo.com/languages/en/

    Common short suffixes that are not stressed: en, er, est, ful, ic, ity, ive, ly, ion, ible
    Ex: lighten (stress light); writer (stress writ); finest (stress fin); joyful (stress joy); tonic (stress ton)
           infinity (stress fin); creative (stress creat); unruly( stress ru); fusion (stress fus); crucible
           (stress cruc)

I hope these tips helps. I strongly suggest picking a good online dictionary such as dictionary.com and looking up all questionable word pronunciations! Please visit my site for further instruction:
http://english4professionals.webs.com/

Learning pronunciation is like....dancing?

I've recently been listening to the teachings of an excellent and seasoned ESL professional, Adrian Underhill. He shows ESL instructors how to teach pronunciation. The way he explains the process of learning pronunciation is fascinating. He describes it like learning how to DANCE.

In dancing, you need to move certain parts...your legs, arms, feet and hands, not to mention your hips. The same with pronunciation of any language. You need to move your lips, tongue, jaw and voice box.

The two are also similar in that the movement of one affects the movement of another. A slight turn of the hand in dancing leads your partner to turn her body to the side. Tension in your arms and hands helps your partner maintain balance.

In a similar way, dropping your jaw opens your mouth.

Here's an example of the interaction of the different mouth parts:

When speaking English, the tongue and the lips are in opposition, according to Underhill.

When the tongue is forward, the lips are back. So, when you say /i/ like 'leap', your lips stretch wide as if pushing back, and there is tension. Meanwhile, your tongue is pushing forward and toward the top of your mouth.

However, when the tongue is back, the lips are forward. Say 'loose' and push your tongue backward and round your lips. They are forward and rounded now.

Adrian also says that one sound leads into another as you move your mouth parts.

You can test this by using the vowel chart, and starting at /i/ like let, slide from that sound to /Ԑ/  like bet by opening the mouth and dropping the jaw. Then keep opening the mouth and dropping the jaw until you get to/ae/ as it cat.  The tongue stays in front whole time.

What I've learned from Adrian is that I can teach people how to learn through muscle memory. By teaching them how to move their mouth parts in progression, slowly like steps, they will remember. Therefore, constant repetition is not necessary ---movement makes the memory.

As a learner, when you become aware of how you are moving, you are then truly learning!