Atlas Speech Coaching

Your Path to Better Pronunciation Starts at www.atlasspeech.com

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Learn How to Correctly Use Prepositions OF and FROM

http://atlasspeech.com/accent-reduction-protips-difference-between-prepositions-of-and-from/

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Accent Reduction and the Effect on the Customer Service Experience

"What is the impact of an accent on a customer's service experience?" is the question that researchers at the University of Adelaide set out to answer in a study that was recently published: The Effect of Service Employees' Accent on Customer Reactions. With many corporations off-shoring their customer service operations, it is becoming common place for customers to encountering help desk representatives with an accent different from their own. The research conducted by Dr. Rao Hill set out to specifically determine the emotional impact of a customer during this kind varied accent communication. There have been many studies on various aspects of customer services, but little research on the impact of foreign accents. This research is important as many companies only look towards saving money while failing to fully appreciate the impact of the overall customer experience.

The research revealed when the customer is in a negative emotional state, like when calling to make a complaint, a foreign accent makes the situation worse. When a customer is confronted with a service employee with a foreign accent, negative emotions like fear and sadness are increased, but when the service employee has the same accent as the person calling, there is no significant impact on the customer’s emotions.

“Customers may be fearful of not having the problem resolved when they encounter a service employee with a foreign accent. Service managers need to be aware that accents will exacerbate perception of already difficult service situations," says Dr. Hill.

For companies to successfully deliver a satisfying service experience for their customers while using cost cutting off-shore service departments, it is critical that their non-native English speaking employees are not only well trained and competent, but they also must have neutral or similar accents.

One of my goals at Atlas Speech Coaching in working with non-native English speaking professionals in the customer service industry is to help overcome stereotypes and improve overall acceptance of diversity in the workforce. Being a subject matter expert in a role to help customers will be significantly undermined if the representative providing the solution uses distracting accented speech. The expansion of companies globally is nothing new, but an investment in employee accent reduction training is an important new requirement to ensure the success of the company and it's employees going forward.

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The Importance of Accent Modification

Personalized accent modification coaching from a certified specialist is important to any non-native English speaker who wants to neutralize distracting speech patterns in their everyday conversations. Progressing both professionally and socially is a challenge to overcome for anyone who learned to speak English as a second language, especially if their teacher was a non-native English speaker. Many of my clients described situations where their hard work went unrewarded in the form of a promotion due to cultural communication divides undermining their credibility. A less distracting accent is an important factor between receiving a promotion at work and being left behind. Accent reduction training also helps expatriates socially. Improved pronunciation skills make interactions a lot smoother for both parties when the level of communication is similar. Accent reduction is an important step for non-native English speakers who want advance their careers and have a more well rounded social life.

By personally working with my clients, after only 10 weeks, we are able to neutralize distracting speech habits and sounds, develop better voice production and projections skills and improve intonation and rhythm patterns. All of my clients hear at least a 50% improvement in their spoken communications, regardless of their native language.

The common goals for my clients include:

Lessen their accents to increase personal and professional opportunities.

Improve conversation, presentation, and telephone call skills.

Speak more confidently and effectively in social and professional environments.

Be understood the first time from their audience of listeners.

If you or someone you know has similar goals and wants to improve their spoken English, then please learn more at Atlas Speech: http://atlasspeech.com/accent-reduction-services/ and contact me for an initial free, no obligation assessment at [email protected]. Thank you.

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The Top 3 Misconceptions of Why You Have an Accent

As a certified accent modification specialist, I work with individuals from around the world to help them improve their pronunciation and neutralize their accented speech. Regardless of their native language and culture, I found that each of my clients had similar misconceptions they had to overcome before choosing the path to better pronunciation.

The first misconception is: Adults can't change their accent. The truth is speech is nothing more an elaborate skill acquired like any other learned skill through practice and repetition. Humans have a huge capacity for learning throughout their lives and I guide my client to think about our work together as if they are learning a new accent rather than eliminating their current accent. My clients are learning an American English accent and an important component of learning new accent skills is training the mouth and tongue to move in slightly different ways. Learning to coordinate new muscle movements requires coaching just like a tennis coach can help you learn to serve a ball, or a music teacher can give you lessons on playing the guitar. Just like in these examples, learning to play tennis or the guitar, how successful you are improving your American accent depends on how much you practice. With a speech coach guiding your personalized pronunciation practice you can change your accent successfully.

However without a speech coach your pronunciation will not improve. Which brings us to the second misconception on accents: The longer I live in the U.S. the more I'll sound like a native speaker of American English. By living in the U.S. you can certainly learn new vocabulary and colloquial phrases which will help your overall understanding of the English language, but pronunciation is everything. Think about this, if you had a roommate who was a championship winning tennis player, by just hanging out with them would your tennis skills get better? Of course not. The only way to improve your pronunciation skills is to learn how to hear and create the corrected sounds yourself and then practice every day.

Misconception three is: I'm just not good at pronunciation. The fact is you're struggling with being understood and your accent has distracting sounds because you were never taught the correct rules of pronunciation. As I work with my clients from around the world, their stories of how they learned English are universally the same. In school they were taught grammar rules, memorized vocabulary lists, practiced reading comprehension and writing paragraphs, but they did not focus on pronunciation to correctly learn all the stress patterns, intonation and rhythm of spoken English. Frankly, it is impossible to learn correct American English pronunciation from a non-native speaker and I have never had a client who first learned English from a native English speaker. Accent reduction training from a native English speaker is the only way you can learn the rules of pronunciation, train your ears to hear the correct sounds and change your speech habits to remove and neutralize distracting sounds.

You can improve your accent and I can help. We can overcome these misconceptions and start you on your path to better pronunciation. Give me a call today at 303.579.3545 or contact me at [email protected] to learn more. Thank you.

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Accent Reduction ProTips: Using Articles Correctly

Speaking English fluently involves not only pronouncing sounds correctly, but also using the correct rhythm and intonation. The articles THE and A or AN are used to connect parts of sentences and modify nouns. Articles help with the flow of the language and act like simple adjectives. While they may seem innocuous and are easy to omit or overlook, understanding how and when to use them is critical to your overall English fluency. This Accent Reduction ProTip will provide a simple overview to explain articles.

The three articles in English are THE and A or AN. THE is a definite article and is used to describe specific or particular nouns, which are already known to the listener. A and AN are indefinite articles and used to describe something in general and not a specific thing, person or place.

The definite article THE can be use before both singular and plural nouns.

For example:

I saw the dog at the park.

I saw the dogs at the park.

And you use THE when talking about something well known to everyone or when you are referring to something that has previously been mentioned or discussed.

For example:

Is the Moon really made of cheese? Here the Moon is known to everyone.

I have a dog. The dog is brown.

There is a sweater in my suitcase. The sweater is warm.

Do you know where I parked the car? Here the listener knows which specific car you are talking about.

Indefinite means not precise or exact. The indefinite articles A and AN signal to the listener that the modified noun is new, unknown or being introduced for the first time.

I want a hat. Not a specific hat, any hat.

Mark needs a mountain bike. Not a particular mountain bike, any mountain bike in general.

Do you have an apple?

Let's watch a movie this weekend and work on our pronunciation skills. Here the speaker is not talking about a specific movie.

Remember that you cannot use A or AN with plural nouns because A and AN mean a single item.

For example:

I saw a flowers. Not Correct.

I saw a flower. Correct because the speaker is referring to one flower.

Choosing when to use A and AN depends on the sound of the noun it modifies. A is used before a consonant and AN is used before a vowel or a silent consonant.

For example:

A modifies singular noun beginning with a consonant like: a bike, a car, a dog, a pizza.

AN modifies singular noun beginning with a vowel like: an elephant, an immigrant, an olive.

A goes before a singular noun beginning with a consonant sound: a user where the sound (yo͞o′zər) begins with a consonant Y sound, so A is used as well as in a university, a uniform and a unicycle.

AN is used before nouns starting with silent H like with an hour and an honor.

The definite article THE and the indefinite articles A and AN play a subtle but important role in English. Using them correctly in your spoken communications will help improve the overall understanding of your message.

Please contact me if you have any questions about how personalized speech coaching can help reduce your accent. Thank you.

  http://atlasspeech.com/accent-reduction-protips-using-articles-correctly/

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How to improve your English pronunciation by watching American movies

The weekend is here and one thing a lot of Americans enjoy doing on the weekend is watch a movie. This got me thinking about how my clients can improve their pronunciation by watching American movies. Well not just watching movies, but using some of the mimicking skills we work on during our personal speech coaching sessions. Mimicking what a native English speaker sounds like is a great way to build new speaking habits. Because movies are not specifically made for English language learners, the dialogue sounds exactly like you hear it in real life. The script is spoken quickly with native accents and natural pronunciation, which makes a perfect template for improving your listening and speaking skills. Plus as a bonus, you can often pick up new phrases, slang and colloquial expressions.

Now even if you turn on the subtitles you can't just pick up an American accent by watching a movie. Your eyes do not help with pronunciation, in fact your eyes can often fool you into mispronouncing words. It is your ears and your mouth that guide you towards correct pronunciation. A great way to enjoy watching a movie while improving your accent and pronunciation is to pause the movie, rewind 10 seconds and play it again, but the second time through don't just watch it, try to mimic what the actor sounds like. Once you have a feel for the rhythm and changes in intonation from a character, you'll be able to mimic their dialogue nearly as it is happening on scene. Try it a couple times and after a few takes you'll be able to repeat an entire scene with multiple characters all by yourself.

This pronunciation exercise is especially fun if you are watching the movie with other non-native English speakers and your group takes turns mimicking, or by practicing with a movie that is already one of your favorites and you have scenes committed to memory. You don't have to practice mimicking the entire movie. Even if you practice your pronunciation for 5-10 minutes you can still gain a lot of benefit while still enjoying the movie. Pronouncing English correctly is extremely difficult and by just reading words it is hard to know how they should sound.

Hearing native English speakers talk to each other, even if it is in a movie, will help you to hear how words are pronounced. But passive immersion through listening is no way to learn any new skill. Learning English pronunciation requires your repeated involvement. So please give it a try this weekend and let me know how it goes and which movies you used for your pronunciation practice.

Thank you for your continued interest in improving your English pronunciation. Have a great weekend.

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AtlasSpeech.com Referral Bonus

Here is a great way to earn $25 and help your friends, family members and colleagues improve their accent and English pronunciation with personalized speech coaching. If you know someone who could benefit from modifying their accent and you could use some extra money, then we are a perfect match! Atlas Speech Coaching offers a referral bonus to anyone.

You don't have to be a client or a former client to take advantage of this offer.

Please share our contact information with anyone you know who wants to speak English clearly and be understood the first time. When they sign up with me for private accent reduction training and mention you as a reference, I'll send you $25 via Paypal. It's that simple.

I provide worldwide, private training with individuals online using Skype and over the phone, so it doesn't matter where they are located. Regardless of their native language, accent reduction training will help give your friends and family more confidence socially and give them a competitive advantage to speak English more clearly in all professional settings. Whether they are located in the United States or in any country around the world, I can work with them to improve their English pronunciation no matter their profession, background or current speaking ability.

All my clients really enjoy working with me and you can have 100% confidence that your referral will be happy with the results. There is no limit on how many referral bonuses you can earn. Please share my contact information with your friends, family, colleagues, classmates, professors and anyone else who wants to improve their English pronunciation and speak with an American accent.

Here are three easy ways you can contact Atlas Speech Coaching:

Email Eric Maki directly at [email protected]

Call Eric Maki at [phone]

Fill out the Atlas Speech Coaching  initial contact form HERE

Also, your referral can get started today by taking a free speech assessment online HERE. You can forward or copy this link to share with anyone: http://goo.gl/R5LDqc.

If you prefer to that I contact your referral directly, please get in touch with me to share your referral's contact information and we can keep your involvement anonymous.

The path to better pronunciation starts with Atlas Speech Coaching. Thank you for sharing.

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Accent Reduction ProTips: Improving Chinese Pronunciation

Today is the Chinese Lunar New, so I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the Top 3 most important Accent Reduction ProTips for native Chinese speakers of North American English.

There are more international students from China than any other country. Last year 275,000 Chinese students studied at U.S. Universities, up 17% from 2013. This growth in the number of international students reflects the growth of China's international economy and the growing desire of its society to further its education and career opportunities abroad. As a result, there is an influx of native Chinese speakers entering the U.S. job market. Typically my Chinese clients have studied English for several years and understand grammar, writing and have a strong vocabulary. However, despite their strengths and desire to advance professionally, nearly all of my clients learned English from a native Chinese speaker. When this is the circumstance, communicating clearly and being understood the first time can still be a challenge because at the onset of their English studies they learn habits of speech that are more like speaking Chinese than speaking English.

The #1 ProTip I work on with my Chinese clients is to first help them hear music of English and contrast it with the music of their native Chinese dialect. If being understood is the goal, then the rhythm, flow and intonation of spoken English is just as important as the structure and vocabulary. The musical patterns of English are much different than the musical pattern of Chinese. In Chinese there are no dramatic fluctuations syllable and word stress. The musical pattern is more consistently one note of equal vocal strength. Spoken English is more like a melody in a song with some notes held longer or shorter, sung louder or quieter and with a wide variety of pitches and notes. Many of my clients are thrilled to discover that I fully support using karaoke as method for improving pronunciation. When you work with a speech coach to reduce your accent, you move far beyond typical grammar and vocabulary exercises. We learn the music of spoken English.

The #2 ProTip is to stretch and move your mouth. The ears and the mouth create speaking habits, not the eyes. So once my clients' ears can hear the music it is time to move the mouth. Without even generating sound, Chinese English language students can start by stretching their mouths open and moving their lips into positions that will feel uncomfortable. This is where doing a Mick Jagger impersonation comes into play. Move your lips and shake your hips. Now all of a sudden this exercise feels cool especially when combined with strutting around. Learning to pronounce English takes the whole body. Once the mouth is moving, the typical pronunciation issues we address are related to three sounds:

Articulating the difference between the e in wed and the a in add by opening the mouth more.

Hearing the difference between eat and it pulling the lips back like when you're smiling.

Saying the "TH" sounds differently between think and this or bath and bathe by putting the tip of the tongue between the front teeth while activating and deactivating the voice.

The third sound, the voiceless and voiced "TH", is the sound that we spend the most time on. The "TH" sound is a common pronunciation challenge for speakers from many countries but it is especially noticeable for Chinese and without guidance say a sound more like sink instead of think. With this kind of mouth movement practice native Chinese speakers can make a lot of progress improving their English pronunciation.

The #3 ProTip is the pace of speech. When we start many of my Chinese clients speak way too fast so we work on not only slowing down but also pausing between groups of words. A breath and a pause of only a half a second can make all the difference in being understood the first time. And until speaking with the melody of English becomes the new habit, speaking with a rapid staccato uniform intonation will undermine communications with native English speakers.

Graduating from a U.S. University is not enough to be competitive in the U.S. job market. You have to be easily understood. Clear pronunciation is critical. Whether you are a recent graduate or a professional looking to advance your career, I can help you make these changes to profoundly improve the clarity of your pronunciation. Clients who complete our work together see a 50-70% improvement in the clarity of their pronunciation after only 10 weeks. This transformational success is achieved by incorporating proven techniques that modify habitual speech patterns in a short period of time. Let's work together to improve your pronunciation and improve your prospects for a prosperous New Year.

Here is to a Happy Lunar New Year and for continued prosperity in all of your endeavors.

Thank you,

Eric Maki

Director of Atlas Speech Coaching

AtlasSpeech.com

[email protected]

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How do I know if I need an Accent Reduction Speech Coach

Do I need an Accent Reduction Speech Coach? is a question all of my clients needed to evaluate and answer before hiring me. If you are wondering if personal accent reduction and pronunciation training is right for you, start by asking yourself:

Do colleagues ask me to repeat myself countless times throughout the day?

Do I feel self-conscious when meeting new people because I'm worried they won't understand me?

Do I avoid talking on the phone?

Do I feel like my accent is holding me back professionally?

Do I have a trouble making new friends with native English speakers?

Have I tried watching video tutorials on accents, taken traditional ESL classes, read how-to guides for improving your English but still struggle speaking Standard American English in professional or social settings?

If you answer even remotely close to YES on any of these questions, then I can help correct your accent and improve your pronunciation.

Having an accent is nothing more than the result of learning a second language as an adult. Speaking with an accent happens to anyone regardless of age, education or background, but especially true for adults who learn English from non-native English speaking teachers. I certainly speak Spanish and French with an American accent and know that having an accent is not any kind of speech disorder. It is simply how you learn to speak English when it is filtered through your native language.

When you learn English is a classroom setting, teachers work with many students at the same time based on a set curriculum. Because of this individuals often have specific personal speech issues that never get addressed, never get corrected and persist forever. Especially when your English teacher is a non-native English speaker, it is easy to pick up bad habits that will cause your accent to be a distraction and a barrier to communicating with native English speakers. A personal speech coach does not teach a classroom of students generalized material for a specific test. Instead a speech coach's role is to help solve each individual student's specific speech problems.

A good speech coach begins by listening to an individual's speech, assessing the problematic areas and making a specific list of sounds that need to be improved. Then the speech coach shows the individual how to make the appropriate changes and how to practice the new sounds. By working with a accent reduction speech coach, individuals can make progress at a self-determined pace instead of having to move on too quickly when more time and effort is needed to improve a specific area. Learning how to correctly speak sounds is a separate process from acquiring English vocabulary and learning grammar rules. This is shown by the fact that on their own, anyone's pronunciation of a second language rarely improves with the passage of time. The only way to overcome this challenging barrier is with personalized instruction and coaching.

If you are wondering if private speech coaching is right for you, please contact me about my free personal speech assessment. There is no obligation to take the free assessment and to receive a report analyzing your nine areas of speech production. Pronunciation is everything. Without proper pronunciation your efforts to learn English grammar and vocabulary will be undermined. Your path to better pronunciation starts here. Let's get started today.

http://atlasspeech.com/

Thank you.

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ProTips: How to Pronounce Initialisms

Knowing how to correctly pronounce initialisms and other abbreviations is an important nuance of speaking English as an American. We love to use abbreviations in both professional and social settings. Industries and even specific companies have their own extensive jargon used internally so regularly that it becomes its own language. Plus, using this kind of short-hand slang for text messaging has become the new native language of teenagers across the United States. Today's ProTip is not to try and decode all of the thousands of abbreviations, acronyms and initializations, but rather to give an easy rule for how to recognize differences and how to pronounce them correctly.

Most of my clients who speak English as a second language, already know what an acronym is and use them in every day dialogue, but few of my clients are as familiar with identifying initialisms. My clients are unsure of the differences and when to say the abbreviation and when to spell the letters individually. An acronym is a capitalized abbreviation made from the first letters of a group of words that can be pronounced as a single word on its own, for example NATO, ASAP and IKEA. When a series of capitalized initials are pronounced individually, such as MBA, FBI and USA, these are called initialisms. The important distinction between the two is that because acronyms are words on their own, they do not need an article like the, a or an preceding them in a sentence while initialisms need an article.

Here is an acronym example, Johnson please send me the report from NATO ASAP. I'm on my way to IKEA for lunch. Their meatballs are delicious. NATO, ASAP and IKEA are all pronounced as words. Here is an initialism example, He received an MBA last year while working for the FBI in the USA. MBA, FBI and USA are all spelled out. So now when you see an article in front of an abbreviation you will know to say the letters individually.

Recognizing acronyms and initialisms is one thing, but pronouncing them correctly is another. Remember, your level of pronunciation is the first thing native English speakers notice when you speak. The pronunciation rule for initialisms is simply to stress the last letter. So when you are pronouncing the preceding examples the stressed letter is in bold: MBA, FBI and USA.

Little subtleties in your pronunciation patterns make all the difference in how your English fluency is perceived by Americans. Knowing how to recognize when to spell out abbreviations and how to stress the final letter will help you avoid embarrassment and speak more like an American today.

Learn more about personalized speech coaching at www.AtlasSpeech.com. Your path to better pronunciation starts here.

Thank you,

Eric Maki

Director of Atlas Speech Coaching

[email protected]

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The Three Levels of English Pronunciation

When you speak English as a second language, your level of pronunciation is the first thing that native speakers notice. Your ability to follow the rules of grammar and use an expanded vocabulary do not matter if you are unable to fluently pronounce them clearly and correctly.

There are three levels of English pronunciation:

Level 1: People do not understand what you are saying even though you have studied English, which is terribly frustrating and discouraging.

Level 2: You have to repeat yourself several times to clarify what you are saying for people to understand, which is also terribly frustrating and discouraging.

Level 3: People consistently understand what you are saying the first time you speak, which is completely satisfying and confidence building.

The goal I help all of my clients achieve is to be clearly understood the first time.

Many Americans who are native English speakers, but do not themselves speak a second or third language as many of my clients do, are easily agitated and impatient when they cannot quickly understand what a non-native speaker is saying. Especially in a fast-paced work environment, when there is a barrier to easy communication between co-workers often the response from the native speaker is, "Forget it! I don't have time to try and translate what you are saying. Send me an email." Even when the simplest words are misspoken, your credibility will be jeopardized. Plus, native speakers are much more likely to understand you and forgive you for grammatical errors, than they are for pronunciation errors. For anyone who is speaking English as a second language, the inability to achieve a level of clear and consistent communication is a damaging career blockade.

The importance of pronunciation cannot be understated. It is also one of the most difficult problems to solve on your own. Practicing English with friends from the same country as you is a great start, but you will not be able to overcome pronunciation problems because they are likely making the same mistakes and cannot accurately judge your speaking abilities. Reading about pronunciation and watching generic videos may seem like a good idea, but ultimately they will prove frustrating because you will not be able to self-correct effectively. It takes working with a native English speaker who is professionally trained to specifically reduce accents by neutralizing distracting sounds to achieve your goal of fluency.

As a certified Accent Modification Specialist from the Institute of Language and Phonology in San Francisco and a native English speaker, I personally work with individuals from all over the world who speak many different languages to help them break through their pronunciation barriers so they can achieve their goal to speak English clearly and consistently in both professional and social settings. Many of my clients have studied grammar rules and have practiced vocabulary, but after their ESL classes ended they plateaued at Level 1 or 2. Having to respond to questions of, "What did you say?", "Repeat that.", "Huh?" is a challenging and uncomfortable level to maintain. Using systematically researched techniques, I will coach you to the top level of English pronunciation by making small changes in your habitual speech patterns to improve the overall understanding of your message and make your distinct voice a personal strength and valuable asset that you can carry forward in your professional career.

Learn more about achieving your goal to speak English fluently at www.AtlasSpeech.com. Your path to better pronunciation starts here.

  Thank you, Eric Maki

Director of Atlas Speech Coaching

303.579.3545

[email protected]

  #accentreduction

#improvepronunciation

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ProTips: How to Pronounce Compound Proper Nouns

Today's ProTip addresses how to pronounce compound proper nouns. The English language has its own rhythm of intonation which is different from many languages where each syllable in a word is pronounced with the same level of emphasis. If you want to achieve your goal of speaking English as a second language, more fluently and lessen misplaced and distracting accented sounds, then it is important to recognize how and when to stress parts of words, especially compound proper nouns.

A proper noun names an individual person, place, or organization and always begins with a capital letter, no matter its position in a sentence. For example: Mary, California, and Google are all proper nouns. A compound proper noun is a proper noun with more than one word. You frequently use compound proper nouns in your everyday interactions when you need to refer to an individual's full name, job titles, specific addresses, and sporting events.

The rule for pronouncing compound proper nouns is to stress the last word.

This means that the last word in a compound proper noun is said louder and longer than the other parts of the compound proper noun. So with this simple rule in mind, let's look at some examples. The compound proper nouns in bold are the words that are stressed.

Mr. Charles Rodriguez - Today I have a meeting with Mr. Charles Rodriguez.

Secretary of State - The Secretary of State gave a speech yesterday.

New York, Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island - When you are in New York, please visit the Statue of Liberty on Ellis Island.

LeBron James & Cleveland Cavaliers - LeBron James plays basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Knowing and understanding the patterns of intonation is something completely natural for native English speakers. By learning the rule for using word stress on compound proper nouns, English as a second language speakers can quickly move from practice to application in their conversation skills to sound more articulate, confident and dynamic in their communications.

To learn more about how to improve your English pronunciation, please visit Atlas Speech at www.atlasspeech.com.

Thank you,

Eric Maki

Director of Atlas Speech Coaching

[email protected]

www.atlasspeech.com

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Little Connection Exists Between Spelling and Pronunciation

The connection between English spelling and pronunciation in frustratingly disjointed, irregular and unpredictable. Everyday as I work with individuals on their pronunciation skills, regardless of their native language, I am asked to help them make sense of why this is and how they can overcome this barrier to more achieve their goal of fluent speech. The problem is that English has words with the same letter groupings that our pronounced differently and words that are spelled differently yet they are pronounced the same. This dilemma is terribly frustrating for non-native language learners especially if their native language has a strong connection between spelling and pronunciation like Spanish, Italian and Finnish.

Let's over emphasize this issue by looking at the word GHOTI. How do you pronounce this word? GHO like ghost? So it's Goaty? Well, if we take the GH from the word laugh, the O from women, and the TI from nation, then the word GHOTI is pronounced FISH. See what I mean? This example shows the same letter groups with unpredictable pronunciation. Additionally, everyday communicating in English, non-native readers come across words like blue, chew, shoe, you, through, to, two, and too which show identically pronounced sounds with exceptionally varied spellings.

There is a movement underway to help address this issue. The English Spelling Society is spearheading a movement over the next several years to thoroughly research the issue, raise widespread awareness of the problems, and promote standardized solutions. The position they are developing is that the irregularities of modern English spelling are causing both economic and social hardships to not only non-native English speakers, but also to English speaking children learning to read, which ultimately leads to higher overall adult illiteracy rates. Their intentions are stated as:

Raising awareness and promoting research on the economic and social costs of English spelling

Providing resources on the development of English spelling and of the movement to update it

Seeking to open minds to the possibility of an eventual update of English spelling in the interests of  improved literacy

The English Spelling Society's goals may not be any closer to realization than when they were founded in 1908, but as our national economies become more globally interdependent and the use of English in international business becomes more widely used, their work becomes even more important and with the Internet, their ideas become more influential. There hasn't been much progress in English spellings since the 1400s when printing presses became the de facto standardization of newly distributed text. It is time to move beyond the stagnant transition from Middle-Aged English to today's Modern English towards the future of a Post-Modern Global English.

Until there is widespread change and adoption of more standardized, self-evident spellings, the only way someone can learn accurate pronunciation of English as a second language is to work with a native speaker. As a Certified Accent Modification Specialist, I work to help non-native speakers strengthen their understanding of spoken English. Learn more by visiting Atlas Speech Coaching and get started today on your path to better pronunciation.

  Thank you, Eric Maki

Director of Atlas Speech Coaching

[email protected]

www.atlasspeech.com

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Quick Tips: How to Pronounce Words with Multiple Meanings

A common issue I help my clients with regardless of their native language, is how to pronounce words that are spelled the same but have multiple meanings. The English language is full of these tricky words, called heteronyms, that have different stress patterns for different language usage, especially between nouns and verbs.

Here are three examples of heteronyms:

Digest:

Noun: a compilation or summary of information.

Verb: break down of nutrients that can be absorbed and used by the body.

Produce:

Noun: agricultural fruits and vegetables.

Verb: to compose, to create.

Present:

Noun: a gift.

Verb: to offer for observation.

Generally, nouns and verbs that have the same spelling will also have two syllables, therefore knowing how to emphasize the correct syllable is paramount. A simple and effective rule to improve your pronunciation and increase the comprehension of your message is to place the the stress on the first syllable when the word is used as a noun and stress the second syllable when the word is used as a verb.

  Rule for two syllable heteronyms: Stress the first syllable for nouns and the second syllable for verbs.

  Let's review how to pronounce the examples from above:

Digest:

Noun: DIgest - Here is a DIgest of last year's meeting.

Verb: diGEST - It is going to take some time to diGEST that delicious dinner.

Produce:

Noun: PROduce - The farmer's market has a variety of local PROduce today.

Verb: proDUCE - This company is going to proDUCE mobile phones for export.

Present:

Noun: PREsent - I have a PREsent for the birthday party.

Verb: preSENT - I will preSENT the new business strategy at the next board meeting.

  This Quick Tip may seem like a minor issue to practice and improve, but once you identify if the heteronym is used as a noun or a verb, you can correctly stress the appropriate syllable and achieve your next step towards fluency in your spoken English. Developing this language skill to articulate differences in meaning between words that have the same spelling will instantly help you sound more like a native speaker.  I can help you continue your on your fast track to better pronunciation. Learn more and get started reducing your accent and improving your pronunciation today at www.atlasspeech.com. Click on the free language assessment to begin.

  Atlas Speech Coaching is Your Path to Better Pronunciation!

  Thank you,

Eric Maki

Director of Atlas Speech Coaching

[email protected]

[atlasspeechcoaching]

The Pronunciation Effect

Personalized pronunciation training from a certified accent modification professional is the most effective and fastest way to reduce your accent and improve your fluency of standard North American English. Research from universities around the world continue to show that regardless of your native language, by focusing on pronunciation you can dramatically improve the overall understanding of your message.

Here is an example of accent reduction research from Northern Arizona University that studied the effect of pronunciation training on comprehensibility. After only 12 hours of pronunciation training, the research concluded that the speakers of English as a second language improved the understanding of their spoken communications by 48%. This huge improvement occurred after only 6 weeks! The study further shows that participants in the research who did not receive any pronunciation training actually saw a decrease in the comprehension of their spoken English. There is a direct correlation between personalize pronunciation training and improved fluency.

Do you want to improve your spoken English quickly and with long-lasting results? As a Certified Accent Modification Specialist from the Institute of Language and Phonology, I can help you experience transformational improvement of your English language fluency after only a few weeks by applying proven pronunciation training methodologies. The Atlas Speech Coaching approach is personalized to your specific accent speech patterns and customized to your level of English pronunciation proficiency. At the end of your custom program you can also expect at least a 50% reduction in your accent.

To get started please complete the free initial recording of some basic words, a reading passage, and tell me a little bit about yourself. Click here for the initial assessment. There is no obligation and no fee to receive my initial report and assessment of your speech. Let's get improve your speech today.

Thank you,

Eric Maki

Director of Atlas Speech Coaching

[email protected]

www.atlasspeech.com

[atlasspeechcoaching]

Improve Your Accent to Improve Your Credibility

No matter how knowledgeable or experienced you are, a heavy accent will undermine your credibility. According to research from the University of Chicago, the harder a listener has to work to understand a non-native English speaker, the less truthful they perceive the speaker's statement to be. The research concluded:

"When people listen to accented speech, the difficulty they encounter reduces “processing fluency.” But instead of perceiving the statements as more difficult to understand, they perceive them as less truthful. Consequently, non-native speakers who have an accent are seen as less credible."

The importance of reducing your accent cannot be understated. Whether in your profession, when seeking a new job, in your social life, and in your everyday interactions with native English speakers, in order to achieve your full potential and to achieve your goal of fluent spoken communication you need to modify and improve your accent. I can help you achieve your goals, regardless of your native language, and break down the communication barriers that are undermining your credibility.

Clients who complete our work together see a 50-70% improvement in the clarity of their pronunciation and as a result a direct improvement in the perceived credibility of what they are saying. This transformational success is achieved by incorporating proven techniques that modify habitual speech patterns in a short period of time. The Atlas Speech Coaching approach is the most effective, results driven accent modification method available.

Let's work together and improve your credibility by reducing your accent. Click here to begin.

  Thank you,

Eric Maki

[email protected]

www.atlasspeech.com

Free Online Assessment

https://plus.google.com/115757736386751919471/posts/4ECqW9b7QMs

[atlasspeechcoaching]

Personalized instruction in American English Pronunciation for ESL speakers. Your path to better pronunciation starts here. Free language assessment to begin.

You can learn more about accent modification and how to improve the pronunciation of American English on my website AtlasSpeech.com. Thanks.