Embrace the pause
“No word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause” – Mark Twain I couldn’t agree more! Pausing is one of the most overlooked delivery techniques. By dividing speech into smaller segments, pausing significantly contributes to being better understood. For foreign English speakers, the use of effective pausing can make the difference between being understood […]
Six steps to help you speak English clearly
Worldwide, non-native speakers of English outnumber native English speakers by a ratio of 3:1. Just think about that! More people speak English as a second language then there are native English speakers. In Vancouver alone, which is where I live and work, more than 50{a3c87b1e05b299119f1d4bbd64cf458c711a7ad1f544f81d95701a267500b8d7} of the population speaks a language other than English as their […]
Accent Reduction Part II: Why I talk about Coconuts in Accent Reduction Training
For non-native English speakers, it can be extremely difficult to reduce their accents on their own using accent reduction tools. The main reason for this is that it’s hard to hear the difference between the sound they are trying to make and the sound they actually make. Before you can practice English sounds and speech […]
Accent Reduction Part I: Why I talk about starfish in Accent Reduction Training
One of the benefits for non-native English speakers who participate in Accent Reduction Training is gaining a greater confidence in speaking situations. For instance in an interview, a presentation, a phone call or a meeting. An often overlooked factor in accent improvement is the impact that body language can have on your communicative effectiveness. Certainly, your posture influences the […]