Sounding Like A Native Speaker

Ok, let’s clear up some confusion.

So many people think that the goal of accent training or pronunciation improvement or accent modification or whatever you want to call it is to sound like a native speaker.

And I get it. I do call it accent training, after all. 

But the goal for my students is never to sound like a native speaker.

In fact, most research shows that the chances of that happening are slim to none anyway.   Although we can make significant, permanent changes to the way we speak, if we start learning a new language after the age of 12, we will probably always retain our native accent.

And that is NOT a bad thing. Our accents are a part of who we are.

So the native speaker thing? Nope, not the goal.

With my students, the goal is always to communicate as effectively as possible and to feel confident when speaking. 

Now, sometimes I do work with actors who need to sound like a native speaker of a specific accent or dialect for a role or audition. But the way we work and train during those sessions is a completely different process.

We have a script, we prepare by re-writing everything phonetically, we rehearse the same lines over and over and over (and then rehearse some more!), so we basically memorize the pronunciations, intonations, and other features of the accent or dialect the same way we memorize the words themselves.

It is much easier than using a new accent, all the time, in real-life conversations.

For most of my students who are not actors, accent training sessions using The Accent Channel Method focus on increasing intelligibility, developing confidence, and building effective communication skills.

In a typical training session, in addition to pronunciation, we work on:

• Using appropriate intonation to convey different meanings
• Adjusting specific vowels and consonants so that the words you say are the words you actually mean to use (i.e. avoiding embarrassing/offensive/insulting speech mistakes)
• How to use pausing, variations in pitch, variations in loudness and other vocal effects to be a more interesting and engaging speaker
• Increasing vocabulary
• Increasing vocal quality, power, resonance for a stronger voice
• Gesture and body language
• Presentation skills
• How to prepare for interviews
• Effectively using humor, idioms, expressions, and common sayings
• and so much more!!!

It’s never just about pronunciation and it’s definitely not about eliminating an accent.

Both native and non-native speakers can (and should!) train to be the most effective, most powerful speakers that they can be.

If you would like to build a business or a side gig helping others improve their communication skills and train to be the best speakers they can be, I’d love to show you how in my teacher training program.

The work is enjoyable, stress-free, lucrative, and it doesn’t take much more than a computer to get started.

If you are interested, you can get all the details on how to enroll here.