4 Secrets to Improving Your Strong Accent

Improving Strong Accent

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When I lived in Mexico, I was terrified to order in restaurants — even though I spoke Spanish. Why? Because every time I ordered, the servers didn’t understand me because of my accent. So I would have to repeat myself many times.

That was a great motivation to work on sounding more like a native Spanish speaker. Changing your accent depends on many things, including your natural talent when it comes to listening and hearing sounds, how old you are, how often you take lessons or work on your accent and your motivation for learning.

There is no quick fix for changing the way you speak in your non-native language. BUT there are many things you can do to better understand the native speakers around you — and to be better understood by them. These are the accent improvement tips that helped me sound more like a native Spanish speaker. You can use these strategies no matter which language you are working to master.

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1. Watch the Mouths of Native Speakers

Have you ever noticed that babies watch your mouth when you are speaking? That’s because they are learning how to make the sounds that will eventually help them speak. They try to make the same shape with their mouths that they see you making and place their tongues the same way. These babies are on to something. Just listening to the sounds speakers make in your target language is often not enough to help you make those sounds. I can repeat a sound in French many times, thinking I’m saying it right, and my French friends keep shaking their heads. Shrug. But it sounds right to my ears, so don’t trust your ears. Knowing the shape your lips should make and where to place your tongue helps a lot. If it makes you feel creepy to watch the mouths of people around you, then watch the mouths of people on TV.

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2. Close Your Eyes and Listen

Yes, you heard me. Close your eyes and truly listen to the sounds of a native speaker. Pretend you are an actor or a singer and you have to mimic the sounds they make. Does the native speaker put stress on any words? How is the native speaker feeling when they make this stress? Angry? Sad? Frustrated? How do they connect the words together? Try doing what they do when you speak. When you learn a language by reading, you don’t learn how to say the words correctly. No one speaks each individual word separately. The words are connected. Try to make those same sounds. Copy the phrases you hear, not just isolated vocabulary. A word sounds very different in a sentence than it does on its own. For example, “What are you doing?” When you say this question out loud, it really sounds like, “Whuh-d’r-yoo-doo-wing?” You might be wondering where that “D” sound came from or why there’s a “W” sound in the word “doing.” That’s exactly the point. The way the sentence sounds is incredibly different from the way that isolated words sound.

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3. Copy Your Way to a Better Accent

Find a podcast you like in the language you are trying to learn and mimic the speakers. It’s just like when you were you a kid and imitated the way the grown-ups around you talked. Listen to the podcast while you’re commuting and talk out loud to yourself. (Admittedly, this is a little easier in your car than on public transportation!)

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4. Make a Playlist in Your Target Language

When you’re listening to music, you notice sounds more than words. Try to make all the connections between words just like the singers do.

To sound more like a native speaker, the trick is to retrain your ears to hear the pure sounds of the language, and not what you think it sounds like based on spelling. (This is especially true of English and French.) What you see on paper is nothing like what comes out of native speakers’ mouths. Less books and more listening!

At Fluency Corp, we’ve helped hundreds of professionals be better understood by their native coworkers. Contact us for a free consultation: getfluent@fluencycorp.com or (800) 401-3159.

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Self Paced Vs. In Person Language Lessons

nnIn today’s business world, it’s more important than ever to know more than one language. Luckily, though, you also have more options than ever for improving your employees’ 2nd language fluency.nnWith those options, however, come choices — choices that aren’t always easy to make. We want to help you select the right language training option for you or for your employees. So today we’re going to take a closer look at self-paced language learning options vs. learning from an instructor.nn

Self-Paced Language Learning

Language training software and other self-paced programs are well-publicized. In fact, they might be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about options for learning another language. Think DuoLingo, Rosetta Stone, and many others.nnWe love any steps that people take to become multilingual, and self-paced programs do have some advantages. If you, or the language learners in your company, have some serious schedule constraints, self-paced programs allow language study to happen any time and anywhere. They can be a good way to acquire new vocabulary, and they can give language students a chance to hear people speaking (even if their workplace is mostly monolingual).nnHowever, self-paced programs do have limitations. First, they don’t give you conversational practice. We believe that the best way to learn a language is by talking with native speakers, and self-paced programs just can’t offer that. And while you may be able to memorize some new vocabulary words through using a self-paced program, you won’t necessarily be ready to use what you’ve learned in real-life situations, and it is usually a struggle to keep up with native speakers in real life, if you haven’t had that experience before.nnFinally, self-paced language programs fall short when it comes to helping you perfect your accent in a new language. Unless you have a musical background, it’s hard to self-correct something that your ears aren’t picking up in the first place. You can be extremely proficient with your new vocabulary, but still have trouble being understood because of your non-native accent. Most adults apply the rules of their first language onto their second language, which is only human. You work with what you know, which are the sounds of your first language. For example, when Japanese is written using the Latin ABCs, they use R’s where English speakers put an L, but as we all know, R and L are not the same sounds, but how would they know that? This sound is heard as the same in Japanese, which is why it is so challenging for Japanese speakers to pronounce – they simply can’t hear the difference.nn

Language Training from an Instructor

If it’s at all possible with your schedule and budget, we recommend opting for customized language training from an instructor you work with either in person or online. As a language training provider for companies such as Google and Samsung, we’ve seen the powerful advantages that come from working with an instructor:

  • Students are more accountable. If you’re learning a language on your own, you could skip a lesson and no one would be the wiser. And it’s easier to spin your wheels without making real progress. (Think buying a gym membership and how often you use it, as opposed to hiring a personal trainer, and making sure you’re there for your appointment private trainer session). When you learn from an instructor, you’re less likely to bail on your lesson since it involves a commitment to another person. Additionally, your instructor knows your goals and will help you stay on track toward them.
  • Conversational practice just works better. You didn’t learn your first language by studying it in a book, listening to recordings and conjugating verbs. Instead, you just got in there and tried it in conversations with your parents and other caregivers. People corrected you when you messed up. When you didn’t know the word for something, they told you. They taught you the vocabulary you needed for all the activities of your life. Learning from an instructor works the same way. Through conversation, you acquire the real-life language skills you need for the relevant conversations you’ll be having the next day or next week.
  • Accent training is easier. You could practice endlessly with a self-paced program without ever finding out that your pronunciation of certain words is just a little bit off. When you work with an instructor, you can improve your accent by watching their mouth and mimicking what they do. And did you know the SCHWA sound is the most common sound in the English language? You’re probably saying to yourself, ‘What the heck is a SCHWA?” This is what your language instructor knows.
  • Lessons include culture, too. Learning a language from a native speaker doesn’t just teach you vocabulary. Your language teacher can also become a cultural guide. They can let you in on the etiquette of doing business in your new language. And if you’re relocating, they can teach you about daily life in your new culture. I know your employees will have a million questions, and it’s not always easy to ask coworkers. The relationship and comfort that forms with your language instructor will break down those barriers and allow your employees to learn and ask uncomfortable questions with ease.
  • Friendship enhances learning. Language instructors spend two to five hours per week with their students, either in one-on-one or small-group classes. So it’s only natural that they become friends. Building a relationship also builds students’ fluency. The most fluent people we’ve encountered say they ‘made a great friendship’ with someone who spoke the language they were wanting to improve. This led to countless hours of discovery, dinners, conversations and in-depth relationship-building time needed for fluency to flourish.

For all of these reasons, we’d especially encourage language learners (or the colleagues who are coordinating training for them) in situations like these to choose classes with an instructor over self-paced programs:nn· You’re in a high-stakes position.
· Collaboration across cultures or in your non-native language is a major part of your job.
· You’re relocating to a new country that speaks a different language and want to be able to at least say the basics.
· You already have a high level in your new language, but your accent keeps you from being understood.nnAt Fluency Corp, we offer in-person and online corporate language training taught by native speakers. We’re always happy to talk with you more about how an investment in language training pays off many times over. Contact us for a free consultation: getfluent@fluencycorp.com or (800) 401-3159.nn

How to Ask for Accent Training

How to Ask for Accent Training

nnIt’s not that you haven’t worked in English before. In fact, you’re a veteran at it. Perhaps you worked in India, where British English is heavily used in business and higher education. Or maybe you learned, and worked in, British English in Europe.nnEither way, you had no problems using English for work communication. And no one had a problem understanding you. Life was good!nnThen your employer offered you a chance to relocate to the U.S. — another opportunity for growth. You eagerly made the move.nnBut then reality set in. Life suddenly became very, very different.nnWhile others used to understand your English just fine, here in the U.S. you’re constantly asked to repeat yourself.nnOrdering at drive-throughs is hell.nnIf you’re in New York, people talk so fast you just can’t keep up.nnIf you’re in Boston, the fact that everyone seems to leave the letter R out of words makes it hard to understand conversations.nnIf you’re in the South, you might find out that while your colleagues have been smiling and nodding politely, they’ve actually had no idea what you’re saying. You’re probably also wondering why they never seem to finish their words and what this “y’all” word means.nnYou’re terrified of talking on the phone.nnYou don’t speak up at meetings.nnAnd you keep all your amazing ideas in your head instead of sharing them at brainstorming meetings.nnThis isn’t good — for you or your employer. So how can you improve your ability to work in the version of American English that’s spoken in your region?nn

Dialects Are Like Languages in Themselves

First, show some compassion for yourself. You’ve probably been underestimating how difficult it is to work in a different culture even when you’re familiar with the language. You’ve probably also been underestimating how much a language can vary depending on the context in which it’s spoken. At the beginning of your relocation, you may have thought to yourself, “Hey, I know English. This won’t be a problem.” But then you ran into all those weird Americanisms, and Texas-isms, California-isms or whatever other regional-isms you have to deal with.nnThis is a lot to process. And you need someone on your side to help. Specifically, you need private English lessons from a native speaker who can also be a support source — a guide who can walk you through this new dialect, accent, way of speaking and culture.nnYou might be hesitant to ask your employer for this kind of support. A lot of folks in your situation are. At Fluency Corp, we hear things like this from employees who call us about language training:nn“I don’t want anyone to know I’m doing this.”nn“I can’t have lessons at the office or on lunch break, because I don’t want anyone to find out.”nn“I wish my company would pay for accent training, but I’m too afraid to ask.”nnIf you’re experiencing this kind of anxiety, you’re holding yourself back. Let’s talk through your fears.nn

How to Get the Language Training You Need

Maybe you’re nervous about talking to your employer about language training because you don’t want others to know you’re having trouble communicating. But I have to break some news to you: They probably already know. And they probably are looking for a way to raise the topic with you. We get a lot of calls from employers about this.nnTelling your employer you’re interested in language lessons or accent training isn’t a sign of weakness. It shows you’re proactive and dedicated to excelling in your job. If you were my employee, I would be thrilled that I had hired someone who cares so much about contributing to the team.nnRemember also that if your company paid for your relocation, then they are very invested in your success in the U.S. If your relocation fails, they’re out a lot of cash (and potentially a great employee if you decide to leave the company). Your bosses want to hear about anything that’s keeping you from doing your best so they can fix it. In my experience, companies are usually more than willing to pay for language training as a way of supporting you.nnReady to go for it and ask for the language and dialect support you need? Here are a few more tips to help you get to “yes.”

  • Do your research. In other articles on the Fluency Corp blog, you can learn more about the kind of language training that really helps people feel at home in a new language, culture and dialect. Study up so that you can talk about how language training will work and how you’ll benefit.
  • Tie it to the bottom line. Before you approach your bosses, it helps to understand the business case for language training. Be ready to talk about how improving your language skills will enhance your ability to collaborate and how it will help your company tap your full potential.
  • Plan and prepare. There are lots of great articles out there about how to get your employer to pay for training. You can even find some scripts that can help you shape exactly what you want to say.

Becoming more fluent in the English of the U.S., and of your particular region, will make a huge difference in the quality of your work and the quality of your life. (No more drive-through anxiety!) Need some help making your case to your employer? Contact Fluency Corp for a free consultation.nn