Accent Reduction Miami, Speech and Accent Academy Blog

Overcoming Barriers for Corporate Latinos

2011-07-21T00:45:00.223-04:00

Quote: “Gatekeepers at every step of the talent acquisition process disproportionately purge qualified Latino talent. This can be due to systematic selection process, practices, corporate cultural bias and unintentional or conscious individual bias.”
Strong accents, my Latino clients say, often hold them back from promotions, affect their confidence and credibility. Half the problem, I say, is not only their accents, but their audience's ears. Outside of Miami, (where it's much easier to speak with an accent and be understood) people are not accustomed to accents, and they are not good at understanding. They are often impatient, judgmental and worse... rude.

It's true that the majority of Americans are mono-lingual: they speak and know only one language. They simply have a hard time understanding sounds that vary from the standard American English. To them, an accent sounds retarded, mangled, dumb. And this is sad. They don't know what it's like to communicate in a second language. And they are impatient.

It's also true that only three out of 100 Americans articulate properly. For this reason, people who speak English as a second language often pick up the sloppiest, dirtiest and nastiest speech habits from Americans who speak poorly around them. Mixed with an accent, it sounds like dirty 'street-talk' speech, the worst of the worst of American English.

I always say that we forgive Americans when they say 'gunna', 'wanna' and 'I'm-unna' because we don't notice it that much, it doesn't stand out. But when someone with an accent says this garbage, it stands out like a sore thumb! We hear how stupid it sounds - often for the first time. Americans do not forgive people with accents when they speak like this. Instead, most mono-lingual Americans judge them, sadly, as being stupid, inferior, sub-human!

I have heard hundreds of frustrating stories from my clients about rude (and mean) comments they have received about their accents or their race. Some of these stories are heartbreaking. Usually they come in the form of an interruption while my client was saying something important, and it's something like: "You're not from this country, are you?" This is nothing more than a power play, I say, a 'one-up-manship', something to put you down because of your race or language limitation. I say ignore it! Stick to with what you were saying... elegantly.

This is the reason I say, if you speak with an accent, you must speak better than Americans, you must articulate clearly and crisply, intelligently and confidently. You must sound smart.

This is easy with the right direction, guidance, encouragement and discipline, until it becomes a habit. Fortunately, you CAN change the way you speak. Accent Reduction is not the right term at all. Actually, it is learning a NEW accent, and practicing that accent until it becomes a habit. Your brain needs to get used to the new speech patterns and it can. My favorite saying is "Try on your new accent, and WEAR it!"

Many of my clients have attended classes, listened to CDs, bought books and videos. Then they come to me, totally discouraged. Some have developed bad habits like talking fast thinking that no one notices the accent! We have to fix all that. So we begin.

I don't care what anyone says, I say you can change your accent and your way of speaking in eight weeks. My clients can all vouch for that. Eight weeks. Sixteen hours. Something happens in the third week: they begin to feel frustrated because they are now catching all their mistakes. I say, "CELEBRATE that feeling of frustration because it shows that you are making progress, and for the first time, your brain is recognizing your speech patterns. It wants to change! Then, they begin to correct themselves the instant they hear their mistakes, and one by one each mistake disappears.

Changing the way you speak is the easiest and most effective investment you can make. Speaking with precision in English (or any language) brings you influence, elegance and confidence. It helps you overcome barriers. The barriers especially that Latinos face are not understood by native English Speaking Americans. To overcome these barriers, you just simply need to jump over some hurdles, and the greatest hurdle is your accent.

Here's a great article in Diversity Executive Magazine: Overcoming Barriers for Corporate Latinos: http://diversity-executive.com/article.php?article=1214

Lisa Jeffery, Executive Coach and CEO of Jeffery Communications Speech and Accent Academy and organizer of Accent Reduction Miami, understands what it's like to communicate well in a second language. Having received Rotary International Ambassadorial scholarships for Masters Degrees in Paris and Monaco, in exchange for Public Speaking in French, her speech coach told her, "You can not mimic your Parisian friends. Because you are a foreigner, you must speak articulate, elegant French because you have an accent." She understands what it's like to be taken seriously in a second language. She coaches in public speaking, persuasion and building confidence as a part of her accent reduction programs.

How do You Pronounce "THE" in English?

2011-04-30T00:45:00.001-04:00

The Problem With “THE” Do I say thee? Or Do I say thuh? So many people say this wrong! I have even heard broadcasters and actors (all native English speakers) say this wrong! The problem is, most English teachers, don't teach phonetic sounds. They teach the way it's spelled.

What is the correct sound?

Many people make the mistake of not saying the word "the" correctly. The word "the" has two sounds: thee and thuh. When it comes before a consonant, we pronounce "the" with a short sound (like "thuh").
But when "the" comes before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long "thee".

It is important to understand that it is what we say that matters, not what we write. It is the sound of speech that want to make sure is right, not the letter used in writing a word. So we use a long "thee" before a vowel sound, not necessarily before a vowel. Here are some examples:
vowel sound:       A
writing:                the apple
speaking:            thee apple

vowel sound:      E
writing:               the egg
speaking:            thee egg

vowel sound:      I
writing:               the ice-cream
speaking:           thee ice-cream
writing                              speaking
the house consonant (h)       thuh house (consonant sound)
the hour consonant (h)         thee our (vowel sound)
the university vowel (u)        thuh youniversity (consonant sound)
the umbrella vowel (u)         thee umbrella (vowel sound)

The Weird Letter U:
Note that the vowel U sometimes sounds like a consonant with a YOU sound, and sometimes sounds like a vowel with a "uh" sound.

Emphatic the [thee]
When we wish to place emphasis on a particular word, we can use "emphatic the" [thee], whether or not the word begins with a consonant or vowel sound. For example:

A: I saw the [thuh] bride yesterday.
B: What! The [thee] bride in the wedding tomorrow?
A: Yes, exactly.

'King's Speech' brings clamor for voice coaches | Business Of Life | Crain's Chicago Business

2011-02-09T22:34:00.004-05:00

'King's Speech' brings clamor for voice coaches: Business Of Life Crain's Chicago Business
"Voice coaches are feeling the buzz of “The King's Speech,” the film about King George VI of England, which has snared 12 Oscar nominations. Business at Chicago-based Total Voice Inc. was up 25% this January over last, following the late-December opening of the film about the king and his coach, Lionel Logue. “The film is capturing something in the ether,” says owner Kate DeVore, 41. “It's making people aware that vocal coaching is even a service.”

A Word from Lisa:
One day in February 2010, I realized I was suddenly overbooked with my accent, voice and speech coaching, and had to go to a waiting list!

In the middle of the night, I bolted up in bed from my sleep, and yelled, "It's The King's Speech! That's it! It was nominated for all those academy awards! THAT'S IT!" The dog barked, the birds stirred and said, "go to bed," and even the cat raised it's head in curiosity. Of course, it immediately went back to sleep. I didn't. "Wow," I replied, scratching my head in wonder, "Wow." "Say it right!" quipped my African Grey, Valentina Dinero (she loves vowel sounds and plosives.)

Because of this movie and all it's nominations for academy awards, it is now not only stylish to work with a speech coach, but it's 'officially chic'! I have not had a chance to see the movie yet, but a couple of my clients called me from New York and said, "Lisa you HAVE to see this movie, it reminds us of our sessions with you... doing all those strange and fun things you made us do, like talking with corks in our mouth!"
So I researched on the internet, and sure enough, I found my midnight hunch was correct. So I thank the writers and producers of the movie for showing the public that working with a speech coach is FUN, EXCITING and it works!

Why People Get Accent Reduction Coaching

2010-08-18T14:43:00.000-04:00

WHAT is she singing?

A Gold Mine of Accents for Actors!

2010-07-13T04:54:00.002-04:00

Are you an actor trying to master an accent for an audition? Are you wishing you could just click on a button on the computer and hear every accent there is around the world? Here it is! Your dream come true!

I couldn't believe I found this: A Linguist's Dream, The Speech Accent Archive. It was created by George Mason University.

I had so much fun listening to Yiddish, French, Minnesota, Alabama accents and New Jersey accents. I couldn't stop, I was rolling on the floor laughing. They are all recorded by native speakers of places like Memphis and Madagascar! This is the real thing, and they were all reading the following sentence:

"Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store:

Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese,

and maybe a snack for her brother Bob.

We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids.

She can scoop these things into three red bags,

and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station."

It is a thorough compilation of English accents online. You can even make your own recording if you have an accent. In addition to audio samples of each accent, the Speech Accent Archive keeps track of biographical and regional data. Each clip has a readout of the sample paragraph next to the phonetic transcription. WOW!

For every accent, it also has a list of linguistic distinctions for the accent. For Example, I listened to the Greek accent. It described the consonant vowel and syllabic mistakes. With a little practice you can begin to master any accent, and you don't even have to go there!

This relatively simple idea has provided a structure for a unique set of data. In addition to being a fun site to casually explore, it provides a resource for speech pathologists, actors learning an accent or even engineers training speech recognition machines. If that wasn’t enough, all the files are released under a Creative Commons License. You can use them!

Have fun! It iz zee best zing vee have foun!

Silent Letters in English: A Sonnet

2010-07-01T22:55:00.000-04:00

Psychology of Silent Letters in a Foreign Café© by Lisa Jeffery

In a loud coffee shop, I created my dictionary of silent letters.
Crouching beneath muffled conversations of gossip about weekend soirees,
my silent letters, like private benefactors, donated to the words, sophisticated them,
brought a sense of mystery, a French-ness, a Latin-ness to dull, milquetoast English.
Silent letters, like lacy French underwear, are not meant to be paraded.
Silent letters are spies, Greeks at Troy, Trojan Horses to foreign students.
Silent letters parachute into words like Green Beret Lieutenant Colonels.
I laughed. People talked. I reminisced of saucy dialogues with my colleagues.
I devoured my salmon sandwich and asked for the receipt, which I knew
would put me in debt either on my mortgage, or my next island rendezvous.
White as a ghost, I remained calm. I unfastened my handbag with my thumb,
tensed my muscles as I often do when I’ve realized I’ve done something dumb.
I placed my handkerchief in my palm and wiped the sweat off my balmy forehead.
Damn, I thought. I had only brought - foreign currency. Oh, so apropos.

Can you find the silent letters it this poem?

©Lisa Jeffery, 2010

America is Ready For An Accent! Except Strong Ones, Like New Jersey!

2010-06-11T16:52:00.000-04:00

New Trends: You may have heard it discussed on the news, Accent Reduction is the latest trend in global communication. Even Americans with strong accents such as Ebonics, or a sharp Boston, New Jersey or Southern accent are learning to tone it down to speak to global audiences!

People who speak English as a second language are perfecting their accents in English. The New York Times recently wrote an article that America is ready for an accent, as long as it is not too strong. I have coached and trained thousands of people from New York to South America, Asia, Africa and Europe to reduce their accents. This includes television personalities, Fortune 500 executives, actors, entrepreneurs and unemployed people. I love to help people speak better, powerful, more articulate International English.
My hero is Grace Kelly. Years ago, Grace Kelly worked very hard to tone down her harsh Philadelphia accent so she could become a glamorous movie star (and a princess). She knew her voice had to be beautiful. A strange new device called the tape recorder just came out. The young Grace Kelly, aspiring actress, begged her father to buy it, and she worked for hours, alone and with a coach. Through many hours of hard work, it happened. (Well, it didn't 'happen' she MADE it happen!) Watch her in her movies... wow, does she speak with elegance!

Anyone can change their accent, articulation or voice if they know the right techniques, know their problem sounds and know how to correct them. That's why working with an accent coach helps. The rest is up to you. You have to keep practicing. You have to work not to lose the progress you made. You need support of people around you as you change the way you speak. It's a metamorphosis and an exciting process.

How do I describe my coaching clients? One of my colleagues said it before I could:

"People who take accent reduction courses are usually highly motivated individuals who are looking for better job opportunities or promotions, increased social opportunities and better cultural understanding. If this sounds like you, it may be time for you to investigate these kinds of classes." (Susan Ryan, Accent Reduction Coach, Bethesda, Maryland)

This summer, I'm holding intense Accent Reduction Workshops in Miami. If you are not ready for private coaching, take an intensive workshop! Spend an afternoon making your mouth sore from really, really working hard at it. You can assess which sounds and problems you need to work on and learn techniques of how to correct them yourself. Contact me for a free evaluation!

Lisa Jeffery, The "Paramedic Speech Coach" (That's what one of my clients called me!)

New Links to Help You with Accent Reduction

2010-06-05T04:13:00.002-04:00

I'm always excited when I find a special new tool to help people reduce their accents. Here are two exciting places you can go on the internet to help you practice:

I give these two sites five stars!

1. Phonetics: The Sounds of Spoken Languages

About the Phonetics Flash Animation Project: This site contains animated libraries of the phonetic sounds of English, German, and Spanish. Available for each consonant and vowel is an animated articulatory diagram, a step-by-step description, and video=audio of the sound spoken I context. It is intended for the student of phonetics, linguistics, and foreign languages. There is also an interactive diagram of the articulatory anatomy.

This project was a collaborative effort of the Departments of Spanish and Portuguese, German, Speech Pathology and Audiology, and Academic Technologies at the University of Iowa.

This library is intended to be used by adult students and instructors of articulatory phonetics, linguistics or foreign language.
Instructors can use this for in-class projection.
Students can use the library to review phonetic sounds or supplement their class or textbooks.
Students studying English or Spanish as a foreign language can see and hear native speakers pronounce each sound.

2. The Speech Accent Archive

An amazing collection of recordings of accents from around the world, all participating in the same sample collection task. Created by George Mason University. This is a great resource if you want to hear what different accents sound like. Great for actors!

Harvard Study Shows: It's Not the Color of Your Skin, It's Your Accent!

2010-03-18T10:09:00.003-04:00

A new study was published in The Journal of Social Cognition. "Accent Speaks Louder Than Race When it Comes to Making Friends"

This is an interesting article based a 5-year study:

A Harvard University study has shown that when it comes to making friends, children prefer those whose speech patterns - rather than skin clour - mimic their own. It has long been recognized that both kids and adults form and organize relationship networks largely based on the race, genter and age of others.

While previous research has shown that white kids in the United States tend to pick same-race friends, new findings suggest that race takes a back seat when foreign or non-native accents come into play. During the study, when offered the choice between making friends with either a white or black child who spoke French, English with a French accent, or native English, the group of white 5-year-old study participants overwhelmingly opted for the native speakers, regardless of their race.

After helping hundreds of people reduce their accents, I have to say this study rings true not only for children, but for adults as well. Accents are important for children in making friends, but they are important for adults in finding clients and doing business. As an accent reduction Executive Coach, I have found that improving the accent helps people find clients, jobs, and opportunities.

For example, many of my financial advisor clients with Latino accents in Miami, come to me to help them reduce their accent so they may increase their client base and find American clients. I also work with entrepreneurs who have a 'Miami' accent. They want to reduce it so they may do business with more people in Boca Raton, Palm Beach and the rest of the United States. Many actors also work with me to reduce their accents, as they are limited on parts they can play. I have worked with people to reduce their Texas accents, as they weren't 'chic' on Wall Street. When Obama announced his candidacy for president, many African American young entrepreneurs came to me to help them reduce the Ebonics in their speech. They knew they needed to be able to "switch" their speech in order to increase their chances of success.

This study is interesting because it confirms that accents keep us in closed circles.

The Four Most Annoying U.S. Accents

2010-02-19T04:26:00.002-05:00

The Four Most Annoying U.S. Accents - DivineCaroline

Accent reduction is not just for foreigners! I often work with Americans to get rid of their annoying regional accents and dialects. An example would be an actor with a "Miami" accent, who wants to work in LA; a financial advisor with a Texas accent who finds his accent is not 'chic' on Wallstreet; a young lawyer with a 'valley girl' accent who wants to be taken seriously in the courtroom, and a young African American who wants to get Ebonics out of his speech for job interviews.

Check out this article of the four most annoying accents in America:
1. The uppper Midwestern "Yah?"
2. Northern New Jersey, a.k.a. “Joisey”
3. Welcome tah Bahston
4. The Deep South: Y’all C’mon Back Now, Y’Hear

Accent Reduction, Miami Style

2010-02-12T17:57:00.003-05:00

The Accent Reduction Show, Miami Style

Professor Lisa Jeffery tries to get her English Class to reduce their accents. The class is made up of Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese, Thai, Arabic and Indian Speakers. The Spanish speakers make the typical y/j mix-ups, the Chinese make the typical R/L mix-up, Arabic speakers mix up P and B, and most everyone mixes up the ee and i sounds (as in beach and bitch), and the U and O sounds as in FOCUS! The hilarious skit was performed at the holiday party at Florida International University. This is the Advanced English Class for the FIU's International MBA program.

The Miami Accent

2010-02-02T06:07:00.002-05:00

What is the Miami accent? Here's a funny youtube video of two young ladies comparing the difference between the Miami and the Buffalo Accents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NIElojBiXU

Accent Reduction Nightmare: The "Beach/Bitch" Problem

2009-08-29T23:11:00.015-04:00

Everybody in Miami knows this problem, and we often laugh about it. Have you ever said, "Let's go the beach!" and it came out of your mouth, "Let's go to the bitch!"? (Oh no!)
When I work with my accent-reduction clients in Miami, they say that this problem is one of their worst problems. The "ee" and "i" sounds are always getting mixed up.

So I call it "The Beach/Bitch" problem.
(I live in Miami, I can do that!)

(The Beach)...................................(The Rich Bitch)

I also call the ee/i accent problem the "Sheet/Sh*t" problem (but that's not as elegant.) Most of my Spanish-speaking clients tell me with a horrified look on their face "Oh, I NEVER say the word sheet - I'm afraid of what will happen. So I say 'linens' instead!)

Today I laughed at story a client told me about a friend who caused a disaster with the "Sheet/Sh*t" problem. She checked into a hotel and found the sheet was dirty on the bed. She told the front desk:
Woman: "I have a problem, my 'sh*t' is dirty!"
(The front desk clerk was confused and horrified, not to mention, disgusted.)
Desk Clerk: "I'm sorry, I can't help you!"
Woman (screaming): "But my 'sh*t' is dirty! It's dirty!"
Desk Clerk: "Lady, 'sh*t' is always dirty! What can I do? Do you want me to call a doctor?"

It was then that she realized what a horrible mistake she had made, did not know how to correct it. She hoped she never had a problem with sheets again so she wouldn't have to say it. (It's like that in Miami.)

So let's go back to the beach with the bitch. Let's say it's South Bitch, oops, I mean South Beach. (Hee hee). I've noticed that in all cases, my clients are ABLE to say both sounds correctly, but they always get them mixed up in their speech.

They can't understand why the sounds come out wrong. It's like there is "a short circuit" in the brain, some kind of crossed wires. But don't worry, there is a fix! The first thing I get my clients and students to do is get them to hear the subtle differences in the two sounds. We say the two sounds next to each other. We say it wrong, say it right, say it wrong, say it right -- until the brain can consciously recognize which sounds it is sending to the mouth.

I call this the "Lisa Jeffery Homeopathic Method of Correcting Mistakes." (It works for quivering Elvis Legs in Public speaking too!) Sometimes this takes time, but it always works. Here is how you can practice the "Beach/Bitch" problem: Mix the two (vowel sounds) with different consonants. For example: beach/bitch; reach/rich. This works miracles. So here's my famous practice sentence, Miami style: Say this: "When you go to the beach, reach for the rich bitch!"
I once had a corporate training class of 22 people saying this all at once -- just as the CEO walked by! (Hee Hee.) He popped his head in the class, "What's going on here?”Accent reduction, Miami style!" somebody yelled. (Thank god!)

This isn't just a problem with Spanish speakers; I've noticed it with my French, Portuguese, Italian, Turkish, Chinese and Russian clients too. My favorite French client discovered she can say these two sounds correctly, except with the consonant "L". 'Little' always comes out 'leetle', no matter how hard she tried. I asked her to say the word sick. And brick. She could say them! She could also say the word 'lily' correctly. So her practice sentence was "The rich bitch has little lilies."

Then we usually laugh. Can you picture the rich bitch on the beach with her bouquet of little lilies? If you've been to South Beach, you may have seen her. (But make sure you say BEACH!)

* Lisa Jeffery, MBA, MA teaches Advanced Business English for FIU's International MBA program, and Communication at Barry University. She provides corporate training programs and private executive coaching in accent reduction and public speaking skills. Her clients primarily fall into three groups: television personalities, lawyers, and financial advisors & CEOs.

If you are interested in Accent Reduction coaching or training, contact Lisa at www.lisajeffery.com for a free consultation.

The Yellow Jello Problem - An Accent Mystery

2009-02-02T23:46:00.004-05:00

Recently, I was contemplating why a lot of my Spanish Speaking Clients have a Y-J problem when they study accent reduction. (They always get them mixed up.) They say "y" words as "j" words and visa-versa. I call it the "Yellow Jello" problem. I looked on the internet for artwork of yellow jello, and to my delight and amazement, I discovered a bizarre trend. People around the country are putting their staplers in yellow jello and serving it at the office. I'm not kidding. Why are they doing that? It's a huge mystery.

I have learned that Spanish speakers are perfectly capable of saying both sounds. It's exactly like Chinese speakers mixing up "R"s and "L"s.

So I've reached the conclusion that some wires are crossed in the language penthouse of the brain, and we have to do some cerebral re-wiring of thought. I took a poll among my Spanish speaking students and clients and they said, "Jes, it true, Ms. Yeffery, we yust do it!"

Apparantly, it's out of habit that the mistake is made again and again. And that makes it very easy, because "jou see," bad habits can be broken, and good habits can be formed. So how do jou do it?

Here are some tips:

1. Start by making your brain aware that you are doing it. Try to catch yourself and keep "score" in your daily agenda. Make a competition with your friends of who gets the highest score.
2. After keeping score for several days, begin to correct yourself every time you notice the mistake. This eventually becomes a habit, and it slowly begins to change.
3. Just for fun, practice PURPOSELY switching the sounds. This also makes jour brain aware, and sounds so funny, jou can actually have fun. Yust keep doing it!

A Bonus: It might help if make some yellow jello and serve it to your friends. I'm not sure about this one, but it's worth a try!

Happy New Year 2009

2009-01-05T13:02:00.001-05:00

Wishing you a year of

wonderful new beginnings,
peace, good health, prosperity
and happiness for 2009!

NEW YEAR'S THOUGHT:

"Antiphanes said merrilythat in a certain city,
the cold was so intense that words were frozen
as soon as spoken, but that after some time,
they thawed and became audible;
so that words spoken in winter
were articulated next summer!"

Plutarch
(circa 45 - 125 A.D.)
Priest of the Delphic Oracle

"Lisa-isms"
Saying of the Month:

I hope you have a plethora of nice words this winter
to last you through the summer and the entire year!
Lisa

plethora -
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: excess; overabundance
Etymology: Greek 'fullness'

Other fun uses of 'plethora' Plethoretic, Plethoric, Plethorical, plethorically

My Star Student in Articulation and Accent Reduction

2008-10-08T02:13:00.005-04:00

When I'm not teaching accent reduction, I like to teach my African Grey, Valentina Diniro how to speak, clear articulate English. Valentina is 8 years old with a 500 word vocabulary. (Of course, what can you expect? Her mommy is a speech and English teacher!)

Valentina has mastered those S and Z sounds that get confusing to Spanish Speakers. In English, we like to fool people and use an S in spelling the word, and a Z in saying the word. Valentina especially likes these two sounds.

For example, words like his, is, as, was, design, pleasant, all have a Z sound! Words like store, receive, amiss, and lonesome all have an S sound.

Then English can really get confusing because we give Cs and Xs a S sound also: words like icy, race, decimal, excellent all have an S sound.

So English is not spoken like it is written, and that's why it's confusing to people who speak English as a second language.

But of course, Valentina Diniro can't read, so she only knows the sounds. Since she is a perfectionist in pronunciation, as most African Greys are, she gets mad and screams if she pronounces the word wrong. But mommy has a lot of patience, so we practice until she gets it right, just like I do with my accent reduction clients.

Valentina especially likes combining the S sound with a consonant. Her favorite words are special, store, taps, cats. She loves to say, "You're wistling TAPS!" She often says, "You're special!" Then follows it with "Go to the pet store!"

When I'm off coaching or teaching classes, Valentina goes to her own "job". I like to say she's in the entertainment business. I take her to a nursing home, where she has her own cage in the lobby, and talks to the residents, the staff, the ambulance drivers, and the UPS people all day long. Everyone loves her, and she loves them. She's been going there for 8 years, since she was 6 months old. She knows everybody's names, and loves to have her friends call her on her own "cell phone" sounds. (She has about 10 different ringtones.)

Once I taught a speech class with Valentina on my head. I found out that wasn't (NOTE THE Z SOUND) a good idea. While Valentina is an excellent talker... she's not a very good listener, and totally missed my lecture by piping out the song "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!

Here are some more tricky Z sound words:
boys, fleas, please, rise, and whose...

An Accent Can Get You in Trouble Sometimes...

2008-05-02T00:12:00.000-04:00

Once I said the the wrong thing in France.

In 1995, I made a speech to 5,000 people in Nice, France (In French). I mispronounced one word...

When I meant to say,
"I came to Monaco to get my Masters Degree," with my poor American accent in French, I said,
"I came to Monaco to get my UTERUS."

The audience was sweet and charming and forgave me. I just heard a murmur run through the crowd. But after the speech when a friend told me what I had actually said, I melted like a stick of butter. It took months to recover. Maybe years.

I am one of the few, if not the ONLY accent reduction coaches in America who has actually gone through it herself in another language. I worked in a PR firm in Paris and Monaco and was TERRIFIED to talk on the phone, but I had to. I know your fear, personally.

I have unique insights into what you are facing with your accent reduction challenges, and know how to help you. You can find accent reduction coaches all over America. Most of them are speech trainers, some might be college speech teachers, but not all of them. None of them has been in your shoes: lived and worked and tried to succeed in a foreign country in another language.

I know what it means to improve an accent:
- I had to make speeches in France to thousands of people in French
- I am a University Speech and Communication Professor
- I am a former TV and radio broadcaster
- I am a motivational speaker
- I am a business woman
- I am the famous Valentina's mommy

The Magic City of a Million Magnificent Accents

2008-05-01T04:57:00.011-04:00

And then she said...

In South Beach, you can walk down Lincoln Road and hear dozens of languages, hundreds of accents, and plenty of "blah, blah, blah" and "bleh, bleh, bleh." You can watch amazing characters with their birds, dogs, lizards, even snakes going for a Sunday sashay down Ocean drive.

While some people know me (Lisa), EVERYBODY knows my famous African Gray Parrot, Valentina. She speaks very elegant English, with a 500-word vocabulary. (Of course she does, her mommy is a speech teacher!)Valentina even has a job. She works in the entertainment business. She's the lead entertainer, comedian and "conversationalist" in a nursing home. So while mommy is teaching people how to speak better and reduce their accent, Valentina is telling stories to the nursing home residents, bossing around the staff, and flirting with ambulance drivers -- oh sorry, doctors, paramedics, and mail carriers too.

In Miami, we understand accents. But if you want to communicate with the rest of the world, you have to speak clearer English. You have to speak with distinction.

Studies show that only 3 out of 100 Americans articulate properly, so foreigners have to try to learn English from people who speak bad street talk. In fact, 1/3 of Americans need some kind of voice and articulation training, but most of them don't ever get it.

If you speak with an accent, you can't afford to speak "street talk" if you want to get ahead. You have to speak with distinction and elegance. Then you'll get selected for the job in that interview; you'll sell that client your product or service, because they LIKE listening to you!

We forgive Americans for saying "gunna" and "wanna" but we do NOT forgive foreigners. So you have to learn to be BETTER, CLEARER.

You don't want to lose your accent; you want to use it as an ASSET!

I can help you. In either private coaching sessions or scheduled workshops, I guarantee results that you will make a breakthrough in your accent reduction. To find out more of how I can help you, visit my website at: www.crossingborderscommunication.com.