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

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 color - mimic their own. It has long been recognized that both kids and adults form and organize relationship networks largely based on the race, gender 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 and friends.

For example, many of my financial adviser 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.  Fortunately, we CAN change our accents, and people do it all the time.


"Lisa-isms"



Oh my, we like to hang around people who talk like us!  Improving your accent helps people find new clients, jobs, opportunities and new friends!
--Lisa

The Four Most Annoying U.S. Accents

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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.