April 8, 2009

An Accent….What is it?  Who has an accent?
It is a specific way of speaking a language.  Pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and tonality.  We all speak with an accent, yet some of us have many.  In those who speak English as a first language, some speak with a certain accent when they are around friends from their youth and another when at work.
Often, when we live in different areas of the world, we will add other pronunciation patterns, other accents, to our English.
And… we use the appropriate “accent” when speaking to specific groups.
I have a “storytelling accent” that I use when telling Southern Tales. This accent would not be received well if I were to use it in a gathering of professionals.

I was raised in an area that had an accent of what I lovingly refer to as “Hoosier Hillbilly”.  When I went to college, I quickly realized that although most folks understood me, it was not deemed a professional accent.
In my linguistics classes and physiology classes, I learned of the muscle responses that make sounds, tones and rhythm.
This is when I began to do “Accent Addition”. Not “Accent Reduction”. When we learn another language, we do not “reduce” or “lose” our primary language.

To speak with a Standard North American accent (i.e., as the Radio & TV media do), one does not lose the “accent “ of their first language.  They “add” the Standard North American accent.
So, to add the Standard North American accent, let’s start with knowing basics; Pronunciation, stress, rhythm, and tonality of the that accent, the struggles some groups may have, and how to use those to bridge to the Standard.

March 13, 2009:
In this economy we want to make ourselves as valuable as possible.
According to FAST COMPANY’s Peter Lawrence in “Design’s Growth”, Tue Jul 8,2008, one of the primary ways to that is to improve our communication skills. He talks of some just “good” industrial designers who are successful because they are better communicators than the “great” designers.
Ask yourself:  “Do my colleagues ask me to repeat something I said more than one time?”  “Do people ask me to send them an email to summarize what I said in a meeting?”  “Am I asked to ‘speak louder’ in a meeting?”  “Are these problems worse on phone calls or during a phone conference?”
If so, then seek specific help.  Your manager wants to keep valuable team members and hone their skills.  This makes their job easier.
Employers are still contracting with training professionals.

I work privately with a mid level manager at a very large international company. We are doing accent, communication and voice/presentation training.
Here are some of the communication strategies that we covered in the last week.
1.     Audio tape yourself.  Read a paragraph… only a paragraph…from a familiar magazine.  Then listen to it.  What you hear is exactly what your Primary-English colleagues hear.  Have a colleague listen to it with you without having the visual of the paragraph.  And repeat back sentence by sentence… no paraphrasing. Usually they will struggle to understand it.
2.     Now read the paragraph very s-l-o-w-l-y and audio tape it.  Have a colleague listen to it again.  They will very likely understand you better.
Why?  Because this gives the listener the time to “edit” what you are saying and interpret better.    Even though you have heard that the brain analyzes a huge number of pieces of information a second, remember that this number really consists of data from your body functions, visual, tactile, muscle motor and varying other inputs.   Each word is not single unit.   Rather, they are combinations of multiples of units.  Each sound has a set of signals, stress patterns, semantics, grammar, and phrasal inflections affect interpretation every second for the listener.
The listener is really processing at about 90-100 words per minute (WPM). The average speaking speed for broadcasters is about 135 WPM.  The average speaking speed that I have noted in engineering, business/marketing, law firms, and financial workplaces has been between 135 WPM to 230WPM. Fast talkers usually get the least amount of information understood.
The brain starts by “chunking” inflection, stress patterns, grammar markers, etc.  And, then the brain begins to assign meaning.  If the listener must edit what the speaker is saying, the analysis slows down.  Unfortunately, the speaker keeps speaking at their usual (135-230 WPM) with accent, grammar and/or vocabulary issues.   The listener’s interpretation speed slows down for each “edit”.  Finally the listener has totally lost pace with the content of the speaker.  The listener stops listening, gets frustrated, tries again and stops again.
The speaker loses valuable time and credibility…….
As a professional in a shaky economy, you cannot afford to lose credibility.
Slow down.  Audiotape yourself and practice slowing down.    It must be practiced repeatedly every day for it to become a habit.
Your value in the workplace will increase.

The Articulate Advantage:

Nov 16, 2008:

It is a fact.  We are in diverse workplaces.
There are many professionals who speak accented English.  Not only with “foreign” accents, there are also “regional” accents, ……
The ones who have English as their first language …
You know, the folks from New York City or New Orleans, the British or Aussies, and are usually understood by other professionals across the world.

Then we have the people who speak English as their “other” language among two or more.  This comprises a very large group of professionals working internationally.

Here, we will be addressing various components of “accent” in both sets of English speakers.

The accent components will also be combined with everyday situations for speaking within your business, professionals and business-social settings.

I will also offer you recommendations for books, community involvement and video reviews.  We will use business, technology, finance and presentation aspects to make it more meaningful.

Segments to be included:
•    Sports!:  Names of teams in specific leagues.  Positions, players, etc.  How to pronounce these.  Also, sports slang and references
•    Business networking:  What are the basic rules and what to say.
•    Business / job interview scripts and accent struggles in these.
•    Menu Madness:  How to pronounce items on various menus’
•    How to answer questions at business meetings.
•    Listening to win.  Strategies to understand what others are saying.
•    Body Language: Reading the moves of others correctly and making appropriate of your own.
•    Strategic English sound targets for:  English speakers of Chinese, Southeast Asia languages, Japanese, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, Russian, et al
You will have enough to make it a challenge, yet enough to be immediately incorporated into your daily life.

I would really appreciate hearing about any of your recommendations as well.   Phyllis