British Columbia Pronunciation Class

Having an accent is nice, however, if you are finding that you have problems communicating at work, on the phone, or socially, you may need some accent reduction training.  In some situations having a strong accent can cause problems for upward job mobility.  For example, if clients have problems understanding you on the phone, during conferences, or while giving a presentation, this could negatively affect your opportunities.

The goal of accent reduction is not total elimination. Rather, the goal is to help use certain techniques to speak clearer and relate better at work.

The Process for Accent Reduction Training

1. Get a free assessment at L2 Accent Reduction Centre
2. Based on your assessment, a Speech Professional will be able to discern what problems a client may have.
3.   An Individualized Education Plan is then determined for the client.  (Each plan is different depending on the client’s L1 (first language) and other concerns that the client may have. If the client works in a specific field such as Engineering, Accounting, Nursing, etc the client may want to incorporate aspects from their job into the program.)
4. Each lesson is a one-to-one lesson (at the centre/off location) and is one hour, during which time the client will learn techniques to retrain the muscles of the mouth to produce specific sounds.
5. Clients can then practice their new skills using our voice recognition online program. The client will be monitored for a year, thus maintaining the new techniques.
6. Clients can clarify sounds that they have learned using our accent reduction guide.

Benefits to Accent Reduction Training

There are many benefits to training with a trained Speech Professional.  Although, we understand that there are many programs that can be purchased via CD-Rom, the problem is that the client will never know if they are producing the sounds correctly. Learn from a trained Speech Professional and get the results that will help to improve your life and career.  

If you live outside the lower mainland area and cannot come to the centre, we also offer our programs online either via skype or in Spring 2010 we will have an online accent reduction program that is monitored by Speech Professionals on a weekly basis.