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Archive for the ‘Accent Reduction Tools’ Category

Micro Businesspersons Allotted $3.1 Million of Business Training, says Premier Christy Clark – L2 Accent Reduction Provides Free Coaching to British Columbians

Monday, March 11th, 2013

Premier Christy Clark has recently announced the allocation of $3.1 million under the ‘Canada Starts Here: The BC Jobs Plan’. These funds are aimed at fueling the training pilot program which will focus on the skills enhancement of British Columbian micro business owners. There are over 1.200 micro businesspersons eligible under the Labor Market Agreement, each of whom will have $1,500 worth of business training that will aid in the progress of their business, and consequently contribute in the long-term advancement of the state. http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2012/05/premier-announces-skills-training-for-micro-businesses.htm

L2 Accent Reduction Centre is an excellent training provider for the Micro Business Program as many business owners have a great need to communicate well both in business writing and every day speaking tasks.

L2 Accent Reduction Centre is offering courses with no charge to the business owner; these funds will be covered through the Microbusiness Program. These courses include accent reduction training, which is essential to clear communication, especially when dealing with customer service issues. Similarly, voice projection training and writing courses would greatly improve the oral and written discourse of business for these small-business owners.

Business owners, who would like to take advantage of the world-class oral and written training provided by L2 Accent Reduction Centre, can contact http://www.chamberlearningnetwork.com/. However, the candidates need to comply with all the conditions set by the province for being entitled to free training by L2 Accent Reduction Centre.

Tags: accent reduction courses, accent reduction training, English as a Second Language, Jeff Madigan, pronunciation, pronunciation training
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Accent ReductionTips on Verb Phrase Reductions

Friday, October 19th, 2012

When we hear actors on television with so-called foreign accents, one technique employed is the omission of the auxiliary verb in verb phrases.

Borris: Natasha were you going? (are you going)

Natasha: I go to buy boat ticket to get off this island with foul smell. Is okay? (am going to buy)

Borris: No no no Natasha. It is not okay. We steal ticket from that moose and show off notorious spy skill. (will steal)

Actually, what we notice is that the omission of auxiliary verbs is often a sign that the person has developed an ear for the fluent rhythm pattern of English, but are not aware of the reduction patterns that native speakers of English use. The more typical problem that contributes to accented speech is when the speaker fully pronounces all parts of the verb phrase. This is because of how English was learned. Most people can remember doing verb tense drills where they spoke the verb phrase clearly and completely to help with the memorization of English grammar.

Rocky went to Florida

Rocky has been to Florida.

Rocky is flying to Florida.

Rocky will fly to Florida.

The problem is that all of the above sentences have three beats. If the verb prhases are not reduced, the sentences will have the wrong rhythm. So those speakers who omit the auxilary verb, are actually able to create the correct rythym pattern. Unfortunately, this is sometimes incorrectly seen as being a grammar problem and the person can be advised to study more grammar and do more verb tense drilling, which is very fustrating. But by learning reduction patterns, you can create the correct rhythm and have correct grammar at the same time.

Rocky went to Florida.

Rocky ez bin to Florida.

Rocky’s flyinig to Florida.

Rocky el fly to Florida.

Tags: accent reduction, American accent, Canadian Accent, Jeff Madigan, pronunciation training
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Accent Reduction Courses – The Troublesome R

Monday, August 20th, 2012

The English /r/ can be one of the most challenging sounds to master for non-native speakers of the language. The situation is only further complicated when the /r/ is used in combination with other consonants, often in commonly used words such as “practice”, “drink” or “crisis”. However, once the /r/ sound has been mastered, the rest of the consonant-R blends should not be too hard to achieve with the right technique and a little bit of practice!

Start by forming the /r/ sound and holding it. While still holding your tongue in position, articulate the other consonant in the combination and release the /r/. For example, for the word “practice”, start by making and holding an /r/ sound. Next, while still making a continuous /r/ sound and holding your tongue in the /r/ position, close your lips and make the appropriate /p/ sound. Release the /r/ and proceed with the rest of the sounds in the word.

Here are some practice words:

practice

price

brief

bridge

dream

draw

frame

fresh

Granville

grin

crowd

crime

tree

troll

through

thread

If you find you’re having trouble forming the /r/ sound altogether, you may want to consider purchasing the R Speech Buddy. It’s a tool designed to give you the physical manipulation and tactile feedback that some learners require to achieve the difficult /r/ sound. For more information, visit this web-site to learn more about how Speech Buddies work!

Accent Reduction Courses The Troublesome R

The R tool was very effective for me!

Tags: accent reduction, accent reduction courses, accent reduction tools, accent reduction training, foreign accents, mispronouncing, speech buddies
Posted in Accent Reduction Techniques, Accent Reduction Tools, Jeff Madigan, online learning | Comments Off

The Consonant with a Dual Personality

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

Happy Face - Accent Reduction Tools

When we first learn the English alphabet, we are taught that there is only one /n/. While this may be true of our written language, there are in fact two very important and different ways in which /n/ can be pronounced in spoken English. The first [n] is what often comes to mind as the regular [n], such as the [n] in the words “nice”, “never” and “knowledge”. This [n] is a short and sweet sound that temporarily directs air through your nose before the next sound quickly redirects it back into your oral cavity.

The second and perhaps more obscure pronunciation of the /n/ consonant is called the syllabic [n]. The syllabic [n] is very important in the production of the North American English accent and it is characterized by an elongated direction of air through the nose. In other terms, the syllabic [n] is simply held for longer than the regular [n]. It is very easy to identify the syllabic [n], because it appears every time the [n] is the last sound in a word. For example, common words such as “phone”, “mean” and “button” all contain the syllabic [n].

The bolded words in the following sentences contain the syllabic [n]. Practice reading these out loud and remember to hold any [n] that is the last sound of a word. Can you distinguish between the two different types of [n] sounds?

1. Transportation - The bus is an efficient source of transportation.

2. Phone - Pick up the phone!

3. Earn - How are we going to earn money?

4. Complain - He came to complain about an employee.

5. Croon - The singer continued to croon well into the night.

Tags: accent, accent reduction, accent reduction training, Canadian Accent, English accent, English as a Second Language, foreign accents, Jeff Madigan, mispronouncing, north american english accent, online learning, pronounced, pronucation, pronunciation training
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Double Speak – Misscomunication is not always because of a strong accent

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

What is double speak? Double speak is a term for when fancy words are used in place of regular words; it makes the bad seem good. For example, instead of calling someone a bum or a hobo, we could call him/her a non-goal oriented member of society. One of the main reasons that double speak is used is because the speaker wants to avoid speaking directly and causing offense. An idiom that expresses this sentiment is “beating around the bush”.

Double Speak Misscomunication is not always because of a strong accent

Accent Reduction Double Speak

Here are some common expressions that are along the same lines as double speak and can cause communication breakdowns.

“I’ll bear it in mind” means “I won’t doing anything about it”.

Hey Sam, try to mention what a good job Jessie is doing on the Minto Project for me next time you see him.

Sure Steve, I’ll bear that in mind when I visit the branch office.

“That’s an original idea” means “that idea is terrible”

Hey Sam, I was thinking that the stairway functions as a physical barrier between the first and second floor office but if we moved the tech support team to the second floor, we’d have better communication. What do you think?

That’s an original idea.

“Correct me if I’m wrong” means “don’t contradict me”

Excuse me Sam but I was wondering if I could take my vacation this month because my family will be visiting.

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought I made it clear at the staff meeting that we need all hands on deck until the busy season dies down.

Yes, you did say that but I was just hoping I could get a few days off.

I’ll bear it in mind when I look at the progress reports.

“It’s pretty good” means “it’s not good enough”

Hey Sam, did you get a chance to review my documents? I hope that they can put us further ahead so that I can get a few days off to spend with my family.

Yes Mike, they were pretty good. I will send them back to you with my comments for the revisions.

What does Mike think of his internship under Sam? Sam seemed to treat me nice but he was actually a slave driver. He never did the things he said he would do and he seemed a bit two-faced.

Tags: accent reduction training, double speak, English as a Second Language, foreign accents, Jeff Madigan, mispronouncing, pronucation, pronunciation, pronunciation training
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