Accent Training – Accent Modification | Accent Reduction

SONY DSC “Should I record myself practicing accent modification?” I’m often asked by students. My response: “Yes, but rarely!”

Here’s when and why you might want to record yourself:

It can be helpful to record yourself reading a familiar paragraph when you are starting accent modification instruction. It gives you a good baseline of where you started in your pronunciation. Then go ahead and record yourself reading the same paragraph about two months after starting training, and then again another two months later, and so forth. You’ll hear a substantial difference from where you started! And it will tell you that change is possible and is happening. Hearing that change will encourage you in moments of doubt…”Have I really made that much progress?” That doubt is understandable and common, even when you are hearing from friends and co-workers that you’re making progress. It’s always helpful to hear it for yourself. You can trust it more.

But I always discourage students from recording themselves (both during lessons and outside of lessons) in order to catch their pronunciation mistakes. Why? Because your primary job, as an accent modification student, is to learn to listen to yourself – really hear yourself – while you are speaking. And if you become accustomed to relying on recording, that very important, key feedback loop is compromised – never developed, or developed inaccurately.

Here is some help towards catching your speech without using a recorder:

Practice listening to yourself while speaking. If you’re home alone and talking aloud, close your eyes sometimes to help tune yourself in more to your own speech.
Also try cupping your hands around your ears on both sides to amplify your speech by throwing it forward. You will hear how your voice tone is, in reality, so don’t be surprised if you are surprised by your own voice at first!
When you’re talking, you might occasionally pause and ask yourself, “How did that come out?”

When you do record yourself for that monitoring and celebratory process, keep the recording short (just a couple of paragraphs) so you don’t fatigue and lose your rhythm. And choose fairly simple, but interesting topics, something you’re familiar with, too. Like something from work, or a story you enjoy. Practice reading it a couple of times before you turn on the recorder so you hear yourself at your best. Remember to say the date at the start of your recording., so you can easily compare!

So pick up the recording device only rarely, to admire your changes and advancements. And TRUST that you can listen to yourself and catch what you need to catch. I’ll help you, through a variety of techniques, to develop that listening and catching ability. That’s a major part of my job with you. It will help you get where you want to go much faster.

pexels-photo-91227 Most of the accent modification teaching I do is with students whose first language is not English. But from time to time, a native English speaker asks me about how to acquire and consistently produce a solid trill. They understand that, in order to sound authentic in any language that uses the trill phonemically, they need to have it down. The trill is the rolling “rrrrr” commonly found in Spanish, and it can be very hard to pick up. I’ve had people say they’ve been trying for decades, and had given up. I’ve even had people tell me that they have been told to give up – that they are genetically unable to produce a trill. I don’t know if there is a genetic inability among some people to produce a trill, but I know I’ve never taught someone who had that. Or, if they had it, they were – by some miracle – able to change their genetics!! Amazing! <smile>

Everyone I have taught whose goal is the trill has been able to pick it up within one or two hours. Yes, it is effortful. Yes, it requires concentration. Yes, there is some sloppy spitting at first! (No worries!) Yes, it sometimes requires seven or eight different, creative approaches to grasp it, but those approaches all happen, in sequence, within a couple of hours. Seriously, there has always been a way, using the right approach. And, of course, the key is approaching it with humor and a depth of patience on both sides. And, at the moment of getting it – often surprised – the student produces a trill…”Is that it?!” Yes, that’s it! Celebration, disbelief..it’s a wonderful moment. “Let’s do it again!” we both say. They’ve got it and go off sounding authentic and accomplished. Because, after all, they – and their newly nimble tongue – made it happen, with some guidance. (Side note: the human tongue can seem like an entity within the mouth that can’t be tamed, that only does certain things and not others. The tongue has eight muscles, and all can be trained to do what is needed by the speaker!)

The keys to successful trilling are: the right amount of tongue tension, the correct tongue angle, the correct position of the tongue, and the best use of the air flowing out of the mouth at just the right time, and the adding of voicing to the process when those other elements are solidly in place. If you are practicing this yourself, pay additional attention to engaging your diaphragm, as this will help modulate/control the air that your tongue is going to catch. Yes, lots of loving parts, but very exciting once it’s been mastered!

So it’s rrrreally do-able! And it’s trrrruly trilling when it happens!

Tag: Accent Training

English Pronunciation Training: To Record or Not to Record?

Rolling with Your “R”s: For the Trill of It in Accent Modification!