Listen to samples of Accent Reduction results.
Each client records a Speech Sample at the beginning of our work and again at the end as one way to track progress.
Many clients need to focus on speaking clearly. Transforming a monotone is always a priority. Advanced clients often focus on developing a broader range of expressiveness, sometimes with the help of music. Bringing out a client's personality in English is a powerful transformation to witness. Some work on developing a stronger, more confident voice.
Below you'll find before-and-after Speech Samples focusing on each of these topics.
All of my clients tell me they feel more confident and have more ease connecting with native speakers at work and socially after working with me. Learning how the accent works also helps them understand native speakers more easily. Many clients say they notice an improvement in their overall quality of daily life as a result of their new skills.
If these Speech Samples inspire you, please contact me to schedule a free 30-minute consultation to discuss working together.
Recent Successes
This Taiwanese business development specialist for FaceHeart, a Taiwan-based health care technology company, had recently started her job when another client of mine referred her to me. She needed to pitch the company’s FaceHeart Vitals product to prospective customers. In addition to refining her sounds, intonation, and rhythm, we developed her presentation skills and I coached her to reframe her mindset in relation to pitching the product. The result is that she now feels confident pitching, her naturally friendly personality comes through her voice in English, and she’s traveling world representing FaceHeart.
This German broadcast journalist wanted to refine his accent in preparation for interviewing for English-speaking positions in the United States.
This Director at Airbnb worked hard on refining her articulation and expressiveness in English.
This hardware engineer at Apple already spoke English well and was pleased by the improvements he made in developing a broader range of expressiveness, along with acquiring advanced skills in navigating conversations and participating actively in lively, fast-paced work meetings .
This Korean Animation student already spoke clearly at the beginning of our work, so we focused on developing her voice, vocabulary, idioms, confidence, and practiced her professional introduction and completed an internship application.
This German software engineer sounded like a native speaker of English when we began our work. He was eager to develop a range of nuances that enable him to speak more expressively. It’s common that people he meets assume he’s a native speaker of English.
This fintech CEO worked hard at refining his accent and is pleased with his results.
This software engineer made significant progress in her first lesson series, feels more confident speaking English in general, and is really enjoying her new skills in speaking expressively.
This French software engineer manager continues to work hard at refining his accent and has made excellent progress.
I always enjoy getting referrals from clients who are happy with the process and results of our work. In this trio of hard-working Chinese-speaking UX / Product / Visual designers, the first referred the second, who referred the third.
This Brazilian marketing specialist made excellent progress in cleaning up details and speaking more expressively.
This Israeli tech company CEO worked hard at improving his pronunciation and expressiveness. We also prepared him to deliver an important presentation about a high-profile client project at a professional conference. Preparations involved tightening up the writing of his script and organization of his slides, pronunciation practice, and presentation skills. The presentation was very well received.
This Chinese-speaking software engineer has lived in the U.S. for many years. He wanted to refine his accent to prepare to take a more active role in politics. We prepared for interviews and he was hired to work in the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C., as we completed our lesson series. A favorite teaching tale of mine involves something I often do with clients - sharing interesting articles, TV shows, new stories, and more that I think they’ll enjoy. The hunch I had about sharing a particular conference presentation, along with his networking and hard work resulted in his accepting a position at the White House.
This Russian software engineer Manager at Stripe made excellent progress in speaking more clearly and expressively. He said that he appreciates the ease he feels in speaking confidently in any situation.
This Chinese graduate student had lived and studied in the U.S. for years, so already spoke English very well at the start of our studies. We worked on diction, expressiveness, and presentation skills as he applied to Ph.d programs. He’s now working on his Ph.D in Physics at Stanford University.
This computer systems engineer Project Lead found that in addition to speaking more clearly and expressively, she felt much more confident in general in conversations. She felt more comfortable initiating conversations, including on the phone, and found that she had lengthier, deeper conversations. She told me that she enjoyed no longer having to pretend to be someone she wasn’t. Her accent no longer gets in the way of the expression of her authentic self.
Using Music to Improve Accent
I’m a fan of the hit Broadway musical, Hamilton, and have used songs from the show in my lessons because they provide a wonderful context for practicing the concepts taught in my systematic approach to accent reduction. Clients enjoy learning about American history and the show’s celebration of immigrants. Several students have shared that studying Hamilton helped them pass their citizenship test. In December, 2019, 30 of my community college group class students, our friends and family, attended an unforgettable performance of Hamilton in San Francisco. The following samples show some of the progress that was made by students in this class.
Focus on Clarity
Being understood is the top priority for many students. It becomes stressful and frustrating to be asked many times a day to repeat oneself, which can affect confidence. My expertise includes knowing which English sounds are typically difficult for native speakers of various languages. My techniques and materials are designed to target these problem areas. This targeted approach cleans up sounds quickly and effectively, making it easier to integrate new habits.
Speaking clearly was the major concern of this UX Designer. We focused on cleaning up specific sounds Chinese speakers commonly find challenging. We also worked on more natural sounding intonation.
Intonation: Transforming the Monotone
Many non-native speakers do not realize how important it is to speak with expressive intonation in English. Speaking in a monotone, with no variation in intonation, can send the wrong impression to the listener. Developing friendly-sounding, expressive intonation can make a big difference in connecting with native speakers with ease. I coach my clients to find the best nuances of intonation to express their personality authentically in English.
This Afghan manager at Tesla already spoke English quite well, but spoke in a monotone at the beginning of our work. He worked hard to develop more expressive intonation.
This Indian software engineer at the Federal Reserve Bank also worked hard to speak more expressively and was pleased with the results.
Expressing More Personality
An important focus of my work is to help each student express himself or herself fully in English. Some clients always sound very serious and formal in English, but are actually very friendly, with a great sense of humor. They just haven't learned the nuances of intonation that can help them sound more relaxed, friendly, and still sound appropriate in the workplace. I help advanced English speakers develop a greater range of expressiveness.
This German software engineer at Apple spoke very well when we started, with just a few sounds to clean up. His new habits have helped him feel more confident connecting with colleagues in the informal culture of his workplace and he now has wider range of emotional expression in English.
This Belarusian client had just a few sounds to correct. I enjoyed hearing how well she intuitively picked up native-speaker nuances of intonation. She didn't hold herself back from practicing and experimenting, which helped her make so much progress.
This client was concerned that her accent was holding her back from fully participating in her job, which involved a lot of presentations and responding to climate change-related policy questions. We worked on a few sounds that are typical challenges for Farsi speakers. As a result of her hard work, she felt more confident in her communication skills at work and sensed that her presentations were being better received.
This Taiwanese marketing manager at a tech firm was fairly new to the States and his job. He wanted to refine his accent in order to be able to easily connect with his native English-speaker colleagues. He quickly developed friendly-sounding intonation patterns and noticed differences in the way others responded to him as a result.
Overall Improvement
Over the past several years, I’ve been invited to teach the international team of industrial designers at fuseproject, Yves Behar’s design studio in San Francisco. In addition to refining the accent, we develop nuance in advanced skills in describing design projects, conversing and connecting with co-workers, giving feedback, and running meetings. Here is a sampling of the progress some of the designers have made.
This Indian software engineer at Home Depot was excited to see the difference the overall improvement he made in his accent had on his interactions at work.
Strengthening the Voice: Presence & Confidence
Some of my clients come to me already speaking English very well, but want to develop confidence and skills in making effective presentations and also in making small talk at work to nurture co-worker relationships. I've worked successfully with many naturally quiet, introverted students who are given feedback that they need to speak up more at work. The value placed on extroversion in American culture and informal workplace culture can be confusing and challenging for these clients. We discuss introversion and extroversion and I help them develop a stronger voice, appropriate intonation patterns, and presentation and conversation skills.
This environmental engineer was starting a new job right out of grad school at Stanford. It was an adjustment to go from being a student to participating in meetings, doing presentations, and having informal conversations with native speaker colleagues. She spoke rather well, but her quiet voice and minimal intonation kept her from presenting herself as a strong, confident professional. She received positive feedback from her company's management on her new speaking presence.
This Korean industrial designer English well at the beginning of her lesson series, but wanted to develop the presentation and conversational skills needed in leading team and client discussions about design projects. Part of that process involved developing her intonation and strengthening her voice to help her sound and feel more confident. She has received positive feedback from her management on the new speaking skills she developed.