| If you're a non-native speaker of English and | | | | objective feedback to be sure you are |
| struggle to be understood, you've probably | | | | pronouncing the sounds correctly. If you can |
| thought to yourself, " What can I do to help lose | | | | figure it out on your own, that's great! |
| my accent?" You may have even searched the | | | | But, if you would like the guidance of a highly |
| internet and seen some inexpensive prepackaged | | | | trained professional, the assurance of knowing |
| kits with CD-Roms designed to help you speak | | | | that you are producing the sounds correctly, and |
| with an American accent just by listening to their | | | | the support of having others alongside you as you |
| recordings and practicing. | | | | work toward your goals, then an accent reduction |
| Perhaps you also found some accent reduction | | | | class will be a great investment. If you prefer to |
| coaches or speech trainers offering to work with | | | | work with a professional privately, most accent |
| you individually or in a small group but the cost | | | | reduction trainers offer individual lessons, some will |
| was higher. Which one is better, you may wonder. | | | | come to your home or office, and a few even |
| And is it worth the cost to hire a speech coach? | | | | offer classes over the internet. Sometimes, a |
| Great question! It goes back to the old adage that | | | | company will pay for the training when an |
| says "you get what you pay for". Many of those | | | | employee's job performance is affected by their |
| kits have some valuable information in them, and | | | | accent. |
| you may find them helpful. However, they are | | | | You can usually find an accent reduction trainer |
| not targeted to a particular individual, so you may | | | | who works in your area by searching the internet |
| find yourself practicing sounds that don't really | | | | for accent reduction. Look for someone with a |
| affect your speech. | | | | speech pathology background, as speech |
| For example, there are 51 sounds in the English | | | | pathologists have Master's level specialized training |
| language, but most non-native speakers only have | | | | in how the mouth works to produce sounds and |
| 10-15 sounds affecting their speech. How will you | | | | have experience in how to teach those sounds to |
| know which ones you need to work on? A | | | | others. |
| qualified speech trainer should provide you with a | | | | Once you find an accent reduction specialist and |
| customized speech analysis and a personalized | | | | begin to practice, you will quickly see the benefits |
| plan that addresses only the sounds that you | | | | of having a personal speech trainer - and others |
| need. | | | | will see the new and improved you! |
| Also, most of those kits cannot provide personal, | | | | |