Posts Tagged ‘#speech #accentmodification # bilingual #speakeffectively #presentation #success #business #research #professor #graduatestudent’
Do you start sentences with the same words?
Often, this is a frustration of my clients! My clients work on accent modification, business communication and presentation skills. Frequently, people start most of their sentences with “so” and “and.” Consequently, their message is less effective. Incredibly, our attention span has dropped to that of a goldfish! Hence, speakers need to constantly reengage listeners. One…
Read MoreSpice up your Speaking!
Did you know our attention span is now equal to or less than a goldfish!? That means our attention span is about 9 seconds. For speakers, it means we need to be engaging to keep our audience attending. Check out this video for some helpful tips to be more interesting!
Read MoreIs it a verb? Is it a noun? No, it’s both!
Correct syllable stress is important for quick understanding. There are at least 100-word pairs of two-syllable words that are spelled exactly the same are both nouns and verbs. The difference is shown by syllable stress-noun-first syllable stressed, verb-second syllable stressed. These syllable stress changes often result in vowel sounds changing to schwa in the unstressed…
Read MoreWhat’s In It For ME?!
All-day long, we subconsciously and consciously contemplate this question. What’s in it for ME?! Your audience is asking this very question! They want to quickly hear that you are interested in them and that you are offering them value. The value you offer can range from pure entertainment, support, providing them a service, or educating them so their…
Read MoreProject confidence-lose the upspeak
One issue I often encounter with clients looking to improve the professional tone of their speech is upspeak. This is when you say sentences that are a statement but end with a rising intonation (tone or pitch) like you would a question. Find my podcast at the end of this post. Upspeak can be heard…
Read MoreEnglish is Tricky!
English is a tricky language because there are so many exceptions to rules of pronunciation and grammar. Pronunciation is tricky because the English alphabet has 26 letters in the alphabet, but most experts agree there are 44 different letter sounds! A fluent English speaker must learn all 44 sounds and be able to predict when…
Read MoreHow does your voice sound?
Our voices should be clear, crisp and powerful. There are three basic things that influence the quality and sound of your speech: The size of your mouth The thickness and health of your vocal cords Your breath control Small children have high pitched voices because their mouths are small and their vocal cords are thinner.…
Read More10 Words that are Frequently Mispronounced
Check out this helpful video on how to correctly pronounce: business, candidate, wasn’t, espresso, probably, et cetera, escape, athlete, other, Alzheimer’s disease. I was surprised to find that I had been incorrectly pronouncing “et cetera” and “espresso.”
Read MoreMore Silent Letters-article #2 in series
Why does English have so many silent letters and rule exceptions? Most reasons for silent letters in English relate to the origins of the word. For example, the word “knight” has two silent sounds-K and GH. This word originated from the German word for servant, “knecht” in which each letter is pronounced. English has many…
Read MoreDo you understand and use idioms?
We often refer the the United States as “the melting pot” what! we are a big hot pot melting steal or wax? No! The United States is a wonderful mixture of people from all over the world. English is an idiomatic language and it is estimated that there are more than 25, 000 idioms in…
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