by Heather Chetwynd | Jan 8, 2021 | Accent Modification
When I do a pronunciation assessment, I look at three key areas. The first two are the ones that come to mind when most people think about pronunciation. These are the individual sounds – also called “phonemes” or “segmentals” – the vowels and consonants....
by Heather Chetwynd | Jul 7, 2020 | Accent Modification, Business Communications
Do people seem to find it difficult to understand you when you speak? Do they often ask you to repeat yourself? Do they look like they are really concentrating to understand you? Whether your perception is true or not, being able to participate comfortably in a...
by Heather Chetwynd | May 12, 2020 | Accent Modification
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Victor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning A while back, I received a call from...
by Heather Chetwynd | Apr 29, 2020 | Accent Modification
Accent modification is like ballroom dancing for the tongue A while back, when I was studying ballroom dancing, the teacher was saying to do this, do that, remember this, remember that, and I thought: learning to pronounce differently is like ballroom dancing for the...
by Recommendation of Heather Chetwynd | Oct 23, 2015 | Accent Modification
Singing is a wonderful way to improve your pronunciation. Here’s an article which talks about the many ways you can use it to improve the pronunciation of individual sounds, linking and reduction and the general rhythm of the language. Later you can read more on...
by Recommendation of Heather Chetwynd | Oct 19, 2015 | Accent Modification
This is a good overview of English stress, both syllable stress and sentence stress (which words are stressed in a sentence.) It is directed towards Spanish speakers but useful for anyone who wants to learn more about this area. Stress out! Pronunciation is the cause...