American English Coaching for Executives & Professionals... Not As Subtle As you May Think...

Need for American English Accent Coaching

In years past, people seek Accent Coaching specifically for that purpose... to change a foreign accent and make it sound more Americanized, and to some extent, this is still the case, but in many cases, executives and professionals are finding that the advice they get from a dedicated Coach with the right experience and knowledge base can be invaluable. For example, many foreign execs use the expressions "low hanging fruit" or "at the end of the day" thinking that they sound credible because they are using American-English expressions. Even though they are often using them correctly, they tend to overuse the same expressions. This makes them sound repetitive and limited in their expression. Practicing the use of a variety of expressions that can be "shuffled" to fit various situation and practiced in role plays can help foreign born professionals discover comfort and confidence they didn’t realize they could achieve. It doesn’t take as long as they thought it might... it’s about knowing what to do more of and how to gauge whether listeners are really "into" your topic or not.

Knowing when you are "Losing Them" so-to-speak...

Many non-native speakers have no idea how to read faces, and this can be cultural. In certain cultures, such as Asian ones, like China or Japan, it can show disrespect to visibly disengage. Instead, observers may not react at all, so other interventions are needed by the speaker to assess level of interest and what next steps to take.On the other side of the coin, speakers from these countries need to learn to learn facial movement and body gestures more accurately and be confident in eliciting more when they don’t know what they are seeing or experiencing. Just telling people that you welcome questions often is not enough to get thoughtful responses or probing questions to surface.

Getting to the Next Level:

Most of us want to get promoted, and often we assume it’s our technical training or years of experience that will get us there, but often it’s as simple as how we speak. If we do it in an "unexamined" fashion, we may never realize what mistakes we are making. One of the biggest misconceptions is that if you have good ideas, people will listen. Communication can, however, get in the way. Many times people don’t listen because of someone’s speaking habits. Some commons mistakes non-native speakers make are:

1. Continuous speech without strategic breaking points
2. Repeatedly using a foreign-translated expression that native speakers wouldn’t use (like "or so") or an odd hesitation noise like "ahahaha..."
3. Giving everything equal length and focusing too much effort on pronunciation, sacrificing content
4. Not asking enough questions or asking them in a formulaic, non-genuine way.

English by the Hour

• English by the Hour" offers in person coaching and also live internet coaching with video for feedback to their clients globally. They are unique in offering programs that can be completed without 10 sessions and address underlying needs as well as obvious ones. They also customize all of their materials, and provide through analyses of the issues.

For more information about American English Coaching, contact www.englishbythehour.com for a consultation and feedback session!

Rebecca Linquist is the American accent coach who founded English by the Hour in 1999. She works with her teams of coaches to provide systematic coaching to clients throughout the world in how to acquire the American accent.