American pronunciation of your foreign name

by | Jan 28, 2009 | Uncategorized

How do Americans pronounce your name? Do they struggle to say it? What name do you give when ordering coffee at Starbucks, your real name or an Americanized version?This is a common topic that comes up in my classes. Some of my students insist that Americans should...

free dowloads (response to a question)

by | Jan 19, 2009 | Uncategorized

A recent blog reader asked:”Do you know of any free downloads (listen and repeat type, if those exist)? I think those would help me a lot since I pronounce the individual words and short phrases really native-like but when I talk for a few minutes or say longer...

What Your Voice Says About You

by | Jan 11, 2009 | Uncategorized

I found this interesting article on Career Builder. It confirms what I say to my students over and over again. Don’t speak so fast. Not only will your accent be stronger, but you might be perceived as insecure or not careful about details. There’s nothing...

response to comment about embarassing mistakes

by | Jan 3, 2009 | Uncategorized

reader wrote: “Thanks very much for putting up this wonderful blog. I have been in the US for more than 7 years. My accent now is somewhat of a hybrid between American and Indian. Still at times I end up pronouncing some words (out of no where) in my native...