Effective Business Communication for Internationals:
Accent Reduction
by Jennifer Pawlitschek

People come to America from all over the world, hoping to
build better lives for themselves. Long ago, the vast
majority of immigrants came to these shores with few skills
and little education. Their motivations for leaving their
home countries were often grinding poverty or intense
political oppression. While people still come to America for
these reasons, in recent years, as globalization and
technology have increasingly opened our world, an entirely
different type of immigrant has arrived here: the highly
skilled, highly educated individual who has the
qualifications and ambition to succeed in any sector of
American society. This immigrant's main obstacle? English
speaking skills.

Highly educated immigrants to this country are typically
fluent, or close to being fluent, in English. However, if
their pronunciation and intonation are not consistent, some
Americans will not understand them. Even if the majority of
the words they speak are correct, the few that are incorrect
will cloud their meaning and intention. This can result in
confusion and misunderstandings. When it is co-workers or
supervisors experiencing this confusion or misunderstanding,
the foreign-born professional's ability to move forward in
American society stalls.

What can a foreign-born professional do to
address this situation? If you are worried about your
accent, first remember that everyone has an accent. An
accent comes from the way we hold our jaw, lips and tongue
when we speak. It also comes from how often we move up and
down in pitch. We all do these things in a particular way,
and this results in particular sounds. Americans themselves
have a wide array of accents, and each has its own unique
music. The problem for the foreign-born professional is that
Americans are unfamiliar with their accents, and so are less
able to understand them. Still, keep remembering that it is
impossible to speak without some kind of accent.

Second, think of yourself as an actor. Follow the example of
actors all over the world who have to learn many different
accents and dialects for the variety of roles they must
play. We all play many roles in life, and adjust the way we
speak to the situation we're in. I was in London a couple of
years ago, and after awhile, I got tired of the Brits
staring at me because they'd heard my accent. I started
speaking with a British accent, and voila! I blended right
it. Imagine that you too are playing a role, that of
"professional". That particular role might require an accent
that will let your ideas to be heard, not your accent. You don't
have to lose your culture or identity, just put on the accent
as an actor does: for the role. You don't have to use the
accent all the time, just use it when you need it, and watch
yourself move ahead in American society!

Jennifer Pawlitschek is a Voice and Speech coach who
specializes in accent reduction, which she calls "Learning a
Standardized American Accent." Her website is
www.powerfulspeaking.net, and she can be reached at
jennifer@....