Things people ask me
How long? A matter of time…
How long does it take to change the way you speak? Anywhere from a few months to a lifetime. It depends on the individual. Some people learn incredibly quickly, while others need hours of assistance and a lot of practice at home. Personality, previous languages, age… all of these play a role. Fine-tuning pronunciation or speech habits is of course quicker than addressing more serious problems in communication skills or accent modification.
Some older people assume they can never change the way they speak – this definitely isn’t true!
Speech therapy, elocution, or pronunciation training?
I am a professional phonetician and psycholinguist with more than 15 years of training and research experience, in addition to almost a decade of working with clients from many backgrounds. My clients usually think of me as their ‘accent coach’ or ‘language specialist’.
I am not a speech therapist. They are usually trained during a basic degree to correct defects resulting from developmental, neurological, or psychological problems. An accent is not a defect to be corrected, and does not need ‘diagnosis’ and ‘treatment’! Very few speech therapists have the knowledge of language structures, cultural behaviours and the subtleties of accents and pronunciation which I offer my clients.
Meanwhile, old-fashioned teachers of elocution and diction are mostly interested in ‘sounding correct’, often with a rigid idea of what language ‘should’ be like. I don’t impose that goal on my clients; instead I assess the client’s individual needs and goals for their professional and social life — this is a modern style of elocution training!
Where is the Ear & Speak office?
I see clients at Level 2, 222 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, and on-site for some companies. Note that all appointments must be made by phone or email.
Clients outside Melbourne?
I can help some clients who can’t attend classes in Melbourne, but only if there is enough local demand or if a client is willing to cover all associated costs.
Training materials for sale?
Only the best learners can work effectively from CDs, videos and books when it comes to pronunciation. I could probably earn lots of money selling these things, but I wouldn’t be helping you properly. Most people need someone, usually a trained expert, to really help them achieve ambitious accent or communication goals. For this reason I don’t sell accent training materials, though I am constantly working to perfect the materials I use with my clients.
Accent correction, reduction or modification?
Accent reduction is a common term used to describe training which changes someone’s accent to be less different from that of the local community. Many people dislike this term as they feel it implies that an accent is bad. Even worse is the term accent correction, which implies that having an accent is wrong in some way. Accent modification is an increasingly common term which is felt to be less judgemental, and accent neutralisation (or ‘neutralization’) is another term that is popular with some accent coaches.
Do you speak many languages?
I speak English, German, Swedish fluently. I also speak some French, Danish, Spanish, European Portuguese and Italian. I can pronounce with good accuracy Japanese, Mandarin, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Bahasa Melayu, Bahasa Indonesia, Icelandic, Greek, Brazilian Portuguese, Dutch and Afrikaans, and have knowledge of the pronunciation patterns of many languages including Korean, Cantonese, Hokkien, Tagalog, Hindi/Urdu, Singhalese, Malayalam, Farsi, Arabic, Croatian, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Hebrew, Turkish, Vietnamese and a few more.
As an expert linguist and phonetician, I can also use my skills to help people studying languages that I don’t speak or learning accents which I don’t do perfectly. Sounds strange? Think about this: sports coaches aren’t always the best players in every aspect of their game, but they understand what is needed and can communicate that to their players. I’m always honest with my clients about how I can and can’t help them, and I never take on a client if my skills aren’t adequate.
Techniques and methods?
Questions of ‘technique’ or ‘method’ often come from the world of acting and performance… These terms often describe little more than hot air. A good teacher, trainer, or coach should be able to help their clients without locking themselves into an arbitrary conceptual framework; that’s my goal. I’ve studied scores of language learners, taught hundreds of university students, and helped many people understand how language learning and accent learning works.
Voice coaching?
I don’t do voice coaching (usually involving breathing, projection, timbre, possibly also singing). I focus on my core skills. If you’re not sure whether what you need is voice coaching or something which I can provide, then just contact me.
