The Myth of the “Native Speaker”
Many of my clients come to me saying: “Becky, I want to get rid of my accent.”
My answer is always the same: Why?
Your accent is part of your identity. It shows that you are smart enough to speak (at least) two languages. In the modern global business world, “Globish” (Global English) is the norm. You will be speaking with people from India, France, China, and Brazil.
Nobody expects you to sound like you were born in London. They expect to understand you without effort.
Clarity > Accent
The real goal is Intelligibility. A heavy accent becomes a problem only when it requires the listener to strain to understand you. This usually happens not because of your vowels (accent), but because of your Stress and Intonation.
1. Word Stress
English is a “stress-timed” language. If you stress the wrong syllable, the word becomes unrecognizable.
- Photograph (PHO-to-graph)
- Photographer (pho-TO-graph-er)
- Photographic (pho-to-GRAPH-ic)
Getting this wrong is much worse than pronouncing a “th” sound like a “z”.
2. Sentence Stress
We only stress the “content words” (nouns, verbs, adjectives). We glide over the “function words” (to, the, a, in).
- Robot voice: “I. Want. To. Go. To. The. Store.”
- Natural flow: “I want to go to the store.”
How to Practice
Don’t focus on individual sounds. Focus on the rhythm.
- Listen to a podcast.
- Pause and hum the melody of the sentence, without words. Da-DA-da-da-DA.
- Then say the words.
If you want to refine your professional presence and fix specific pronunciation errors that confuse listeners, my 1:1 Coaching includes targeted pronunciation drills.