As a non-native speaker of English, sometimes it might be challenging for a native English speaker to understand you, and for you to therefore get your message across. This is true regardless of where you are speaking: at a meeting, a networking event, or a presentation to prospective customer. In these situations you won’t always be asked you to repeat yourself. Not only will your message not be heard, but your credibility might be put at risk.

Strategies for improving audience comprehension

1. Speak more slowly in English than you do in your native language. You can begin to do this right now and you may be surprised how this one simple change can result in such a large improvement.

2. Be careful not to connect words so tightly together that your listener will have trouble determining when one word ends and the next one starts. If your native language tends to make limited use of intonation in ordinary speech, as in Spanish, Korean, or Chinese, tightly connecting words can make understanding even more challenging for a listener.

3. Learn the proper stress for common technical words in your field. Consider the word “amortization,” a word often used in finances. The correct stress is on the fourth syllable, “amortiZAtion.” Say the word out loud and listen to its pronunciation at the online Merriam-Webster dictionary. Now pronounce it with the stress on the third syllable, “amorTIzation.” Do you hear the difference? Try saying it both ways to a native English speaker and ask if he can hear the difference. By using improper stress together with fast speaking speed, the result is likely to be that the listener does not understand what you said. Worse, it may be so distracting that the listener misses a part of your message because he’s so busy focusing on your stress or pronunciation.

4. Be aware of your intonation and stress when you speak. Intonation, the way you raise and lower your voice as you speak, imparts a lot of meaning in English. Stress, the emphasis you put on syllables and words, also conveys meaning and it helps a listener identify the important words. Even or “flat” intonation and lack of stress may cause a listener to lose interest in what you are saying because you may come across as not really interested in what you are saying. A “sing-song” style of speaking may distract a listener because it sounds unusual to a native English speaker. In English it’s common to strongly stress the content words, i.e., the ones that give the sentence its meaning. Here’s an example of a sentence with the content words underlined: “I went to the store to buy bread.” Ask a native speaker to say this sentence and listen to how he stresses the words.

5. Learn the typical mistakes you might be making in English based on your native language and correct them. You may not be aware of the mistakes you are making in English unless specific feedback is offered to you. This is where a trainer can help. Some of the common errors we come across are mispronouncing some letters of the alphabet when spelling names, or mispronouncing specific consonant or vowel sounds.

Where to go for help

I. Learner English will help you understand the kinds of errors you might be making that are a result of the characteristics of your native language. Each chapter provides many details for errors most commonly made by speakers of one particular language, such as

• pronunciation of specific consonants, vowels, and consonant-vowel combinations
• influence of spelling on pronunciation
• rhythm and stress
• intonation
• spelling, contractions, and punctuation
• general and specific grammar issues, such as verb tenses, word order, question formation, articles, gender, adjectives, pronouns, possessive construction, and prepositions

II. Armed with that information, you might want to continue with Sound Concepts. This guide will help you learn how to correct speaking errors that you may be making in stress, intonation, forming sounds, or word endings.

III. The website Phonetics – The Sound of Spoken Language will show you the details of pronouncing each sound used in the English language and let you hear each sound. If you would like professional help in accent reduction, we recommend Paul Meier Dialect Services.

We know that ultimately you will decide how important it is to improve in this area of your spoken English. For some of you, your accent has become a part of who you are and as such, you are willing to bring it front and center intially then move on from it to focus on more important things like your message. For the rest of you, we know this may not be true. We suggest you educate yourself about the effects your accent may be having on audience comprehension and seek help. Make this a goal for 2010, but whatever you do, do not let it hold you back from moving forward professionally.

References

Swan, Michael and Bernard Smith. Learner English: A teacher’s guide to interference and other problems (Second Edition). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-521-77939-1

Reed, Marnie and Christina Michaud. Sounds Concepts: An Integrated Pronunciation Course. New York: McGraw Hill ESL/ELT, 2005. ISBN 0-07-293428-X

Phonetics – The Sound of Spoken Language, a University of Iowa project