Frequently Asked Questions

Accent Reduction Training is follows the evidence-based Speech Therapy model of finding errors, educating the client about them, and teaching the client to not only hear the error, but create the target sound. This is done by teaching the correct position of the tongue and lips (moving articulators) in relation to the teeth, hard and soft palates and nasal passage (non-moving articulators).

The IPA (International Phonemic Alphabet) is a useful tool, but is NOT necessary to achieve native sounding English.

Pronunciation is not widely or well taught in schools and adult education. It is assumed that people will gradually "take on" a native sound at higher levels of English use and study. However, unless the student is a child, this will never happen naturally because an adult will always use the sound system of their first language to produce the words of the target language, producing heavily accented speech.

There are many English accents but you will be studying the Midwest American English accent and, if you would like, the key differences between this and a Ontario-based for Canadian accent.

My class starts with zeroing in on pronunciation errors, explaining what your mouth is doing AND what it needs to do to create native Canadian English sounds. If a sound is difficult, we work together to find a unique way for you to produce it. Building on these sounds we create words, sentences and phrases. Students make rapid progress once they know what their target sound is and exactly how to produce it! From there we work on tone and cadence to further perfect your communication.

It is possible. However, most students simply want to be reliably understood. After all, your accent is part of your culture and heritage and need not be totally erased unless you chose to do so! Especially in urban areas of North America, having an accent is not a bad thing at all and you can still sound native with a slight accent. I will help you achieve the level of English accent you would like to achieve - either to be understood and fluent, or sound completely native.

No. I understand that this is a big concern for some cultures where women tend to have a very different cadence than men. But in American and Canadian culture it is unusual for a woman to use a different cadence than a man, especially in the workplace. If you are tending that way, as an accent coach I am trained to hear it and correct you! See my blog for more interesting topics like this one!