How To Improve Your

English Pronunciation

Talaera
 Table of Contents

The Reasons
Why would anyone want to change their accent? ................................ 3

The Benefits
What are the main benefits of adapting your accent? ......................... 5

The Difficulties
Why is adapting your accent difficult? .................................................... 10

The Techniques
What techniques can I use to help adapt my accent? .......................... 14

The Results
Boost your career through accent training ............................................. 23

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The Reasons
Why would anyone want to change their accent?

We are driven by the need to be understood.

Firstly, there is nothing wrong with having a unique And while you might think that how you speak is
accent. There are many different varieties of spoken something you can’t change, you can!
English all over the world, and each one has its own
unique flavor. There is no better or worse and people In fact, as an English learner, your accent has been
should embrace language diversity as a positive. constantly changing since you started learning English.
As you get better, you naturally start to assimilate
That being said - what’s defined as standard English sounds differently. Even native speakers change the
is largely done so by the English-speaking business way they speak. Wait what? Yes, that’s right. If a British
community. For the most part, this includes American, person goes to America and stays there a while, quite
British and Australian English. So if you work in an often they pick up traces of an American accent. This
environment where one of these varieties is the primary can even happen subconsciously.
spoken language, you may want to adapt the way you
speak. But why? This happens because we are driven by the need to be
understood. So accent modification is responding to
Native speakers may find you difficult to understand. this need.
In a business context, this can lead to problems.
Both internal and external business communication This guide is not trying to change your identity. The
can suffer. This can also make you feel self-conscious, mission of this guide is to make you speak more clearly
discouraged or even like an outsider. in a business context. And as you’ll see, improving your
pronunciation has a host of powerful benefits that can
help you take your career to the next level.

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The Benefits
What are the main benefits of adapting my accent?
We spoke to some of our top students at global companies to learn more about
the main benefits they have experienced through accent adaptation.

Here are some of the most powerful benefits you could gain by adapting your
accent:

“I don’t feel as much native speaker bias anymore”

Unfortunately, native speaker bias is a real thing. Native speaker bias (also called
accent bias) is where your work colleagues subconsciously give preference to
other employees who talk like they do.

This can occur for several different reasons, including finding their native
speaker colleagues easier to understand. But what’s important are the effects
of this bias. By counteracting native speaker bias, you will be treated as an
equal by your native speaker colleagues.

This means more acceptance and more chance of internal promotion when HR
conducts performance reviews.

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 “I speak more clearly and don’t have to repeat myself”

Clarity is one of the main benefits of working on your accent. And in a way,
most benefits are related to you being able to speak more clearly.

Through the act of training your accent, you are reducing the number of sounds
that make your accent different from that of a native speaker. When a native
speaker notices a sound that they wouldn’t expect, in a phrase or sentence, or
even a different type of intonation or melody, this triggers a response in the
brain.

This confusion makes it much harder for them to focus on what you are saying.
You’ll find this often leads to them asking you to repeat yourself which can be
frustrating. It can also slow your progress at work.

“People ask me where I’m from a lot less now”

Are you tired of people asking: “So where do you come from?”

By working on your accent people focus their questions on your interests

rather than fixate on your linguistic background. This is great motivation to
keep working on your accent.

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 “I feel more included at work”

No matter how inclusive your company is, your accent can make you feel self-
conscious and like a bit of an outsider.

This can be related to accent bias and can even happen subconsciously. Our
accent is one of the things that creates social cohesion.

So by adapting to your linguistic surroundings this naturally leads to more

inclusion.

“My colleagues and clients understand me a lot better now.”

In all areas of business, communication is essential. So being better understood

by your colleagues will lead to improved performance at your work.

Furthermore, it will improve your managers’ perception of your performance.

Sounding more like a native speaker will lead to better feedback from clients
and users, too.

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 “I feel more confident when speaking”

Believe it or not, working on your accent can be one of the best ways to unlock
confidence.

It can be overwhelming to learn a new language, particularly when it’s important

for your career. But by actively training your accent, you will elicit positive
responses from your conversational partners.

This, in turn, encourages you to keep learning. Also, by speaking clearly, you
can be sure that what you learn will be understood

“I was able to land my dream job”

All of the benefits above increase the chance of you getting a promotion or
even landing your dream job.

Speaking clearly and confidently may just get you that dream interview you’ve
been waiting for.

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The Difficulties
Why is adapting your accent difficult?

Now, that we have seen the benefits of training your

accent, let’s identify why you might feel changing your “My colleagues don’t
accent is difficult. We work with students from very understand me very well”
different linguistic backgrounds.
Depending on your working context, your colleagues
Our mission is to help them overcome any language may find your accent difficult to understand. This
hurdle that stands between them and their goals. can lead to other negative effects such as feeling
When it comes to accent reduction, the following are like an outsider, not part of the community or even
the main challenges our students face. being viewed as less competent than others.

Do any of these feel familiar? This may leave you feeling too self-conscious to
practice in front of your colleagues, making it harder
to improve.

“I don’t have enough time”

One of the most common problems is time. Many
of our students are very busy in their working lives,
so Talaera works on quick and effective language
solutions.

But the problem is, by not investing a little time in

adapting your accent, you may be worsening your
career prospects.

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 “I don’t want to change who I am”
Some people feel that changing their accent is
somehow changing who they are as a person or their
“It seems impossible” identity. We encourage you to reframe this view. In
“I can’t change the way I sound” - We have heard a business context, you need to be understood.
this many times before. It is a commonly held belief
that you can’t change the way you sound. This is not The bottom line is if you’re colleagues find you hard
true. to understand, you will be less effective at work.
We also understand that changing your accent may
As you progress as a speaker, you naturally begin make you feel self-conscious. But this doesn’t mean
to lose elements of your foreign accent and speak you can’t still talk in your preferred dialect or with
more clearly as your ear picks up native speaker an accent with family and friends.
sounds. You can speed up the process with targeted
practice and training. But by having the ability to change your accent,
you are adding another important business skill to
your toolbox.

“I don’t know how to link words

together and sound natural” “I can’t find any good information to
Languages are like a piece of music. It’s not just the
help me”
notes that matter, but also the spaces in between. Most resources out there are quite generic. That
How you pronounce or link words together affects means they are not suited to adapting your unique
the overall melody of your accent. accent because they were designed for group
classes. However, to truly be effective you need
information that is tailored to your needs.

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 “I don’t know how to make that sound”
“I don’t know why I sound different” Another common problem is not being able to
produce a particular sound.
One of the main reasons people find it so difficult
to improve their accent is they don’t know what For example, you may know that you find the /r/
sounds or difference they have compared to a sound is difficult for you, but no matter how hard
native speaker. you try you cannot find a way to make that sound.
This is a key barrier in adapting your accent.
But this is an essential starting point for improving
your accent.

“My teachers are non-native”

We are sure that you’ve had great English teachers,
but often they may have been non-native speakers
themselves.

This is not a bad thing in itself. But it does mean

that you did not have contact with the native
speaker sounds you need to hear. To truly adapt
your accent, native speaker teachers are essential,
because contact with the target sounds improves Fortunately, we have come up with simple solutions to
your ability to make theses sounds yourself. all of these problems. Read on to learn how to clear
these pronunciation hurdles...

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The Techniques
What techniques can I use to help adapt my accent?

Talaera specializes in helping business students achieve

their language goals. Over thousands of hours of
sessions, we have developed some great techniques to #2 Focus on speaking, not reading
help modify your accent - and here are some quick and
simple strategies to get you started: This is more of a general tip. Yes, it’s important
to read, but for most learners, it’s a lot easier to
mimic a sound than manually learning complicated
pronunciation rules. Use every opportunity you
have to try speaking with other speakers. You can
#1 Record yourself frequently try chatting with colleagues from work, or if that’s
intimidating you could attend a local language
Once you have identified your problem sounds, you meetup. Speaking will build your confidence quickly
should record yourself while practicing them. This and give you a better intuition for the correct
is an effective strategy because you can compare pronunciation.
your pronunciation to the target sound. Why not
try with some of the videos above? Pick a sound And remember: When you learn a new word, always
you find tricky and listen to how it should sound. listen to the pronunciation. Most online dictionaries
Now, record your attempts at saying it out loud. Do have an audio feature. Repeat the word out loud
you notice any difference? Keeping track of your 5-10 times as you learn it.
progress will allow you to improve quicker.

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#3 Identify your problem sounds
The first step is to identify your problem sounds.
Each speaker is different but there are some trends
depending on the region you come from.

Check out these videos to get started pronouncing

ten of the most difficult sounds in the English
language. Keep track of the sounds you find difficult
and try practicing them for a couple of minutes
each day. The English “R” is notably different from its Spanish
counterpart. While the Spanish “R” utilizes a rolling
of the tongue, the English “R” only vibrates through
1) L and R are often mixed together by East
the throat. To make the “R” sound (|r|) begin by
Asian English speakers closing your teeth, opening your lips, and make a
Let’s get our tongues involved! “L” is one of the growling sound like an angry dog ready to attack,
easier letters to perfect because it sounds the same “Errrr.” As you make this sound, lightly place a finger
when it appears at the beginning of a word as well where your Adam’s apple is or would be. You should
as within in one. feel a vibration.

When making the “L” sound (|l|) you need to briefly

touch your tongue to the bottom of your top two
front teeth and then let the tongue linger outside
the mouth for a moment. Your mouth needs to
remain slightly open in order to accommodate the
tongue sticking out.

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 Practice the |l| and |r| sounds:
light - right Practice the |w| sound:
alive - arrive would - want - will - water
long - wrong

2) W and V are often used interchangeably by To make the “V” sound (|v|), allow your upper front
German and Indian English speakers teeth to connect with the inside of your front lower
lip. Now try vibrating the top teeth against the
“W” typically makes a “wuh” sound. To create this bottom lip. Your tongue needs to remain immobile
sound (|w|), pucker your lips together as though you in its place so it doesn’t interrupt the vibration.
were about to kiss someone. Now, instead of making
the exaggerated kiss sound of “mwah”, just skip
over the “m.” You’ll notice that you need to release
the pucker, or rounding, of the lips immediately.

Practice the |v| and |w| sounds:

very well - very wet - very white

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3) T and D are often confused by Indian English
speakers
The main difference here lies in where the tongue
is located in the mouth.

The “T” sound (|t|) is made by tapping the tip of the

tongue behind the top front teeth. When practicing
Practice the |t| and |d| sounds:
the “T” sound it should have an aspirated quality,
ten - den
you should hear the puff of your breath.
tip - dip
town - down

4) French and Israeli English speakers especially

seem to struggle with the hard “H” sound

“H” is a challenging sound (|h|) to create for many

English learners because it doesn’t exist in some
Romance languages.

To create the “H” sound, begin in front of a mirror.

The “D” sound (|d|) is created when the tip of the Bringing your open mouth close to the glass, sharply
tongue hits much further back on the roof of the exhale through the mouth and try to produce a
mouth. “huh” sound. Your tongue should remain immobile
and in place and you should fog up the glass with
your sharp exhalation. You may even be able to feel
the contraction of your diaphragm as you exhale
sharply to create this sound.

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 Practice the |h| sound:
Practice the |θ| sound with this tongue twister -
home - hard - help - hat
say it as fast as possible without mispronouncing
words.:
5) “Th” is often considered the most difficult “Thrust three thousand thistles through
the thick of his thumb.”
sound to produce for non-native speakers

The “th” sound (|θ|) often comes out as more of

an “s”, leading non-native speakers to say “sink” 6) The suffixes “-ing” and “-ink”
instead of “think.”
When spoken, the suffix “-ing” (||) is often
To properly create the “th” sound, represented overexaggerated, adding a “guh” sound to the
with |θ|, you need to leave a tongue-sized space end so it sounds more like “singuh” instead of
between top and bottom teeth and then, as you “sing.” Additionally, the ending “-ink” is frequently
exhale through the mouth, close the gap in your pronounced when it should be “-ing.”
teeth with your tongue and let the tongue protrude
from the mouth. Yes, you must stick your tongue
out to properly create this sound!

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To create the nasal “-ing” sound (|ɪŋ|), lift your
tongue so the back of the tongue is touching the
roof of the mouth. The front of the tongue does not
make contact with any other part of the mouth. You
may notice that the noise is actually being released
through the nose.

You can now practice these strategies

with an expert teacher. Learn more!

To produce the “K” in “-ink” (|ɪŋk|) the back of the

tongue will briefly connect with the roof of the
mouth but it will pull away quickly and produce an
aspirated sound as it releases. Think of the back of
the tongue as suctioning to the roof of the mouth,
closing off the throat. As you rip the suction away,
you create the hard “K.”

Practice these sounds:

thing - think
wing - wink
sing - sink

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#4 Try and learn phrases rather than #5 Audio shadowing
words This next technique may seem a little strange at
first. Take your favorite podcast or radio show and
Each phrase has a melody, like a piece of music. try repeating a portion of the audio. Your goal is
This melody is important because it is how native to mimic the speaker. Believe it or not, this will
speakers decode what you’re saying. help your pronunciation, intonation, and melody
over time. It will also help train your ear to pick out
While there are pronunciation guides out there that different sounds. It’s also a really quick exercise to
teach you techniques to find the stressed syllable, do.
one quick and easy way to improve your melody
is to learn whole phrases rather than words. This
way you learn the words in context and how they
should be pronounced together.

Again, podcasts are great for this. Take your favorite

podcast in an area you’re interested in. You’ll notice
very quickly that there are 5 or 10 phrases that the
guests and hosts say a lot. And if you can’t find an
audio example of the phrase you want to learn,
maybe you can get a friend to record it for you!

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#6 Practice linking words #7 Get help from the experts
This is perhaps one of the most overlooked parts Investing in accent training pays off, and companies
of improving pronunciation. You may learn a bunch know it. Employees at over 65 companies are
of new words, but do you know how to say them already enjoying Talaera’s custom English accent
together? Native speakers remove or even change training for tech professionals.
the pronunciation of words when they say them
together. But don’t worry, with a little training, this We focus on communication ability. Talaera enables
will seem natural to you as well. Check out the you to communicate with colleagues and focus on
video below to see what we mean: real-life problems: big picture stuff. And the best
part is, you don’t even have to pay for it yourself.
Win-win!

So why not tell your talent manager to add English

training to the list of personal development
opportunities? If they need some convincing, share
this ebook with them.

Start Improving
Your Accent

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The Results
Boost your career through accent training

Learn more about our customized accent and language training.

Hopefully, you found this guide useful.

Talaera: Business English
We saw that working on your accent has a whole host
of benefits, including increased language confidence, Communications Training
improved communication and even increased chances
of landing your dream job.
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Through dedicated learning, you can adapt to your
linguistic environment and be better understood by
your native speaker colleagues and clients.

So what are you waiting for? Start working on your

accent today.

But to truly take your accent training to the next level,

why not partner with the best in the business? Learn more
Let your talent manager know that you are interested
in this training, or let us know and we’ll get in touch
with them.

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