Reasons for Accent Reduction2019-06-25T22:47:11+00:00

Why spend all the time, effort and money on improving your pronunciation?

You’ve probably already figured that out for yourself or you wouldn’t be here on this site. Having a non-native accent makes communication challenging to say the least. Sometimes even downright impossible, particularly in business.

I, personally, see 4 primary reasons for a person to want to work hard on his or her accented English.

It’s not about passing a standardized English language exam, although that’s important.
It’s not about pride, although that, too, is important.
And it’s not about the beauty of the language, either, although that, too, is true.

So why spend that TIME, EFFORT and MONEY when there are so many other things to do?

  • To avoid misunderstandings

  • To enhance your status and credibility

  • To prevent missed opportunities

  • To enrich your life

Convinced? Let’s talk!

And if you need more convincing, here are some extracts from studies that have been done recently on the impact of having a non-native accent in business.

“When people have to work harder to understand a ‘heavy’ accent, they regard the speaker as less credible.”
Sheri Lev-Ari, U. Chicago, in Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2010

“Entrepreneurs with nonnative accents … are significantly less likely to receive new-venture funding, and job candidates with nonnative accents are also less likely to be recommended for management positions.”
Huang, Wharton School, in Journal of Applied Psychology, 2013

“A global survey of 527 executives, revealed that almost half of 527 executives (49%) admit that communication misunderstandings and messages lost in translation have stood in the way of major international business deals and resulted in significant losses for their company.”
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), 2015