Reducing your accent might mean reducing part of you in the process. You know there's another way  though, don't you? Watch the video and read on to learn more about accent reduction and the ugly truth.   Many people come to me, both native and non-native speakers, out of a fear of alienation: they fear […]

  I get hundreds of enquiries from people who are desperate to change their pronunciation but worry that it’s just a fantasy and is completely unachievable. They say things like, ‘surely I’m too old?’,  ‘I’m not good with languages’, ‘I haven't got a good ear - I’m not musical at all’, ‘I’ve spoken English for […]

When you think about doing something new or changing something about your life or embarking on a new career or course or training, have you ever paid attention to that moment when you wonder whether it's the right thing to do and whether you'll be any good at it? I would imagine that it's quite […]

Many of my clients, in their first few sessions say to me, ‘I don’t have a good ear for accents’, ‘I can’t hear differences in pronunciation’ or ‘I can’t feel what’s happening in my mouth’. They seem so worried that somehow the learning of a new accent or changing the pronunciation of words is something […]

Have you ever wondered how you learnt your native accent? Mostly through observation and imitation, right? Recently, I heard this in an interview on the BBC about advice that CEOs would give to their younger selves: "Always surround yourself with people who are better than you. Whatever it is that you are not - surround […]

Transforming your speech, accent or vocal identity takes courage, self-awareness, a strong will and a clear plan. I know what it feels like because I did it myself! Here's my story about the transformation of my own accent and vocal identify through which I experienced a 360 turn around in confidence. There are so many discoveries […]

I was recently coaching a woman from the Czech Republic who lives in England and works as a healthy and safety officer. She’s spoken English for over 20 years and has lived in England for most of her life, but struggles with pronunciation. Language is pretty important in her job and communication as well as […]

Have you heard of the expression ‘lost at sea’? In my experience, when it comes to British English pronunciation, that’s how most learners feel. Partly because there seems to be no rules to follow - and you can’t trust the spelling, that’s for sure! When I trained as a voice coach I discovered a phonetician […]

The spelling of British English is pretty confusing, right? I’m sure that if you did a degree in Linguistics, studied the etymology of words and spoke Latin then you’ll know exactly why and when to use certain pronunciations but the physiological business of ‘how’ to pronounce English words might still be a mystery. Just take […]

Have you ever considered how much of speaking and comprehension is visual? Try watching a film with the volume off and notice that your eyes go to the next best cue for what the speaker is saying - the lips. Do you notice how the shape and position of the lips clearly helps to distinguish […]