Success Stories

Case Study #1

Does your regional accent betray your education, experience or credibility?

Challenge: Susan was an experienced education executive working at a prestigious cosmetics organization. She was an ebullient presenter, but her strong regional accent and rapid rate of speech detracted from her professionalism. 

Approach: We worked on minimizing Susan’s rapid rate of speech using phrasing and pausing techniques. We increased her awareness of her “regionalisms,” and created a personal word list of challenging terms. Susan learned how to add a more neutral pronunciation to her speech. We recorded Susan’s training presentations, and telephone talking points, and constructively critiqued her delivery.

Result: Susan received excellent feedback from her manager, and told me she felt“this program was a great investment in my professional development.”

Case Study #2 

Does your regional accent betray your education, experience or credibility?

Challenge: Mike was a Director at a large, regional car dealership whose responsibilities included customer satisfaction, team building, and customer retention. Mike felt that his regional accent and written communication did not sound polished and/or professional, and was limiting his advancement opportunities.

Approach: Mike compiled a writing sample folder, and we created templates for frequently generated reports and documents. Mike learned how to phrase messages to his team in a more concise, specific, and effective manner. We created a customized reference guide for business writing including frequently misspelled words, and relevant grammar rules. We also worked on enhancing word choice, decreasing rate of speech, and diction.

Result: Mike reported that his manager observed and commented on his more effective communication skills when dealing with difficult customers, and enhanced telephone skills.

Case Study # 3 

Does your foreign accent interfere with effective communication in the workplace?

Challenge: Eejung was a biology graduate student at a top tier research university, originally from South Korea. After speaking English for five years, she noted that her pronunciation had not progressed as much as she had anticipated.  Eejung wanted to improve her speech to better prepare her for the US job market following graduation. 

Approach: I identified the pronunciation and stress and intonation areas that were negatively impacting Eejung’s communication. I customized an accent modification training program for her including an online pronunciation platform to increase awareness and self-correction of speech differences.

Result: Eujung became a more confident speaker who could be clearly understood by unfamiliar listeners in a variety of contexts.  She felt that her English would no longer be an obstacle to her career advancement.