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  • - Hi, I'm Lisa.

  • In this video,

  • you will learn four tips that will help you

  • improve your accent fast.

  • You will listen to me teaching a student from India,

  • who was able to change his accent,

  • and he spoke a lot more clearly,

  • When I taught him these tips.

  • I was working with Kranthi Kumar Chougoni,

  • he has a PhD and he's a postdoctoral scholar

  • in a university here, in Los Angeles.

  • His work involves clinical research in cancer biology

  • and cancer therapeutics.

  • You will see him applying these four tips.

  • I gave these four tips when I was interviewed

  • by the communication coach, Alex Lyon,

  • for his YouTube channel.

  • I will show you parts of that interview.

  • After that I will explain each tip

  • and I will also show you how Kranthi

  • was able to apply the tip

  • and improve the sound of his American accent.

  • I hope that this video will inspire you

  • to practice the same way.

  • Let's watch.

  • - Welcome, Lisa, it's great to have you on the channel.

  • - It's great to be here, Alex.

  • Thank you for having me.

  • - You were telling me the other day

  • that the correct pronunciation can be intimidating.

  • So, what advice would you give to become more confident

  • about how to pronounce words

  • when you're doing public speaking?

  • - It's really important that you can correctly pronounce

  • all of the words that you regularly use at the workplace.

  • So I suggest that people make a list of maybe 30 or 40 or 50

  • of the most common words related to their job.

  • So an engineer would have words related to engineering,

  • a doctor would have medical words on that list.

  • Don't assume that you are pronouncing them correctly.

  • Sometimes people may not want to tell you

  • that they don't understand you,

  • they might just nod their heads.

  • But in actuality, they're not quite sure they understood,

  • and if you just fix the pronunciation of those key words,

  • your accent will change so much.

  • It's what I find over and over again.

  • For example, I was working with a doctor,

  • and she said, "Lisa, please help me.

  • Every time I ask this question to my patients,

  • they look at me and they don't understand."

  • And the question is, would you like a refill?

  • Refill has two syllables.

  • She stressed the second syllable,

  • and she said something like this,

  • "Would you like a Re-FILL? Would you like a Re-FILL?"

  • And when I explained to her that we need to stress

  • the first syllable and say, "RE-fill,"

  • and we prolong that vowel,

  • because when we stress a syllable,

  • the vowel is longer and it's louder and your pitch goes up.

  • So three elements of stress: louder, longer,

  • and higher in pitch.

  • Refill, refill. Would you like a refill?

  • And just by changing that,

  • suddenly people understood her question.

  • A lot of my students struggle

  • with the correct syllable stress of the word, "develop".

  • Kranthi was stressing the first syllable.

  • He was saying, "DEvelop,"

  • instead of the second syllable, "deVELop."

  • Let's listen to the way he said, "develop,"

  • and then you will see how we practiced it,

  • and how he was able to fix it.

  • - Yeah, I got this thing in my mind

  • to develop this American accent,

  • and I think I'm stressing everything.

  • I'm not natural like.

  • - That's- - This thing in my mind,

  • to develop this American accent.

  • - That's normal.

  • Okay, so let's talk about stressing the right syllable.

  • - Mm-mm.

  • - Develop has three syllables,

  • you said, "develop," and that's not correct.

  • Let's stress the second syllable, develop.

  • - Develop. - Good, develop.

  • - Develop.

  • - Now, can we use it in a sentence?

  • - I'd like to develop some-

  • - No! You said, "develop," do it again.

  • - Yeah, I'd like to develop, sorry.

  • I'd like to develop...

  • - Try again.

  • - Develop. - No, it's got develop.

  • Three syllables, develop.

  • We're gonna stress the second one.

  • - Develop. - Develop.

  • - Develop. - That's right, do it again.

  • - Develop. - Good.

  • - Develop.

  • I would like to develop. I would like to develop.

  • I would like to develop.

  • - In the following three words,

  • Kranthi was stressing the first syllable.

  • Develop, we need to stress the second syllable.

  • Combinations, in that case,

  • the third syllable needs to be stressed.

  • Pancreatic.

  • The third syllable should also be stressed in that one.

  • - I would like to develop some new drug combinations

  • for treating pancreatic cancer.

  • - You said, "combination."

  • - Yeah. - Once again,

  • just like develop, you stressed the first syllable.

  • The third one should be stressed, combination.

  • Let's reduce the C O M,

  • - Mm-mm. - so it's not com,

  • - Yeah. - it's combination.

  • - Combination. - Excellent.

  • - Mm-mm. - Pancreatic.

  • A, open your mouth for the a.

  • - Pancreatic. - Good, pancreatic.

  • - Pancreatic.

  • - Pancrea, ea, pancreatic.

  • - Pancreatic.

  • - That's beautiful, do it again?

  • - My goal is to develop new combinations

  • to treat pancreatic cancer.

  • - That sounds really good.

  • - My goal is to develop new combinations

  • to treat pancreatic cancer.

  • My goal is to develop new combinations

  • to treat pancreatic cancer.

  • So I suggest make your list of words,

  • that you regularly use at the workplace,

  • and you can include words like,

  • the name of your company that you work for,

  • and maybe some coworkers,

  • whose names are difficult for you to pronounce.

  • And then you can ask a native speaker

  • to record those words for you.

  • And then you can practice saying them over and over again,

  • and when you know that you are pronouncing them correctly,

  • you will feel a lot more confident

  • about your communication skills.

  • - That's excellent, I love it.

  • You don't have to know everything,

  • but if you focus just on those

  • - Right. - lists of keywords then,

  • your overall pronunciation

  • will come across much more smooth.

  • So, on video when, - Absolutely.

  • - and when I do public speaking,

  • I am always mindful about my pace,

  • because I tend to get excited and I speak too quickly.

  • So what advice would you have for non-native speakers,

  • about their speed, when they're giving a presentation?

  • - The number one tip I would give, is slow down.

  • Most people speak too quickly without realizing it.

  • And sometimes non-native speakers

  • want to sound like they're fluent in English.

  • And so, they decide to speak more quickly,

  • because they say, "Well, native speakers of English,

  • speak really fast and I want to appear

  • more like a native speaker."

  • Yes, native speakers speak quickly,

  • but they follow the rules of stress and reduction.

  • They followed these rules unconsciously.

  • For example, when we say, "I should not have done that"

  • We don't say, "I should not have done that."

  • We say, "I shouldn't have done that."

  • I shouldn't have done that."

  • So that's pretty quick, but we're following rules.

  • We're still stressing that key word

  • and we're reducing other words.

  • So my advice is, you can speak as quickly as you want to,

  • as long as you're following the rules

  • of English word stress,

  • and as long as you're pronouncing

  • the consonant sounds clearly.

  • But when we speak quickly,

  • our consonants often are not clear, that's the problem,

  • and that's why you need to slow down.

  • So for example,

  • do we say, "five minutes,"

  • or do we say, "five minutes?"

  • It takes time to move your lips from the "v" to the "m".

  • Five minutes.

  • Do we say, "in general,"

  • or do we say, "in general?"

  • In general.

  • My tongue has to move a lot of times

  • to say the word, "in general."

  • So, slow down, because you will speak more clearly.

  • And professional speech is clear speech.

  • - Well, that's excellent advice,

  • professional speech is clear speech.

  • I couldn't agree more.

  • - Kranthi was also skipping the R sounds in cancer,

  • and in therapeutics.

  • Let's listen to how Kranthi improved his accent,

  • by slowing down.

  • His speech became clearer,

  • when he pronounced all of the consonants.

  • - I work on cancer biology and cancer therapeutics.

  • Mainly I try to understand how cancer cells

  • signal with each other,

  • and identify the ways to target or kill them.

  • - So let's say, "cancer."

  • We wanna hear the R.

  • Cancer therapeutic. Let's say that clearly.

  • - Cancer therapeutic.

  • - I didn't hear the R.

  • - Cancer therapeutics.

  • - No, I didn't hear the R in therapeutic, slow down.

  • - Okay, I got it.

  • Cancer therapeutics.

  • - thera, thera.

  • - Thera. - Cancer therapeutics.

  • - Cancer therapeutics.

  • - Good, now say the whole sentence again.

  • But pay attention to the R.

  • - And therapeutics,

  • has four syllables.

  • We're gonna make sure

  • - that you pronounce them clearly.

  • - I work on cancer biology and cancer therapeutics.

  • - That's perfect.

  • - That sounds really good.

  • - Mm-mm. - Let's say it again.

  • So if I asked you, what do you work on?

  • Let's say naturally and clearly, one more time.

  • - I work on cancer biology and cancer therapeutics.

  • - Good.

  • - So I wanna ask you about this,

  • I took several Spanish classes in school,

  • and one thing I really struggled with,

  • was where to put the emphasis in my words, in my sentences.

  • Because it could change the meaning

  • and change how it comes across.

  • What advice do you have about where people

  • should put the emphasis when they're speaking English?

  • - You know, you're absolutely right.

  • Stressing the correct word,

  • or stressing the correct syllable in a word,

  • is so important to know,

  • especially if English is not your native language.

  • And each language has their own melody and rhythm.

  • And in some languages, people always stress the first word.

  • For example, they would say,

  • "I agree with you."

  • Instead of, "I agree with you."

  • So if we stress, agree, which is the keyword,

  • it's the verb, then that sounds very natural.

  • You don't have any additional meaning behind it.

  • But if you say, "I agree with you,"

  • then that means the other people in the room

  • don't agree with you, but I agree with you.

  • Or, if you say, "I agree with you,"

  • that's also a completely different meaning.

  • It means I agree with you,

  • but I don't agree with the other people.

  • So be careful, do not stress pronouns.

  • Pronouns are called function words,

  • and function words don't hold a lot of meaning,

  • compared to content words.

  • Content words are generally verbs and nouns,

  • and those are the key words.

  • Imagine you're doing a search, like a Google search.

  • You'd often just type in the key words,

  • - Exactly. - right?

  • - You don't type, yeah, you don't type in,

  • what are the symptoms of diabetes.

  • You might just type in, symptoms, diabetes.

  • Same thing, stress the key words,

  • don't stress the function words.

  • And remember, in your language,

  • it might be that people tend to start really loud

  • and strong in the beginning of the sentence,

  • and this is something that native speakers of a language

  • are not necessarily aware of.

  • We don't think about the melody of our own language.

  • We just are born speaking a certain way.

  • So, avoid stressing other words that are not keywords,

  • and that would mean pronouns, prepositions.

  • So we're not gonna say, "I need to talk to you."

  • We're gonna say, "I need to talk to you."

  • I need to talk to you."

  • Open your mouth on the key word, talk.

  • I need to talk to you.

  • I gave the tip about not stressing function words,

  • such as pronouns and prepositions.

  • Those words are usually reduced.

  • But Kranthi had a habit of stressing

  • the first word of the sentence the most.

  • He stressed the pronouns, I and my,

  • but he was able to fix that.

  • - My name is Kranthi Kumar Chougoni,

  • I'm a post doctoral scholar here in Los Angeles.

  • - Introduce yourself again,

  • without stressing the pronouns.

  • My name is Kranthi Kumar Chougoni,

  • I'm a postdoctoral fellow, here at Los Angeles.

  • Okay. - Say that sentence again,

  • I'm a postdoctoral student in Los Angeles,

  • without stressing the first word.

  • You still stressed, I'm, a little bit too much.

  • - Mm, oh, okay, I got it.

  • I'm a postdoctoral scholar in Los Angeles.

  • - That sounds really good.

  • - I'm an American, and I have lived all over the country.

  • I'm used to talking to,

  • and working with non-native speakers.

  • I don't focus too much on their accent when I am listening.

  • Given that, what advice do you have

  • about the mindset of non-native speakers,

  • about how they sound?

  • - That's a really good point.

  • Non-native speakers often overanalyze

  • the fact that they have an accent.

  • They overthink it and they almost develop

  • this kind of fear or paranoia,

  • "Oh, people will judge me on my accent."

  • People, in general, don't care about your accent,

  • as long as you're speaking clearly.

  • And remember, you are speaking,

  • because you are an expert in your field,

  • or because you got hired for that job

  • because you deserve to be there.

  • And if someone made a negative comment,

  • 'cause people will sometimes say,

  • "Oh, I don't understand you when you say that."

  • Or, "Your accent is strong."

  • Don't let that stay in your memory.

  • Don't let that traumatize you.

  • That's just one person and sometimes people

  • can say things out of, I don't know,

  • jealousy, or for all sorts of other ulterior reasons.

  • So I would say, ignore the negative comments,

  • you will sometimes get them,

  • because people are just that way, unfortunately,

  • they like to say negative things.

  • But, in general, I would say,

  • almost everybody is on your side.

  • And people enjoy hearing other accents.

  • So if people ask you, "Where are you from?"

  • It doesn't mean they're making a judgment.

  • They just really are curious about you, as a person.

  • Keep working on improving your accent,

  • because clear, understandable speech, is very important,

  • especially in professional situations.

  • Meanwhile, don't allow your insecurity

  • about your accent to paralyze you.

  • Slow down and use a strong voice.

  • You have something important to say,

  • so say it with confidence.

  • Thanks for watching and keep practicing your English.

  • To get the two courses,

  • The American Accent Course,

  • and the 400 Advanced Words You MUST Know for Fluent English,

  • go to AccurateEnglish.com.

- Hi, I'm Lisa.

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