Have you ever experienced a frustrated, sometimes angry American on the phone or in person? They are upset because they don’t understand what you are saying. You probably used the correct words, words that make perfect sense, but they still did not understand you. That is the barrier of accents.
If you work in the USA, and you have a non-American accent, you’ve probably experienced this type of frustration. It is not only upsetting to them, it also upsets you. You want to be understood, and want to communicate clearly.
That’s where taking time to learn American accent could really help. If you learn the American accent and patterns of speech, you’ll be able to speak more clearly, and avoid many of these upsetting experiences.
Have you ever sat through a training session being taught by a very intelligent speaker from a foreign country. You may hear many of the participants grumbling throughout the training about not being able to understand, or “Why don’t they hire someone who can speak?” Then your next session is taught by another foreign speaker, who keeps the rooms attention, and you never hear a single complaint, and everyone enjoys the session. Amazingly this speaker was also may be from the same country as the first, and may have a minor accent, but their speech had many traits of an American accent. The superior speaker may have been in the USA for a shorter period of time than the hare dot understand speaker. The difference, one of them had taken the time to learn an American Accent, while the other had not. Which of them do you expect will become the more successful trainer?
If you want to learn American Accent, you will need to practice. You can learn by spending more time with Americans, and attempting to start using their speech patterns. But that can feel a little overwhelming. If you would prefer to learn on your own, being able to practice in private, then using an audio course is the best method. You can hear the proper way to use the words, and practice without feeling shy or embarrassed. If you really like using an audio course, then you can practice in your car as you drive to work, and drive home at night. The privacy of listening and talking in your own car is very comforting.
The ability to repeat lessons when I’m using an audio course, is another big advantage. Hearing the proper way to say something once or twice isn’t enough always enough. You need to be able to practice until you get it right. It also gives you daily reinforcement that you are improving, which gives you confidence throughout the day.
You may have other great examples of why we should learn American accent. You probably agree, if you want to have the best chance for success in an American company, learning to speak more effectively is a great investment. When you learn an American accent, it can also benefit your personal life, making you enjoy going to dinner and to parties with your English speaking friends. The money and time spent to learn the American accent, is a wise investment in your future.
