Accent Modification
Real reasons why clients have wanted to reduce their accents:
- "to assimilate"
- "to sound as Canadian as I feel"
- "to have to repeat myself less"
- "to feel more confident"
- "as a self-development exercise"
An accent occurs when sounds from your first language affect the pronunciation of sounds in your second language. Improving your pronunciation in your second (or third) language is called accent modification. The process involves learning new consonant sounds, vowel sounds, intonation and communication habits to match the local Toronto accent. As you learn to match more sounds, you progressively sound more native in your accent. Whether your accent is heavy or slight, we can help you. We understand that strength of an accent doesn't reflect how intelligent you are or how well you understand English. And, we know that clients who chose accent modification often experience trouble with pronunciation in their first language as well. Our clinic will help with that too.
Our Approach
At Well Said: Toronto Speech Therapy, we have worked on hundreds of accents and can help you achieve measurable improvements with your pronunciation in your real life. Using a client-centered, evidenced-based, holistic and collaborative approach, we will work with you and employ the latest research on accent and adult learning to achieve your speech goals.
Did you know our services are covered by most workplace and education insurance plans? Try our "Is Accent Work for Me?" self-reflection tool below to discover how you might benefit.
What We'll Do
1. Professional assessment of:
- Consonants
- Vowels
- Contractions
- Grammatical Errors
- Plural and Past-tense markers
- Suprasegmentals
- Intonation
- Word Stress
Time total: 1.5 - 2.5 hours
2. Establish a Treatment Plan considering:
- Your goals
- Your schedule
- Your learning style
- Your budget
Time total: 1 hour
3. Support you through the steps:
- Isolation Drills
- Syllables Drills
- Words Drills
- Sentence Drills
- Reading Aloud
- Short, medium, long conversations activities
- Presentations preparation
Time total: 10-80 hours (varies based on your needs)
Is accent work for me?
Unsure if accent work is right for you? Try our new self-assessment tool by clicking on the box below. A box will open with a series of questions that will help you decide if this service is what you've been looking for.
Our Learning Path
Hear the Difference
Understand the way you currently speak and how it differs from the local accent .
Learn the Pattern
Learn how to pronounce sounds, say words and deliver sentences.
Practice the New Way
Achieve your goal through step-by-step and supported practice in a safe space.
A constant perspective I hear from bilingual individuals, particularly those whose first language isn’t English, is that they feel inferior. That having an accent and speaking another language puts them at a disadvantage for building connection, respect and growth as communicators both personally and professionally.
This article will demonstrate why that is not true. It will demonstrate that you as a multilingual speaker are at an advantage - even when it doesn’t feel like it. In this article, the term bilingualism will be used to embody both multilingualism and bilingualism.