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Accent Modification
Feb 29, 2012 01:14 PM
When can an accent be a safety issue? The two most obvious examples are in the fields of aviation and healthcare. In this month’s column, accent-related safety issues in the aviation industry will be described. Next month, safety issues that occur in the healthcare field, due to accents, will be examined.
While “English is the unofficial international language of aviation (CNS Outlook, 1996), the command of the English language for many foreign pilots is deficient, compounded by dialects, accents, and semantic misinterpretations” (“Barriers to Effective Communication: Implications for the Cockpit,” by Robert Baron, The Aviation Consulting Group, AirlineSafety.Com). In 2007, fewer than ten percent of China’s pilots had met the English standards that had been set by the aviation industry (“China demands its pilots speak better English,” ...more
Jan 30, 2012 12:02 PM
As most non-native speakers of English know, there are a number of words in the English language that are not pronounced like they are spelled. There are often varied ways to pronounce specific letters and letter combinations. Factors such as these can make learning English very challenging.
Here are some examples of words that are not pronounced like they are spelled. The “s” in some words sounds like a “z.” When a noun that ends with a voiced phoneme (sound) is changed to its plural form, the final “s” is typically pronounced like a “z.” Some words that follow this pattern have been used in this article so far: “words,” “speakers,” “ways,” “letters,” “combinations,” “factors,” and “examples.” This same rule usually applies when an “s” is added to a verb that ends with a voiced phoneme – e.g. “ends,” “runs,” and “reads.” In some instances, there seems to be no apparent rule to explain why an “s” would be pronounced like a “z” – e.g. “busy,” “dessert,” “reason,” “as,” “has,” “those,” ...more
Jan 05, 2012 01:53 PM
While the “th” sounds (phonemes) are very common in the English language, they no longer exist in most other languages. The speakers of some dialects in the United States – such as African American English and some of the accents that can be observed in cities like New York – use pronunciations of the “th” phonemes that differ from Standard American English. For these reasons, it is easy to understand why these sounds are typically mispronounced by a large percentage of non-native speakers of English in the United States.
According to “the speech accent archive,” which was created by Steven H. Weinberger at George Mason University, the following languages other than English have one or both of the “th” sounds in their phonetic inventories: Albanian, Arabic, Burmese, Danish, Fijian, Greek, Icelandic, Spanish, and Welsh. Only Castilian or European Spanish includes the “th” phonemes.
The two different types of “th” phonemes are voiceless and voiced. They are both formed in a similar way ...more
Dec 02, 2011 11:58 AM
Are you a non-native speaker of English who first learned English in the country where you were born? Were your teachers native or non-native speakers of English? Some people believe that languages must be taught by those who are native speakers of that language. Others feel that instruction in a foreign language by an individual from the same first language background as those who are learning the language has more advantages. There are also those who believe that a combination of both types of instruction is the best option. Whatever people might view as the optimal situation, a growing number of individuals who teach the English language around the globe are non-native speakers of English.
In a U.S. Department of Education funded article that appeared in Online Resources: Digests in December of 2002, Rosie Maum reported that native English speakers without the appropriate teaching credentials are more likely to be hired as English as a Second Language teachers than qualified and ex ...more
Oct 31, 2011 12:34 PM
Are you a non-native speaker of English who frequently interacts with older adults? Older adults may have conditions that cause communication challenges such as reduced hearing acuity, dementia, or aphasia – a disorder in the ability to comprehend language and/or to speak. Is your speech difficult for others to understand?
According to audiologist Sandra Gordon-Salant, “A lot of older people will tell you they have trouble understanding accented English.” (“Accented Speech and the Older Listener,” Advance for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists, May 18, 2009, by Alyssa Banotai.) Research that was conducted for the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in quiet and noisy settings by Dr.Gordon-Salant and her colleagues concluded that the older adults in the study had more difficulty understanding mildly and moderately accented English than the younger adults did. In a later study, which was also supported by the National Institute on Aging, all of the listeners performed more p ...more
Sep 27, 2011 11:20 AM
Today non-native speakers of English outnumber native speakers of English. According to David Crystal, the author of the book English as a Global Language, “There’s never before been a language that’s been spoken by more people as a second than a first.” English has traditionally been the predominant language in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It is an official language in countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Dominica, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, the Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – although English is spoken by a very small percentage of the people in some of these countries. English is widely spoken in America ...more
Aug 24, 2011 12:05 PM
According to a report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau in April of 2010, the number of individuals five and older who speak a language other than English at home has more than doubled in the last three decades. The data from the 2007 American Community Survey revealed that 55.4 million (20%) of the 281 million people ages five and older whose language use was recorded speak non-English languages in their homes. Of these 55.4 million people, 62 percent spoke Spanish, 19 percent spoke other Indo-European languages, 15 percent spoke an Asian or Pacific Island language, and 4 percent spoke some other language.
While linguists report that there are more than 6,000 spoken
languages, the U.S. Census Bureau codes the 381 spoken languages and language groups other than English that are most commonly used in the United States. They are divided into four major language groups. These groups include “Spanish,” “Other Indo-European languages,” “Asian and Pacific Island languages,” and “All Oth ...more
Jul 26, 2011 02:27 PM
We live in an era in which technological advances are occurring all of the time. Using speech recognition technology (also referred to as voice recognition technology), we can give commands to our cell phones and cars. When we call our banks and insurance companies, we can select the option to use our voices to respond to questions that are asked by their automated systems. Since speech recognition software creates text from speech, reports can be produced without the use of a keyboard.
How are non-native speakers of General American English and women affected by speech recognition systems? An article in the Los Angeles Times by Catharine Hamm entitled “Voice recognition systems can’t understand accented English” (January 25, 2009) addressed this issue. She described a naturalized citizen with a slight German accent who complained that she cannot make herself understood over the telephone when speech recognition systems are utilized. The author herself experienced difficulty with V ...more
Jun 27, 2011 11:04 AM
Immigrants have, throughout the history of the United States, continued to enrich our great nation. The outstanding achievements of Asian immigrants should be recognized as we celebrate Independence Day.
According to Améredia, a multicultural marketing and public relations firm, based on the 2000 United States Census with 2006 updates, about 44% of Asian Americans have a bachelor’s degree or higher, while about 45% are employed in management, professional, or related occupations. These figures are 24% and 34% respectively for the total U.S. population. Sejal B. Parikh wrote that 63.9% of Asian Indians have a bachelor’s degree or more and 59.9% are in management, professional, or related occupations.
A U.S. Census Bureau report that was released in 2006 indicated that between 1997 and 2002 Asian-owned businesses grew at a rate that was about twice as fast as the national average. The more than $326 billion in revenues that these businesses generated were about 8% higher than they wer ...more
Jun 13, 2011 11:53 AM
Joe Scarlett, the founder of the Scarlett Leadership Institute at Belmont University and the retired chairman of Tractor Supply Company, writes columns for the Nashville Business Journal. He has focused on the importance of good communication skills in at least two articles. In his article “The secret of great leaders: Learn to communicate well “(September 10, 2010), Mr. Scarlett wrote, “What do the world’s best leaders consider their secret to success? Communication…” Two of the communication skills that he focused on in the article are being a “great conversationalist” and speaking in public. He described becoming a good communicator as a lifelong journey. Mr. Scarlett suggested working on improving one’s communication skills each day to “…build a foundation for becoming a stronger and more confident leader.”
In another article, “Personal preparation: Building blocks to jump-start your career” (February 4, 2011), Mr. Scarlett encouraged his readers to “…always be preparing yoursel ...more
Jun 13, 2011 11:52 AM
My grandparents, and most of my relatives of that generation, were immigrants to the United States. Except for one grandfather - who had taken elocution lessons – they spoke with noticeable accents. Perhaps because of that experience, in addition to my training as a speech-language pathologist, I feel very comfortable conversing with non-native speakers of English. While I typically understand accented speech – sometimes following a warm-up period – I realize that many people do not. Although most Americans have immigrant roots, some may be too far removed from that experience to view accents the way that I do.
A recent study about accents was conducted at the University of Chicago by two non-native speakers of English, Shiri Lev-Ari – a post doctoral researcher – and Boaz Keysar – a professor of psychology and specialist in communication. The results of their study were published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. This study has also been referred to in other articl ...more
Jun 13, 2011 11:51 AM
After an unusually cold and snowy winter, the welcome signs that spring is approaching are all around us. In preparation for the beginning of spring, we get ready to “spring forward.” We set our clocks forward one hour, the night before the second Sunday in March, in order to save energy. This year, “daylight saving time” begins on March 13.
Those who are non-native speakers of English encounter a host of expressions and words with multiple meanings that can be confusing. The word “spring” itself has many different meanings. For example, when it is a noun, “spring” can refer to the season between winter and summer, water that flows from the ground, or a resilient coil of wire such as a “spring” in a sofa or mattress. “Spring” as a verb can mean to leap suddenly like a wild animal might leap, or to be released from a closed position as in a door that has “sprung open.” It can also mean to come into being within a short period of time like houses that seem to have suddenly “sprung u ...more
Jun 13, 2011 11:50 AM
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the employers who took part in their “Job Outlook 2011 survey” listed verbal communication skills at the top of their list of the skills that they look for in new college graduates who seek to join their organizations. Effective communication is the skill that employers in general typically mention most when asked what they are looking for in employees at any stage of their careers. Promotions are most likely to occur for those who communicate well.
For non-native speakers whose accents prevent them from being effective communicators, participation in an accent modification program can be the remedy. Assistance with pronunciations, syllable and word stress, phrasing, intonation, word usage, expressions, grammar, and word order may be provided.
Some pointers for non-native speakers of English will follow. In American English, the schwa sound is quite common. This vowel occurs in unstressed syllables, and is a ...more
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