| If you were born in China but now live in the United | | | | more easily? One of the best things you can do is to |
| States, you are part of a large and wonderful group of | | | | focus on reducing your accent. You can ask American |
| people. According to the latest census information, | | | | friends to gently correct you when you mispronounce |
| there are over 1.6 million Chinese immigrants in the | | | | a word. Write down words you have trouble saying |
| United States. Of these, two-thirds are of adult | | | | correctly and practice them at home. |
| working age and two in five have a college degree or | | | | Every language has rules to its pronunciation, and |
| higher; however, two-thirds have limited English | | | | understanding those rules is vital to reducing an accent. |
| proficiency. | | | | There are some rules in English that are very different |
| This means that, if you are Chinese and living in the | | | | from the Chinese rules,so they can be quite confusing |
| United States, there is a good chance that you are a | | | | to Chinese speakers of English. Some of these |
| highly educated person who has come to the United | | | | include:distinguishing between the r and l |
| States expecting to succeed, but you may have | | | | soundsdistinguishing between the n and ng |
| trouble advancing in your career because you have | | | | soundsknowing when to pronounce final |
| not mastered the nuances of the English language. | | | | consonantsunderstanding the difference between |
| ESL classes are a wonderful place to start and they | | | | voiced and unvoiced consonants, such as k and g, p |
| do a terrific job of teaching the basics of English | | | | and b, and t and d |
| vocabulary and grammar. I highly recommend them! | | | | You will probably experience the most rapid results by |
| The problem comes for many people who have | | | | working with an accent reduction specialist, either |
| learned to speak and write English but find that they | | | | locally or over the internet through webcam classes. |
| still cannot communicate with native English-speaking | | | | Webcam classes typically provide the most private, |
| Americans. Have you experienced this? Have you had | | | | flexible, and cost-effective option. Accent reduction |
| someone ask you to repeat yourself when you | | | | specialists with a background in speech pathology |
| thought you had been perfectly clear? It can be | | | | have been specially trained to teach people how to |
| frustrating and disheartening, especially for someone | | | | hear the subtle differences between sounds and how |
| who has worked so hard, to find that it is not a lack of | | | | to position their lips and tongue to produce certain |
| education or effort that is holding them back, but the | | | | sounds. They can recognize where you are having |
| difficulty in being understood. | | | | difficulty and teach you new speech patterns that will |
| So, if you have taken ESL classes and you speak | | | | make speaking English much less frustrating. |
| English every day, what can you do to be understood | | | | |