Many business people mention that their confidence is undermined because of their accent and that their lack of American pronunciation is holding them back from advancing in their careers. They are hesitant to talk in meetings or with US colleagues. They talk too fast because they are nervous to make a mistake and afraid to slow their speech in front of an audience. Their colleagues continually ask them to repeat themselves and in some cases were not willing to include them in team meetings because of their speech.

A VP of a major technical company in Silicon Valley, California, completed an Accent Reduction for Business Professionals program and said, "After completing an accent reduction training, I have received a boost to my confidence. I speak more than 6 hours a day in meetings, and teleconferences and no longer is my message interrupted and misunderstood because someone asks me to repeat myself. My meetings run smoothly and my presentations are praised".

Another business person from a computer technology company, speaks English very fast with a Japanese, Portuguese accent which hinders him from communicating effectively in business and personal communication. He said his English speaking employees do not understand him and that oddly enough other foreign speakers were able to understand his English more easily. The reason for that is that people who speak more than one language, which many Americans don't, have a larger perspective and are used to listening to heavily accented English.

Most people think that everyone else has an accent and they don't. However, the truth is that everyone has an accent that is determined by the language they speak and where they learned to speak it. In the US we have a Chicago accent, a Texas accent, a Boston Accent, etc.

When it comes to bilingual or multi lingual speakers, speaking Standard American English becomes more complicated. Why?

1. The pronunciation of Standard English consonants and vowels can be difficult. For example Mandarin Chinese speakers have trouble pronouncing (L and R) because these sounds do not exist in Mandarin.

2. Standard English words are composed of one, two, three or more syllables and it is important for a foreign speaker to be able to hear three degrees of stress in a polysyllabic word in order for the American ear to recognize the pronunciation of that word. For example the word Liniment (Lin/i/ment) is three syllables and the heavy stress is on (Lin), secondary stress is on (ment) and the (i) is thrown away.

Being able to speak American Standard English with the proper heavily stressed syllable in each word enables one to speak English with an American rhythm. Often a foreign speaker superimposes the rhythm of his/her native language on English. Because that foreign rhythm puts the heavy stress on the incorrect syllable, his/her English pronunciation no longer sounds like English to the American ear. Example: Comfortable (com/for/ta/ble) is often pronounced by people from India who have a Hindi accent as (com/fort/able) with the heavy stress on the (fort) syllable and throwing away the other two syllables.

A great speaking voice can often lead to success and for foreign speakers this means accent reduction.

The goal of an Accent Reduction and American Pronunciation Training Program is to be an outstanding communicator not only in live presentations but also in teleconferences, video conferences, international/cross cultural meetings, webinars, telesales calls, interviews, negotiations & customer retention calls, worldwide.

An Accent Reduction and American Pronunciation Training Program helps the bilingual or multilingual foreign speaker, be more easily and readily understood by the American listener. Rather than speaking with a perfect American accent which takes away from your cultural identity, these programs should allow the speaker to communicate more easily and effectively in Standard American English and acquire more of an American accent. Accent Reduction for Business professional is conducted by telephone all over the world at the client's convenience.

Many executives from international companies/corporations have successfully benefited from an Accent Reduction Program for Business Professionals and now speak with more command, confidence, clarity, authority, persuasiveness and power.

Voice Power Studios has been teaching speaking skills to business people and business executives for over 25 years. They welcome you to visit their site at http://www.voicepowerstudios.com to get more information about their Team and Private Speaking Skills Programs. They also offer the "Your Voice Is Power in Business" CDs and MP3s program. Sign-up for a FREE Voice Analysis, schedule your appointment to meet with Sandra McKnight personally, and receive a free copy of the "Leadership Voice" at http://www.voicepowerstudios.com/analysis.html.