Accent Withdrawal

Accent Withdrawal

Have you ever had a conversation with someone that had an accent and you did not really listen to what they said because you were so focused on their weird accent? Though we never want to admit it, this happens a lot. It's hard to be taken seriously when no one listens to what you are saying.

Open a much-needed business that will help professionals with their heavy accents to speak more clearly. Large percentages of the foreign speaking population that move to this country are well educated and have professional jobs. It can be hard for them to succeed if they do not speak English well and need to communicate with others within their professions. They usually have learned English before they move here, but often times it is a form of English that we do not speak in our everyday routines. They often times will learn to speak English from people of their own language and pick up the same heavy accent as their instructor, thus they are equally difficult for us to understand.

If you live in large cities in states like California, New York, and Florida this could be a real option as a business for you. These states are where many newcomers move to work and could use the services you offer them. Any place that you live, if there are a large number of newcomers that have heavy accents living near you, this is a great business idea for you.

It is important that you understand and use proper English yourself. For this type of job, it is also important that you have patience with people and enjoy teaching. Learning techniques that professional speakers use in their own language could be helpful with this business too. Usually these exercises work well for all of us to practice. They help us pronounce our words clearly and keep us from being lazy with our pronunciation of words.

It is good to do some research on the mother tongues of the groups you would like to teach. In some languages, they are not used to making certain sounds that we use in our language. If this is true they often times will substitute a different sound, it is very important that you help them to overcome this practice. This is also a good place to make sure that you have mouth or vocal exercises to overcome the mispronunciation. Research can prove to be extremely helpful in overcoming these changes in speaking English.

As far as an investment, there is not much involved. Unless you need to enroll in English classes yourself. You will need to decide whether you want to teach classes or individuals. If you choose classes, plan how many you think you can handle per class and where you will be able to find a room to use for this. Often times you can use your local library if you check with them first and book the room for the classes. This could save you money at the beginning of your career, until you can establish a school or business front.

The major part of your initial investment should be in advertising. Investing in a quality brochure would be a good idea too, explaining why people need your services and how they will benefit from your services. Also, include how to contact you and what your fee's are.

Generally, classes are cheaper per person than one-on-one options; consider this when deciding on the fee's you plan to charge. Start your business with conservative fee's at first until you have an idea of what the market can handle. Remember though that often times these are professional people that are capable of paying well for your services. You may also offer your services to companies that hire foreigners. They often times are willing to pay quite well for educating their employees. If this can help their employees communicate more easily, which will make them more effective, they will be more willing to invest in your services. We are talking about a possible $100.00, or more, per hour for your services, depending on where you live.

You could have a successful business in this field, which may grow quickly if you are good at accomplishing your task of helping foreigners to pronounce English more accurately. If this is an area you feel comfortable with, why not try it? You may be very happy that you did!

Resources:

http://www.pronunciationworkshop.com/?gclid=CNDqg_3inZQCFQNfFQodkHdttA

http://www.learnenglish.de/pronunciation/accentreduction3.htm

http://expressive-elocution.com/

http://ezinearticles.com/?Elocution,-Accent-Softening-and-Voice-Coaching---Stage-1&id=334617