What did you say?
I was teaching an advanced-level second language student one day. As I always do, I asked questions simply to hear what pronunciation problems each student might have. One question I asked, “How did you meet your wife?” While his pronunciation was mostly impeccable, one word he said stumped me for a second. “I was BEST man at a wedding, and I met her there,” he replied.
“BEST man.” What’s that, I thought? Ohhhhh, he meant to say best MAN! Again, the pronunciation of this compound noun was perfectly fine, but the stress–putting emphasis on the wrong syllable–made me realize that this student needed some accent modification training. That’s a fancy term for teaching the rhythm, stress, intonation, and other speech patterns of American English. This is a highly-stressed language, and misplacement of stressed syllables = msunderstandings. (For some reason, this concept is not discussed as much as it should be in English classes from beginner to advanced.)
Ever feel misunderstood? I provide a free initial consultation to determine where you could use a little (or a lot) of accent modification training. Just complete the form below, including any questions you might have, and I’ll get back to you ASAP.