9 Speech Neutralization-V2

Course On Campus to Corporate: Speech Neutralization UNIT- 9: SPEECH NEUTRALIZATION Structure 9.1 Learning Objectives 9.2 Introduction 9.3 Tips to neutralize English 9.1 Learning Objectives By the end of this unit, you will be able to: • Understand what is meant by speech neutralization? • Understand how to speak in neutral English? 9.2 Introduction Speaking is the simplest and easiest way of communication. Speaking is a skill, we start learning as a child and then spend a lifetime; perfecting it. Depending on where you are from, you will carry sounds and rhythm as part of your speech. This is called an Accent. English is universally, the most recognized and common language. Being able to speak English, without an accent is a great boost in today’s global market. However, we often carry an accent basis our roots and first language or mother tongue. This can create an issue for people who do not have the same accent as us, to understand what we are trying to speak. This is why, we need speech or accent neutralization, to be understood by a wider audience. In this module, we will concentrate on how to speak neutral English. Page 1 of 3 All Rights Reserved. Vol. TLE001/03-2022

Course On Campus to Corporate: Speech Neutralization 9.3 Tips to Neutralise English Having a neutral English, speech will make you look more professional and easier to understand in daily life or a corporate meeting. Let’s look at tips, we can follow to ensure that we speak in neutral English: 1. Watching videos and movies: The more we hear a language, the easier it becomes to replicate it. Hearing the same dialogues or songs repeatedly puts it in our long-term memory. However, ensure that the videos and movies that you watch are not of characters who have an accent themselves, else, you will end up speaking in a different accent. 2. Practice certain words: You can use Google translate to learn the correct and neutral pronunciation of certain words you have difficulty with. Depending on your work profile, you can use it to get the correct way to say the names of people, brands or instruments that you use in day to day life. 3. Listen to books: Now, we have audiobooks available. So, instead of lugging a book around and sitting down to read it, you can carry multiple books in your phone and listen to them on the go. This will give you exposure to good neutral English on the go. 4. Record and listen to yourself: You may have noticed that your voice sounds different in a recording than when you actually speak. To ensure that you do not miss out the same way with your accent, record yourself speaking or reading out loud and listen back to the same to realise how you pronounce words. This may help you find issues yourself. You can then look for the correct pronunciation for the same words online. Page 2 of 3 All Rights Reserved. Vol. TLE001/03-2022

Course On Campus to Corporate: Speech Neutralization 5. Enroll in classes: You are never too old to learn. Keeping this in mind, you can always join a course or class to help you speak neutral English. In a class, you can get personal attention to help you improve. A trainer can give you feedback on jaw and tongue movement which could be affecting your accent. Feedback like rolling your R’s and biting your V’s. 6. Practice: Even with the best of tools, we may not learn until we practice. Hence, ensure that, you get enough practice speaking in neutral English, to get it hard wired in your mind. We first need to unlearn, the way we say certain words and then relearn, the correct way to speak them. This takes practice to make yourself perfect. Page 3 of 3 All Rights Reserved. Vol. TLE001/03-2022