50. The most important sound in English: [ə] - schwa, as in "the"

By Olga Smith

The schwa is the most used sound in English. It is important to sound fluent and natural. In our experience, almost all students of English make many mistakes with the schwa. Let’s have a look at this sound and sort it out once and for all! The schwa is highlighted in all examples below.

5 most important characteristics of the schwa [ə] are:

1. It is the shortest sound in English.

2. The schwa is always unstressed. It is pronounced in unstressed syllables and in a multi-syllable word there can be more than one schwa as in “conclusion, announcement, effortless”.

3. It is a very neutral sound; when pronouncing the schwa, remember that your speech organs should be relaxed and neutral

4. The schwa is used to make the speech more fluent because many unstressed syllables and even unimportant words are pronounced with the schwa.

5. It is used in contracting unimportant words for the meaning of the sentence or phrases.

   5 main classes of words that have the neutral vowel shwa [ə]:

   1. Endings of names: Linda, Michael, Olga, Richard, Spencer.

   2. Auxiliary verbs in unstressed position will often have the schwa: have, has, had, were, was, are, am.

   3. Articles, prepositions and particles in unstressed position will often have the schwa: a, the, to, of, as, for, from.

   4. UK counties ending in “shire”: as in Oxfordshire, Berkshire

   5. Names of places ending in “ford” as in Stamford, Stratford.

Below are the most common mistakes people make when they do not know how and when using the schwa:

1. They pronounce the words the way they are spelt. Many Latin words ending with “tion”,”sion” as in “emotion, confusion” are pronounced with the schwa at the end, but people whose native language is based on Latin, like Spanish for example, do not use the schwa and pronounce words the way they are spelt. English spelling and pronunciation are not the same. English pronounce unstressed ending “tion” , “sion” with the schwa. Prefix “con”, “ob” as in “conclusion”, “oblivious” are also pronounced with the schwa. But many wrongly pronounce [ɒ] as in “box”, instead.

2. They make the schwa too long. Remember that the schwa is so short, it is almost not there.
   When you make the schwa too long it is not good English and even the stress in a word can change to the wrong one.

3. Sometimes they pronounce [i:] as in “please” in the article “the”, they say thi: table. It is important to use the schwa. The only time you can pronounce “the” with a short sound [ɪ] as in “big” is when the next word starts with the vowel, for example, “thɪ illness.”

4. They pronounce the article “a” as diphthong [eɪ] as in “pay”. The article “a” is always unstressed and should be pronounced with the schwa.

5. They pronounce prepositions “of” and “from” with the sound [ɒ] as in “box”, these prepositions should be pronounced with the schwa.

6. Quite often, they pronounce “r” which is in spelling in words with the schwa as in “doctor, sponsor, wondered”.

   We teach the schwa in all our books and apps. Practice lessons 6 with the following apps:
   Elocution Lessons, Get Rid of your Accent UK1, Business English Speech; practice the schwa in lessons 5 and 6 with the app Fluent English Speech.

   Olga Smith

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49. 5 steps to improve fluency in English

By Olga Smith

The English tend to speak in phrases, often linking the words together. To sound fluent in English, liaise words that belong together in a phrase gliding from one word to another, almost pronouncing them as one word.

I would like to outline 5 connected speech patterns:

1. Consonants elision
   bus stop, soap powder

2. Liaising vowel to vowel
   go out, so easy

3. Liaising article and preposition with the main word
   at the cinema, in the woods

4. Liaising words that form compound nouns
   bank clerk, assistant manager

5. Use linking “r”
   car insurance, fair enough

You can find practical fluency exercises in our app Fluent English Speech and in our video course.

 Read our popular blog about the benefits of elocution lessons

48. How do I get rid of my native accent and get an American accent?

By Olga Smith

In order to get rid of your accent you need to:
1. Learn and practice how to pronounce sounds of General American pronunciation
2. Do articulation exercises to make your consonants clear and crisp.
This process has several stages:

The first stage is to make sure that you put your lips, tongue and jaw in the right position for the learned sound. If you fail to do so, the sound will not be precise and may be different altogether. Follow the instructions on the speech organ position given at the beginning of each lesson. Pronounce the sound several times, looking in the mirror to make sure you do it correctly.

When you have just started working on a sound your speech organs are not trained; therefore, they might not go automatically for correct placement. When you use the mirror, you can see yourself and adjust lips and jaw positions. When it comes to the tongue position, you need to think about its position and adjust it. When you feel that your sound is correct, start pronouncing the words, sentences and verses in the lesson.

The second stage is aimed at helping you learn a sound by repeating and imitating after the teacher. This exercise will help you to make the sound as correctly as possible and train your speech organs for the particular sound. The more you repeat, the better your pronunciation becomes.

The third stage gives you an opportunity to practice the sound on your own American accent app. You will be hearing yourself and mastering the sound. This stage is essential before recording yourself. We recommend that you practice each sound for about 20-40 minutes a day, with little breaks in between.

The fourth stage involves recording yourself and listening to the recording. It helps you to see whether you have progressed in mastering the pronunciation and to identify where you still make mistakes.

The fifth stage focuses on eliminating mistakes. Correctly repeating the words where you made a mistake will help you avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future.

The sixth stage has the purpose of helping you incorporate the learned sound in your everyday speech. It’s about paying attention when you speak. We say: think before you speak and slow down for the period of mastering your speech.

If you speak fast, you are likely to speak in your autopilot mode, with your accent. After the lessons, you will be able to correct yourself. This stage is also trying to find the learned sound in the newspapers, on the radio, on TV and when people are speaking English.

The next step in eliminating your accent is to develop fluency, by speaking in phrases rather than in separate words, while knowing how to correctly link words together. You can practice this with the app Fluent American Speech.
Finally, learn the patterns of American/English intonation and vocal techniques so that your speech is more close to native speakers.

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47. Fluent American Speech App

By Olga Smith

Do you want to sound fluent in American/English and more like a native English speaker? Is your speech a bit monotonous? Then our new app Fluent American Speech is for you. After you mastered all American/English sounds in our American Accent App (link), you can take your English to the next level. In this new app, we provide rules and practical exercises you need to sound fluent and natural. The app also includes pronunciation rules with practical exercises for difficult word endings and silent letters.

6 things this app will help you with:

1. To sound fluent and more like a native American/English speaker within 1-2 months

2. Your messages will be clear and powerful

3. You will learn pronunciation rules that make your speech grammatically correct.

4. Becoming a competent communicator and public speak

5. Increasing your personal confidence

6. Improving your job prospect and social life

Who is this app for:

·       Professionals, doctors, diplomats for whom a high standard of English and clarity of speech are important

·       People who want to sound fluent in English like native speakers

·       Pronunciation and speech teachers

·       EFL or ESL teachers

·       Public speakers and presenters

We believe that the best way to develop a certain skill is to base it on practical work. The best way to master fluency is by the regular, daily practice of exercises in this app. The course is adapted for smartphones and tablets, allowing you to study at anytime, anywhere. Practise with this app and watch your career, education, and social life blossom.

45. Queen Elizabeth II pronunciation and how it changed over time

By Olga Smith

In 1956 Nancy Mitford wrote in her book Noblesse Oblige: “It is solely by their language that the upper classes nowadays are distinguished – since they are neither cleaner, richer, nor better-educated than anybody else.” Indeed, the British aristocracy tends to speak with a particular accent, that is RP. But with time their RP is changing. Let’s see how.

I have been listening to the Queen's 21st birthday speech which was recorded in 1947. She speaks very much like her mother. Her vowels and diphthongs are rather tight.

If we listen to her latest speech of the opening of the Parlament, we can see that her speech changed. It has become more relaxed and natural. I assume that after the death of the Queen Mother, the Queen communicated with people whose RP is more general and now her RP sounds less tight and more relaxed.

When I have published my previous blog Elocution Lessons based on RP, I have mentioned Refined RP, which the Queen and her generation and class speak. Some of our students wrote back to me and said that they would like to have Refined RP. I remember when I started my elocution lessons in 2004 I also wanted to learn Refined RP as it seemed so beautiful to me. When I was listening to the Queen’s speeches I thought it would be a good idea if I learn to speak like the Queen. But my tutor Linda James told me that if I do I will become a figure of fun because no one speaks like that anymore, and I will sound very unnatural.

In fact, if you listen to the Queen's grandchildren Prince Wiliam and Harry, you would see that their speech is very different from the speech of their ancestors. There is a general tendency, nowadays, in aristocratic circles to sound more relaxed. In contrast, I have noticed, that some aspiring social climbers, who are not of aristocratic background, but who would like to mingle with the aristocracy try very hard with their RP and sound rather unnatural.

At the same time, not trying at all, such as not pronouncing word endings, not stressing important words, etc, sounds lazy and lacks clarity. Based on General RP and recorded by highly professional actors, our apps and books will make your speech clear by:

• Articulating consonants well

• Pronouncing the vowels and diphthongs correctly

• Mastering the flow of speech

The purpose of our elocution lessons is to help you sound educated and feel at ease in any environment.

Read our popular blog about the benefits of elocution lessons.

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43. Elocution Lessons based on RP

By Olga Smith

In our apps and books, we teach Received Pronunciation(RP). According to phonetician David Abercrombie, "RP is a privileged accent: your social life, or your career, or both may be affected by whether you possess it or not". 

RP is an accent taught for many decades since it was popularised by the BBC and many know it as BBC English. In the past, it was called Queen’s English and Oxford English. RP is the accent that boys learn very quickly in Eton if they do not want to be mocked for their regional sounds. Clearly, RP is associated with the quality of one's education and a certain social and economic position. It is interesting to note that a study revealed, that the more refined is the RP of a person the higher is their social status and the better is their economic situation. No wonder that native English speakers with regional accents, who see the obvious benefits of RP decide to learn RP with our apps and books and book elocution lessons to master all the sounds of RP. They often ask me the following questions:

1. How has RP changed over the past 100 years or so? what is different with older speakers of RP compared with the more contemporary variety?

2. What mistakes do native English speakers who have acquired some RP, but not perfected it, often make? 

3. Are there common mistakes for people (native speakers) who try to use RP by imitation but haven't been trained professionally, which often marks them out?

To answer the first question I would like to outline three main types of Received Pronunciation:

1. General RP, which is used as a teaching model for foreign people. It is also used in pronouncing Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries. Therefore it is the most understood version of the English accent. General RP is also a compulsory accent to learn in London drama schools. Actors learn RP to be able to perform classic plays, like Oscar Wild, etc.

2. Refined/heightened RP is associated with the aristocracy, certain professions such as officers in the navy, etc. Refined RP is spoken by an older generation. It is spoken, for example, by the Queen.and Prince Charles. General RP is spoken by the Queen’s grandchildren. 

My tennis partner is a 25 years old girl. She is a Cambridge graduate, whose grandfather was a British spy which suggests that she comes from an elite family. She speaks with slightly heightened RP: beautifully pronounced /t,d/ sounds, fantastic sentence stress and lovely long vowels. She stands out in our group; both teachers and pupils have an automatic heightened respect for her.

3. Near-RP is basically RP with a slight mix of individual, foreign or regional sounds and characteristics. The majority of RP speakers speak with near-RP. 

Near RP is growing and represents the largest percentage of RP speakers today. Below are a few reasons:

• In recent years there is a tendency on the BBC to hire presenters with regional accents because there is an opinion that RP is a minority accent. Indeed it is an accent of the elite. 

• Many RP speakers also try to accommodate to their environment, perhaps unconsciously, to blend in with different social groups. They also adjust their RP to a prevailing accent in their workplace.

I would like to answer the second question with examples from my experience. Recently I went to a publishing event. A vast majority of publishers in the UK tend to speak with heightened or general RP. They lean on long vowels and diphthongs, enunciate /t,d/; they enjoy their speech, make long pauses and prominent stresses, there is a feeling that they have all the time in the world to talk and enjoy. We were talking and suddenly one of the men stood out: his vowels were too short and he rushed his speech, he looked a bit sheepish. To my amazement, others looked at this man as if he was not supposed to be there. 

A few years ago, I was asked to analyse Victoria Beckham speech before and after she became wealthy. I received audio clips with her speech in 1998, 2004, 2009. As you know Victoria comes from a simple background and her speech in 1998 reflected it: non-RP vowels, bad articulation, no sentence stress, weak and incorrectly pronounces consonants. By 2009, her speech changed a lot., it was very obvious to me that she had elocution lessons. What I noticed first is that she slowed down her speech and that allowed her time to pronounce long vowels. She clearly learned what to stress in a sentence. Victoria does not speak with Standard RP due to the following reasons:
1. She doesn’t know how to pronounce lateral plosions correctly;
2. Her long vowels are still not long enough;
3. Her /t, d, l/ sounds are non-RP.
4. Her schwa or neutral vowel is still too long.
This leads me to the answer to the third question. Generally, native English speakers, who tried to learn RP make the following mistakes:

1. They do not know how to pronounce long and short vowels and diphthongs correctly. The schwa or neutral vowel is not correct and often too long and long vowels are too short. There is a tip for you: if you lean on long vowels then the schwa should automatically become shorter as there is not enough energy for long/incorrect schwa. We show how sounds are formed in the mouth in our video elocution courses.

2. Their consonants are lazy and weak, particularly at the end of the word: /t,d,l, p, b, r/. For example, /t,d/ endings are not pronounced at all and glottal stop is inappropriately used instead. /l/sound is formed using lips, and not togue, and as a result, it sounds like the /w/ sound, we hear "wiw" instead of "will". We recommend our app Get Rid of your Accent UK1 to master all RP sounds.

3. They speak too fast, in paragraphs without sentence stress and pauses.

4. They don't know how to modulate their voice. This skill can be practised with our app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause.

5. They do not use a full range of intonation/inflections; they tend to use simple falling too often which may make them sound a bit dull. You can learn and practice different types of inflection in our app Fluent English Speech.

Melvyn Bragg writes: "We are each one of us, all talking advertisement of our history. Accent is the snake and the ladder in the upstairs-downstairs of social ambition. Accent is the con man's first resource." 

I would say that acquiring RP is a short cut to social and economic success. RP open doors to fantastic opportunities. The best way to master your RP is to find good apps and books and having elocution lessons. We recommend one lesson a week. Read our popular blog about the benefits of elocution lessons.

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42. 8 ways to keep the audience's attention during your presentation

By Olga Smith

How to engage your audience and keep their attention? I have analysed speeches by most successful public speakers, such as Boris Johnson, ex American President John Kennedy and my own speeches. In this blog post, I will reveal and explain to you my findings.

1. Be passionate about what you say and know your subject
When you know and love your subject it shows through. People feel your passion and it is contagious. People start feeling passionate about it almost unconsciously and seeing it as very interesting indeed.

2. "Think like a wise man, but speak as simple people do", Aristotle
I taught many intellectuals and PhDs and I have noticed one thing in common among them: they tend to use long words and long sentences. They describe details meticulously. This approach works well for writing an MA or a PhD article or thesis, but for oratorical performances, it is best to use short, catchy, punchy words and short sentences.

3. Deliver high-level positive messages. Don't go into small boring details
Recently I helped to prepare a sales pitch for one of my students who wanted to get £30million investment for his business. When he presented it to me for the first time I felt super bored and depressed. The speech was "polluted" by small details, poisoned by hesitation and lack of belief in the project. We worked on his speech and substituted long sentences full of disbelief with short, upbeat optimistic prospects without going into small details. The speech became 70% shorter and very optimistic. He delivered the speech and got the investment. Many tech guys love small details, no surprise they sound dull and as a result, are stuck in their low-level jobs without any prospect for high-level management positions.

4. Use sentence stress and pauses
If you do not use sentence stress and pauses you are risking that you important optimistic messages will be lost among words. I have noticed that many intelligent people who are bursting with ideas tend to speak in paragraphs. They want to unload as many ideas as possible in a short period of time. There is no stress and no pause between sentences. The thing is that it takes longer for us to absorb an idea than for a person to say it. There is nothing more confusing than a speech without stresses and pauses. Make a pause after each sentence. Allow your audience time to take it in and prepare them for your next message. You can practice these skills with our app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause.

5. Create anticipation & use rhetoric devices such as digressio.
Start with a question or story and do not give an answer or climax of the story straight away, divert from it and you will keep your audience attention until the end of your speech. Boris Johnson is a master of this technique.

6. Ask questions effectively
This technique is engaging and the more questions you ask the more interest you will stir among your public. Seasoned public speakers know how effectively ask rhetorical questions. A rhetorical question is a device used to persuade or subtly influence the audience. It's a question asked not for the answer, but for the effect. It could a very effective way to end your speech with a question and make your audience think further about you and your subject. The purpose of any communication is what reactions/responses this communication will create. Think about what reaction do you want to create with your questions.

7. Connect with your audience from the start
Know your audience
Do your homework and find out at least basic facts about your audience: their educational level, age range, and needs. Speak their language, appeal to their needs and dreams.

Unite with your audience by saying "we.." instead of "I.." We live longer..", "We all want it...", "We cannot wait..." True masters of public speaking like Boris Johnson use it all the time. With this simple technique "we.." you will immediately persuade your audience that you want the same thing and you are one team.

Appeal to people's emotions
When John Kennedy started his public speeches nobody wanted to listen to him. He was shy and boring. People were literally falling asleep during his speeches. But once he connected to emotions of war widows, he finally saw the interest in their eyes, they were listening, they were crying. He learned how to connect with his audience and as a result won the election and became the President of the United States.

Be giving
It is very important to remember that by nature people think in terms of "what's in it for me".  They can't care less about how smart and great you are. They are looking at what you can give. Before you speak to your audience, ask yourself questions: what can I give to them? How I can help them? Design your messages in terms of your audience's benefits.

To summarise: connect with your audience, inspire them with your passion and have a giving attitude. Speak in a simple way, ask questions effectively, stress important messages and use pauses generously.

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41. How can improve my speaking skills in 3 months?

By Olga Smith

3 months is a perfect time to achieve this goal. Here is how you do it efficiently:

1. Speak every day for 10–30 minutes preferably to native speakers of English, or non-native speakers with good English. This will help you to overcome the barrier to speak. Don’t think about the grammar when speaking, think of the free flow of your speech.

2. Listen to an audiobook several times. When you listen to the book for the first time, you just get the main ideas; the second time write down words you don’t know; the third time and repeat a small section at a time after the audiobook. This way you will also learn new vocabulary. I like the books in the series Get Rid of your Accent as they help to learn new words and expressions quickly and with the correct pronunciation.

3. Write a few sentences about yourself, choose topics that you talk most about: your name, education, work, study, hobbies and interest. Write down a list of your professional vocabulary and practice it out loud. Then record yourself, listen to your recording and make a note of your mistakes. Correct them and then Record yourself again. Do these recording exercises for each topic.

4. After you have mastered the pronunciation of your most commonly used vocabulary, think about sentence stress and use of pauses in the correct places with the apps Fluent English Speech and 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause. The content of these apps are in the book Get Rid of your Accent Part Two, Advanced Level

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40. Elocution lessons with Boris Johnson Part Three

By Olga Smith
4 February 2020

In the third part of my educational blog in the series Elocution lessons with Boris Johnson, I would like to talk about verbs, and their use to make your speech interesting and powerful. I will demonstrate my points by quoting Boris, whose speeches are a rare example of enormous vocabulary, brilliant humour and effective use of sophisticated rhetorical devices. There is almost always a history lesson in his speech and references to Classics.

A person with a limited vocabulary tend to use basic verbs, and as a result, may sound a bit common and boring. In contrast, people, like Boris Johnson, who benefited from elocution lessons, tend to have a wide vocabulary; they use vivid, rare and specific verbs. Here, I have classified verbs into the four main categories: verbs conveying action, contrasting verbs, verb pairs, and active versus passive verbs.

1. Verbs conveying action would make your speech alive. I have noticed, Boris loves using very specific verbs, which are descriptive, funny and energetic. In the quotes below you will see how powerful short, vivid action verbs used by Boris are:

"inveigle himself into the power" (deceitfully get the power)
 "lurch into decline" ( sway into decline)
 " let's not bodge it" (mess up)
".. new technologies race towards us"
"...will robots cull the human race?"
"Germany trebuchets goods to Greece..."

2. Contrasting verbs are particularly memorable and persuasive, they help to make a point more obvious:

"I don't wish to exaggerate our influence, nor would I minimise the eagerness of our friends around the world to hear our independent voice."
 "One might argue, that we gain more than we lose by leaving the EU..."
"One day they idealize it, the next they vehemently criticise it..."
 "...exhort the poor and the needy by bashing wealth creators"

3. Verbs pairs: verbs synonyms or with complementing meaning to reinforce a point and to make it more specific and precise. They create a memorable rhythm. Verb pairs make your speech fuller and richer.

"respected and admired"
"hated and loathed"
"inveigle or osmotically infiltrate"
"grow up and get a grip"
"betrayed and forgotten"

3. Verbs in the active voice

As a general rule, passive voice (when something is done to the subject) makes speeches convoluted and boring. Active voice (the subject does something) uses fewer words, is easier to follow and sounds more lively and interesting. However, in political speeches, Boris often uses the passive voice to sound diplomatic and to avoid pointing fingers directly at rivals. In the examples below, I put Boris's sentences in quotes. Read the comparisons of passive versus active voice. Note how the voice can alter the mood and strength of the message:

 Passive voice Active voice

The programs were reviewed by us. We reviewed the programs.

Your voice was heard I heard you

It can be done We can do it

"The voice of the UK was muffled.." EU protectionists muffled the UK voice.

 In the end, I would like to point out that a significant part of elocution is not the content, or what you say, but the delivery, or how you say it. I would recommend that you listen to one of Boris Johnson speeches paying attention not only to words and verbs but also to how he says them. Note how he makes consonants punchy in words with short vowels. Note how he makes consonants softer in words with long vowels and diphthongs putting his energy and voice power in long vowels and diphthongs. Pay extra attention to the main message in each sentence. Which word/words does he stress? Think about why he stresses this particular word. You can learn how to do it from our book Get Rid of your Accent Part Two, Advanced Level, or the app Fluent English Speech.

More on www.batcsglobal.com

Read previous blogs in this series:
http://www.batcsglobal.com/accent-reduction-blog/2020/1/9/elocution-lessons-with-boris-johnson

http://www.batcsglobal.com/accent-reduction-blog/2020/1/19/elocution-lessons-with-boris-johnson-part-two

39. How to create a good first impression

By Olga Smith

In this blog post, I would like to reveal how one can use elocution to their advantage when trying to create a first impression. First of all, let's outline the main principles of elocution: articulation, inflections, accent and emphasis, the voice and gesture.

In my opinion, the first thing to bear in mind is being appropriate in a certain space with a certain person/people. By appropriate, I mean adjusting your voice to different situations. For example, if you are meeting important business partners, it can be useful to appear serious and strong. How you can do this with your voice? Drop your pitch and speak from your "belly", it will add weight to what you say. Another situation when low pitch can be used is in a funeral. Put your voice at a low pitch and slow down the pace.

In contrast, a high pitch in a business scenario can be seen as a sign of weakness. In fact, one of my friends who owns her own oil business practised dropping her pitch so that men could take her seriously. You can find pitch exercises in our app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause.

The second point I want to make is that generally, people like to be around optimistic and passionate people. To sound optimistic, use simple rising inflection and put optimism in your voice. You can find the whole chapter with theory and exercises on inflection in our app Fluent English Speech.

The third point is the emphasis, stress or accent. Think about what you want to say, and choose the keywords containing the meaning of your message. Stress the keywords, say them with a different voice power, louder or quieter. You can even make a pause before your crucial point to make it sound important. The longer the pause before your crucial word, the more important that word will sound. This will make your speech interesting and powerful; you will be able to create anticipation.

The fourth point, avoid speaking fast, slow down your pace. When you speak fast it may send a message to another person that you are nervous and lack self-confidence. Find the chapter how you can work with your pace in our app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause.

The fifth point, make your speech clear and articulate. If you speak with a heavy accent and your speech is unintelligible, people might be discouraged to continue a conversation. You can develop clarity of speech with our practical app Get Rid of your Accent UK1.

The final, and most important point, is your body language, and first of all your posture. Open your shoulders, avoid lifting your shoulders at all costs, it makes you tense and sends a message of lack of self-confidence. Always keep your back straight.
Maintain eye contact with a person/people.
When you enter a room, imagine that you own this room.
If you sit at a dinner table keep your back straight, and lean on a chair; avoid leaning forward towards the person opposite you thus putting your chest almost on the table and sending a very strong non-verbal message to your opponent that you are too keen, which can be seen as a sign of weaknesses and used against you.
One of my students, recently mentioned that it was difficult for him to maintain a straight back when speaking to people who are shorter than him, he is quite tall. I can see how a tall person could be tempted to slouch and lean forward to blend in with shorter people. Perhaps, tall people can lean forward very, very slightly when listening to others for a very short time, but when they speak it is better to straighten up. Unless you are greeting the Queen (bowing is the protocol as you will see in the attached video), try keeping a straight posture most of the time. You can read more about posture preparation in our app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause.

I want to finish with my favourite body language life hack: smile from your heart! When people meet you for the first time, on a very deep level they feel one of two things: is this person beneficial or dangerous for me? As a famous saying goes: “…people might not remember what you've said to them, but they will never forget how you've made them feel”. Your genuine smile tells them that they're liked and accepted and creates warmth in any interaction.

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38. Elocution Lessons with Boris Johnson Part Two

By Olga Smith

The second blog in the series Elocution Lessons with Boris Johnson is about vivid language. As in the first blog, I will briefly explain the definition of vivid language, then illustrate with quotes from Boris's speeches. The aim of this blog is to help you enrich your English and prepare outstanding public speeches.

Vivid words appeal to the senses, helping the audience to see, hear, feel, taste and smell. Vivid words stir the audience's imagination. They are descriptive so that the audience can visualise what is said. Boris can masterfully create vivid phrases to capture the audience’s attention. He knows how to masterfully use strong and descriptive words to excite the public. Here are a couple of examples of how Boris describes Winston Churchill:

"Churchill applied his relentless intellectual vigour to the analysis…"
 "He was a Victorian progressive with a streak of bohemian lavishness" 
”People saw his hundred horsepower mind”

The terms coined by Boris to describe the benefits of diversity in Britain certainly caught my imagination :

"syncretic genius of our country"
"intellectual cross-fertilisation" 

It makes me laugh when I hear Boris’s use of powerful metaphors and sarcasm when describing Corbin's economic plan and Labour members:

 "a display of economic masochism",
"economic drag anchor"
 "fishy characters",
"loonies of the left"

Of course, Boris’s ability to make people laugh deserves a blog which I will definitely write at a later stage.

Boris Johnson knows how he can deliver a strong message and be heard with the use of specific, powerful and colourful adjectives and adverbs that add strength, meaning, and urgency.:

 "profoundly optimistic"
 "insidiously programmed"
 "a deep human instinct"
 "astounding achievement"
 "deeply and dangerously wrong"
 "vital task"
 "overriding anxiety"
”colossal character”

 You can practice the vivid language with our apps Fluent English Speech and 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause and Get Rid of your Accent. More on www.batcsglobal.com

Read our popular blog about the benefits of elocution lessons and more blogs in this series:
http://www.batcsglobal.com/accent-reduction-blog/2020/1/9/elocution-lessons-with-boris-johnson
http://www.batcsglobal.com/accent-reduction-blog/2020/2/4/elocution-lessons-with-boris-johnson-part-three

37. Why is it hard to get rid of an accent?

By Olga Smith

"The most difficult thing in life is to get rid of long-term habits," goes a Russian saying. Getting rid of a foreign accent requires hard work, repetition, and perseverance. The keys to success are the right teacher and the right accent reduction book and app!

The accent reduction process is very individual. It depends on several factors:

 1. When did you start learning English? If you have started working on your accent in your teens, then it will be easier than if you have started in your forties, which can be more difficult.

 2. Your hearing abilities and the ability to copy what you hear.

 3. How much time and effort you are prepared to invest in accent reduction training.

 4. What is your native language? For example, in our experience, people with a native language that has sounds similar to English can get rid of their accents faster. There are languages that are very different from English, such as Japanese and Chinese. For speakers of these languages, it might take a little longer to get rid of accents.

 5. How focused you are during the lesson and how much time you invest in doing your homework.

 6. How good your teacher is. There are not that many trained teachers who can help people to get rid of their foreign accents. There are many teachers who can help one to learn basic and intermediate English, but to improve pronunciation requires a qualified speech tutor.

 7. On the method of training. Apps and books in the series Get Rid of your Accent have proven successful and helped thousands of people to reduce and eliminate their foreign accents over decades of time.

This is what students experience when working on their accents: First, I reduced my accent to the point where people understand me clearly. Then I reduced it again so that people can no longer tell what country I am from. This is the level most of the students want to get to. They are not pretending that English is their native language, but it is easy to have a conversation and it’s not all about them being French, Spanish or Russian. They are not put in a box.

36. Why are some English sounds more difficult to produce and perceive than others?

By Olga Smith

The reason why some English sounds are more difficult to produce is two-fold:

1. Certain English sounds do not exist in your native language and you do not know how to produce them correctly

2. Your speech organs are trained for your native language from your childhood. When you start speaking in English, you don’t place your tongue, lips, and jaw as native English speakers do.

When people speak in their native language, their speech organs (lips, mouth, tongue, etc.) are not strained. From their very first words, they develop and train a certain set of speech organ muscles. They use their lips, tongue and even their breath in a certain way. 

 When people begin to speak in a foreign language such as English, they don't automatically position their speech organs in the same way as native English speakers do. This explains why one might very well speak with an accent. 

As mentioned, some English sounds are not present in other languages. For instance, the "w" sound does not exist in Russian; Russian speakers often use the "v" sound instead. Russian speakers learning English must learn how to articulate the "w" sound; in other words, how to position their lips for pronouncing "w" properly. 

I recommend that you practice the sounds that are particularly difficult for your nationality. You can find this information in our best-selling app Get rid of your Accent UK1.

More on Get Rid of your Accent | Elocution Lessons

35. Which are some useful accent reduction strategies?

By Olga Smith

In my experience, the most useful strategy is to record yourself first in order to see how you sound to others. Then, identify your mistakes and correct them, practice the correct form, and then record yourself again. Repetition is the key. The reason why we have an accent is two-fold:

1. Not all English sounds exist in our native language and we are not sure how to produce them correctly.

2. Our speech organs are trained for our native language from our childhood. When we start speaking in English, we don’t place our tongue, lips, and jaw as native English speakers do.

When I recorded myself in 2004 I was shocked to realize that even I could not understand what I was saying. Then, I was looking for a speech or elocution tutor who could explain how to position your tongue, lips, and jaw for English sounds. I was lucky to find a top tutor in London and I fell in love with her method. We were practising accent reduction with funny sentences and verses, it was very enjoyable and extremely effective.

Later, together with Linda my tutor, we have published 5 books on accent reduction, which became international bestsellers. In 2009 one of the readers of our books, who was a developer contacted me and said that he absolutely loved our books and that they really worked for him. He offered to create apps based on our books and we have published 8 apps for accent reduction to date.

34. My accent is described as "very heavy", what should I do to improve it?

By Olga Smith

In order to reduce a heavy accent, we need to identify what creates it. Here are the four most common reasons why someone has a heavy accent when speaking English:

1. Not all English vowels and diphthongs exist in other languages, you might struggle to pronounce them correctly.

2. There are 5 long and 7 short vowels In English. Long vowels do not exist in all languages and there is a tendency to shorten them. This can create a problem for others to understand what you are saying.

3. Bad articulation, in other words, weak consonants or incorrectly pronounced consonants.

4. Your intonation could be very difficult to follow, you might break phrases and make pauses in the wrong places.

In order to reduce an accent you need to :

· Learn and practice how to pronounce English sounds using received pronunciation (RP). RP is also sometimes called the Queen’s English, Oxford English or BBC English.

· Practice articulation exercises to make your consonants clear and crisp.

· Learn to speak in phrases rather than in separate words; knowing how to link words together correctly.

· Learn patterns of English intonation and vocal techniques.

The fastest way to get rid of your accent is to do your speech analysis and then download our app: Get rid of your Accent UK1.

Benefits of speech analysis:

• During the speech analysis, we will do simple exercises to correct your English sounds. You will immediately see results from our method.

• You receive a written copy of the analysis with the list of English sounds to practice with corresponding lessons from our accent apps, books and video courses.

• You will save money on tutors, as speech analysis effectively helps your self-study with our accent apps, books and video courses.

• Speech analysis will help you decide whether it would be better for you to join a mini group on our accent reduction course or have individual elocution lessons.

• You will get great results with a plan tailored to your own needs, helping you to focus on English sounds that create your accent.

The speech analysis lasts 45 minutes and costs £80. You can pay by PayPal or bank transfer. Email oriana_r@hotmail.com to book your speech analysis. WhatsApp: +447971246806

33. Is public speaking an important skill? Can everyone master it?

By Olga Smith

Public speaking is very important if you would like to lead people, advance your career to a top management position and therefore to make more money.

Everybody can improve it and I know the fastest way to do it.

Join a Toastmasters club in your area. Prepare your speeches and practice them in front of the mirror, then make audio and video recordings of you delivering your speeches. Then listen to your recording and make a note of the following points:

1. What do you stress in each sentence?

2. Do you sound confident?

3. What could you do differently? May be sound louder, maybe change words/phrases, etc.

After that, you might want to improve your phrases and stresses and then record yourself again and repeat the exercise if needed. The more you practice the better your speech will become and the better you will sound. If you do it with friends they might be afraid to tell you the truth, but when you listen to your recording you will hear how you come across to others.

Body language speaks louder than words. Do a video recording of your speeches and when watching your video make a note of the following:

1. Your posture, do you slouch or is your back straight? If you stand straight you look more confident. Avoid slouching at all costs.

2. Where are your eyes? Do they look straight, to the left, to the right or up. Try to look straight and keep eye contact with people.

The more you practice the more polished your speech will be. You can also download the app 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause to master public speaking skills in a very accessible format.

More on Get Rid of your Accent | Elocution Lessons

32. Elocution Lessons with Boris Johnson -Part One

By Olga Smith

With this blog post, I would like to start the series of Elocution Lessons with Boris Johnson. I have been analyzing his speeches and found a wealth of techniques he is using to make his speeches really stand out. You too can use these techniques and make your speech engaging, interesting and persuasive. In each blog post, I will outline a few speech techniques. I will briefly explain them and will demonstrate them by quoting Boris Johnson.

I particularly like Boris's energizing, optimistic, positive lingo: "indomitable, irrepressible, super, upgraded massively, colossal, greatest ever, sensational legacy, a sense of tingling amazement, boundless excitement.."

Boris was educated in Eton and later studied classics at Oxford. He became an expert in the arts of rhetoric as developed in ancient Greece and Rome. In his speeches, Boris uses techniques that were practised by Greek and Roman statesmen, orators, lawyers and philosophers, such as Cicero and many others. Boris developed his brand of speaking which is optimistic, humorous and clever.

In a nutshell, rhetorical devices are special ways to arrange words to make an idea or thought sound interesting and pleasing. Some of the more effective devices are simile, alliterations, metaphor, and repetition.

In this blog post, I will focus on three rhetorical devices.

1. Alliterations

In alliterations, the initial sounds in words or in stressed syllables within the words are repeated in a pleasing or memorable manner.

"proudly and loudly"

 "doubters, doomsters and gloomsters"

 "no ifs or buts"

 "rebuilt and regenerated"

”irrefutable and irresistible”

”cultural and creative”

”deeply and dangerously" wrong”

”an era of dithering and dubitation”

2. Repetition: triads, ideas, adjectives, and points are grouped in threes.

Expressed in threes, thoughts have a pleasant rhythm, are dramatic and become more memorable.

"We won, because we had superb candidates. 

 We won because we had a superb campaign director.

 We won because of David Cameron persistence, calm and patience."

“Let’s get on with sensible moderate one ...

 Let’s get Brexit done...

 Let’s bring our country together...”

"We put up wages...

 We back our superb armed forces ...

 We want an Australian-style points-based system ..."

3. Metaphor

Widely known as a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. A metaphor helps to create a vivid image. There are several types of metaphor: Allegory: Antithesis, Catachresis, Hyperbole, Metonymy, Parable, Pun.

Hyperbole

 "To keep insisting that the EU is about economics is like saying that the Italian mafia is interested in olive oil and real estate".

“Hilary Clinton looks like a sadistic nurse from a mental hospital”.

 Antithesis

 "We want the government that works for all people, Corbin wants all people to work for the government".

”That is the difference between Labour and us (Tory), they talk, and we do”.

Metonymy

 "piratically captured in social media Twit storm" -widely discussed on Twitter

 "economic independence was sacrificed on the altar of the Euro"

 "essential tool of economic participation" - about knowledge of English in the UK

 "deepest pools of liquidity" - about enormous wealth in London

 "merchants of gloom" - about pessimists

 "toxic moonshine that makes you blind" - about communism

”..a display of economic masochism” - about Labour economic policies

”economic drag anchor” - about Labour economic policies

”loonies of the left”

”saddled with debt”

Pun

 "..people with vested interests and indeed interests in vests"

”Let’s get carbon-free by 2050, and Corbin-free by Christmas”

Let me know what rhetoric devices you like to use in your speeches.

More on www.batcsglobal.com

31. American accent training audio book

By Olga Smith

"Get Rid of your Accent" is a phenomenon. Both native and non-native English actors, lawyers, brokers, businessmen, and diplomats have flourished with our help. This book is a leading accent reduction training manual with practical exercises to master a General American accent. It is fun and to the point. The book contains 10% of theory and 90% of practice. It is a perfect training manual for both personal study and classroom situations. 

This second edition of the book is a complete guide to American pronunciation. To get the audio version  click here if you are in the USA, or click here if you are in the UK

With this book you will learn and practice: 

1. How to form correct American/English sounds 

2. General rules of American/English intonation and sentence stress

3. How to sound fluent and natural in American/English.

4. Articulation exercises to make your consonants clear and crisp

Who is this book for:

People whose native language is American/English, including: 

• Pronunciation and speech teachers 

• Actors who need to develop a General American accent 

• Professionals for whom a high standard of English and clarity of speech are important

• Public speakers.

People whose native language is not American/English, including: 

• Students 

• International businessmen and executives 

• Diplomats 

• Call centre employees 

• Skilled professionals: teachers, professors, doctors, lawyers, journalists, etc, who wish to advance in their profession in the United States, Canada, and other countries where English is an official or business language (e.g. India) 

• People who work in the service and hospitality industries and need to communicate with good English 

• Public speakers.

You will master the General American accent with words, sentences, funny verses, and prose passages. It should be used in conjunction with its audible book or app. The existence of an accent can be explained by the fact that some English sounds do not exist in your native language or your regional accent/dialect, and your speech organs are not trained for them. Therefore these sounds may represent a particular difficulty in pronunciation. In this book, we list speakers of world languages and their particular difficulties and practical recommendations. We recommend that you start with the sounds that are the most difficult first.

5 things this book will help you with: 

1. Neutralizing your accent within 2-3 months 

2. Making your English clear and easy to understand 

3. Becoming a competent communicator and public speak

4. Increasing your personal confidence 

5. Improving your job prospect and social life

Practise with this book and the accompanying audible version of the app, and watch your career, education, and social life blossom.

American Accent Audio

30. Accents face discrimination

By Olga Smith

 On 27 November 2019, Sky News revealed accents that face the most discrimination in the UK. https://news.sky.com/story/revealed-why-your-accent-could-be-holding-you-back-11871382

 Although some activists want to think that an accent should not be a decisive factor, people with strong foreign and regional accents miss out on wonderful opportunities. Since the times of George Bernard Show's play Pygmalion and up until now, people who aspired to get ahead in life realized that without RP many doors will never be opened to them.

Received Pronunciation is a Pronunciation taught for many decades since it was popularised by the BBC. In the past, it was called Queen’s English and Oxford English. Therefore, this accent is associated with a certain social and economic position and the quality of one's education. It is interesting to note that a study revealed, that the more refined is the RP of a person the higher is their social status. A higher social status often means a better economic situation.

There are two main types of Received Pronunciation:

1. General RP, which is used as a teaching model and used in pronouncing Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries. Therefore it is the most understood version of the English accent. General RP is also a compulsory accent to learn in London drama schools.

2. Refined/heightened RP is associated with the aristocracy, certain professions such as officers in the navy of a certain generation. It is spoken, for example, by the Queen. General RP is spoken by the Queen’s grandchildren.

In the article, Fiona Hill, a British-born US security adviser suggested that "her accent would have held her back if she still lived in the UK". My American ex-husband lives and works in the USA now and is often involved in recruiting IT specialists in Silicon Valley. He told me that many Indian and Chinese born IT specialists get lower paid positions because of their strong accents. He added that a strong accent distracted him from focusing on his work and was hard to deal with during conference calls.

When I had a very strong Russian accent I felt that people looked down on me. I was also very annoyed that people often asked me to repeat myself, as they didn't always understand what I was saying. But after I studying with Linda James, one of the top RP teachers in the UK, I noticed that people started to treat me differently, with respect and consideration. I was very surprised. Also, my communication with people became much more enjoyable.

 I thought that there are many people like me in London who might benefit from learning RP. Linda and I wrote a book, and to my amazement, it became an international best-seller. Today we have published five books and eight apps in the series Get Rid of your Accent. Recently we have also published two video courses on Udemy to support our books and apps with demonstrations of the speech organ positions for each RP sound, sentence stress and English intonation.

Many people benefited from our books, apps and video courses. The most successful of our students book their speech analysis with us and enrol on accent reduction courses to be more effective in their study.

29. Prince Andrew technical speech analysis

By Olga Smith

Speech has always been the number one tool for ruling classes. Today everybody is talking about Prince's Andrew speech content. I have analyzed his speech from a technical point of view. I was paying attention to sentence stress, the use of schwa to throw away unimportant words and even whole expressions. In my opinion, his speech is a great resource for speech raining.

I receive a lot of questions about how to make one's speech less monotonous, what to stress, how to stress important messages and which words convey the most important meaning. There is a number of speech techniques that you can learn from our books Get Rid of your Accent Part Two and apps Fluent English Speech and 4Ps, Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause. Michael Knowles, the actor in our audiobooks and apps sounds very similar to the Prince.

In this blog, I will outline a few of these techniques.

1. In natural speech, it’s important not to emphasize or stress too many words in a phrase or sentence. As a general rule, we tend to pick out the words which convey the meaning and lean on them, giving them a little more vocal energy. Prince Andrew's speech is a good example of it. He is very economical with the stress, but when he stresses a word it really stands out. He stressed words:"never", "absolutely not", "certainly", "always", "sole", "inappropriate", etc.

2. There is no consistent rule as to which words to stress and which "to throw away". It depends on what message a speaker wishes to convey to his/her listener.

3. “Throw away” unimportant words. This often means neutralizing vowels, increasing the pace and diminishing the volume. It is a difficult skill to learn, particularly for non-native speakers of English. and one should take time to master it. Prince Andrew threw away "fill in" expressions such as: "as it were", "if you see what I mean", "you see, this is the problem", "that would be", etc.

The quickest way to master your speech is to book your speech analysis and follow up with a few Skype sessions.