HIGLY QUALIFIED LECTURER IN LANGUAGE AND SPEECH AND DRAMA

[jazzori]

This accent neutralization for doing business – I don´t know, sounds trivial... I just think it is more important WHAT you have to say than what kind of accent you have.

Sounds so, it's not so. In business and, in general, the first impression someone has of you is essential, especially when you're at really important matters. From details like your accent, your dress-code , the fact that you look someone in the eyes or not (which differs by culture), etc., assumptions can and probably will be made [in this case] about the part of the world you come from, its habits, beliefs, level of terrorism : P ...and that, coming from that country, you would probably share those views.
...Many times, you might only have those 5 mins of interacting in order to obtain what you're aiming for, and that can be decisive.

[jazzori]

Accent neutralization??? Who invented that??? How can someone, anyone, NOT have an accent ????

As I wrote EP, I think it really has a reasonable purpose because people are highly assumptious, judgemental and many times wrong. So, by accent training, one would like to be in the neutral/grey area.
I would love to lose my accent, for example.

You cut out their tongues, or do you go straight for the vocal chords?

That's optional.

What's more often encountered is -because of this using the cords and the tong in speech- work done in emphasizing on certain sounds, on pronounciation and on stressing the sounds differently.

Just guessing..

[Mook]

Surely a few watchings of My Fair Lady is enough:

[jazzori]

HIGLY QUALIFIED LECTURER...

...presentation skills and basic English language skills...

Great advert for your 'skills'

As far as I understood, those skills he teaches. Nice try being funny, tough. : )

[ajl]

When I was an undergrad, there was a grad student with a Texas accent... he was from Norway
(did his BS in Texas, apparently it is very hard to take the Texas accent out of people).

[Pursuivant]

Jamie Olivier

I thought all you needed for that was a clogged nose.

Sir Alex Ferguson...

Now that is understandale so it can't be an accent

I'm having a interview with some Irish and I'm working on my listening comprehension

Though now I know where the Jamaicans got their accent

[Pursuivant]

Many times, you might only have those 5 mins of interacting in order to obtain what you're aiming for, and that can be decisive.

[Rosamunda]

A Finnish friend took a transfer to the US in 2005 and stayed 2 years. Whilst in the mid-west, he had 8 months of this training. Every day for 2 hours with a trainer after-work and a ton of practice in his own time ie repetition in front of a mirror.

So, he ended up sounding like his trainer. Which isn't "neutral" either. His trainer has an accent too because everyone has an accent. His new accent is no more neutral than his old one. But maybe he feels more confident with it - in the same way some Finns dye their hair not-blonde so they look less "Nordic"

Your accent is as much a part of you as your skin, your size, your clothes. Your accent reflects your socio-economic background, your education, your whole parcour in life. And it is a shame (IMO) to feel the need to "neutralize" that. I speak with very boring RP from the Thames Valley (in the days before Estuary English stretched that far up the river) and I wish so much my voice had more character.

Of course you can modify accents and help people to americanize their intonation (I've done quite a bit of speech-coaching and pronunciation teaching since I've been here, and I have a fascination for accents) but I just wanted to make a point... no accent is neutral.

[Rosamunda]

Was rolling my eyes at men who dye their hair brown so they look more "business-like" or "European" as opposed to Nordic.

Totally agree with you, folk are free to do as they wish. If someone wants to dye their hair or change their accent then let them do it. Whatever their reasons are for doing it.

But when I'm teaching pronunciation I always start out by explaining that EVERYONE has an accent and that there is no right or wrong way to speak a language, provided you can be easily understood (which is not always the case even with native speakers). I'm always interested to understand WHY students want to improve their pronunciation. Quite often they are just a bit mixed up between wanting to sound fluent.

[Rosamunda]

There's no such thing as perfect language fluency/accent/pronunciation and in fact the more perfect one tries to make it the less natural they sound.

Exactly.

By the way, my kids have a nondescript drawl that comes from something called "International School" which they first picked up in Budapest at the American International School (most of the teachers were from USA/Canada and the pupils were from Allovertheplace). They have managed to maintain their accents at various "international" schools in Finland. From my examining work I have noticed that a lot of Finnish teenagers speak with the same kind of accent (rising intonation) which is not actually rooted in any specific location.

[Tiwaz]

The only people who are going to care are those who've already had a non-Finn comment about their heavy accent AND want to work outside Finland AND realise that it's going to be a handicap. I don't like the odds personally!

Wasn't exactly a handicap to me when they wanted me abroad, spoke my heavily accented English in for example a phone interview to Ireland and apparently they thought I was quite skilled enough to qualify. Of course, my lady decided that she does not want to move to Ireland (they were willing to try to find her a job too assuming her English was as good as mine, I think she might be better really) and thus that case fizzled there.

Of course, being in Enigneering field does make difference compared to being a waiter or so...

As I mentioned, he said that his loosing most of his finnish accent whilst speaking English allowed him to get on with his job rather than answering questions about "how long have you been here?", etc.

I would have just written a card. "Finland" "Since XXXX" "Work"

[Pursuivant]

Was rolling my eyes at men who dye their hair brown so they look more "business-like" or "European" as opposed to Nordic.

I thought it was the white tennis socks you were supposed to dye?

[Pursuivant]

As I mentioned, he said that his loosing most of his finnish accent whilst speaking English allowed him to get on with his job rather than answering questions about "how long have you been here?", etc.

I would have just written a card. "Finland" "Since XXXX" "Work"

I'd said "since 9 this morning"

[Rosamunda]

The only people who are going to care are those who've already had a non-Finn comment about their heavy accent AND want to work outside Finland AND realise that it's going to be a handicap.

Why would it be a handicap? I think that is where people are mistaken. A lot of people think they have a "bad" accent when in fact their problem is more likely to be a lack of fluency (thinking of something to say in the first place) or problems with accuracy (Finns aren't great with articles and prepositions). I have examined dozens of Finns who have no substantial problems with pronunciation (ie I can understand what they say) but they struggle to string together more than a few words... because they don't know WHAT to say; they just don't have the conversation.

As far as applying for a job is concerned, I think a Finn who applied for a job in a company in the UK, would have no greater handicap than say a Brit from Essex, a Brit with an Asian background, a Glaswegian, an old Etonian or even an American from the deep south.

[Pursuivant]

because they don't know WHAT to say; they just don't have the conversation.

So basically Finns need verbal diarrea pills from Tesco to get that estuary flowing