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Improve accent by speaking publicly

Standard English Accent
The late actor, Edward Mulhare was known for playing cultivated English accents such as that used by Devon Miles in Knight Rider. Yet he grew up in Ireland and developed his accent through acting and practice.

In this multicultural world there are more people who speak English as their second language than their first.  A little accent helps add variety and celebrates different cultures.  However, many speakers find that a very strong accent can impede understanding and their ability to work or do business.  So how do you develop a natural English accent that works for you?

According to SpeechSchool.TV your accent is something that changes over time depending on how you develop and practice it when you speak English.  An excellent example of this comes from the acting world, where many actors start out with regional accents but develop more standard or sometimes prestigious accents through working on different characters.

The late Edward Mulhare for instance was Irish but through developing his accent in different roles he gained a reputation (and a career) playing debonair and sophisticated Englishmen.  In his role as Devon Miles in the highly successful TV series Knight Rider, his perfect English accent was rolled out in some 90 episodes.

Similarly Patrick Stewart, an actor originally from Yorkshire, managed to blend his native accent with Received Pronunciation through years of Shakespeare training.  He later played Captain Jean Luc Picard in the Star Trek series.

For those wanting to change the direction of their accents, SpeechSchool.TV recommends blending local accents with Standard English to create a clear, refined and unique voice that can be understood anywhere in the world.  One of the fastest ways to achieve this is to take a voice coaching course and then use the desired accent publicly wherever possible.

SpeechSchool.TV offers a Standard English accent course for this purpose and has found students who are able to combine practice of the exercises with the opportunity for public speaking are those most likely to develop their speech and voice successfully.

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How to remove the fear of public speaking

Presentation Skills
Anthony Robbins estimated $30 million annual income has been built on his abilities as a public speaker and motivator. However, most people fear public speaking which restricts their income and opportunities. (Photo: Randy Stewart)

According to motivational speaker Anthony Robbins, if you believe in yourself enough you can achieve anything.

Public speaking is one activity that requires a great deal of self belief.  It’s also a form of communication where you can reach a lot of people with your message.  For that reason it’s a key success factor in many fields.

Public speaking covers anything from a talk to a small group, through to a presentation to hundreds of people or a TV or radio broadcast to many thousands.  Typically it involves ‘concepting’ or copywriting a speech and then successfully delivering it.

Award-winning advertising Creative Director, Simon Angelo, who helps teach SpeechSchool.TV’s Master Communicator course says that public speaking has been critical to the success of his clients.

“I’ve been involved in Direct Response TV advertising for more than 15 years and it has been a very powerful way to launch and grow new product lines,” Simon says.  “Rather than selling to people one at a time, we use passionate presenters to speak in our ads.  Over the years they’ve reached millions of people and produced substantial sales.”

SpeechSchool.TV is the world’s leading online speech school.  It developed the Master Communicator course because public speaking and presentation skills are critical areas for people in business, the professions and many other walks of life.  Yet, according to  the School, public speaking and presentation skills are often taught poorly with too much focus on delivery, rather than how to successfully structure a powerful enough message that speakers and audiences can believe in.

“When you conquer the fear of public speaking,” Simon says, “you conquer the fear of communicating to lots of people all at once.  To conquer that fear you must also believe in yourself and the value of your message.  This course helps you learn to structure and deliver powerful messages to achieve that.”

The Master Communicator course takes a different approach to Anthony Robbins’ focus on motivation.  “Usually by the time students enroll in this course they are already motivated to remove the fear of public speaking,” Simon says.  “Success and confidence comes from the most part in developing knowledge and skill.”

SpeechSchool.TV aims to remove the fear of public speaking for its students by teaching the proven techniques and approaches used by the world’s most successful speakers and influencers.  It takes much from the television advertising industry.  Lesson 1 of the Master Communicator program for instance is titled “The Jaws Opening” and looks specifically at how to deliver an opening that is guaranteed to get attention and then establish the credibility needed to make an audience follow a speaker.

“People fear public speaking,” Simon says, “because it’s not something that’s really taught.  If you were asked to take control of an airplane but had never had any training, that too could be extremely frightening.  By simply taking a course like the Master Communicator program that teaches the techniques (that up until now have been left quite hidden) you can start to break down fear and get a level of results you may have previously only dreamt of.”

The online Master Communicator course is available from www.speechschool.tv