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These are the words of the famous German Philosopher Frederik Nietzsche, and as a consultant in pronunciation and Accent Reduction for non-native English speakers, I will swear to this per English. English is a musical language, as is Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, and lots of other languages. The trick to talking English with clearness and impact is to understand the tune and rhythm that is peculiar to English, but varies in other languages. Without the music of English, pronunciation is a mistake. If English were a two-man band, it might be made of a drum and a saxophone. First off English is a swinging language, more of a jazz or rock band than a classical orchestra. English sounds are massive, loud, and emphatic, and our tune is brash and dance-worthy.

I hear beefs from my scholars time and time again that they’re always asked to copy themselves, and even when they do, the listener still has difficulty understanding. Where does this come from? There are 3 major parts which make up an accent: Sounds (consonants and vowels), Rhythm (stressed and unstressed words), and Intonation (the increase and fall of pitch in a sentence).

Let us take as an example, a local Russian spokesperson. When my previous student, Raisa, recounted the word “coffee”, she articulated it “Kofi” with a fast “O” sound as in the word “Coke”. There are 2 things that keep the listener from processing the word that she’s making an attempt to say. The 1st is the length of the vowel; in English we have stressed vowels that hold like a half note, rather than a quarter notes, for instance. The second problem is the articulation of the vowel.

Russians have a tendency to have a tight jaw when talking, which holds back correct pronunciation of the English open-vowel sounds like in the words “coffee,” “politics,” and “options”. In a modern pop song, almost all of the emotion comes in the singing of vowels. Think about Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, who are renowned for stretching their notes.

We create impact and emotion in our vowel sounds. So not only is it obligatory for the sake of correct articulation, but it’s also a leveraging point for strong speakers. In the case of Rhythm, I am going to use, Luc, a previous French student as an example.

Most of his shows and chats sounded deadpan and confusing. In the French language, each syllable and word in a sentence should get equal stress. Inversely, in English, we not only stress certain syllables, but we stress certain words. Usually we stress nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and question words (content words), and we de-emphasize articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs, and “to be” verbs (structure words). This permits certain words to leap out at the listener, avoiding a stream of words that become jumbled together.

So, with the fulfillment of rhythm, Luc went from a group sleeper to a gang pleaser. Last, but not least, we’ve got the part of Intonation. Intonation is the general tune of a song or a sentence.

It permits the listener to pinpoint the mood and the objective of the sentence. For instance, Sylvia was an Italian student of mine, who consistently left a rising intonation at the end of her sentences.

This made Sylvia look uncertain of herself because her statements were delivered as questions. Sylvia’s largest challenge was conquering working in a male-dominated, English talking industry. Helping her control her intonation patterns was an initial step in making a better clearness and a more positive perception in the office.

This is just one case of how intonation can have an effect on the delivery of a talk. As in music, the more dramatic the change from high to low pitch, the more intense the delivery of a concept becomes. This may be used not only for lucidity, but also for persuasiveness and stress. Intonation sets the tone, so it is important for a non-native English spokesman to grasp the intonation patterns of English. So, if you’re a non-native English talking individual and you are uninterested in asking you to copy yourself, you can always crank up the stereo and sing your heart out to your favorite Yank artists, or if you are anxious about what your neighbors will think, take some accent reduction classes with an expert.

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