Top 10 Successful Speaking Strategies to Use in Cross-Cultural Conversations for the Accented Speaker-Part 1
Have you ever felt frustrated that the conversation you had with a colleague or supervisor fell short of your intentions? Maybe you were trying to communicate something and it was clear that he/she didn’t understand what you said. Here are some ideas that may help you:
1. Use good eye contact with your listener.
Americans (like Canadians, British and Eastern Europeans) equate solid eye contact while speaking and listening with trustworthiness. Be sure to look your listeners directly in the eye. Don’t stare, however, or you may make your listener uncomfortable. Of course, not all cultures practice making direct eye contact. Direct eye contact takes getting used to if you are from Asia, Puerto Rico, the West Indies or some African nations. You may need to practice with a trusted friend to get comfortable with it. Your ability to adapt to this type of body language may benefit you immensely in the US workforce because Americans rely heavily on eye contact as an indication of self-confidence and poise.
2. Take a deep breath before speaking.
Good breath support is essential when it comes to voice projection, decreased tension and maintaining good vocal health. A relaxed voice is pleasing to listen to and a voice that projects will exude self-confidence.
3. Slow down your rate of speech.
A good rate of speech is between 140 -160 words per minute. A rate higher than 160 words per minute can be difficult for the listener to absorb the material even without an accent especially if the content is complicated. If you have a foreign accent, speaking at the lower end of the range is crucial since pronunciation and/or other errors create challenges for the listener. Use a speed that is closer to 140 words per minute.
4. Lengthen the vowels of stressed syllables.
Many non-native speakers “swallow” their words, especially multi-syllabic words. But American English has accented syllables the listener needs to hear in order to understand the speaker. By stressing words and syllables, your speech will sound more natural.
5. Put endings on all of the words.
A typical mistake made by non-native English speakers is to omit word endings (final syllable). Be sure to say every letter, including /s/, or /t/ or –ed endings. Find a newspaper article and intentionally read every sound in each word (don’t read for meaning of the words). Often, people read without close attention to the sounds. They not only omit the final consonant but also other parts of speech that aren’t necessarily in their first language. For example, the articles (a, an, and the) are frequently omitted words even when they are clearly there in print.
Work on these skills daily and in no time, you will be easy to understand. Stay tuned for the five more tips next week!
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