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| TELL US YOUR STORYFeatured Article
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We would like to hear from you and are very interested in the story of how you have created a successful and prosperous life in the United States.
We are featuring one such story in this issue.
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OUR PROGRAMS
Transforming
accents from
communication
barriers to
charming
cultural flavors!
Individuals-Groups
Basic Level:
Compton P-ESL
Specialized:
Medically Speaking
Regional Dialects:
Speak Standard, Too!
Advanced: MEEC
Guided Self-Study:
Accent Master
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We are passionate about helping our clients speak English clearly and with confidence! YOU CAN DO IT and we will help you!
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We at Triangle Speech Services are licensed speech-language pathologists who specialize in foreign accent and regional dialect modification. This month we featuring an inspiring story by a client who is enrolled in the Medically Speaking program and, like the individual featured in February, has been professionally employed, pursuing post-graduate training AND perfecting her English for over ten years.
We are also featuring a short article about American English speech which is stress-timed vs. Korean (and other Asian languages) which are syllable-timed.
Also, we have a special coupon at the bottom which rewards former and current clients for referrals by giving them a substantial discount on a one-hour review session!
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MY STORY by Jennie De Gagne, PhD (candidate), MSN, MS, RN-BC, from South Korea. Associate Director of Nursing Education, Wake AHEC.
America had always been a dream for me when I was a little girl in Korea. I graduated from a nursing school in South Korea intending to become a nurse in America. To follow my dream, I prepared and passed an American nurse licensure examination and studied English six to eight hours a day for one and a half years before I came to the States. I was confident that I could work without any problems, just like an American nurse. A reality check was awaiting me. I had to repeat myself many times which frustrated me and hurt my ego. I soon realized that my English sentences used Korean structures and my pronunciation was different from the way Americans spoke.
I went back to school one year after I came to the States to pursue my master's and doctorate but added written and spoken English classes each semester even though this delayed my graduation. These classes included academic and business writing, reading, communication, public speaking, and accent modification. I gradually boosted my confidence level and have been a staff nurse, charge nurse, case manager, nurse educator, manager, college and university instructor and continuing education specialist. At the same time, I have obtained two masters in Psychology and Nursing and I'm currently working on my doctoral dissertation. As I expected, it has taken almost ten years to accomplish all these tasks, but I must admit that I am proud of myself and appreciate all the support that my husband and my two children have given me.
Although people around me told me that my accent was mild, my expectation was higher. I'll always remember the laughter the first time I asked for a "sheet" of paper saying "ih" instead of "ee." Another time, I was having lunch with my French-Canadian husband and I ordered a "Caesar salad." When the waiter left, my husband warned me not to be surprised if a neurologist brought the "scissor" salad and we had a good laugh. I always knew that I had to "fix" these problems if I wanted to speak more clearly so I decided to work with the Medically Speaking accent modification program with Ms. Bergman at Triangle Speech Services. I learned that I was mispronouncing many multi-syllabic medical terms by using incorrect stress patterns and changing vowel tones even though my accent was "mild."
In our life, we constantly make decisions. I would say that my determination to work on accent modification was one of the smartest investments I have made. It feels like learning to play the piano again. Every morning and evening, I practice pronunciation and intonation, including idiomatic expressions and slang, that are often used in medical settings and in social conversations. I have learned to deconstruct my mispronounced words and build them back correctly. In the beginning, my husband was a little bit skeptical about the training but after one month, he has become the greatest supporter of my journey. He helps me when I make mistakes, encouraging me to repeat after him. Even my children who are native speakers show interest in my training and help me improve my English. It is real teamwork!
I strongly believe that medical professionals who interact with their patients and colleagues must demonstrate language proficiency and speak clearly in order to build trust and credibility. I understand that I will not totally lose my foreign accent but I strongly feel that I now have the tools to monitor my progress and improve my spoken English skills.
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Get the Beat!! The Unique Rhythms of American English
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 American English is a stress-timed language with a "beat" created by the stressed syllables. Vowels in the unstressed syllables are often not pronounced as printed, but are "reduced" to an unstressed "uh" called a "schwa." Korean speech is syllable-timed. A rhythmic unit of Korean usually has three to four equal syllables with distinct boundaries.
Say,"1, TWO 3, 4" with the stressed "TWO" louder, longer and higher pitched and the other numbers spoken softly and quickly. Now say, "uhMERuhkuh" the same way and you have correctly pronounced "America."
The syllable stress of a word or "intonation" creates a unique sound pattern that determines its meaning and instant recognition by a native speaker. If a nurse says, "trackeeyuhTAHmee" this sound pattern will not be recognized by an American as "tracheotomy" pronounced 1,2 THREE, 4,5 or "tray kee YAH dummy" with a light flap "d" for the unstressed "t." Similarly, "paraLEEsis" will not be understood as "paralysis" pronounced "puhRAlusis." Vowel distortions also become part of the error patterns.
In addition, there are at least 29 word pairs in which the meanings change with the stress patterns. We conTRACT (verb) an illness but a new employee may sign a CONtract (noun).
The challenge is created because native speakers learn words first by hearing them (immersion) and later will read them. They have the auditory image first, which includes both the speech sounds and the melodic or stress patterns, BEFORE they match these sound images to the printed word. Advanced ESL speakers often work backwards from reading to speaking when learning technical vocabulary and have no internalized "sound patterns" for words.
In addition, native speakers of American English have unconsciously learned 11 rules for syllable stress although few can verbalize these rules. Speech patterns are usually automatic.
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Click on Triangle Speech Services to visit our informative website. Whether or not you are a medical professional, we hope you have been informed and inspired by reading our monthly newsletter.
Sincerely,
Judith L. Bergman M.A. CCC, Founder & Director
Triangle Speech Services |
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