Author Archive for: sjahan
Entries by sjahan
Tips & Tricks are Overrated: Stick with the Basics
Everyone is looking for a shortcut, and it makes sense that if there’s a way to get where you are going without as much effort, you should take it. When it comes to speech, voice, and presence, the best method is to find the best practices and do them consistently. There is no shortcut. Perhaps […]
How can I improve my vocabulary in English?
There are two areas in acquiring English that language learners ask about that typically take the longest. The first acquiring fluency in the language, i.e., how to speak it without using a dictionary. That can take years and requires practice (unlike accent reduction, for example, which can take a few months if you already speak […]
Is Online English Coaching Effective or Desirable in Language Acquisition?
Since the ability to do video conferencing has been a viable option for people (at least for the last 10 years for most), language learners have toyed with the concept of whether it’s truly desirable or effective. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was just an option, and often not the one of choice. If […]
Best Practices & Breaking Habits
When you are speaking, you probably don’t have time to worry about how you sound. For that reason, you have to practice on a regular basis so that when you speak, you come across clearly, fluidly and articulately. Here are a few key items to remember: Record yourself speaking at least once a week. How […]
Start the New Year Off Right!
As you are welcoming in the new year, you may be looking for a way to jump start your success. If you haven’t tried coaching for Speech, Voice or Accent, now may be the time! If you have taken coaching in the past and haven’t yet gotten your ideal result, it may be time to […]
The “Ho Ho Ho” Exercise
One of my favorite speech exercises to open up the back of the throat and allow you to speak with more control is the “ho ho ho” exercise. Yes, it’s just like Santa has come to town, only in this case: you are Santa! To do this exercise, you have to get in touch with […]
How Do I Continue To Improve When My Sessions Are Finished?
Many clients ask me how to continue once the systematic correction sessions with your Coach have finished. Especially around the holidays when you are busy with family, celebrations, and work, how do you juggle everything without losing what you have gained in speech coaching? Look for Patterns: In our coaching, we always focus on your […]
How Does Accent Interrelate with Presence?
In my practice, I have combined two disciplines: accent work; that is, speech, clarity, pronunciation, word stress, intonation and pitch control, and in general, sounding American or not with Executive Presence: that is, voice quality, projection, confidence, “how you show up,” how fast you talk, how in control you are of yourself and your reactions, […]
Personality vs. Habit
When I meet with Executive Presence clients for the first time, they often tell me about the issues they are experiencing, and sometimes they mention that it’s just part of their “personality”. I find this interesting because it’s generally things they have difficulty changing that they attribute to “personality.” Things that are relatively easy to […]
Developing Awareness
Most people would agree that self-awareness is key to change, but for many of us, it is elusive. We know we aren’t getting the results we intend to get, or we may not know until others tell us their perceptions. Often a gap exists until we learn to self-assess. Examples in business include being told […]
One Big Drawback
The more I do Presence & Speech Coaching, the more I realize that most people have one thing that is holding them back. It might be an underlying belief, or it might be a muscle pattern, or it might be a misconception. Of course, that one “drawback” could be comprised of many specific components, but […]
Presence is Natural Speech
Whenever I work with clients who doubt their executive presence, they often are trying too hard to project an image instead of embracing who they are. It sounds deceptively easy to “just be yourself,” but there are many reasons why it’s a challenge. It’s natural to feel pressured to perform, so you may appear tense […]
Stay Competitive in Your Communication
It’s easy to get complacent when we speak and say things the same way over and over again, but if you want to impress your audience and stay at the top of your game, you have to be engaging, and stay engaging. If you want to stand out for a promotion or be valued as […]
Getting a Result in Speech Work: How to keep it REAL
Just because you take speech classes, doesn’t mean you will get a good result. There are a lot of variables. Most people think it’s about how much you practice, but I would argue it’s more about changing your underlying habits consistently. That might sound like the same thing, but it’s a different way of looking […]
How “Stress Breath” Limits Speech
As part of helping my clients speak more clearly, I often work with them on posture, mouth movement and breath as precursors to our work together. That is, the work is primarily about pronunciation and articulation, not posture and breath, but you have to be breathing, open chested, and amenable to the new patterns, or […]
Standards for Clarity & Speech in a World of Non-Native Speakers
I recently had a client in an internet session say to me: “I don’t work with any native speakers of English at all, so it doesn’t matter if I speak with a native accent. I just want to sound clear.” I frequently get this comment about sounding clear regardless of accent, so I know this […]
Coaching vs. Group Sessions: What is Blended Learning in the Speech & Presence Space?
As long as I have done Accent & Voice Coaching, I have always preferred working with clients one-on-one. There are so many reasons: you can go deeper, more personalized, talk about confidential issues in a safe environment, and really tailor the sessions to meet the needs. The challenges with Coaching are time commitment and cost. […]
Climbing the Corporate Speech Ladder
In my business, I meet a lot of people who aren’t really sure where they belong in the speech and voice training process. There are a lot of options for improving speech, and it’s challenging to know what to do first, second and third. First, it’s important to realize it’s a process. There’s no “quick […]
Just Like a Dancer
Even if you are not a dancer, you can apply some tips from dancing to your speech: Be nimble and free … at ease, not stiff. Dancers who are stiff are not graceful. Speakers who are stiff are boring and seem tense. Make large movements. Dancers choreograph their moves and direction to reach out to […]
Facial Movement
Asians often skimp on facial movement. That is, the face doesn’t move much when you are speaking, so an audience of mixed cultures may not know if you are passionate, serious, happy, distressed, joking, overjoyed or angry. Learn to connect emotional expression with your words to improve your speech. It makes a big difference if […]
Your Body is a Musical Instrument
Many of my clients are surprised to learn that posture and speech are inextricably linked. What could sitting up straight vs. slumping have to do with how we talk? One way to think of it is that your body is a musical instrument. The shape of the instrument changes the sound quality. If you want […]
When it Comes to Executive Speech Coaching… What Really Matters?
As a Speech Coach, I’ve had the opportunity to talk to thousands of executives about what they perceive the challenges to be when speaking to their audiences, and what they expect from Executive Speech Coaching. Again and again, what comes up is how important it is to feel confident and comfortable while speaking, trusting that […]
Should Melania Trump Speak with an American Accent?
As a Speech & Accent Coach, I often question to what extent it’s important for someone to speak with an American Accent. For example, I wonder about Melania Trump. Those who support her are adamant that she is a multi-lingual immigrant who should be commended for her ability to speak various languages, but evidence that […]
Deceptively Similar Sounds
Some sounds seem “deceptively similar.” For Koreans, the /z/ and /j/ sound seem similar; to Americans they are very different. Words like “region” and “reason” differ only by those sounds. Vietnamese speakers struggle with /s/ and /sh/ sounds. Practice with “superstitious” or “special” or “superficial” to make the two sounds close together and make sure […]
Executive Presence in Politically Charged Times
Executive Presence Fake news … trade war … children in cages … severing ties with our allies … the US president meeting with oppressive dictators … these are challenging times. So you may ask yourself, how does this relate to Executive Presence? When times are easy, no one really notices how you behave. As long […]
How Much Change is Possible?
When it comes to changing your voice, many people don’t really believe it’s possible. After all, children learn languages much more easily than adults. However, in my experience as a Coach for voice and speech, the person’s motivation and attitude determine their success more accurately than age or ability. I’ve had clients who were very […]
Timing is Everything
This is so true of speech. You have to know when you speak quickly, when to hold words longer, when you make sounds longer and when to make them shorter. You can plan when to pause strategically and consciously choose how long to look at a listener before looking away. Play with your timing, get […]
What Makes a Good Warm Up?
I often talk to clients about creating warm ups for their voices, and many times they have no idea how to do it or they think exercising alone is enough. It’s true; exercise is good for us, but relying on traditional forms of exercise, like running, swimming or tennis, isn’t really going to change our […]
Uhhhhh … How to Avoid “Filler” Sounds
Many of us want to eliminate the little sounds that we utter unintentionally when we talk. The “you know” language that just comes out sometimes. Can you train yourself not to do it? The answer is “yes”! In my experience, the best way to do that is the following: – Work on your breath first. […]
Challenge Sounds
The biggest mistake many Asian speakers make (Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Thai or Vietnamese, for example) is often focusing too much (over doing it) on the /r/ and the /l/ sound. Of course, it’s a good thing to work on those sounds, especially if you say them incorrectly. However, if you get a “general grasp” […]
Breath on Air Flow Sounds
Most Asians don’t use enough breath on “air flow” sounds in English. Which sounds are these? They are the sounds that sound “breathy” a bit when native speakers talk. Have you ever noticed which sound lasts longer? The voiceless ones like: Ffffeeling ffffanssssy (feeling fancy) Fffffirsssst thththththingssssss ffffirsssst (first things first) Fffffocusssss on the pozzzzzitivvvve […]
Exaggeration is the New Normal
When I ask clients to “exaggerate” or “elongate” sounds, they often tell me it sounds exaggerated, and they don’t want to do it. Recording will help because often it’s not as exaggerated as you think. But in addition to that, what feels exaggerated is really just “strong” so you might ask yourself what makes you […]
Sounding Out Words
Most Asian speakers pronounce words as “units”. This means you say words one-at-a-time with all the sounds at once. So if you are mispronouncing a word, you probably won’t notice. If instead you sound out the word and pay attention to each sound (consonants, vowels, and syllables) and say the word deliberately making all the […]
The Dangers of “Listener Fatigue”
If you speak in a way that makes it difficult for people to understand you, lacks polish, or just isn’t very engaging, you may think it’s ok. No big deal, right? I’ve heard people say, “a lot of my friends speak worse than I do … what difference does it make?” A few considerations before […]
Who Can Help
I’m always surprised when I ask clients who gives them feedback and they say “no one.” It must feel terrible to be so isolated, but then again, maybe it’s a matter of not noticing things beyond your awareness. I also notice very few of my clients speak conversational English outside of work. That makes sense […]
In For A Shock Transitioning From High Tech Guru To Marketing Or Sales
I find it interesting that so many technology clients tell me they have no issue with their spoken English in many tech jobs. Apparently they can get by sitting at their desk or working remotely and having meetings on the net as long as they produce code or fix technical issues. The big uptick in […]
Questions You Can Ask
So what kinds of questions can you ask strangers at a public gathering when networking? I would suggest that the biggest goal is not to offend anyone. So, steering away from any comments about clothing or weight or jobs is probably a good idea. Why? Because you could insult someone by talking about those things […]
What is Happening Behind the Curtain When Someone Talks at Breakneck Speed
In my last couple of postings, I mentioned how talking fast (in the perception of the listener) may not be so readily solved by simply slowing down. That is, telling someone to “slow down” may not be great advice. Why not? Thinking s-l-o-w-l-y and cognitively “trying to slow down” may not result in the effect […]
The Complexity of Indian Accents in American English
Not everyone from India has the same accent, so what’s important to think about when identifying what to focus on to create clear speech? Here are some things to consider: 1. Some people from India are English-medium schooled. Some are not. What’s the difference? Some people in India speak their first languages in school to […]
Monitoring Your Body Tension
Just like changing our timing to control our speed (or rate of speech), we also need to work on our degree of body tension when we want to sound more fluid and less tense. One of the reasons non-native speakers speak with excess tension is they try very hard to say words (and make sounds) […]
3 Important Mindset Shifts: Resistance to Change in Speech & Accent
Most of us have some resistance to changing ourselves, even if we genuinely desire better results. If you can identify your limiting mindsets, you can change them and accelerate achieving your goals. In working with Speech & Accent, I find these are the mindsets that if “reframed” help clients succeed: Mindset #1: I have to […]
Ease & Grace: Applying Insights from Movement to Speech
Recently I have noticed a much-needed return to the movement and body awareness methods of past generations: Feldenkrais, Alexander & other body awareness modalities, popular in the 60’s and before. In addition, there are the more recent phenomena of pilates popularity, and experts like Eric Franklin to focus on the gracefulness of movement over the […]