How an Executive Coach with a French Accent Rediscovered her Canadian Roots

Who is this client? 

Jane lived in Canada during her childhood and wanted to be able to show where she came from. As a person who helps provide career and personal life advice for different individuals everyday, Jane's primary goal was to adopt a more Canadian accent to speak with Canadian clients, and to show her Canadian roots. As an executive coach some key responsibilities Jane had were: 

• Building relationships with clients through facilitating meaningful discussion. 
• Provide companies and individuals with clear feedback to help with any challenges. 
• Recruit and involve the right people in the journey to success.
• Communicating ideas clearly to help clients understand her thought process to help them grow.

What were her goals?

Since Jane has a French accent, our Speech-Language Pathologist worked with her to identify the specific speech sounds and patterns in French that affected how she would sound like when pronouncing certain English words. A combination of different vowels, a French "throaty" R, and equal stress on each syllable resulted in the following pronunciations:

• Instead of “reITerate” → She said, “REETRATE” 
• Instead of “pollUted” → She said, “POLLUTED”
• Instead of “exEcutive” →  She said, “EXECUTIVE”

How did Speak Fluent’s Speech-Language Pathologist help Jane?

After 6 sessions, Jane successfully shifted from her French accent to a more Canadian accent. She was able to stabilize her tongue position to produce an English ‘R’ consistently and use the North American English stress patterns. 

• “REETRATE” → “reIterate”
• “POLLUTED”→ “pollUted”
• “EXECUTIVE” → “exEcutive”

Jane feels (and sounds!) more natural in her daily conversations with her clients. She can feel at ease with her Canadian clients and build rapport more easily by establishing common ground and naturally exuding confidence.

Need some help with your communication? 

 As licensed professionals, our team of clinicians at Speak Fluent are highly trained and provide support for various speech-related services, including accent modification, public and professional speaking, voice and other speech disorders. Book your free 15 minute consultation today or contact us and find out how we can help your speech needs today!

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