“The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on the Plain”

Once upon a time, a voice coach might have asked you to repeat this sentence over and over until you were placing your vowels in exactly the right region of the soft palate. Thank goodness the days of elocution lessons, BBC English and ‘accent correction’ are behind us! Still, many clients (both native and non-native speakers of English) have, over the years, told me that they are worried about their accent. How do I, as a voice coach, respond?

Love Your Accent – I Do!

I encourage my clients to embrace and celebrate their accent. When you speak or present, your accent tells an important story about your origins and journey through life. One of the most fascinating accents I have encountered was a Colombian client who had learnt English in Aberdeen before moving to Germany. (I didn’t manage to place that one!) Accents are an essential feature of all the many Englishes spoken across the planet. In an increasingly homogenised world, they express variety, individuality and belonging.

When working with a client on communication skills, there is one fundamental quality we always come back to: authenticity. It is practically impossible to speak with confidence if you are ‘putting on a voice’. Inauthenticity creates tension. Only by speaking from the heart can you express yourself powerfully and connect deeply with your audience.

Accents and The Issue of Clarity

Do we never look at a client’s accent? Well, almost never. It is sometimes worth exploring when the issue of intelligibility arises. The dropped ‘t’ is a classic example. Several British regional accents, especially in England and Scotland, replace medial and final t’s with what’s called a glottal stop, so ‘data’ is pronounced ‘da – a’ and ‘market’ is pronounced ‘marke – ’. British ears are well attuned to these accents, but an international audience, especially non-native speakers, might well miss these important words. In this case, I might step in and do some voice exercises (tongue-twisters or other drills) to practise adding the /t/ sound in.

Unlike voice coaches of old, though, such work would be entirely judgement-free. No right or wrong, no standard, no correction, just some enjoyable and interesting voice work done in the name of clarity, and with the goal of having the best possible impact on the audience.

“The Water in Majorca…”

For a hilarious subversion of Pygmalion, as well as a joyful celebration of an earthy regional accent, nothing beats this UK TV advert from the 1980’s: