Website:
Categories
-
Archives
Recent Comments
Tags
Meta
Author Archives: VoicetowordBlog
CULTURE & COMMUNICATION
The following excerpts are edited from an interview with Voice to Word Director and Trainer, Heather Chetwynd, and Trainer Mark Prince. In this interview (which can be heard in full on our resource page,) Mark and I discuss a variety … Continue reading
NEW YEAR TRADITIONS
Happy belated New Year! Or is it belated? For many of us, January 1st is the first day of the year – a new beginning, a time to make resolutions (which we often don’t complete,) a reason to party… But … Continue reading
Posted in Accent Reduction, Chinese, culture
Leave a comment
CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS: Part 2 – Giving Feedback and Making Requests
In the last post, I discussed how Canadians tend to collaborate in the workplace and work together in teams. This post continues on the same theme of appropriate workplace communication as it relates to giving feedback and making requests. Just … Continue reading
Posted in Accent Reduction
Leave a comment
CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS: Part 1 – Working Together
Communicating in a culturally appropriate manner can be a tricky thing to learn for all of us. Culture, after all, is an elaborate code consisting of thousands of subtle micro-elements. We all would do well to remember that, when someone … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Teamwork, culture
1 Comment
SPEAKING CLEARLY – Music & Accent – Part 2: Rhythm & Musicality
In Music & Accent-Part 1-Transitioning between Sounds, I discussed how learning to adjust your accent is very similar to learning to play an instrument. I focused on how to create smooth transitions using a technique commonly applied to music studies. … Continue reading
SPEAKING CLEARLY – Music & Accent – Part 1: Transitioning between sounds
Learning to adjust your accent is a lot like learning to play an instrument. We need to fine tune listening skills, exercise muscles that aren’t used much, smooth out transitions between sounds, add dynamics, etc. And, very importantly, it takes … Continue reading
JOKE – The Difference between Complete & Finished
I received this recently in one of those anonymous emails that get passed around. Some words seem pretty much the same until you change the context! People say there is no difference between COMPLETE & FINISHED. But there is. When … Continue reading
Posted in Accent Reduction
Leave a comment
THE PROBLEM WITH LEARNING ENGLISH FROM TEENAGERS
One day my daughter was trying to tell me something but, as teenagers are prone to do, she was mumbling so badly, I couldn’t understand half of what she was saying. I said with a smile, “You should join my … Continue reading
JOKE OF THE MONTH – Canadian Export?
I was speaking with client of mine from Colombia a while back. Since Canada was signing a free trade agreement with Colombia at the time, I asked him what Canada exported to Colombia. “Weed,” he said. “I don’t think so,” … Continue reading
Posted in Accent Reduction
Leave a comment
SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS, DIFFERENT MEANINGS
Like the police officer who confused PASSED AWAY with PASSED OUT (see the joke “Idiom Danger” below,) many of us mix up English expressions. For example, we may blend two idioms, mix up the preposition in a phrasal verb, incorrectly … Continue reading
Posted in Accent Reduction, Communication, Foreign Accent, culture
Leave a comment