Trascription:

from smithy another day Houston
Lassiter’s cassia estas escuchando now
media radio welcome speaking with an
accent and I am Boris and I am the
founder and director of the Academy of
culture and language and I’m here today
with a very special guest and I have to
tell you she’s gonna correct all my
pronunciation today because she is my
accent coach
believe it or not I have I don’t know
how that happened but the point is that
she’s been explained to us how she can
help me and other people so people can
understand them and she’s a very good
friend of mine and I gonna let her talk
today well please help me welcome Donna
darbian well thank you Marissa it’s
really a pleasure to be here and we all
have accents so you’re not alone even I
have an accent so it’s not that accents
are a problem it’s just if they
interfere with your ability to
communicate and get your message across
that I step in and help people learn how
to modify their accents Oh perfect
perfect so I know that loan I like that
and we live in Houston which is full of
different cultures very diverse city but
Donna okay so now that I have you here
in this spotlight I want to know more
about accents and what is the most
difficult accent that or what is the
hardest thing for people to learn when
they are trying to speak better with
American accent well the ones I’ve
noticed is actually the Vietnamese and
the Asian languages have more difficulty
with saying the last consonant sound of
each word because their language is not
based on consonants and in American
English we do have lots
consonants so it’s saying that last
consonant sound
well that’s very important and for me I
learned that well with practice and it’s
true
it’s like I always say the bowels
it’s vowel with vowel the lip has to go
under the top teeth Wow she makes me
exercise with my muscles angry but tell
me something is it harder as you get
older why is that well because we’re
children we really our muscles are not
completely formed so when we learn a
second language or third language when
we’re children our muscles adapt in our
ears actually it has to do with what we
hear we can make all of the sounds more
easily than when we get to be adults so
it’s like teaching an old dog new tricks
you can learn how to change that but it
takes lots of conscious effort and
practice to change the way you speak Wow
but it’s possible yes and I you know I
don’t consider myself old so no I don’t
consider you for people like other
accents so when you speak with a person
who has a very strong accent for in
another country how do you explain to
them that that action is nice it’s
beautiful and they need to improve so
people can understand and what do you
tell them well typically people approach
me they find me because they’re either
having trouble with their job or they’re
they have to speak on the phone and
people have to repeat themselves several
times or they feel like maybe their
technical expertise is really good but
their communication skills don’t quite
equalize the you know they’re not quite
at the same par as their technical
skills so I will step in and say we all
have accents you’ll never completely
lose your accent but if you can learn
the differences between America
English in your own accent and how you
can change those differences you can
actually make a conscious effort to make
make a change well as long as you want
you want to learn and you want to get
better with the pronunciation that works
it’s like it’s true it’s kind of like
learning to play piano and if you you
might take piano lessons once a week but
if you don’t really want to learn and
you don’t practice every day you know
frequently those lessons really are not
going to you’re not gonna learn how to
play piano well I know for an experience
I spent time with you I’m learning new
pronunciations that I was saying totally
wrong do you remember a particular word
that I was struggling with before and
maybe now I’m saying it better I think
the word language was one that you had
and then you major you started your
company and you realized that was a
difficult word for you and that has to
do with basically the difference between
your Spanish G and your American our
American G which sounds like a J and so
your brain has not quite adapted yet and
so that you can make the sound you just
don’t you have to practice it many times
to be able to make it on a regular basis
but you say it now repeat the name of my
language very appreciate that you’re
here tell us how did you become an
accent reduction coach well it’s kind of
interesting I’ve always liked other
cultures and basically my background was
in fiber and I was an artist and but I
studied other cultures and any time I
traveled I would learn some of the
language so I speak a little bahasa
Indonesian I speak a little French
Japanese a little Italian a little
Spanish and Thai I lived in Thailand for
two years but I was teaching ESL which
is English as a second language at
University of Houston beginning in tooth
in five and then I went to live in
Thailand from 2008 to 2010 and learn to
speak some Thai so sweaty Kaku Jewett I
got and so what I could not say was the
word for silver in Thai which sounded to
me like Hmong know something like an ng
at the first of the word but I couldn’t
figure out how to make that sound and
they couldn’t tell me they couldn’t I
said well where on my tongue or throat
or how do I make that sound and because
they couldn’t really explain that when I
came back to the States and started
teaching ESL again I realize most of our
academic students knew their grammar
they’re reading their writing they were
very good at that but when they would
speak people still couldn’t understand
them so I started focusing in on just
pronunciation and accent reduction to
help them accomplish that skill so that
they could go do job interviews or you
know network with people so that they
could be more confident well when we
come back from our break we are going to
talk about the intonation and I have
many questions about that okay it’s like
singing in English or other languages
like you saying Thai mm-hmm so I want to
hear more about that and basically what
you’re saying is that you like helping
people yes yes I really want to equalize
the playing field so that people from
all around the world can accomplish the
success levels that they they have for
themselves well I agree I wanted to be
better I want to be here so people can
understand me so that’s very important
because we care about others very very
interesting and how we met we made
networking and and helping people and
meeting people from different cultures
and we kept bumping into each other we
did well and this was a new business for
me a new company for me so I realized
how important networking was to go out
and be visible and you are the
networking Queen you are everywhere you
are everywhere so I kept running into
you in all these places and we just
started the friendship you kept inviting
me to some of your lunch and learns and
you
different events so it’s really been a
lot of fun well thank you for me here
and now I think we are ready for a
little break and when we come back then
we talk about these other amazing
questions and information that I want to
learn from you
thank you have you ever seen a listing
of your dream job for this requires that
you speak another language have you ever
done a business deal with a person of a
different cultural background in today’s
world most people that succeed in
business as well as personal
relationships are fluent in more than
one language in fact speaking more than
one language will bring you a world of
opportunities to engage communicate
interact and ultimately try at the
academy of culture and language you will
learn how to become fluent in the
language you always want gain a wealth
of experience become a true citizen of
the world expand your career
opportunities enjoy in a phone and
highly interactive environment become
more confident and creative master
business presentations and succeed in
today’s global economy at the Academy of
cultural language we offer great
flexibility to our students while
providing a practical curriculum in fact
our students can choose to enroll in a
specific class or request private
lessons and tutoring no matter your
goals your age or your current level and
skills you can grow with our interactive
home field classes lead by experienced
instructors that assure result enroll
today and start speaking the language
you have always wanted to learn
hi welcome back this is speaking with an
accent again I’m Marissa Burris if you
have any questions for us please make
sure you send me a message in my
Instagram at a CA language language and
www.a see a linguist dot-com that’s my
my website so now today we continue a
conversation here with my coach my
accent reduction or pronunciation coach
because I don’t think my accent is gonna
go away right well no you know one will
you’ll always have an accent and that’s
part of who you are so that’s the unique
history of yourself and there’s nothing
wrong with that so and you will always
default if you start talking in your own
language again with your family or your
home you will go all the way back to
before you ever had any accent reduction
classes and you know everything I
trouble especially to Latin American
country I start speaking with the accent
of the country yes I can speak Spanish
from Panama where I’m from and when if I
go to Mexico then I start speaking like
with the accent from Mexico is that
normal is people have told you that I
like immediately they get the accent is
this so not everybody has that ability
so you’re pretty unique to be able to
adapt to that and that has to do with
your listening you’re trying to fit in
you’re trying to assimilate and so some
people are more adaptable to that than
others that was one of the things I
think when I learned to speak Thai is
that it’s a tonal language which was
something I had never experienced which
means there’s like five tones it’s my my
my my is like five different words like
shirt tiger house all these different
words and I’m like oh how does that work
and so what I had to do was really
listen closely to the music of their
language so that I picked up where the
tones were so that’s really what was one
of the advantages coming back to the
States and being able to kind of adapt
people’s languages and hearing the
difference between what English speakers
do and what native other languages do
the thing is is you can ask another
English speaker how they say that word
or where their tongue is or what that
tone is and they won’t really be able to
tell you because it’s unconscious when
we the way we speak is unconscious so
you have to become more conscious of
where your lips and tongue are and where
your intonation is to change that you’re
mimicking another language to learn
another accent is that what we use those
little device mirrors little mirrors
because you have to look at the mirror
to see your mouth to help your brain
learn what to change otherwise your
brain can’t see your mouth so that’s one
of the ways of being able to reinforce
the new behavior you’re trying to build
motor skills and new conditioning so
that you’re can speak differently well
that’s great and it worked just tell me
a little more how you coach like why a
person should hire you for coaching them
tell us about what you do what what do
you have to offer different or how do
you do that I think the thing that I’ve
noticed when I’ve done a lot of research
on all these different programs that
teach accent reduction in ESL is that I
have my clients do mouth and tongue
exercises which is kind of like going to
the gym if you don’t exercise these
muscles you don’t really change the way
you speak you can you can intellectually
know what you’re supposed to do but
until these muscles change you won’t
really change that and you have to
retrain your brain and your muscles to
coordinate to work together so that’s
been the thing I’ve seen the most
progress for is when I’ve had for
example what got me really excited when
I was still teaching at U of H and was
tutoring a young Vietnamese woman she
started doing these mouth and tongue
exercises and came back the next week
and it was incredible the progress the
change that she had already made and so
she ended up bringing back all of her
friends to do it as well with her
because they could hear the difference
and when I think is no one had ever
explained what it is you’re trying to
change to improve your speaking like the
articulation like like in Spanish
speakers and you don’t have a different
sound for thee you say be like very nice
instead of V like very nice which is
what I mean glitch we’d put our lip in a
different position to do the V sound yes
so it’s part of it is helping you
identify what those sounds are and how
you can best change your speaking so
that it sounds more American you’re
basically learning an American accent
it’s like the wine she told me I was
saying jus anything you yesterday
instead of yesterday and I have now to
practice and say you know I feel more
comfortable so what you would do is you
would find lots of words that have Y in
them in the beginning in the middle and
the end of the sound and learn how those
you know you’d have to repeat over and
over those words so that that Y becomes
an American wine instead of a Spanish
wine because you have a different sound
for a Spanish wine and your brain
automatically reacts to a Spanish
because you know that one more you’ve
done that longer than you’ve done the
American Y so that’s part of it it’s
just repetition it’s like doing the
repeat over and over again to help your
brain go oh I’ve got a new way I have to
say this okay
he’s also who we are with like I
probably would have been better in my
pronunciation if somebody was correcting
me all the time which at the same time
they don’t want to make you feel
uncomfortable but he helps so if
somebody can remind you politely hey you
should you should say this I know this
and also because they they are used to
ordered accents some people are used to
other accents right like no everybody
will understand because they are no
exposed to the training well most
Americans only speak one language many
Americans do not speak any other
languages and unfortunately they’re not
very tolerant
or very patient with it but I tell my
clients if you are trying to improve
that give your co-workers permission to
correct you because otherwise we don’t
want to be impolite right and correct
you but you can kind of tell with the
kind of our eyes glaze over and it’s
like you know we didn’t really
understand what you said so we
understand we know that but it’s you
have to kind of give your you know your
friends and your co-workers permission
to cry yes now what we have Academy of
culture and language also to come and
learn other languages and I wanted to
ask you about that
what about incorporating the culture how
important it is for what you do when you
were in other countries to adapt to the
culture that way you learn faster it
makes louder yeah makes a lot of
difference to understand what is polite
in another culture or how do you make
greetings and I know in Thailand it is
their greeting is about have you eaten
yet so it’s like you know or they ask
you the first thing to ask you which was
really interesting is how old you are
and I told them you know in America we
don’t ask somebody especially a woman
how old they are but in Thailand that’s
an appropriate way to find out how to
address you with respect so as I learned
that then that wasn’t so shocking but
yes it’s it’s important to know other
cultures so that you understand what is
that you know appropriate in one area
where it might not be appropriate for or
might not be normal for you it’s
important the same with they ask are you
married immediately but is because they
want to know different what to ask you
they want to connect with you and that
will be probably something that is
faster like it’s trying to make a
connection really it’s trying to start a
conversation or communication I mean
America we asked people what they do and
in some cultures that’s not really
polite to ask somebody it’s kind of like
asking how much money do you make and we
don’t do well thank you for coming today
I’m gonna give you few seconds to say
where we can find you okay and if you
have any specials for anybody watching
this show today
actually I do I’m so pleased to say that
I am an online course creator now and
I’ve
an eight-week course on accent reduction
that you can sign up and there’s eight
live webinars but if you go to my
website WWE in comm there is a five day
free accent reduction course for you to
take just to get a taste of what those
courses are like and I’m also available
for private classes and group classes
but I’d love to be able to help you out
if that’s something you’re interested in
thank you we’ll bring you in the future
and now we’re gonna have another guess
after the break
Thank You Marisa thank you I’ve enjoyed
it after you ever
business deal with a person of a
different cultural background in today’s
world most people that succeed in
business as well as personal
relationships are fluent in more than
one language in fact speaking more than
one language will bring you a world of
opportunities to engage communicate
interact and ultimately try at the
academy of culture and language you will
learn how to become fluent in the
language you always want gain a wealth
of experience become a true citizen of
the world expand your career
opportunities enjoy in a phone and
highly interactive environment become
more confident and creative master
business presentations and succeed in
today’s global economy at the Academy of
culture and language we offer great
flexibility to our students while
providing a practical curriculum in fact
our students can choose to enroll in a
specific class or request private
lessons and tutoring no matter your goal
your age or your current level and
skills you can grow with our interactive
home field classes lead by experienced
instructors that assure result enroll
today and start speaking the language
you have always wanted to learn
welcome back to speaking with an accent
we are here today with another guest
another good friend of mine and he is
from Puerto Rico and he is the director
of the outreach center of West Houston
my friend Jorge quinones welcome Jorge
how are you today I’m great thanks for
having me
well I’m very very happy that you are
here today and also earlier we have well
I don’t know if you were listening I’m
an expert in accent reduction and I know
you don’t have an accent like mine but
tell me a little bit more about you your
background what do you grow up so I was
born in Puerto Rico and when I was 9 we
moved to New York and I learned English
with a Bronx accent but I’ve been in
Texas 40 years I speak Spanish with a
Bronx accent so it stuck with the Bronx
accent yes
so English with the Bronx accent and
Spanish with the Bronx accent yes and
and a long time here in Houston 40 years
Oh tell us a little bit more about what
is the Outreach Center of West Houston
so the average center of West Houston is
a small community center located near
here and I like to say it’s not on the
wrong side of the tracks it’s on the
tracks so I’m real close to a very
affluent community and I’m surrounded by
a low-income apartment complex and we
have kids from 25 different
nationalities that come to the center
every day we have a library with 8,000
books and after school the kids come in
and they get help with their homework
they get snacks they play and their help
to break the cycle of poverty into a
culture eight to being here Wow how long
have you been doing that eight years
today today is my anniversary Wow
congratulations you’re obviously doing a
great job and I know you have a
magnificent team and also volunteers
right so how can we help if we want to
volunteer you can go to our website Oh
see – wh that org and email me or look
in there for the opportunities and just
email email me my email address is there
but it’s Jorge at OC – WH that org and
where are you located
located on Bates with Drive 725 Bates
with Drive and that’s a block and a half
from Kirkwood and Memorial Drive that’s
in Memorial very well very good I
remember I went to one of your
activities they do events and they
collect money if to help for the for the
center yes so tell us about the what
activities or events you have through
these to the through the year so right
now in two weeks we have a golf
tournament on October 14th it’s at
Houston Oaks which was recently ranked
the fourth best golf course in the state
of Texas so it’s a very nice event we
have an art show in November 10th it’s a
free event and come in look at art by
art if you like we’ll have food trucks
and music it’s a fun event the event
that you went to with our casino night
and next year yes I remember that one
yes it’s at the Houston racket club and
it’s gonna be on March 26 it’s a lot of
fun and it helps raise funds for the
center so you do it every year you try
to change the active change the
activities I’m trying to correct my
accent I do the same so we know what
respect for so the ones I just mentioned
we do every year the golf tournament is
great and so is the casino night the art
show is new last year was the first time
we did it and of course you’ve been to
Leadercast we did that so we try to mix
it up and how can we go and visit the
this Center like can anybody just go or
if they want to look to see if they want
to be part of it can they go yes so if
you want to see the kids come after
three o’clock any weekday and you’ll see
a bunch of kids having fun and learning
but we’re open all day including the
weekend so you can show up anytime
if you want to see me you want to come
during the week and how did you get
involved in this community center show
up take a tour we’ll give you a
volunteer form will interview you see
what you like and see how we can get
together I love helping that’s what I
browse for here today because I’m very
passionate about education about kids
and then you also help adults tell us
about that program so the parents of the
children that come to the center
especially those that don’t speak
English
we have English as a Second Language
classes for them both in the morning and
in the evening we also have citizenship
classes we had two people become
citizens last year and we also have
basic computer education we also have
big program for recovery groups so we
have alcoholic anonymous groups 15
meetings a week and we have a teenage
drug abuse program that helps teenage
kids stay sober very interesting and I
love that is something something that I
like helping with too and tell me about
how did you get involved that what I was
trying to ask earlier in this so I
retired young and I was home for 10
years and I hope the person found a job
that was my predecessor and when he left
he asked me to replace him
I was happy being retired and my wife
heard about it and she wanted me out of
the house so she asked me to go home
interview and I’m glad I did it’s been
great for the last eight years so that’s
how I got engaged very nice and your
wife also support all these events and I
need it cause right yes before we go
because it’s almost the end of this
ditch show if you can tell us a little
bit about a one more time about your
next activity so the golf tournament is
in two weeks and if you go to our
website we can get you registered and
you can get the information but it’s a
scramble so you don’t have to be a very
good golfer
to enjoy the day and have fun and we’re
gonna feed you lunch and dinner
door prizes for everybody and here’s
some nice prices like electronics iPad
stuff like that and everybody has a
great time you’re supporting a good cost
and it’s tax deductible so you can’t
beat it
Wow well definitely hopefully everybody
who’s watching this can support again a
dis activity and if you look at the
camera just say and your website one
more time and and a little bit about how
we can find you so OC – wh that orj and
my phone number is two eight one four
nine seven seven two one one two eight
one four nine seven seven 200 look
forward to meeting you
well thank you thank you Jorge for
coming today
and speaking in perfect English you know
I used to live in New York City
oh yes before I moved to Houston so I
consider myself a New Yorker at the
beginning and now he’s known after so
many years like 16 here already
Wow yeah I was there in New York for
September 11 oh well anyway thank you my
friends for being here today and next
time we’ll have more guests please send
us your comments speaking with an accent
with Marissa Perez bye
[Music]
you