Minimizing the Effects of an Accent in Public Speaking

As public speakers it is important for us to remember that our purpose is to communicate information to our audience. It is our responsibility to make sure that the audience understands what we are saying. This means that our choice of language and the concepts that we choose to share must be appropriate – that is, within our audiences level of comfort and understanding.

In addition to the concepts and vocabulary that we choose, we must also make sure that the audience can actually understand what we are saying.

Toastmasters International is an organization that is dedicated to assisting individuals to become public speakers and leaders. This is accomplished through a series of local clubs throughout the world. Toastmasters clubs offer a safe environment in which you can practice the speaking skills that you are learning and be exposed to new skills.

I highly recommend investigating a Toastmasters club near you.

To find out more about Toastmasters International you can visit their website at http://www.toastmasters.org. Among the wealth of information that they have at their site, you can perform a search to find a local club.

What is Toastmasters?

In our previous article we discussed accents and the problems that they can cause for speakers. We talked about how important it is for our audiences to understand us – if they can’t understand then there isn’t much point in the presentation.

It is also important, however, to remember that an accent is part of who someone is. By asking someone to rid themselves of an accent we are asking them to rid themselves of part of who they are. If I’m going to listen to someone speak, then I want to hear their entire message – not just the words, but the entire message that is being communicated. Part of that message comes through in the way that they naturally express themselves.

Maybe the Fear of Public Speaking Doesn't Sound So Bad After All

I recently came across an article about phobias. There definitely are a lot of them - but I have never read about hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.

You can see the article here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/10/nphobia110.xml

Now we can get completely overwhelmed (perhaps even phobic) about the number of fears that are out there. Alternatively, we can draw some comfort from them. After all…

My father was from Scotland – so naturally he spoke with a Scottish accent. In fact, it was a thick Scottish accent.

That wasn’t a problem in Scotland, but it became one in Toronto, Canada. As my father aged he developed a neurological disorder that among other things affected his speech. He began to slur his words.

With just his accent some people had difficulty understanding him – but for many, the additional slurring made him incomprehensible. Unfortunately, as a result of this, many people gave up trying to communicate with him. Others looked to his family members (such as me) to help interpret what he was saying.