Accent Coach Bianca

I talk today with William Palau, from Pleasurable Learning to start to unravel the quickly moving world of AI and see how we can apply it to language learning and accent acquisition. What is ChatGPt and how can I use it for language learning and accent practice? First, we review what Large Language Models (LLM) are, and why they matter to AIs like ChatGPT. What's the difference between searching f...

This is what it's like to work with me. Listen to Felippe's first live coaching session. He knew he had a problem, but couldn't hear exactly what it was, so he came to me. Felippe came with 2 words in mind, 'world' and 'favorited', and added a third, 'throughout'. Felippe was having trouble with his consonant clusters. His tongue had a hard time transitioning from the American R, to the dark L, to...

Are you on "Team R" or on the "Non-rhoticity Team"? Do you pronounce your Rs in English? I talk with Mark Byron Dallas, a dialect coach who I adore to learn more than I thought about the British Intrusive R! What's the difference between Linking R, Intrusive R, and even Hyper-rhoticization? There are accents in English that are Non-Rhotic, meaning they don't pronounce the R unless it's immediately...

I'm pretty sure I have APD. Does someone you love maybe have it too? This special episode is in honor of Auditory Processing Awareness Day (April 4th, 2023)! I ask 'what?' all the time, but by the time they answer, I've actually pieced it together. It's not a problem with my ear, but how I process (or don't) what I'm hearing! If you give me a bunch or verbal steps, I'll be lucky to get to #3 witho...

In honor of Michelle Yeoh's 2023 Oscar for Best Actress (the first time it has been won by an Asian), I want to share with you how I listen to people's individual speech patters, or idiolects. Specifically, I point out pronunciation or articulation differences between how Michelle Yeoh and I speak. I show you how to listen and notice differences in your jaw, tongue, and lips when producing vowels,...

You're probably aware of the accent bias that snuck into the face recognition software. It wasn't that the AI was racist, it merely exposed that humans are. I think of the Hollywood language bias and accent discrimination much the same. Hollywood has biases, and we the audience have been affected by it. The Oscars are almost here for 2023, and I really think Michele Yeoh deserves to win. And I lov...

These are 4 mistakes you might be making when you link your words in Connected Speech. It may be because the sound is difficult to articulate because it isn't in your first language. Or perhaps it is, but it's made differently. Or perhaps it is, but how we spell things and how we say things can be different. Or perhaps it is, but you might be hearing a reduced form of the word. If you want to link...

Linking is a very common way to Connect your Speech in English! It's more difficult than Assimilating or Gliding because now we're going from a consonant to a vowel! Even though some people confuse the term Linking with Connected Speech, Linking is a TYPE of Connected Speech that we'll review here. We define and review the differences between Connected Speech and Linking, specifically. I break dow...

Gliding is more common than Assimilation in Connected Speech, but a bit more difficult! Gliding is also more common than Assimilation, so you'll use this skill more often! We define and review the differences between Connected Speech and Gliding, specifically. I underline the importance of knowing how vowels are pronounced rather than relying on the way a word is written. Also, I want you to think...

Assimilation is the easiest (yet rarest) of the 4 forms of Connected Speech! Connected speech has evolved in English, and by rebracketing our words, we can connect our speech. I demonstrate how assimilation works using 3 consonant examples at the ends and beginnings of words, then a full normal sentence talking about breakfast. I mention some things to watch out for, especially -S and -ED endings...

Here are 2 example groups where a change in syllable stress DOES equal a change in the language. Sometimes stressing a different syllable tells us the part of speech the word is. For instance, OBject and obJECT have different grammatical functions. The first pattern is the noun, and the second signifies the verb form. Other times, stressing a different syllable actually makes it a different word....

Do you ever hear the same word two different ways, with different numbers of syllables? For example, some people say 'different' with 3 syllables, and others with only 2. What's going on here? Language is always changing, and when you have a center syllable with schwa, they are dropping out of people's speech these days. So, both ways are correct. Not only that, but when we think about variations...

THESE are the words you NEED to get right in English, because you use them all the time. Maybe you're doing the stress right, but it wouldn't hurt to check! Why these words? It's all about high frequency! This list comes from a list of the top 500 most common words in English. I break up these 50 words into 5 patterns. When you recognize the pattern, you can apply that pattern to other words as we...