Will I Lose My Accent?

Now and then my clients ask me whether my accent modification program will cause them to lose their accent. This is a good question, with an easy answer.

First, it is extremely difficult to “lose” your accent entirely. Only very few adults are able to achieve this. This goes for any accent you might need to acquire, anywhere in the world.

Second, it is not really about losing an accent to begin with. You are gaining a new accent that is based on a new speech pattern by learning how and where to produce new sounds. As a child, you formed the words in your first language by picking up the accent from everyone around you. You experimented from an early age and learned to stick to using particular muscles to create similar sounds. Once established, these deeply ingrained patterns can be extremely hard to break. After around the age of 13, our brains are no longer wired to change these patterns. We are less able to mimic others, retain a new accent, and to acquire new languages. That doesn't mean we won't be able to pick up, or learn, a native accent! In fact, most people adopt an approximation of their new accent. And most people strive to be understood with minimal effort.

However, there are many others who lack what is called “comfortable intelligibility.” This can cause much personal frustration - and it can be a real stumbling block to career success and social happiness.

The good news is that, with practice, adults can create new pathways in the brain that will allow them to access new sounds and speech patterns.

An accredited accent modification expert can assess the areas that you need to work on to form these new pathways, and guide you through the process. With deliberate practice, you will not only gain a more comprehensible accent, you will also feel more confident, included, and prepared to unleash your creative potential.

So while you may not lose your accent entirely, you will gain much more!