How Long does the Process Take…?

One of the most common questions clients ask at the beginning of the process is how long it takes to modify one’s accent?

The simplest answer is: we do not know.

Let’s explore this a little further.

Each client will have their own level of free time within which they are able to commit to the process outside of sessions. The general rule is: the more time you can commit to the work in your own time, the greater the speed and accuracy of the modification.

We also consider your individual starting point. If you have, and have had for a time, a community of friends and colleagues who share your target accent, then you will be regularly exposed to sounds that you are aiming to acquire for yourself. If this is not the case for you, then we look at other ways to surround you with these sounds in order to familiarise them for you.

Furthermore, we consider your goals. For some, improving intelligibility for professional or social purposes is all that is required. For others, a complete overhaul of oral posture, pronunciation and prosodic features is what is desired. Naturally, the more modification requested, the more time the process will take.

Our general recommendation is to check in on a monthly basis, but to commit to at least three months. Six months should see significant adjustments, but many clients stay with us for over a year. The only way to find an answer to the question that is true for you is to get started.

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome…

Welcome to The Accent Centre website! We’re over the moon to be able to host your visit, and would encourage you to take a look around to find out whether we can be of service.

We are an ever-growing business, dedicated to offering a flexible service to each individual client. Our Blog, Tools and Tips and social media pages will be kept up to date, informing you of our latest news and offers, as well as free tricks and techniques that you can get on with from today if you are entertaining the possibility of modifying your accent.

We’d like to start with a brief exploration of some of the terminology behind the work we do:

Synonyms for Accent Modification might include Accent Softening or Accent Reduction. We believe there is currently no entirely accurate or suitable term for the process. It is necessary to type these terms into search engines in order to find what you’re looking for, but are any of these terms truly reflective of the process, or respectful of the individual? To soften an accent might suggest that one’s native accent is too harsh. To reduce an accent implies that one’s accent is becoming less in some way; everyone has an accent, and therefore we’re not sure that reduction quite describes the process of shifting sounds from one accent to another. Modification might presuppose that an accent requires bettering.

Now, we all know what we mean by these terms, and teachers and organisations do not choose these words for their negative connotations. Until a more suitable term is suggested, we have selected the term Accent Modification for its links to the idea of change. We work with clients to go through the process of changing sounds to a degree that they feel satisfies their needs.