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Los
Angeles Times
"In Los Angeles, the Accents Say a Lot"
written by: Patt Morrison
March 15,
2007
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excerpts:
The Angelenos
who come to Lisa Mojsin for help are accomplished professionals who want to
accomplish more.
"Some people," she said, "hear an accent and assume things about you" — meaning
negative things. "It's unfortunate, but it's real."
For those who do take on English-as-she-is-spoken, Mojsin, a polyglot who
founded the accent-reduction school Accurate English, understands their pain —
the elusive pacing and vocal range of spoken English, the treachery of American
vowel sounds. She has been helping a Latin American veterinarian who's gotten
into trouble with the second syllable in "worksheet," and a native Spanish
speaker whose boss' name is Doug, a word the woman invariably pronounces as
"dog" — not a good career move.
"The success story," Mojsin said, is seeing their new confidence and bosses who
call and say "everyone understands them at work!"
One of Mojsin's students, Lily, works for a big multinational company. She
speaks Thai and two Chinese languages — but believes that she's taken "less
seriously" because of her accented English. She reads her e-mail into a tape
recorder to practice diminishing her accent, to be ready to take on bigger
accounts and bigger clients.
Another student, Sev, is a French architect who works as a designer at a Los
Angeles firm. She sought out Mojsin after realizing she wasn't connecting on the
phone; the consultants and engineers she needed to reach kept asking her to
repeat herself. On top of that, she said, "I'm a girl, I'm young and
I'm French. I just wanted to have more confidence." But remember the
ooh-la-la factor: When people found out Sev was trying to rein in her accent,
some of them — including her boss — said, "Oh, you have a cute accent; you're
not going to lose it, are you?" |
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