Many needed experts in the USA come from other countries.
Although they may speak English reasonably fluently, their pronunciation may be difficult to understand.
This often happens when they or their listener is under stress or fatigued, or when their speech frequencies may be altered slightly through the use of a microphone.
For example, when a person is ill or in pain, and the physician comes from another country, the patient or family may not always have the ability to understand what the physician is explaining.
Possibly a scientist is explaining a new discovery to his colleagues at a convention.
Although they are in the same profession or industry, the listeners may also misunderstand some of the words.
By the time they do figure them out, the speaker could already be on the next topic.
This problem has many roots.
The English language includes words from many other languages.
Although it has rules.
there are so many exceptions to them.
For example, if speaking of "produce", as in "fruits and vegetables", the first syllable is stressed, but when speaking of "produce", to make, the second syllable is emphasized.
The plural of mouse is mice, but the plural of house is houses.
Second, English has at least one sound that is not found in other languages, the two "th" sounds.
One is an unvoiced or soft "th" found in "think" and "path", while the voiced "th" is in "these".
There are different variations of English as well.
The British English has some different vocabulary and pronunciations than the American.
"Schedule" is pronounced "shedule" in England and "scedule" in the US.
Regions of the USA have their own accents, and regional vocabulary or expressions, as well.
Finally, in many parts of the world, work groups band together to help newcomers with their speech.
Int he USA, we are an individualistic society, and may be worried about offending someone when we offer to help them with their pronunciation.
The irony of this is that many foreign-born professionals know others are not understanding them clearly.
They worry that this will affect their career growth.
Human resources and training and development professionals are beginning to use the services of highly trained corporate speech pathologists to provide targeted, short term training for employees with pronunciation difficulties.
Such training includes an initial assessment of the problem and a customized solution.
If you are a professional who has difficulty speaking clearly, ask your training or human resources department to locate a corporate speech pathologist for this training.
Sometimes human resources or training staff do not know about these professionals, or will search for them only after they have been approached by an employee.
If you have difficulty speaking clearly, here are two tips.
First, slow down your rate of speech.
If you speak so quickly your listener does not understand, your message has no value.
In the USA, speaking fast is not a sign of intelligence or competence.
Speaking slowly and opening the mouth a little more increases oral resonance, making the pronunciation more like certain American vowels.
If you are leaving a message on voice mail, or explaining a crucial point to an audience, speaking slower can truly make a difference in listener comprehension.
Second, when you are not understood, use different words to explain your idea.
For example, if your listener does not understand "I appreciate it", say "thank you.
" If you have a colleague or consultant who is difficult to understand, let him know what word you missed.
He can then use a synonym for one word instead of repeating an entire idea.
In addition, if you speak slightly slower yourself, he may be encouraged to slow down as well.
Our country needs experts from many professional and cultural backgrounds; diversity helps us become stronger.
However, we also need clear communication for maximum productivity.
Whether you are the speaker or listener, use these tips to improve comprehension.
As one client reported, "Our products, like our speech, should be right - the first time!"