Improving Your Speech

Improving your speech and so the accent in which you pronounce your words in English, is not about being disloyal to your region of birth, upbringing, friends or family

Wherever you are from, there is an optimum way to deliver the language of English, so that all your words can be heard and so understood, by an international audience.

This is simply because the delivery and language have developed together, over the last 1000 years.

When England was invaded by the French speaking Normans in 1066, our language changed dramatically.

A new language developed and the clearest way to pronounce this new language developed too. Over the last 1000 years the language has continued to evolve with the pronunciation, arriving at  an optimum style of delivery, that facilitates national and international broadcasting, meaning a style of speaking the English language that can not only be understood by the entire United Kingdom, but also internationally.

Hashi Mohamed, arrived in this country as a little boy, a refugee from Somalia. He is now a BBC broadcaster and program producer and a highly successful barrister.

This is what he had to say about changing his Somalian/London state school accent,  into a clear, well annunciated, well spoken,  delightfully paced, internationally understood, English accent.

Improving Your Speech – as expressed by the successful Hashi Mohamed as expressed on Radio 4

‘There’s the difference between the world as I would like it to be and the world as I find it.

The world as I find it, is an English, British culture, that is completely and utterly obsessed with how people speak; and quite frankly, whether you are heard, depends on … what you’re saying but also how you’re saying it.

And so if that penny has dropped for you, it seems to me, that a choice has to be made: either you are going to adapt and become more effective at communicating, or, stick to some ideals that won’t come to fruition for centuries, if not a lot longer than that.. long after you’ve gone.“