Q. Other accent reduction courses give information on anatomy of the mouth. Yours doesn't. Why is that?

A. Although this information can be useful, knowing the different names of parts of the mouth and throat is not essential to speaking English. Like driving a car, one doesn't need to know all of the parts of the engine and how it works in order to drive it. What Simple Accent Reduction gives you are the tools that you need to speak English better, not extra things that you don't need.

Q. I want to keep my accent but I want to be more clearly understood. Will this course remove my accent completely?

A. Not unless you want to. Doing the exercises will put you more fully in control of your voice. If you don't want to get rid of your accent, you won't, because you are in control of it. You will be more easily understood by others, though.

Q. I don't have much time in the day to work on the exercises. Will this still help me?

A. It is ideal to be able to work a good stretch of time on the exercises every day, but if you can’t, then working on them a small amount of time each day or few times each week will still be of benefit. Any amount of time you can devote will help move you forward. A big key to the success with this is to have a set schedule to do the exercises and to stick to it.

Start with several of the warm-up exercises. Be sure to do the tongue stretch. The tongue stretch is vital to helping your tongue make proper placements of sounds. A combination of any of the other warm-up exercises is fine along with this. Once you have done these, start to add several of the vowel sounds each day. When you have the vowel sounds complete, then start on the consonants in the same manner. When you have gone through all of the vowel and consonant sounds, then start to add several of the tongue twisters. Doing small sections of the exercises will help you progress. Be sure to go as slowly as you need to with each of the sounds in order to make the sounds fully.

Once you have gone through all of the vowels, consonants and tongue twisters, you can pick and choose tongue twisters that will help keep your voice in good shape. It is good to cycle through the vowels and consonants on a regular basis and always do some of the warm up exercises. When you have gone through the tongue twisters, you may add the other exercises and speeches, being careful to do them accurately. Listening to the CD regularly is also a good habit, as this helps you to “tune in” to the way sounds should be made and read along in the book, looking at the illustrations as you do. Many students find this extremely valuable.

Q. Does this course teach grammar?

A. No. It is recommended that a separate study be done for this.

Q. Are there any tools I can use to help me?

A. Yes, you can record your voice and listen to it and compare it to the CD. Also, practicing in front of a mirror helps.

Q. How is this course different from ESL? (English as a Second Language)

A. ESL teaches how to understand and read English and basic pronunciation. It teaches a whole language. Simple Accent Reduction teaches the exact SOUNDS of English and gives exercises to practice and make those sounds correctly. It gives full instruction on where to place the tongue, how to shape the mouth, and has exercises for the muscles used for speaking to strengthen the voice. It is a companion to ESL, not a replacement. Many people report that this helps them to understand English better, because they can now recognize and make sounds that are in English they didn't hear or speak clearly before.

Q. My ESL home study course has six CDs and this only has one. Is the one CD enough to learn to speak English better?

A. Yes, it is. The Simple Accent Reduction CD has many exercises that one does each day that builds up skill in speaking English more clearly. There are advanced exercises at the end of the workbook and CD when enough skill in the earlier exercises has been reached. Simple Accent Reduction and ESL are not the same thing and do not replace each other.

Q. I just started the exercises and my mouth and face hurts a bit. Why is this, and what should I do?

A. It is normal to feel a difference when you start to do the exercises. It is like doing any form of exercise. You are using some muscles that have probably not been used much. As you do the exercises more, the muscles will get stronger and any discomfort will go away shortly. A good thing to keep in mind is that different languages use different muscle groups to speak, so some muscles in the face probably aren't being used much and need the exercise. The best thing is to continue each day. Just make sure you are not over-straining or stretching the muscles too much.

Q. The Warm-Up exercises sound weird and I feel funny doing them. Is this normal?

A. The warm-up exercises definitely do sound weird and many people feel the same way regarding them. A good thing to keep in mind is that they do work very well to strengthen the voice and many famous actors and actresses learned their craft doing these same exercises. So you're in good company when you do them!