An accent is the pronunciation of a language often due to location, social class, or nation.

Online PR News � 29-March-2019 � An accent is the pronunciation of a language often due to location, social class, or nation. And 40 million people that live in the United States were born in another country. Often, these individuals have come to the United States to seek out opportunity and safety. However, their foreign accents may hinder their opportunities.

The Accent Coach, Claudette Roche, discusses how accents diminish or create opportunity for an individual. She further elaborates on how accent reduction works and the steps that are involved.

Certain accents are just hard for people to understand. It creates biased opinions toward the person with the accent, as well as - unfortunately - negative attitudes, Roche states. She further explains, The goal of accent reduction is to help the person become better understood and help them accomplish what they want to in their life.

Accent reduction takes time and work. Roche says, It all starts with awareness. You need to become more aware of how youre speaking and articulating. Roche states that awareness is step one when it comes to accent reduction coaching.

From there, I work with the clients to help them produce sounds, such as vowels or consonants, to communicate more effectively. We also might look into different tones and how that is affecting their communication, the Accent Coach explains. And after that, it comes down to hours of practice and discipline.

Roche discusses this further, An accent coach, like myself, will provide feedback. Ultimately, we reinforce what the person is doing right, and then, what they need to improve on.

The final and most important step in accent reduction involves transferring these new skills into an individuals daily life. The Accent Coach explains, The last step is the hardest. But once you get it down - with, of course, practice - you open doors for yourself. You can finally start living your life and making progress toward your goals.