So if it's not obvious by now -- I absolutely love languages. Many of the languages I've learned have been as an adult, which made learning the language more of a challenge, especially when it came to properly producing the sounds of the languages. I've been speaking Spanish fluently for years and I still don't feel like my Spanish skills are where I want them to be. I have to remind myself that I need to be kind to myself because I'm not a native speaker of Spanish. I just need to continue to learn and grow in my Spanish speaking abilities.
My love of languages has led me to a new niche in Speech-Language Pathology and I'm super excited to share the news! I now will be offering Accent Modification at Rockford Speech Therapy. For those of you not familiar with the term, Accent Modification is an elective service sought by some individuals who want to change or modify how they pronounce words in a second language, such as English. The term ‘Accent Modification’ can seem strange. We all know that it’s completely normal to retain the accent of your first language while pronouncing words in a second language. I definitely had to work on properly pronouncing Spanish, French as well as other languages I learned after my native language of English. Many even very accomplished speakers of English do not feel clearly understood or confident in their spoken English and they are looking to avoid becoming tongue-tied or being misunderstood. Accent Modification can be helpful for individuals who learned English as a Second Language and feel that their pronunciation is a barrier to communicating at work or with their peers.
So if you or someone you know is interested in Accent Modification, please reach out! I'd love to chat more about it.