Speaking in public when you do not have English mother tongue

This week I have been coaching a Spanish national who has been working in the UK for ten years. This is the first time her colleagues have been brave enough to tell her that they have real difficulty when she is presenting reports and that she could benefit from voice coaching.

She is a lovely person and we are having great fun with all the tongue twisters and poetry readings! Foreign nationals really do struggle when it comes to speaking in public as part of ther job. The tongue is often used in a different way and the stress patterns and intonation are nowhere near the rise and fall of English. In the case of Spanish speakers they tend to speak faster and flatter, this makes it very hard for the listener to pick up on any key words. With my client we have been working on selecting and stressing key words and phrases to bring out the meaning. We have also been working on the consonants such as t,d,l,n,r,s,&z as these are particualrly difficult. An example of the kind of phrase she has difficulty with is: “Soft, silent, timelessly slow. Silvery moon shine on descending snow.” or “Such shouted anticipation”

I have got my client to poke her tongue out and touch her nose to give it more flexibility (this should be done in a private place - obviously!)

When working on pitch we have looked at ways to bring more variety and reading poems helps this process. She has enjoyed learning the music and rhythm of the language.

Any foreign national working in the UK can benefit from voice coaching as they have similar fears when confronted with large audiences and even more difficulties to overcome. It needn’t be boring - we have had great fun!

Jackie Arnold

Voice Coach