Tired of being self-conscious speaking English? Need help being understood when you communicate? Book me now, and I will coach you! My name is Mark V, and I am an American-English native speaker who is IDELT-certified (with a 4.0 GPA). I am a life-long English enthusiast and published writer as well as an award-winning teacher of many topics for many many years. I also speak fluent Russian and conversational German. When I listen to you speak, I have the unique advantage and perspective of a seasoned music producer, recording and mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter, and sound designer whose professional and detail-oriented trained ear can help you sound amazing quickly. I can suggest improvements in diction, enunciation, pronunciation, vocabulary choice and word order as well as techniques in everyday conversation to focus on making a positive and lasting impact with your audience. As a teacher, I work with you -- the individual you are -- and adapt to your best way of learning while guiding you to meet your goals and exceed your expectations. Book me now and become the change you seek!

Changing the sound of your voice, speaking clearly, more

To speak English with a minimal accent. To build your vocabulary and communicate in a clear, articulate manner. To be able to compose common correspondence such as emails, essays and presentations. To be able to understand what you read in context. To improve your overall proficiency in the English Language.

I have taught students from nearly every country to lessen or eliminate their accent. Whether it is for work or school or just social needs I can help you to sound how you would like and how to adapt your speech to a more westernized sound.

I love to teach accent reduction! My students are amazed once they learn how Americans really speak and that they can learn to speak like that too. From the first few classes, you will find that your attention is immediately drawn to how you are pronouncing not only individual words but complete sentences, and how your ear will quickly become attuned to the reductions and links that Americans make. We will use a variety of sources to target the most challenging areas for you, and you will have the opportunity to record our classes for your personal use. The first lesson will Include a review of your diagnostic test so that we can see what areas you need to focus on first. It's really fun and exciting to see how quickly your accent develops into one that people can understand better and that you feel more confident using. Let's do this!

Zelda S. can help you with Accent Reduction training whatever your native language is. With her easy to follow activities and exercises she can help you be better understood when you are speaking and also better understand others. Zelda is helping students across the USA including top level professionals, performers and artists, front-line customer service personnel, to teachers and trainers and people of all ages and all walks of life and family cultures. The lessons are interactive, fun and effective and you'll love the experience building skills with your voice, speaking and communications. WHAT STUDENTS ARE SAYING "I enjoyed all my lessons with Zelda and I have learned so much. I learned how to pronounce words correctly and reduce my accent which was important to me in my work in technology. This has helped me come out of my shell and be more confident talking with others especially in my job." KH, Edmonton, Canada "Zelda has helped me reduce my accent and speak more clearly. As a Chinese born teacher in the arts world I was finding it difficult to speak English and be understood. People would always ask me to repeat myself and tell me they couldn't understand me. Zelda's lessons were so helpful, and I saw a huge difference not only in my speaking voice but also in my singing voice and feel so much more confident speaking with others. Plus she is an amazing person to work with and a fun teacher." NC, NYC USA.

I am a professional opera singer and have studied diction and languages for 12 years. I have a special musican’s ear for the subtleties of language and a lot of tools to help you reach your communication goals in speaking American English! As someone who is often performing in other languages myself, I am personally acquainted with the challenges of mastering pronunciation and accents and I am excited about sharing what I’ve learned in my own journey with others. I like to think of this more as "accent acquisition" as opposed to "accent reduction" - we all have an accent! My goal is to help you speak English clearly and comfortably so that you can communicate with others with confidence.

How you communicate is especially important in business, professional and social situations. 'Not that speaking English like an American is the end all, be all, but it can assist you in communicating your ideas as rapidly as possible. Misunderstandings are less frequent, when what you have said is comprehended quickly. Ultimately everyone can speak English with clear and proper pronunciation; I can give you the tips and tricks to assist you in excelling. My background with singing required that I learn the 'IPA' or International Phonetic Alphabet. This training has assisted me in learning ways in which to decipher the spoken word (as well as singing in various languages). My background in teaching English has also prepared me to understand various idioms, 'cliches', jargon, slang, and euphemisms. My students in accent reduction will find that I have a wellspring of information and methods for reducing an accent. In working together via our private lessons, you will have practice becoming more fluent in your conversational speech. You will learn how to produce sounds (vowels, consonants and consonant clusters) using correct tongue, jaw and lip positions. You will learn techniques to reduce tongue tension. You will also learn where to stress the syllables in words with multiple syllables. And finally, we will work on intonaton that will assist you in accent reduction.