So you’re looking for English pronunciation training in Sydney.  

Well done on making the first step to improving your English pronunciation. Whether you’re seeking to speak more like an English speaker or speak more clearly, we can help you.  Do you want to sound more like a Sydney-sider? We are the leading Australian provider of pronunciation training services and have helped many non- native English speakers gain more confidence and sound more like a local. 

The best thing is we’ve been doing this for a long time. That means the courses we’ve designed are tailored to the language background of the learner. 

We’re recognised as a leading supplier of pronunciation services for Australian Universities and companies and we’ve received a number of innovation awards for our accent reduction assessment process and course delivery.

But in the meantime, let me tell you a little more about how we can help you improve your English accent and English pronunciation.  

Why choose a Speech Active Course? 

So why did we win all of those awards? That’s because of the globally unique way we approached our accent reduction course design. 

Tailored to your language background: Our training is designed based on the language background of the students. At the time of writing we have courses developed for 43 languages. Each course has been created to address the pronunciation challenges common to that language group. As an example someone from India usually needs to work on their rate or speech and their sentence stress. Whereas someone from France might need to prioritise vowel rounding. It’s a waste of your time working on pronunciation areas that aren’t an issue for you. 

Designed for the Australian workplace: Our courses are specifically developed for professionals living and working in Australia and people who would like to speak with an Australian accent.  Our focus is on developing an extended vocabulary, listening capabilities and understanding of expressions common to a Sydney and other Australian capital cities. 

Like many languages, English has many idioms, or sayings or expressions that we commonly use. Here are some examples are often used in professional settings like workplace meetings 

• Catchya later, this expression means see you later. 
• Are you free this arvo. Arvo means this afternoon. 
• No worries. Means it’s all fine. 
• That’s got legs. Means ‘it’s a good idea’  

Now you don’t need to use these expressions, but it is handy to understand what the expressions are so you don’t become confused. We provide a wide variety of useful conversation practice materials, these are key expressions that are regularly used in conversations and meetings. As part of your course you’ll practice these plus all of the other training will give you the tools you need to achieve a greater level of success. 

We’ve worked hard to create a great course. And guess what? This is version 2. This version took us 3 years to create and has only just been launched. You’ll practise your new speaking skills in conversations for professional and casual situations. For example, networking, interviews, meetings, small talk, presentations, conference calls and more. We give you the practise you need to succeed in transferring your new skills to everyday life. 

Proven, life changing results:  No matter how you choose to improve your pronunciation there is one factor that is going to have the biggest impact on the results you achieve. That’s practise. The more practice you do the better results you will achieve. We provide you with audio files that allow you to practise any time and anywhere, making it easy for you do the 15 minutes of daily practise. 

30 Day Money Back Guarantee: Enrolling in a course online takes a certain degree of trust. We give people the chance to become familiar with our training techniques through enrolling in our free course. On top of that you can request a full refund on your course fees within the first 30 days of enrolling. All you have to do is watch the first few lessons and  it’s not for you just send us and email and we’ll refund your fees. 

What to consider when you’re choosing an English pronunciation course? 

Every day I speak to lots of people trying to establish what style of accent reduction training is for them. Here are some of the things I think you should consider when choosing an English pronunciation and accent reduction training. 

Are the training materials tailored especially for you

So much of the Accent reduction training that is out there takes a ‘one size fits all’ approach. There are two major issues with this approach; the first is pronunciation courses need to be tailored to the language background of the student – so someone from Japan needs to address different issues to someone who’s first language is French. A general pronunciation course can be inefficient as you spend time working on an area that is not an issue for you. It’s more logical to seek out a course that’s specifically designed for someone who speaks your first language. 

Who developed your course and are they qualified because they’re located in Sydney? 

There are many people and institutions offering accent reduction training in Sydney. Make sure you look into the qualifications of the people who created the course. We always recommend working with Speech Pathologist’s as their training is focused on correcting and adjusting people’s speech. 

 What style of learning works for you

For many people a combination of live feedback and practice materials works best. If you’re considering an accent reduction course and you’re from Sydney find out what take home practise materials are available. 

How long is the course

People become busy and surprises pop up. You need to make sure you have ongoing access to the course materials so you can continue to practise at home. 

Why our training works

• Clear and easy to understand format -we give you a simple schedule. All you need to do is undertake the recommended steps. 
• Efficient and Effective – our course is tailored for your first language. This means your time is being spent on the areas you really need to improve. 
• Life skills forever –  Fixing English pronunciation is life changing. You’ve spent years of your life learning English, now that you’re seeking and accent reduction course in Sydney. Our clients report that correcting your pronunciation to sound more like a native English speaker is life changing and once you have those skills you don’t lose them. 

Your Commitment: We ask each of our students to complete two x 20 minute videos each week. The videos will teach you the correct mouth positions. You should aim to do 15 minutes of practice daily using the audio files. Lessons can be revised at any time so you can watch them as much as you like. In addition you have access to phone support and assessments where you can record you speech and have a 5 page report focussing on the areas you need to improve. 

Our Commitment: we’ll give you the highest level of teaching available which you can access online at anytime. Great training materials with loads of practise materials. The audio files will allow you to practise any time between sessions. We have progress check quizzes and recording tools so you can see your improvement as you go. We provide before and after recordings. Then there’s access to 40 plus bonus lessons. In short there’s everything you need to improve. 

Skills For Life – while our course is only 6 months, our aim is to give you the skills you need to keep improving well into the future. Advanced training that is relevant to professionals and will build your speaking skills and confidence in every professional situation. So many of our Sydney students are professionals so working on your English pronunciation is critical to career success.

Photo by Tiff Ng from Pexels

How will you know if your speech is changing? 

Learn to monitor yourself. We will teach you to hear the difference between correct and incorrect pronunciation. You need to be aware of a problem before you can change it. 

Learners often make the mistake of relying on a teacher to identify the problems but in some cases they don’t actually learn how to correct their speech. This can mean that people don’t develop the ability to control the mistakes themselves. The end result of this can be good improvement in the classroom but no improvement in the office. 

Recording tool progress checks

At the end of each video modules you can record yourself you’ll be able to clearly whether you are on track or if you need to keep on practicing that area. This helps you to not just develop new sounds but actually check you’re using them correctly, 

Start and end of course recordings 

Through our unique before and after recording process you can compare your progress over the life of the course. You’ll notice a major difference from your speech at the start and the end of the course. 

Clear demonstrations of what to do and what to avoid 

You will see your teacher demonstrating the correct pronunciation and how to make those sounds. You’ll master new skills with our listen and repeat style of teaching in video and via sound files when you’re out and about. 

We’ll show you other non-native English speakers making similar mistakes and how to avoid them. Over the course you’ll learn how to control your muscles and make new sounds and speech patterns. 

After the course this is one of the features people love, they tell us that these demonstrations of what to do and what to avoid gives people the skills to monitor and change the practise to master the new sounds and speech patterns.  

What is the definition of accent reduction? 

I like Wikipedia’s definition of accent reduction which is defined as a systematic approach for learning and adopting new speech or an accent.  

Finally. Here’s what you will learn in your Accent Reduction Course 

Here are the speech areas that most courses cover. Depending on your first language some of these lessons may not be necessary. 

• Mouth position – You need to open and move you’re mouth ina  way that might seem ‘over the top’ when you first start
• Rate of speaking – this is how fast you speak 
• Volume of speaking – an easy one to correct, but an area people do get wrong.
• Word Stress – in every multi-syllable English word, one syllable is stressed. Correct word stress is essential for clear English that is easily understood by others. 
• Sentence Stress – this makes the rhythm of English. Many people bring the ‘music’ of their first language into their English. Correcting your sentence stress will make your English clearer and more interesting for the listener. 
• Vowel sounds – there will be a number of vowel sounds someone from your first language finds challenging, correct these to achieve great results
• Consonants sounds – correct the consonant sounds that speakers of your first language find challenging and impact on your clarity.  
• Correct your use of past tense and plurals and pronounce these correctly.
• Correct more than 500 of the common errors mispronounced words in English.

Other Areas – while practising to improve your pronunciation you will boost other areas of your English. 

• Listening skills -improved listening skills is in the top three areas that students report major improvement in after this course. You’ll develop your ability to understand English speakers 
• Vocab & Expression – boost your vocab for professional English and casual, everyday conversations on a wide range of topics.  
• Confidence – This is the area that brings me the most joy! 96% of our students report their confidence as much improved or very much improved after their training. This is the greatest gain for most of our students. 

Sydney, is a wonderful multicultural city. Sydney based professionals from all over the world use our Accent reduction course. As a next step why not sign up to a free 5 day video course.  

Ready To Start English Pronunciation Training . 

If you are serious about improving and you want to get started, see more on our 6 months English pronunciation course which is tailored specifically for speaker of your first language here – Speech Active English Pronunciation & Fluency Course list. 

Course are $596 for 6 months access. 

Contact us today to talk about your English speaking goals and find out how our courses will help you speak English with clear pronunciation and sound more like a native speaker. 

Call us on +61 411 295 828.
Chat with us on our website chat tool. 
Email us at info@speechactive.com. 

Keep up the great work. 

Georgie Harding
Founder of Speech Active