Chapter one overview

- Let's recap all of the important items we discussed in chapter one. We started by emphasizing that being multilingual is a superpower and that there is no standard way of speaking in English. That your accent is a critical part of your identity. And that learning to speak publicly in English can be improved without changing your accent but by concentrating on the macroscopic features of the language. Which we'll put into practice in the next chapter. We learned that accent bias is real, that most of us have it and looked at some strategies to reduce it in others. The first, by anticipating what you think others may feel about your own speech, you can turn a negative into a positive and leave listeners with the feeling that you have a higher range of emotional intelligence. Other tactics include reminding people that you speak more than English and interjecting your own language and cultural differences around communication into your conversations with teammates. Maybe remind them to give you a little extra time by saying, you know, I'm translating from Polish, give me just a moment to collect my thoughts. All of these combined give you additional ways to empower yourself and contribute to a more inclusive culture at work. We also learned that to be more believable in English, researchers have found that confidence of speech overcomes distrust of non-native accents. Notice, this has nothing to do with your accent but how you deliver your speech. Again, the macroscopic big picture features of language and delivery. But, what does that mean exactly? How do I sound more confident in English? We'll give you very specific examples and ways to practice in chapter two. Finally, we looked at the elements of listener friendly speech in English by looking at the pronunciation pyramid, the elements of speech in English. English speaking listeners pay very close attention to the rhythm of speech and language and focus on the musicality and the inflections of English. By doing so, we give you the essential tools for speaking with clarity, authenticity, and confidence. We'll now focus on the elements of speech that often don't come from pronunciation or accent, but on the delivery of your speech in fluid, rhythmic ways that English speaking listeners are accustomed to. Thanks for joining us in this chapter. We'll see you in the next one, where we put theory into practice.