If Spanish is your native language, you may be using the Spanish “sound” system when you speak English.  You may not have learned much about this if you studied English as a foreign language.  Some of these differences won’t have great impact; some may give you a charming accent, but others can interfere with your ability to communicate. 

You may get feedback that listeners can’t understand you, that you talk too fast, or that you sound bored or unmotivated.  Perhaps you've gotten feedback at work to slow down and personalize your presentation style, or reorganize your presentations because they digress.   These, and other problems, result from applying what you know and use successfully in Spanish, to English, where it doesn't work as well.  You are applying a set of Spanish “language rules” to English, which has its own sound rules. 

Some common interference points between Spanish and English:

• Vowel system differences
  
• Consonant voicing differences
• Consonant cluster differences
  
• Speaking pace differences
• Pitch and intonation range differences
• Stress-timed English vs. syllable-timed Spanish
  
• Sentence rhythm differences

Another potential source of interference may be that your presentation design, pace or organization doesn’t meet your audience's needs.  Furthermore, intonation and sentence stress carry layers of meaning or speaker attitudes that are not conveyed in the words themselves, and Spanish stress laid over English words can send the wrong message. 

In our work together, we will diagnose your current pronunciation habits, define your goals, determine your skills and knowledge in target areas, and create a curriculum that guides your accent reduction coursework and leads you to a better sound in English.