Monday, May 8, 2017


For job interviews, meetings, lectures and presentations, American culture appreciates a person with a self-assured presence and confident demeanor. You must project bold and positive energy, starting with the way you speak.

Opening your jaw more broadly and breathing from the bottom of your lungs are two improvements that will add power, clarity and confidence to your verbal delivery.

In American English, the 5 vowels actually have 17 vowel sounds. Some distinctions are almost imperceptible to non-native speakers, but all are important and necessary for your American listeners. As vowel sounds progress, say, from an “ee” (see, we, reach) to an “aah” (father, collar, apostrophe), your jaw will be almost closed for the “ee” but drop wide open for the “aah.” Practice moving from “ee” to “aah” repeatedly. Drop the jaw as much as you can, and feel the sensation when it is wide open. Expanding the jaw’s range will give you more room to say clearly all the vowel sounds in between. It will also give your verbal delivery a more “American feel,” with the mouth physically exposed and open (amazingly contributing to a confident impression on others!).

English also requires “deep breathing” so that you will not run out of air in sentences where certain words are held much longer than others. (Try saying this full sentence with power; if you run out of air midway, you now know what to work on!) You must learn to breathe like opera singers, yoga practitioners and competitive swimmers –from your diaphragm, deep in the belly where the greatest amount of air can be stored and slowly released.

Many people gather air only from the upper chest, such as many women from Japan and France, men from some areas of China and India, and others who are just “soft-spoken” by nature. If you are a “shallow breather,” realize the importance of changing this habit in order to project the power needed for American English and business confidence.