Learn to speak confidently with an Australian accent
Written by on October 29th, 2018.
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Did you know that people tend to make trust-related judgements based on the tone of voice we use when speaking?
Research has shown that we tend to believe and trust people who speak in a confident tone of voice compared to those who don’t. Well a recently published study has investigated whether having an accent can also influence other peoples tendency to believe or trust what we say, and the results are quite interesting.
The senior author from McGill’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, explains the study:
“There are possibly two billion people around the world who speak English as a second language – and many of us live in societies that are culturally diverse. As we make decisions about whether or not to trust people who are different from us we pay a lot of attention both to visual cues and to a person’s voice. Here, we wanted to better understand how we make trust-related decisions about other people based strictly on their speaking voice.”
The researchers used brain imaging techniques to determine which areas of the brain were activated when analysing the believability of accented speech. By focusing on sounds being produced as well as the tone of voice, they discovered that making trust-related decisions about accented speakers is made more difficult due to our underlying bias and assumptions, which tends to favour members of our own group.
However the data also shows that when speakers with an accent use a confident voice, their statements are judged to be equally believable to native speakers of the language.
This is an interesting point as one of the most common pieces of feedback we receive from students studying our Accent Reduction course or our Australian Accent course is that they feel more confident, even within a few weeks of their training. Having a more confident tone of voice when speaking English, makes us more believable and more trustworthy, according to this research.
Learning to speak English confidently in a range of situations, can therefore be extremely beneficial particularly in the work environment and this is a major component of our Accent Reduction course and our Australian Accent course. Contact us now to find out how you can increase your believability by speaking English in a more confident tone at work or in job interviews. Accent Reduction courses and Australian Accent courses start at any time.
Research has shown that we tend to believe and trust people who speak in a confident tone of voice compared to those who don’t. Well a recently published study has investigated whether having an accent can also influence other peoples tendency to believe or trust what we say, and the results are quite interesting.
The senior author from McGill’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, explains the study:
“There are possibly two billion people around the world who speak English as a second language – and many of us live in societies that are culturally diverse. As we make decisions about whether or not to trust people who are different from us we pay a lot of attention both to visual cues and to a person’s voice. Here, we wanted to better understand how we make trust-related decisions about other people based strictly on their speaking voice.”
The researchers used brain imaging techniques to determine which areas of the brain were activated when analysing the believability of accented speech. By focusing on sounds being produced as well as the tone of voice, they discovered that making trust-related decisions about accented speakers is made more difficult due to our underlying bias and assumptions, which tends to favour members of our own group.
However the data also shows that when speakers with an accent use a confident voice, their statements are judged to be equally believable to native speakers of the language.
This is an interesting point as one of the most common pieces of feedback we receive from students studying our Accent Reduction course or our Australian Accent course is that they feel more confident, even within a few weeks of their training. Having a more confident tone of voice when speaking English, makes us more believable and more trustworthy, according to this research.
Learning to speak English confidently in a range of situations, can therefore be extremely beneficial particularly in the work environment and this is a major component of our Accent Reduction course and our Australian Accent course. Contact us now to find out how you can increase your believability by speaking English in a more confident tone at work or in job interviews. Accent Reduction courses and Australian Accent courses start at any time.
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