Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the Business English Podcast. I'm Rob and today we have another very special episode for you. Today's episode cuts right to the heart of what is one of the most critical elements of professional communication that all non native English professionals have to overcome. Pronunciation.
No matter your background, fluency level or experience in English, this has always been, and quite possibly always will be the most painful part of communicating in English.
However, for professionals who have to use their language skills and present in English, the challenge is exacerbated tenfold. Not only must one deal with the content of the presentation, the slides, the questions from the audience, and of course, the technical glitches, but now, in front of a room full of people, we must project our message clearly, precisely and professionally. Get it right and things go smoothly and the audience's focus is on the presentation. Get it wrong and people forget the presentation and start to focus on the pronunciation errors or worse, don't understand things at all. But fear not, it's not all doom and gloom as it is seldom as grim of an experience as I have just described, but rather, professionals that are to be in the limelight, that have been tasked with the presentation have a truly excellent, excellent opportunity to fine tune their delivery, rehearse and seriously improve their pronunciation skills before the big event.
I have almost never seen faster improvements in pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and professional communication aptitude than when a client has been tasked with a presentation and they are practicing harder than ever before.
The speed of their progress is something to behold. And so let us keep this in mind as we go into today's episode for I have a very special guest who is arguably the most qualified in the English space to provide insight and advice on pronunciation, especially as a professional when presenting. They have an incredibly large and hyper valuable YouTube channel filled with amazing content, a brilliant podcast aimed at developing all elements of English language mastery. But today they are here with us to help you seriously up your pronunciation game. If you are a professional in any industry communicating in English, this one is for you. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Emma from Pronunciation with Emma. Let's get into it.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: Okay. Welcome to the show today. Welcome to the Business English Podcast. I'm Rob, as you very well know, and on today's episode, we have a very special guest. As you all know, the topic of the episode is pronunciation tips for professionals when presenting. And today I am joined by none other than Emma from Pronunciation with Emma. Emma, welcome to the show.
[00:03:23] Speaker C: Thank you very much. I love that intro.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Yes, yeah, it's great to have you here and we really do Appreciate you gracing us with your presence.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:03:33] Speaker C: It's a pleasure.
Great, happy to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: So I've got a couple of questions, but really it surrounds three key tips for professionals when presenting in front of rooms of people or potentially on zoom calls, doing round robins or stand ups at work.
So I was hoping you could give us a little bit of an insight into basically three key, very important takeaways for the listeners today that will enable them to almost instantly improve their pronunciation at work. Could you think of the first one for us?
[00:04:11] Speaker C: Of course. So the first thing I highly recommend that everyone does, whether they are native, non native, they are giving presentations, they're giving massive TED talks. It doesn't matter.
You need to record yourself presenting.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: Is this just audio or is this on camera?
[00:04:34] Speaker C: No, this would be on camera.
And the reason why I'm saying to record on camera is because you're not just going to analyze your voice and your pronunciation and analyze how you're speaking. And if you're making mistakes, you're also going to analyze your posture, your body, how you move, how you present yourself on stage. Because if you're, if you notice, how do I put this? If people sometimes comment that you are very quiet when you give a presentation, maybe you don't articulate yourself enough and people are like, sorry, at the back, can you shout a bit more? And you feel like you're shouting. I think a lot of us have been there, especially as introverts.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: Oh yes.
[00:05:20] Speaker C: So by correcting your posture and making sure that you are facing the audience, you're not looking down, you're not facing the presentation behind you and that you are projecting your voice, that really helps. So it's little things like that.
So don't just analyze how you're speaking and your pronunciation.
Look at how do you look on stage?
Do you have your shoulders back? Are you facing the audience? Are you looking round? Are you using the space on the stage? If you're presenting on a stage, if it's a small meeting room, it's, you probably don't want to walk around too much. It depends. But if you, if you're giving a conference speech or something, how are you using the stage? Like, are you moving around? Are you moving too much? So it's distracting?
[00:06:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:14] Speaker C: Other things to notice, are you touching your face a lot? Are you covering your mouth? And this is stopping people from understanding you when you're speaking clearly and things like that, you'll start to notice those things once you see a recording of yourself. You'll hate it.
You'll absolutely hate watching it. But it will be the best thing you ever do. If you want to actually improve how you deliver presentations, this is one of the best methods. It's a method that coaches use, that what they called when they do, like coaching, like presentation coaching. I can't remember the name.
[00:06:53] Speaker B: Mentors coaching.
[00:06:56] Speaker C: Yeah. Like when they're preparing people for TED Talks and things like that, they will show them how to.
[00:07:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Communication coaches and the mentors that do it.
[00:07:05] Speaker C: Yeah, that's the word. Yeah.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: I think that is fantastic advice and I think it's overlooked by many learners because rightly so, we're focused on the grammar and the vocabulary and we're learning how to pronounce different clusters and groups of words and syllables.
You really have to stop and stand back and think, actually my body posture, my head position, am I standing tall? Am I sticking my chest out? Am I moving round? Am I gesticulating? All these are impacting how you deliver your pronunciation. I think it's a fantastic insight.
[00:07:39] Speaker C: Yeah. It could be as simple as the fact that you're standing with the paper in front of your mouth and people are always saying, oh, I don't understand you. It sounds like you're mumbling and things like that.
And actually you're standing there with the paper in front of your mouth and people can't see your mouth. It could be as simple as that. And that's just a very easy thing to fix. So if you see yourself doing that in the video, you can fix it.
[00:08:03] Speaker B: Absolutely fantastic advice. Okay, so the first key tip, make sure that we're concentrating on your. Not just verbal. Verbal delivery, but physical delivery as well. Body posture contributing an enormous amount. Make sure we're focusing on that. Key point number two, please.
[00:08:19] Speaker C: Number two, I think this is the one that I.
I don't want to say correct. It's not really correction. It's just the biggest thing I notice with my students, whether they're public speaking or they're just learning how to order a coffee in a cafe or something.
When you're nervous, and especially if you're speaking another language, it's very natural to speak faster.
So the presentation is over with quicker. Right.
And sometimes people also think that the quicker you speak, the more fluent you sound.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, that's a good one.
[00:09:00] Speaker C: Some people, especially if their native language is already quite a fast language. Spanish and Japanese speakers, like sometimes you get them speaking English and they're trying to speak the speed Japanese, but in English, and it's so fast in English, it doesn't.
The speed doesn't translate into English.
So by slowing down your speech, one, you give yourself time to articulate the sounds. Two, you sound less nervous. So people think, huh, she's quite confident or he's quite confident. Therefore they trust you more. They see you as being more professional. Like little things like that. If you're talking really fast, people think, oh, they're nervous. Do they even know what they're talking about? Why are they nervous? And it starts to plant these little seeds in people's heads. So by slowing down. Yes. You give yourself more time to articulate. Two, people have different perceptions of you. They'll start to think, okay, they know their stuff, they've calmed down and they're confident. Here. Oh, there's another thing I wanted to mention with it as well, that it's on the tip of my tongue. It's a good expression.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: Tip of the tongue?
[00:10:12] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, on the tip of my tongue. If it doesn't come to me now, it's okay. I may remember it a little bit later. But yeah. Oh, that was it. It also gives the listeners time to process what you've said.
So if you're just rushing, rushing to the next sentence, to the next point, to the next slide, you're not giving people time to sit and process.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:37] Speaker C: What you've just said.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:39] Speaker C: And yes, they will understand everything, but you're hitting them with a lot of information.
[00:10:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:47] Speaker C: So if your goal is to become a better communicator, better presenter, give your audience time to process what you've said. Use pauses.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: Yeah, use.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: You can even use pauses for adding dramatic effects and things like that could be as simple as.
And the profits for this month are
[00:11:08] Speaker A: a drum roll, please.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: And then you have a little pause. Depends how serious your meetings are. But pauses are really essential and slowing down is essential. It will help you in so many ways.
[00:11:22] Speaker B: Really slowing down. I think it's something that a lot of non natives deal with and some natives as well. I'm sure you've been in presentations before and you're listening to the speaker going, I know he's an English speaker native, but I still can't understand what he's saying or she's saying. So you're not allowing the audience number one to process.
And also it's eroding your professionalism because you're looking a little bit nervous, a little bit rushed, and just trying to get through the presentation, so causing a few issues. So you suggest pausing before key points and generally slowing down, slowing down, giving
[00:11:57] Speaker C: yourself time to articulate. If you slow down, I promise you'll calm down. You'll feel a bit less nervous when you're presenting.
[00:12:06] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:12:07] Speaker C: Overall, there are just so many benefits to just slowing down your speech.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I think that is a fantastic tip. Slow down. Yeah, brilliant. Tip number two, Slow down.
And then any sort of final insights. A third and final tip to really drive home pronunciation for professionals when presenting.
[00:12:28] Speaker C: So I guess this kind of relates to point number two. But I'm gonna focus on something a bit more specific here, and that's to focus on stress and intonation.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Great.
[00:12:39] Speaker C: Now, I want to clarify what these mean, because a lot of my students, they think they mean the same thing thing, or some people just don't know the differences or they don't know what the terms mean at all. And that's okay because I'm going to tell you what they are. So stress essentially refers to the emphasis that you put on the word. So a really easy example could be, I was at the meeting. Normal stress. But if I say I was at the meeting, I'm really putting emphasis on the was here because I'm wanting to show you, like, I'm highlighting. This happened in the past. This isn't something that's happening now. No, I didn't say I am in the meeting. I said I was in the meeting. I'm free now if you want to call.
[00:13:24] Speaker B: Great, Great.
[00:13:26] Speaker C: So by using stress, you're able to convey more specific emotions, more specific meanings. I should say great as well. The way that English works, we put emphasis on keywords. So these keywords are otherwise known as content words. These are things like nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, negative modal verbs. Punch my mic. Sorry. Negative modal verbs. And just got so excited about stressed forms, negative modal verbs, and negative auxiliary verbs as well.
All of these are stressed. Okay? So in a sentence, if I say something like my name.
No, I won't go with that. Let me think. I'm trying to think in a meeting or something or in a presentation.
Today's topic is about what could it be about? What do people talk about?
Statistics.
[00:14:26] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:14:28] Speaker C: So today's topic is about statistics.
We're going to focus on the keywords here. So today's topic is about statistics.
Okay? So you'll notice that I'm really stressing certain points, and those points that I'm stressing are really clear to you. So if I say it naturally, those words that I'm not stressing, they become a Bit softer, bit quicker and weaker.
So the sentence again. Do you remember the sentence, Rob?
[00:15:01] Speaker B: Yes. Today's topic is about statistics.
[00:15:05] Speaker C: Exactly. And notice how Rob says it. Today's topic is about statistics.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: That's great.
[00:15:10] Speaker C: So by focusing on these keywords, it really helps people understand you so much better. Especially if you have quite an echoey room, you really want to make sure that the key words really stand out.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: Great.
[00:15:24] Speaker C: If they're at the back of the room, you want to make sure they can hear the key information.
Yeah. Learning about sentence stress. This is called sentence stress. Learning about that, it will really help intonation.
Stress and intonation are like sisters. So stress is the emphasis, intonation is the melody. It's what gives the life an emotion to your speech.
So intonation would be something, could be as simple as like in a question.
So if I say to Rob, what's your name versus what's your name?
Yeah. So even with questions, a lot of people, non native speakers, English learners, they think, oh, if there's a question, I must use a rising intonation. But that's not always the case. I always like to use the example of Rob, when's your birthday?
Rob, when's your birthday?
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Oh, that's good. That's a good one.
[00:16:21] Speaker C: The difference here is if I say to Rob, when's your birthday? With a rising intonation, it sounds like I'm checking. Like, I swear, Rob's told me before, but I can't remember when it is and I'm just double checking. But if I've never asked Rob before when his birthday is, I'm gonna use a falling intonation. It's a genuine question. Rob, when's your birthday? Never asked you before.
[00:16:44] Speaker B: That is just incredible insights. Pulling back the curtain on intonation, decoding intonation, that's fantast.
[00:16:54] Speaker C: So, yeah, by using intonation, you're conveying a very different meaning. The words that I've said to Rob are exactly the same. I've asked him when his birthday is, but Rob, in his brain, depending on the intonation that I use, he's going to convey that question in two very different ways.
He's either going to be very offended that I don't know when his birthday is, or he's going to be like, oh, it's okay, just check. You know what I mean?
[00:17:20] Speaker B: Yeah, Perfect.
[00:17:20] Speaker C: Depends on the question and the person.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:22] Speaker C: So yes, intonation as well is important when giving your speech doesn't just have to be in questions. It can be just when you're giving your talk, your speech, your presentation, it helps you stop sounding like you're bored if your intonation is really flat. People get bored.
[00:17:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:41] Speaker C: People don't want to listen to you anymore. Then your boss stops inviting you to go to talks. You don't travel the world anymore.
No one likes you.
[00:17:51] Speaker B: The list goes on.
[00:17:54] Speaker C: You see what happens. A domino, of course.
[00:17:56] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah.
[00:17:57] Speaker C: So intonation is important.
[00:17:59] Speaker B: Great, great. So there we have it. Intonation and stress. The sisters. The final tip on improving pronunciation when you're in those professional environments, especially presentations.
So just to recap, could you just give us a quick recap of the top three tips, please, Emma?
[00:18:15] Speaker C: Yep, they're the top three tips. They were the only three tips in today's podcast episode.
So tip number one is to video record yourself presenting and analyze not just your speech, how you're talking and so on, but analyze your body posture and how you are presenting on stage.
Second one is to slow down your speech. It gives you more time to articulate and it gives you more time. Sorry, it gives your audience more time to process what you've said. And then the final one, number three, is to focus on stress and intonation.
By using stress, you're able to emphasize the key words to ensure that people understand you. And by using intonation one, you're going to convey those very intricate meanings and emotions.
But also it stops you from sounding boring.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: Brilliant. Brilliant. Thank you so much for dropping so much value on the show today. That's absolutely fantastic.
Where can the audience find more of your excellent work? Where can they find you online?
[00:19:19] Speaker C: Thank you very much for the compliment. I appreciate that. Pronunciation with Emma. I'm pretty much everywhere, but my main channel, my main platform, I should say, is YouTube. Just search pronunciation with Emma and I'm there. And I have a podcast as well. So if you are a podcast lover, you prefer that over YouTube videos, then I also have the Pronunciation with Emma podcast.
[00:19:45] Speaker B: Great stuff. Thank you once again for joining us. I'll make sure to put those links down in the show notes. It's been an absolute pleasure hosting you today and hopefully we can do this again very soon.
[00:19:55] Speaker A: Thanks once again.
[00:19:56] Speaker C: Thank you very much for having me.
[00:19:57] Speaker A: Cheers.
[00:19:58] Speaker B: Bye bye now.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: Well, there we have it. A fantastic episode packed with hyper valuable insights and techniques to help you boost your pronunciation skills immediately.
Be sure to head over to emma's channel on YouTube and her podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts. Until next time, keep it strictly business.
