The thing I hate most when listening to a speech or movie or podcast - is mumbling. I have no problem with accents, provide the words are enunciated. I lived for a long time in and around London and the primary accent there now seems to be Estuary English. It's a lazy cockney. Sorry if its your accent - but as my children grew up and adopted this accent, I found I understood them less and less.

I grew up in the west country, which is a nice accent, but with the added complication of dialect, words unique to the area, it is easy to not be understood. I now live in Hull and it took me about 10 years to tune into the accent and dialect here.

If you are speaking to a mixed audience, and especially if you have people in the audience for whom English is not their first language, you need to speak with clarity. So today I am going to talk about speaking with clarity and give you a few exercises to help develop a clearer speaking voice.

Here are some exercises we will look at:

Mah Nah Mah Nah Man Nah
Buh Dug Guh Duh
Wah Bah Dah
Wah Wee Way Woo
Tah Tee Tay Too
Wah Vah Tah Thah

1. We are all going to Oxford in April.
2. Ought we to take Uncle Alfred and Aunt Ethel?
3. Actually I think they’ll arrive by air.
4. Of all the alternatives I accept the eighth.
5. Pay every attention to expert advice.
6. Who announced that opera? It was inaudible.

Don't forget that you can contact me at Rikki@rikkiarundel.com to find out how you can benefit from One to One coaching with me and book a free 30 minute trial session.