BARRIERS AND BRIDGES
Practically all you need to know about non-mother-tongue pronunciation
There are numerous excellent skills development seminars and workshops on offer in South Africa today. Not surprisingly, some of these courses focus specifically on communication in the workplace: for example, managers and middle managers are trained in report-writing and presentation skills, and telephone and front-desk receptionists are trained in how to attend to callers in appropriate and professionally acceptable ways.
Given the demographics of our country, many people who attend these workshops are, inevitably, non-mother-tongue speakers of English who occupy positions of responsibility, influence and authority in the corporate world, in SMMEs and in state departments.
And yet, among the courses I have seen advertised, none appears to offer specific, detailed and – what is extremely important – carefully systematised assistance to non-mother-tongue speakers of English (particularly black South Africans) in the area of English pronunciation.
My workshop addresses this vitally important subject both as comprehensively as is necessary and with as much emphasis on practice as is possible (underpinned all the way through by solid, carefully explained theory).
To paraphrase the deliberately ambiguous subtitle: by the end of the workshop you will know just about all you need to know for it all to make sense, and you will have learned how to apply that knowledge at work and elsewhere.
Is the issue too sensitive to address?
I am very aware of the fact that for many people this is a very sensitive (even "non-PC") subject.
But it need not be.
Even as you are reading this there are hundreds of millions of speakers all over the world battling to master the pronunciation of languages not their own. And of course mispronunciation occurs all the time.
In our own country whites battle to get their tongues around some sounds in our local black languages.
Here is what is of crucial importance in all this: it is not the existence of non-mother-tongue pronunciation as such that presents difficulties in communication, but incorrect pronunciation that leads to a temporary breakdown in communication or to complete misunderstanding.
For example, if I as a white English speaker battle to pronounce a particular Zulu click sound correctly and say "amakhanda" instead of "amaqanda" in a certain context, many chickens could lose their heads instead of their eggs!
It is precisely this kind of issue that I deal with very practically and very systematically in specific detail in my workshop.
Why is this so critically important?
Here's the real issue in a corporate environment
A technically perfect PowerPoint presentation can lose its effectiveness or its appeal if some of the listeners struggle to follow the presenter because of words being mispronounced. This may even cost a company a potentially important and lucrative account.
Furthermore, mispronunciation inevitably leads to misspelling, which can wreck otherwise good written reports, memos and letters.
My workshop sensitises the non-mother-tongue English ear to English sounds and pronunciation, and practical application is part of the deal.
A "light touch"
I present my material with a "light touch", and translate fairly technical linguistic concepts into very practical "on the ground" assistance with pronunciation, and hence more effective communication overall.
Black people tell me during these workshops that they now understand for the first time why non-blacks in their offices cannot spell certain "black" personal and place names correctly; and the lights suddenly go on for non-blacks, who until then have "never been able to understand why blacks just cannot get it right" when it comes to the pronunciation of many English words.
Because language can be such an emotive issue, such new understanding has the potential to promote mutual tolerance and empathy in the workplace, besides leading to better communication.
And that is why everyone should come to this workshop, regardless of what their mother tongue is.
Do not miss this seminar – you will learn a lot (and you will be entertained in the process!).
