Speak Better with Rebecca Linquist
SPEAK BETTER helps you, as a native or non-native speaker of American English (but especially a non-native speaker), scale up your skills and confidence in public speaking, but also clear pronunciation, how to change your accent; should you change your accent? What is an accent vs. a dialect? What difference does it make? How can you communicate more strongly and show up with greater presence and impact? How do you do all this with less effort and greater authority, but not sound arrogant, or on the other side of the spectrum, indecisive? How do you strike a balance? This podcast will explore all of these areas and more in depth!
Join your host Rebecca Linquist, a Speech, Voice, Accent & Presence Coach with over 25 years of experience in the Silicon Valley of northern California.
Episodes
42 episodes
Discovering your Communication Triggers
What do you react to in communication that weakens your effectiveness or undermines your confidence? Just being aware of it is the first step. After that, it's all about being in control of your responses, realizing what your options are, and m...
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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12:27
How do you know how to be assertive without being aggressive?
It's hard enough in your native tongue to show the right level of confidence by sounding assertive, not aggressive, let alone to do it in another language. This episode discusses what you need to navigate to sound confident and show conviction ...
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Season 1
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Episode 41
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19:03
The Power of Exaggeration
When learning to perfect your speech in American English, exaggeration is a great way to learn new patterns and strengthen the right muscles. This episode discussion what to exaggerate and how to do it systematically to create results!
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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19:47
What do you muscles have to do with speech?
Many of us don't realize what muscles we engage when we speak, and often non-native speakers spend hours practicing without getting results because they are using different muscles or not engaging them the same way a native speaker would. Also,...
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Season 1
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Episode 39
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20:41
How Zumba can improve your voice and speech
Many of us exercise for our health, but there are added benefits for your voice if you use certain types of exercise, like Zumba. In this episode, Rebecca discusses how movement with sound can enhance your speech, act as a warm-up, and es...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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18:57
How to get your Company to pay for your coaching
One of the biggest questions prospective speech and accent reduction clients have asked over the years is how to get their companies to pay for their coaching. It's a big game changer for the organization people work for, so it's important to i...
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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19:56
What to do if you talk too fast?
This is without a doubt THE most common question people ask when it comes to speech in general, and even accent in particular. The most common feedback non-native speakers are given by American English first language speakers is to SLOW DOWN. I...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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17:23
What do Japanese and Korean speakers learning an American English accent have in common?
Japanese and Korean speakers have even, flat tones that make their languages similar, especially when it comes to mastering the American English accent. What can these native speakers do to improve their ability to learn the American accent? Le...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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17:54
Spanish first language speakers and how to improve American English accent acquisition
There are many flavors of Spanish from Mexican to Peruvian to Argentinian to Ecuadorian to Castilian, and many more! What do all these flavors of Spanish have in common when attempting to learn American English? Listen to this episode to learn ...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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16:03
Tonal Languages (like Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai)
What about commonalities when it comes to "tonal" languages that generally have a number of different tones native speakers can control. How are these languages different from American English and what can speakers of these languages as mother ...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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18:01
What about French speakers who desire to acquire an American Accent?
A common response to the question of French speakers acquiring an American Accent is "Why would they want to?" Of course, Americans in general have a fondness for the French accent, yet many native speakers still desire to change it, possibly t...
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Season 1
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Episode 31
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15:24
The many interesting accents of India and the commonalities they share when acquiring an American Accent
The diversity of India includes potentially 122 major languages and 1599 "other" languages, potentially dialects? (according to Wikipedia). Regardless of the actual number, this level of diversity calls for an episode of its own on common...
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Season 1
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Episode 30
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19:40
Curious about Russian, Ukrainian, or Bulgarian tendencies when it comes to the American Accent
It's even easier to identify commonalities when comparing languages that have certain similarities, as these do. This episode dives into what Russian, Ukrainian & Bulgarian first languages speakers can all work on to improve how their speec...
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Season 1
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Episode 29
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18:58
Commonalities in Acquiring an American Accent
We often assume that every first language has different issues with acquiring an American Accent, yet many non-native speakers share more in common than they may realize. This episode seeks to capture the areas non-native speakers have in commo...
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Season 1
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Episode 28
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19:35
How to navigate the continuum from indecisive to arrogant
Sounding confident is the ideal, but some of us come off as arrogant or indecisive instead. How you change that? Listen to this episode.
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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20:08
The American R sound
Why do so many people struggle with the American "r" sound? How is it different? Does it matter? What happens if you use a different "r" sound when speaking English? If you want to acquire the American "r" sound in your speech, what should you ...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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17:07
Non-verbal communication do's and don'ts
When speaking to others, we often make facial movements and gestures, and sometimes we don't make any at all. We also make these movements in different ways and at different speeds. Often we aren't aware of what we do, and this episode addresse...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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12:27
What is Throaty Articulation and how can you change it?
Speech qualities can allude many of us. We may not know we have a certain quality, and we may find out about it from others and not know how to change it. Learn more about what "throaty" articulation refers to and how you might address it.
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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21:26
Syncing verbal and non-verbal communication
We all intuitively know that our non-verbal communication speaks louder than our verbalized speech, but have you ever thought about how the two fit together? If there's a disconnect, you could be alienating your audience by sending messages tha...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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12:04
Articulation Exercises for Speech
In American English, we need to use all of our "articulators" (our lips, tongue, jaw, and mouth) to ensure we create sounds that are well formed and clear. This episode discusses the exercises you can do to work on effective articulation in Ame...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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20:19
Posture & Breath Awareness for Speech
It's critically important to ensure you have the best posture and breathing working in your favor when speaking to others. How can you become aware of your patterns and shift them if needed? This episode addresses these issues.
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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14:27
How to integrate everything you learn
A common concern for people working on their speech, delivery, accent and presence, is how do you integrate everything you learn? This episode addresses how to stay focused on what you need to change to ensure results when dealing with multiple...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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17:11
How to move from "scripted" to "unscripted"
If you are nervous about public speaking, or if English isn't your first language, you may "script" your presentations, but as you will realize over time, these "scripted" presentations are not as powerful as they could be. How can you move fro...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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14:42