Tracey Ingram - 7 Weeks to a Better American Accent for Native Mandarin Speakers--volume 1

Many native Chinese speakers can master English grammar but are not able to get rid of their accent no matter how many years they practice. Traceys book offers a well laid out 7 week course that could improve your communication with native English speakers dramatically.

Sam Fong

Pretty good guide and well organized.

Li Lei

I read the book sample. Its great. I had the same problems of arriving to the United States and could not understand what others were talking about when I got off the plane. The pronunciation is totally different than what I learned in China. In addition if courses were offered to match the book, it would be even better.

Xiaoying (Angela) Yang

Speaking English is always frustrating for us Mandarin native speakers. However it will be a totally different story if we really master those tricks with an insiders help. I am glad that Tracey wrote this book just for us. She knows well of the difference between Mandarin and English and gives very good advice on how to improve English accent in a short period. I would like to recommend this book to my Chinese fellows, hoping they will enjoy speaking English and benefit from their new American English accent.

Lin Gong, M.E. Former Language Teacher

Even if youre on the right track,

youll get run over

if you just sit there.

Will Rogers

Tracey Ingram, M.A., M.S.

7 weeks to a Better American Accent for Native Mandarin Speakers, Volume 1 2010

All rights Reserved.

Published & Printed in the United States by Sovereign Language Press, Chicago.

www.sovereignlanguagepress.com

Grateful acknowledgment is made to The Handbook of the International Phonetics Association corporate author: International Phonetic Association Cambridge University Press, New York , 1999. Reprinted with permission.

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Sovereign Language Press, Inc.

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Chicago, IL. 60604

http://www.sovereignlanguagepress.com

ISBN- 978-0-615-40686-2

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010914676

Book design by Sue Balcer, justyourtype.biz

A portion of authors royalties will be donated to nonprofit organizations dedicated to inspiring, educating, and empowering women and young girls.

Ms. Tracey Ingram, M.A., M.S., is the Founder & Global Communication Specialist of the Institute of Accent Modification, located in Chicago, Illinois, where she works with students and professionals in American accent training and communication skills development workshops. She is certified by the Institute of Language and Phonology to provide accent modification training to foreign born professionals. She and her team utilize an integrative and customized approach to helping their clients achieve their goals and objectives.

In August 2010, the Institute of Accent Modification, received a business development grant from the National Association for the Self Employed (NASE), to expand the business. Tracey Ingram is nationally certified by the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA), and is also a member of ITBE (Illinois Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages).

Before becoming a Global Communication specialist, Ms. Ingram maintained a private clinical Audiology practice specializing in providing mobile audiology services to seniors in the Chicagoland area. She has also consulted with several area small businesses and Fortune 500 companies regarding their employees communication needs. She has also been a consultant with several area colleges and universities, including Dominican University, Elmhurst College, and DePaul University. She has been a frequently invited guest speaker to local and national healthcare organizations.

• Workshops for all individuals on communication & presentation skills
• Customized individual & group workshops on American accent training
• Programs available worldwide in our online meeting centers
• Available for consultation
• Visit the website for programs www.instituteofaccentmodification.com
• Visit my blog page for current articles, tips, and newsletter signup http://blog.instituteofaccentmodification.com
• Follow me on Twitter @Globalaccentpro
• Become a Fan of the Institute of Accent Modification on Facebook http://bit.ly/auCzxZ

This book is dedicated to my loving parents,

Carl Edward and Helen Marie Ingram,

whove always listened and encouraged me

to dream big and work hard.

I love you both.

I would like to acknowledge Arthur J. Compton, Ph,D. of the Institute of Language and Phonology for the development of the Compton P-ESL program. Id like to personally thank Elinor Stutz for her inspiration and positive attitude. Id like to thank my assistant, Meng Ge, the editor, publisher, typesetter, book cover design team, and my sister for working countless hours on this project. Id like to thank my close friends who were there to listen and cheer me on!

I would like to acknowledge my loyal Mandarin speaking clients and the Mandarin forum group, who read the stories, followed the exercises in this guide, and provided valuable feedback. Their honest feedback helped to make this publication possible and will allow this training format to be available worldwide. Thank you all so much.

Tracey Ingram

The ability to communicate effectively is vital in todays globalized world. I have always been personally very fascinated by communication. As I continued with my graduate studies and started to travel internationally, I realized that cross culturally, we all have a need to be understood.

I have worked professionally as a clinical Audiologist for many years and wanted to expand my services by offering communication workshops for professionals. This idea later developed into the formation of the Institute of Accent Modification in Chicago, Illinois and working with foreign professionals to provide American accent training.

Let me clarify my opinion of accents. Everyone has an accent including some very famous people, which is a combination of intonation and pronunciation. The only time having an accent becomes a problem, is when you are not understood by others. As I began working with many native Mandarin speakers I developed this book,