Office Christmas parties and holiday meals are happening all through December in the corporate world, and perhaps the last thing some of us like to hear is, “I’d like you to give a toast and say a little something to everyone…”

This time, don’t be caught off-guard with what you’ll say and how you’ll say it! As my Christmas gift to you, I’m offering you my Tips for a Successful Holiday Toast as a free download this holiday season.

(Right click to download!)

It’s time again to stuff the turkey (and ourselves!) as Thanksgiving is upon us this week. You know, Thanksgiving is some people’s favorite holiday because it’s all about THE FOOD. I hope you enjoy a tasty Thanksgiving meal with friends or family, as we gather to celebrate the blessings in our lives. 

I’m thankful for you, and for my international clients and followers I’m explaining some American Thanksgiving phrases you may hear as you celebrate this week. Enjoy this video, and a Happy Thanksgiving from Lose My Accent!

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¡Hola, mis amigos!

It's an honor to be celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month once again with my Latino friends and followers across the country and the world! It's a time to recognize the rich traditions and culture that have brought so much joy and unique perspective to the United States.

I have a couple questions to think about as you celebrate your heritage: Is it possible to improve English pronunciation while holding onto your culture? Will you lose part of your heritage if you decide to work on your American accent?

This can be a worrisome topic for anyone with an accent: You worry your family will think you're letting go of your culture, or that changing your speech will somehow change you. But I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way, and that you really can have the best of both worlds! When we talk about reducing your accent, we're really talking about changing the parts of your pronunciation that make your English difficult for others to...

Our world has suffered much heartache this year... perhaps not more than any other time in the history of humanity, but with news available to us nearly instantaneously from around the globe, it seems that way. Violence and suffering weighs heavily on the minds of all people who hope and pray for peace, health, and safety.

Through my American pronunciation instruction, I've been lucky enough to work with wonderful individuals from all over the world... people who also long for peace between all nations.

It starts with US – you and I, choosing to think the best of one another, in friendship!

Please accept these heartfelt wishes of friendship and love in honor of the International Day of Friendship on July 30. To everyone reading this around the world, may we all continue be friends to each other in our online interactions and those around us in our daily lives, the whole year through.

Please share your own message of friendship and peace on...

We're living and working in an age of international connectedness. Your co-­workers or clients may actually be living overseas and speak English as a second or third language, connected to you through internet chats and teleconferencing. Or, you may work daily in person with non-­native English speakers who have been in the U.S. for several years or only a few months.

No matter the situation, you need to be able to effectively communicate with your team.

In my last article on communicating with non-­native English speakers, I outlined how to keep language simple in the workplace. Today, we'll talk about slowing down.

Right now I'm going to ask you to stop and remember:

• A foreign language class you took

• A time you were shopping in an international market

• Any time you overheard a foreign language conversation

Do you remember how the other language sounded? Was it incredibly fast and jumbled to you? Did you wonder...

Tell me if this resonates with you: you're comfortable in your workplace when it requires reading emails and going through written material... or writing to co-workers and jotting down notes.

But when needing to speak out loud to a co-worker, or asked to speak up at a meeting, you say as little as possible.

You've been misunderstood so many times, it's just easier to stay quiet.

Sound familiar?

If you learned English outside the U.S., you probably spent years structuring sentences, memorizing vocabulary, and listening to English. You excelled in reading and writing, and by all measures became fluent in the English language.

You might have been surprised, then, when you came to America as a scientist, researcher, or engineer, and found that others had trouble understanding you!

Accustomed to learning in a passive way rather than an active one, and without an emphasis on speaking, you prefer to listen instead of engage in conversations. You're...

I'm truly excited this month to be sharing with you how interacting with those around you is a major factor in reducing your accent. A major research focus for American Speech­Language­Hearing Association (ASHA) has been the overuse of technology and its effect on language and hearing development, specifically among children.

In a 2015 ASHA survey of 1,000 parents:

• 52% expressed concern that technology negatively impacts the quality of their conversations with their children

• 54% say they have fewer conversations with their children because of technology

• 52% are concerned that misuse of technology is harming their children's speech and language skills.

How does this translate to YOU as an adult professional?

As you work to reduce your accent, and as a professional who is probably using a substantial amount of technology at work and at home, I would ask this question...

Speech-­language experts...

Most of us recognize the voice of Siri®, the iPhone’s voice - assisted technology. But Siri® doesn’t recognize the pronunciation of everyone who attempts to communicate with her. Apple says that she handles 1 billion voice requests per week, but many non-native speakers have reverted back to text-based requests after Siri® failed to grasp what they were asking.

As an accent reduction trainer, I received a flood of new inquiries from internationals in the US when Siri® was first released. People who had thought for years that their pronunciation was good enough were suddenly faced with the fact that this new technology told them otherwise.

Granted, the technology itself is partly to blame. As analyst Jeff Kagan reported in this Fortune article, “[These technologies] are still in their very early growth." The software doesn't get everything right, but it is constantly improving.

And...