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Success stories

Throughout this site we tell you about the services and value that Voice to Word Consulting offers. Now, let us show you.

We will be posting success stories here which show how our services have been put to work by a few of our clients. They will help you understand how we can work for you as well. Please check back to this page often.

Testimonials

BRUCE ZHIYONG LUI

I was educated in China and Switzerland and have been working in Toronto for several years. Although I have a Master degree and a professional background, I often experienced prejudice because of my accent, as if I were unsophisticated and not too intelligent. I began my training motivated by the goal of improving both my personal and professional life.

My one-on-one training with Heather Chetwynd was extremely successful. She identified issues with individual sounds, many of which had been pointed out by colleagues, as well as others which no one had mentioned, such as incorrect stress and rhythm. I gained the knowledge and skills needed to speak, what I call, authentic English. I became more confident and overcame many problems I had been experiencing in my professional life. In fact, I was promoted ahead of time due, in part, to a very notable improvement in my oral English mentioned on my evaluation. This exceptional reward has encouraged me to work even harder and keep on learning.

Heather is skilled at helping her students gain confidence and improve their communication skills. Her unique training approach and ability with people make her absolutely the best choice for people who are not native speakers of English and wish to pursue a successful professional career in the English-speaking world.

VAL KULKOV

In my work, I promote a system of computer modeling used by pharmaceutical companies and so I interact with clients in the US and worldwide. In general, I am completely comfortable interacting with others in English. But occasionally I have felt that people react to me as an outsider and this has caused a bit of discomfort to me. I felt, if I could turn my accent on and off, I would be able to control this reaction. This motivated me to take accent reduction training with Heather Chetwynd.

During the training, I was very impressed by Heather’s attention to detail, her incredible patience as a teacher and her musical ear which helped her recognize the very tiny things that influence accent. This was something that had been impossible for me to do – to recognize the slight variations in lip movements, tongue position and tension which imprinted my linguistic background on my English. I began to become aware of what I was doing and learn how to adjust it. Heather gave me the knowledge and materials I needed to continue perfecting my speech and produce sounds the way North Americans do.

I found this process of discovery very intriguing, stimulating and entirely enjoyable. I would recommend anyone interested in perfecting their accent to consider taking a few lessons – they’ll be surprised by how much they learn about themselves and how they sound.

WARREN LEE

I have been in Canada for 13 years. For the first ten, I never thought of improving my English since, in my opinion, my skill was adequate for daily use in Canada. Three years ago, a new supervisor complained about my English and insisted I make some improvements. His comments made me aware that I still had difficulties in English, especially with clarity. I took some college English classes and, in 2007, began to study with Voice to Word Consulting.

During the tutorials, I learned how to pronounce the vowels and consonants used by native Canadians, how to stress syllables and words, and various types of intonation. Most importantly, the training showed me my weaknesses -- which vowels and consonants I had problems with and the cause of these problems. I found out that tongue position, lip shape and inadequate breath control all affect the quality of the sound. I realized that my problems were not only related to accent - which I then considered to be only the individual sounds -- but also to the laziness of my tongue and mouth during speech.

A regular English or ESL teacher is like a family doctor who can only understand and address general problems.

In contrast, Heather Chetwynd is a specialist in English pronunciation. She knows what your problems are and understands the cause. For example, she pinpointed my weakness in distinguishing 'L' from 'N,' helped me to hear it and taught me how to pronounce these sounds clearly through a variety of explanations, examples and exercises. Now I more confidently pronounce any words with these two letters.

Heather is a very patient teacher, always willing to listen to her students. She is conscientious and does not let you go until you can successfully pronounce the words or sentences. I do not hesitate to recommend Heather as an English trainer, especially for anyone wishing to refine relatively advanced English skills and make significant improvements in a short time.

SHAWN JUNG

I came to Canada from Korea. After six years in Canada, I had no problem communicating in English and felt confident with my pronunciation. One day, a friend mentioned that I had an accent. I was shocked -- I couldn't accept the fact that I had an accent. So, I asked my friend to point out the difference between my accent and a native speaker's so that I could adjust my accent. Unfortunately, he was unable to describe exactly how it was different. Other friends who were native speakers of English gave me the same reply. So I became motivated to find a professional teacher who could point out what was wrong with my pronunciation, and show me how to adjust it.

When I first met Heather, she recorded my speech and analyzed it. I was surprised when it turned out that I had many more problem than I had expected. During the training, she professionally analyzed these issues, showed me how to correct them and gave me a variety of exercises. She emphasized clarity of speech and showed me how to present effectively. After studying for three months with Heather, I saw noticeable improvements. Even close friends and family noticed the changes. I now speak much more clearly and have developed more confidence in my speech.

If I pick the best moment during the training, it would be the last session when I read a passage and compared it to the original recording. Actually hearing what I had achieved was the most fascinating experience!

I highly recommend anyone who wants to improve the clarity of their speech take a course with Heather. And this includes people like me, who have learned their English from everyday interactions with other native speakers and don't realize how we imitate the poor pronunciation of others around us, many of whom speak in a very sloppy and unprofessional manner most of time. Even a few classes can be a huge help because simply acknowledging the problem and addressing some issues puts us in much better position than others by allowing us to develop awareness and begin to adjust the clarity of our speech

JENNY WONG

I knew I had an accent, but wasn't aware of what the problems were so I didn't have any idea how to correct them. It was very embarrassing when native speakers didn't understand my oral English. I just wanted people to understand me!

Heather caught my pronunciation problems very quickly and designed tailored exercises for me to help me master the keys to correct pronunciation. Unlike most ESL training, the exercises and materials responded to my specific needs, arising from my language and cultural background.

As the training proceeded, I noticed that my colleagues and friends rarely misunderstood me. I began to develop more confidence in my language skills and really enjoy communicating with native speakers.

I would highly recommend Voice to Word Consulting to anyone who is serious about improving their English communication skills. While not cheap compared to most ESL training, it is definitely worth the price because, when we invest our time and money, we want good quality and a real return.

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