Surge in accent reduction classes speaks volumes

Sitting across from his teacher, Edgar Martinez repeated the word he couldn't quite pronounce: "situation."

"Sit-oo-a-shun," he said.

"What happens with the tu?" asked the teacher, Lisa Mojsin, hired to help Martinez reduce his accent.

"Chu," Martinez responded.

"Yes, like chewing your food," Mojsin said, saying the word slowly: "Sit-chew-a-shun."

"Wow -- that is another new one for me," said Martinez, 37, who emigrated from Mexico as a teenager and lives in Los Angeles. "I wish they had taught me this 20 years ago."

In classes and private tutoring sessions throughout the nation, immigrants and others are focused on sounding more American (think prime-time news anchor). They are practicing their vowels and reciting problem words. Koreans struggle to say "zero" instead of "jero." Hindi speakers practice saying "available" instead of "awailable." And Spanish speakers from Mexico and Central America strive to say "something" rather than "somesing."

Accent reduction classes have been around for years, but linguists and teachers say an increasingly multilingual workforce is prompting a surge in enrollments. The American Speech-Language Hearing Assn. reports a 15% increase from 2005 to 2006 in the number of inquiries. Private tutors said they answer calls almost daily from prospective students, when just a few years ago the phones rang only periodically.

Author Amy Gillett said that sales of her book and CD set, "Speak English Like an American," have tripled in the last few years, from 1,500 copies after its 2004 release to nearly 5,000.

Some courses report waiting lists; others have brought in additional instructors to meet the demand. Judy Ravin, president of the Accent Reduction Institute in Ann Arbor, Mich., said she has hundreds of students, including employees of General Motors and Cisco Systems, who follow her program, "Lose Your Accent in 28 Days."

"As our workforce becomes more and more global," she said, "these classes are becoming more and more popular."

Accent reduction students said they are self-conscious about how they sound and whether their accents are limiting their job opportunities or stunting their social lives.

Jennie Lo, 43, of Culver City said her accent has been an embarrassment since she arrived in the United States from Taiwan in 1988. Sometimes people couldn't even understand her when she said her name. While in college in Oklahoma, Lo said she didn't make many friends, fearing that no one could make out her words. One reason she works as a fashion pattern designer is because she can go entire days without talking to anybody.