The mission of Triangle Speech Services is to help individuals whose accented speech is difficult to understand, speak English clearly and confidently using "listener friendly" speech patterns.

 

Your speech is your "vocal resume." We can help you sound ...

 

Confident


Articulate


Clear


Dynamic 


Successful

  

 


"Accent on News,"  our monthly e-mail newsletter, is designed to provide information and inspiration. See the sign-up box below and click on the "Archives" link to read past issues including "Examining What We Value," "Change Your Mind to Change Your Life" and "The Ideal Client." Our clients tell their own compelling stories. Read one in "The Secret of Soft Power."


Articles by Judith L. Bergman:

 

 "The Linguistic Basis of Foreign Accents" in Communique, Spring 2009 (A publication of The North Carolina Speech, Hearing and Language Association) 

 "Mastering Meaning: Harnessing the Power of American English" is Ms. Bergman's monthly column published in Saathee: A Features Magazine for the South Asian Community of the Carolinas beginning in February 2008.

"Accents: Communication Barriers or Cultural Flavors?"
Saathee, June 2005

"Understanding Foreign Accents"
Southern Neighbor, Nov. 2005

"The Sounds of English: Clear Signals or Static?"
Southern Neighbor, Feb. 2006

 


 


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All Triangle Speech Services staff hold the Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) of the American Speech-Language Hearing Association.

 

 

 
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Our Programs

 

We are offering Medically Speaking: Accent Modification for the Medical Profession as well as our enriched version of the Compton P-ESL or Pronouncing English as a Second Language Program. These basic level programs are described in detail below.  We  begin with a free telephone consultation followed by a formal information session and screening test held in our office locations or on corporate sites.

We also offer two additional specialized programs: Speak Standard, Too and MEEC (Mastering Effective English Communication).

  • Speak Standard Too is a program for Americans who are regional speakers of English and wish to "code switch" from their dialect patterns to standard business English in corporate settings.
  • The MEEC is an advanced program with three components addressing intonation, consonant and vowel variations. Enrollment in this program is by recommendation of the instructors and is for clients who have successfully completed the P-ESL program.
  • On August 29, 2009 we began our first Saturday Seminar Series at our office which started with a six-hour course, Speaking English with Confidence and Clarity  and then on September 12 began our five session Saturday Seminar, Mastering the Idioms of American English, Part 1-Front Vowels  continuing with MIAE Part 2 - r- colored vowels.  Each seminar met from 1 to 4 PM on five consecutive Saturdays.  The Winter 2010 Seminars were cancelled. At this time our individual enrollment is so high that we will probably not resume the Saturday Seminar Series in the Fall of 2010.

  

See "Steps to Success" below.

 

Medically Speaking: Accent Modification for the Medical Profession

by Lynda Katz Wilner, M.S. CCC-SLP of "Successfully Speaking"

 Program Description: materials.jpg

  • The Inventory: an assessment designed to be administered by a speech-language pathologist.
  • Client manual
  • Four audio CDs
  • Content areas: (1) Intonation, (2) Pronunciation and (3) Idiomatic Expressions and American Slang
  • All content including the testing and training materials is medically oriented and appropriate for training foreign born physicians, nurses and others who work in medical settings.

 

 

The Pronouncing English as a Second Language (P-ESL) Program

By Arthur J. Compton Ph.D. CCC-SLP

 

Program Description:

  • Based on 30 years of research and development at the Institute of Language & Phonology
  • Extensive normative data on clients from 100 different language backgrounds
  • Training and specialty certification offered to speech-language pathologists
  • Includes practice with client's work related materials
  • Stresses technical vocabulary, presentation skills and carry-over practice activities to transfer skills to actual work and social speaking situations
  • Triangle Speech Services enriches the P-ESL Program with our own units on Repairing Conversational Breakdowns, practice strategies for learning difficult sounds and explicit teaching of intonation patterns.

 

Steps to Success

 

Step 1.We begin with a free telephone consultation. You tell us about yourself and your speaking challenges. We briefly describe the programs and determine  your commitment to meeting the daily practice requirements.

Step 2. An information session is held to demonstrate the materials and conduct two brief accent screening tests. The second is digitally recorded and a sound file with a brief analysis of your accent features will be emailed to you. You will receive an information folder with a course outline, fee summary, training proposal for your manager, if requested, and articles about accents. There is a $75.00 fee (separate from the tutorial fee) for this session which typically lasts about one hour.

Step 3. A comprehensive individual evaluation which assesses accent features including intonation as well as grammar, understanding of idioms and word knowledge, is digitally recorded and analyzed. This is administered again as a post test. We provide written initial and final reports and before/after digital sound fiiles. An individualized curriculum is developed from the results of this evaluation.

Step 4. The client purchases materials for the appropriate program.

Step 5. We provide an individual customized tutorial.*

 

  • Thirteen one-hour individual tutorial sessions can be conducted at our offices or yours. We offer discounts to individuals without company sponsorship, accept installment payments from individuals and accept payment by MasterCard or VISA. We also offer a seven-session version of the P-ESL for individuals with mild accents and then follow this with the Intonation Module of the advanced MEEC or with the entire MEEC program. We usually schedule sessions every two weeks to allow additional time for daily practice of each assignment.

  • NOTE:  At this time we are not conducting any groups or any Saturday Seminars. 

peslmaterials2.jpg

 

Try a practice version of the Compton PESL CD-ROM

 

 


Triangle Speech Services • 5500-74C Fortunes Ridge Drive • Durham, NC 27713 • 919-489-5464
© 2010 Triangle Speech Services in Durham, NC