Clarity Consultation

Are you tired of working on and wondering about your accent and not being sure if you're focusing on the right things?

Want to know what you should change in order to speak English more clearly and effectively so that people will definitely understand what you say?

Interested in getting answers to your questions about how YOU can sound more natural and more like a native speaker?

Then you should consider investing in a Clarity Consultation.

Ready for honest feedback on your accent and how you sound when speaking?

Why should I consider a Clarity Consultation?

If you had the opportunity to ask a professional exactly what you should do to reduce your accent and improve how you sound when speaking English, what would you ask?

Maybe you'd ask about how accurate and natural your word and sentence stress actually is, what you can do to change your pitch and improve your intonation, or which aspects of your pronunciation still need work.

Perhaps you'd find out if your accent is distracting from your meaning, how you can better control your breath, or how to use your voice to communicate more effectively.

In a personal, private one-to-one coaching session, you can get answers to all of these questions.

How does a Clarity Consultation work?

After you invest in a Clarity Consultation, I'll send you a short list of questions so I can get to know you and your needs before we meet. This ensures our time together is focused and productive and you get answers to the questions that most interest you.

This session will be recorded so that you can focus on getting your questions answered rather than taking notes.

When we start the session, I'll ask you to tell me a little about yourself using familiar personal and professional topics so I can hear how you speak.

Then we'll talk about specific ways you can improve your pronunciation, word and sentence stress, intonation, and voice and breath. We can also discuss the best way for you to practice.

Within 48 hours of our meeting, I'll send you a link to download the video recording as well as a short PDF summary of the most important advice, guidance, and suggestions.

How do I prepare for the Clarity Consultation?

In order to get the most useful advice, you should try to feel relaxed and comfortable so that you speak naturally, without preparation. Just before our scheduled meeting time, you'll need to add me on Skype and check your camera and microphone so that our consultation goes smoothly.

What will I get from the Clarity Consultation?

When I evaluate your accent, I listen for the way you use your voice and breath and watch the way you form sounds with your lips, mouth, and jaw to identify any sounds that are distracting from your meaning.

In particular, I focus on how consistently you stress your words and ideas and how you use intonation to communicate what you mean.

I also pay attention to elements of prosody, such as your pitch, rhythm, pace, speaking speed, breathing, pausing, and volume, in addition to stress and intonation.

During the consultation, I'll give you specific suggestions on what you personally need to do in order to improve how you sound.

As you know, it is really challenging to identify your own communication challenges and diagnose what's not quite right about your accent. That's why you need clarity.

Beyond that, there are more advanced aspects of accent reduction you probably haven't learned about through YouTube videos or other online resources because they're too complex for a wide audience. But we can definitely discuss them in a clarity consultation.

When should I meet with you for a Clarity Consultation?

You should consider meeting with me for a Clarity Consultation when you have doubts, questions, concerns, or frustrations about how you sound when speaking American English.

You may also want to get meet for this one-to-one coaching session when you've been working on reducing your accent and improving how you sound on your own and you want to check and see how you're doing and what else you should focus on.

This is an excellent way to find out how Americans "hear" you!

Here are some other reasons why you may want to meet for a Clarity Consultation:

if you're applying to or interviewing for a new job at a new company or organization and you want to check on your accent
if you're looking for a new position with your current company and you're concerned that how you sound will affect your ability to get promoted
if you're taking a language exam like the TOEFL or IETLS and you want to know what you should do to speak more clearly and be more easily understood
if you have to lead meetings, teach classes, or give presentations in English and you want to feel as confident as possible about how you speak
if you're planning to attend a networking event or conference in English and you want an "accent tune-up" before interacting with new people
if you're spending a lot of time working on your accent and you're not sure if you're doing the right thing or if you're even making progress
if you simply want to ask questions about your accent and find out what you can do to improve

What My Clients Are Saying

Kim will work with you to find out the actual underlying causes of your English pronunciation and communication challenges and provides constructive feedback to help you improve further. She’s by far the best accent/communication coach I’ve ever worked with.

-Kel, Sierra Leone (living in the US)

Having lived in the United States for 10 years, I thought I had a fairly good accent already. I was blown away by the meticulous detail Kim has provided through the assessment, along with the helpful articles. With just one assessment, I found out some of the biggest pronunciation mistakes I kept on making for years, and fixed them already!

She even pointed out that I had "Californian" intonation, and taught me how to improve that into more "standard" American English. Looking at how Kim moved her lips and tongue in the video was very helpful as well, since I could exactly see how to change my way of making these sounds. This was the best money I've spent in the last couple of months!

-Sung, South Korea (living in the US)

I'm so glad I took this language assessment! I am very impressed with the thoroughness and expertise you demonstrated. I've been following your suggestions ever since and I've already seen improvements. Finally, not only you gave me invaluable suggestions and info to improve my speaking, but you also boosted my overall confidence.

-Toni, Brazil (living in the US)

Thank you for sending the assessment, it is very helpful. The concrete suggestions on what to change and what to change to was exactly I was looking for. Now I know what to practice on and where to start from.

-Raj, India (living in the US)

Kim has an engaging and practical way of teaching sounding natural. She is big on "musicality" of English so she trained me hard on intonation and length of pronunciation. She has phenomenal ears that could single out the subtle differences in my accent.

-Carol, China (living in the US)

Get Started with Your Clarity Consultation

If you're ready to get my feedback on how you sound, please click the button to pay for the clarity consultation. You can pay using your credit or debit card or Paypal.

After your payment, you will receive an email from me explaining how to schedule our clarity consultation as well as the questions you need to answer before our meeting time.

If you don't receive the email within an hour or two, please contact me so I can send you further instructions.

I look forward to working with you!

Clarity Consultation Policy

Before paying for your Clarity Consultation, note that I am available to meet Wednesday and Thursday from 11AM-6PM EDT (Boston/NYC time) only. Please be sure this availability works for your schedule.

Please note: I will not be available to meet for Clarity Consultations during July and August 2020.

When you sign up for a Clarity Consultation, you agree to schedule our meeting and meet with me within 30 days of date of purchase.

If you do not meet with me within 30 days, you will forfeit your payment. You will not be offered a refund, nor will you be eligible to meet for a Clarity Consultation at another date.

Be sure to review English with Kim's terms and conditions, privacy policy, and online course, program, and coaching policies for more information.

FAQs

What makes a Clarity Consultation different?

First of all, you get the opportunity to meet with me personally and ask all the questions you have about your accent. If you have benefited from my free videos, email courses, or other resources, you already know whether you like my style of explaining these concepts.

Next, I focus on what you need to do to speak more clearly and be more easily understood, rather than what you're doing "wrong" when compared to native American English speakers. I share all the tips and tricks I have to get close to a natural-sounding accent, without focusing on producing sounds exactly the same way native speakers do.

Because I focus on pitch, stress, intonation, thought groups, connected speech, breathing, pausing, speaking speed, pace, volume, and how you use your voice to communicate in my work, I prioritize these during our meeting.

How long is the Clarity Consultation?

The Clarity Consultation is 60 minutes long. Because you'll provide details about your questions, needs, and concerns before we meet, our time together will be focused and productive.

Is the Clarity Consultation just for accent advice?

While we will definitely discuss how your pronunciation and accent affects how well people understand you, we will focus primarily on how you communicate using pitch, stress, intonation, prosody, and other aspects of your voice and breath.

Because the way you emphasize your words, how you express yourself through intonation, and how people react to your tone of voice affects how well you communicate, we can also discuss better ways for you to communicate your meaning and your message.

If time remains, you can ask questions about communication skills, but I will not be able to answer questions about grammar, vocabulary, writing, or other aspects of English.

Will I understand how you explain what I need to do to improve my accent?

When discussing your accent, I will speak in simple, straightforward language. As an educator who has been working with non-native English speakers for over 10 years, I understand how to explain things in a way that is easy to understand.

In addition, I can explain how your native language influences your accent. During my career, I have worked with people from all over the world and understand the specific challenges you face as a speaker of a certain language.

I avoid using linguistics jargon when possible, or try to explain things in several different ways so you can understand. My clients appreciate the way I explain accent reduction because it is simpler and easier to implement than other advice they've received.

For examples of how I explain accent concepts, try my video on Sound More American: Three Simple Changes to Improve Your Pronunciation for an American Accent.

Because a clarity consultation happens live, it is possible that we will not get to discuss every aspect of your accent, but as with the accent assessment, I will tell you what you should work on in order of priority so that you can improve how you sound.

I want to focus on how I pronounce sounds so I sound exactly like a native speaker. Is this right for me?

While I can certainly give you advice on sounds you need to pronounce more accurately for clear communication, I emphasize getting the sounds "close enough" rather than exactly like a native speaker.

My clients often say that they prefer my coaching style because they're able to take action more quickly.

In addition, I find people spend too much time focusing on sounds and not enough time on the aspects of your accent that are most related to clear communication, such as pitch, stress, intonation, and prosody.

I encourage you to browse the accent advice I already have available to see if you like my accent reduction philosophy.

Will I learn anything new from this clarity consultation?

After getting feedback from me, my clients regularly say that they never paid attention to this specific concept before, or they didn't realize that they were making a particular mistake, or that they never paid attention to this specific aspect of their speech.

If you've been following my accent advice, you may hear me mention concepts that I regularly talk about in my articles and videos. However, I will explain how they specifically apply to you as a speaker of your native language.

In addition, there are many accent reduction concepts that are too complex or advanced to share with a general audience in free resources. I'll give you tips on these during your coaching session, too.

This is your opportunity to ask questions and clarify any doubts, frustrations, confusion, or concerns you have.

I'm not sure if I should invest in a Clarity Consultation. Is it worth it?

If you're not sure if you should invest in a Clarity Consultation, please feel free to browse the 100+ videos and articles already available on my website and YouTube channel. Although the accent advice is general, it can help you start moving in the right direction.

You should invest in a Clarity Consultation if you want my feedback on your accent, pitch, stress, intonation, and other aspects of how you use your voice and breath. This is a great way to get personalized suggestions.

Have you ever wondered what I would say about your accent? Or do you want to check your progress from the hard work you've been doing on your own? Or are you interested in knowing what else you can do to improve how you sound?

Then a Clarity Consultation is for you.

Ready to sound more natural in English?

I'm Kim from englishwithkim.com and I'm your guide to the essential communication skills you need to sound more natural in English. Let's get started!