The importance of diction and accent in oral interpreting

What are accent and diction?

Accent stands for the way of pronouncing the words of a language showing which country, area or social class a person comes from. Accent may even be a tool of identification. An interpreter’s accent should be neutral.

Diction stands for the quality of the particular way of pronouncing words. In other words, the more clearly and expressively we speak, the better the quality of our speech.

Why is it important to know what accent and diction are?

Have you ever read a report or a speech and noticed that you barely opened your mouth?
Or did you mumble?
Did your audience complain about having to work hard to understand what you said?

If the answer is Yes!, this should be the right course for you.

Freelancers starting in the interpreting industry.
Established interpreters who want to improve their diction and accent.
Teachers of English and instructors in the area of oral interpreting.
Public speakers, announcers, PRs, etc.

1. Neutral accent
2. Clear pronunciation and perfect diction
3. Understandable speech
4. Increased personal confidence
5. Better prospects at work

- Working knowledge of English
- A computer and headphones
- A notepad and a pencil.

This webinar follows a clearly outlined procedure showing you how to:

1. Clearly pronounce both consonants and vowels.
- Exercises will help you work on the proper articulation of English phonemes.

2. Avoid slurring phonemes.
- Exercises showing you where to pause, how to breathe and how to recognize tone groups.

3. Add proper intonation and special effects to your speech.
- Exercises showing you how to spice up your speech to give it a natural flow.

4. Learn how to produce smooth speech, yet casual enough so as not to sound artificial.
- Exercises rounding up the separate steps in the webinar showing you how to deliver clearly understandable speech and following a natural pace based on proper articulation, a neutral accent and clear diction.

Click on the buy button on the right to purchase your seat

Steps to take your training:

To register in this session please click on the "register and pay later" button on the right. Your status will be marked as "registered" and it will indicate only your interest in the training session. Status changes to registered and paid when payment is processed and informed to ProZ.com.

To purchase your seat at this session please click on the "buy" button. Available slots are limited and will be assigned to registered and paid participants as soon as payment is reported. Early payment is advised in order to secure participation. Allow some time for payment processing if you are paying by wire transfer.

Important: Those that purchase a seat in advance may be able to pay an "early bird" or cheaper price, and those that confirm participation later or last minute, may likely get to pay a higher fee. In some training sessions a price increase based on the number of registrants may also apply, i.e. the first 15 registered pay one price, the next 10 pay a a slightly higher price etc.

Early payment is advised in order to secure participation and help reach the course minimum participation - unfortunately, courses may occasionally be cancelled or rescheduled, if the confirmed participation in advance is very low.

Virtual platform system requirements

For PC-based Users:

• Required: Windows® 8, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
• Required: Internet Explorer® 7.0 or newer, Mozilla® Firefox® 3.0 or newer or Google™ Chrome™ 5.0 or newer (JavaScript™ and Java™ enabled)
• Internet Connection Required: Cable modem, DSL, or better Internet connection
• Recommended: Dual-core 2.4GHz CPU or faster with 2GB of RAM (recommended)

For Mac®-based Users:

• Required: OS X 10.7 Lion, 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks and 10.10 Yosemite
• Required: Safari™ 3.0 or newer, Firefox® 3.0 or newer or Google™ Chrome™ 5.0 or newer (JavaScript™ and Java™ enabled)
• Internet Connection Required: Cable modem, DSL, or better Internet connection
• Required: Intel processor (1GB of RAM or better recommended)

To Use VoIP (microphone and speakers or headset):

• Required: Fast Internet connection (384 kbps or more recommended)
• Required: speakers or headset (USB headset recommended)
• NOT required: Microphone - attendees can communicate with the trainer through incorporated chat.

Recommendations

• For the visual section of the training course, we recommend that you have a 64kbps link. This means using an ISDN line or Broadband. Wireless connection is NOT recommended.
• For the audio section of the training course, we recommend that you have a headset or speakers.
• We recommend that you log in 30 minutes in advance of the start time to prepare for the training course.

Courses will be open half an hour before the start time. Please login before the start time to ensure that everything on your system is working correctly.

 Jasmina Djordjevic    View feedback | View all courses

Bio: Jasmina is an Assistant Professor with a PhD in Applied Linguistics (English Language) and an appointed and sworn translator, native in German and Serbian as well as close-to-native in English. She has taught Legal English, Translation Techniques, Consecutive Translation, Culture in Business Communication at the BA level and Intercultural Communication and Translation as well as Consecutive and Conference Interpreting at the MA level. Parallel to her academic career, she has been developing her translator and interpreter career for the last 23 years. Now she is trying to contribute to the profession by coaching students to become good translators, interpreters or teachers. She has written many articles and a few books, two of the most important ones being “Translation in Practice – Written and Consecutive” and "Scientific, Professional and Official Translation", which consists of two volumes, one is a theoretical overview and the other is a workbook. Her primary objective is to offer valid and tested teaching/ learning techniques for students training to be translators and interpreters. Jasmina's extensive and elaborate academic and professional record shows highly developed standards needed in the translation and interpreting business.