Many people want to sound more polished when they speak, but sometimes it is difficult for an individual to know exactly what he or she needs to do to achieve the sound that they admire in others.
One of the things I am able to do for my clients is to pinpoint exactly why they may not sound the way they would like. I find that there are a few common habits that cause the way we sound to deteriorate.
My clients find that by implementing a few simple changes, their speech not only becomes cleaner and clearer, it improves the overall sound of their voice. You will find that if you dissect the speech of those you enjoy listening to they probably naturally implement the following linguistic sounds.
Firstly, 'ing' at the end of a word should be completely annunciated and not abbreviated to 'in'. You will notice the difference in the way you sound by comparing runnin', skippin' and jumpin' to running, skipping and jumping.
Another syllable that is often cheated of its full glory is 'er'. The word letter often morphs into letta', leather in to leatha', mother becomes motha' and so on. Simply pronouncing the 'er' at the end of your words brings a refreshing crispness to the way you sound, and in a world fettered with sloppy speech it makes you stand out.
Another phonetic casualty in the English language is the 'th' sound. The only way you can achieve the proper pronunciation of this sound is to put your tongue between your teeth. Uddawise you will wind up saying teet or tree for three, or dat for that. Your speech will lack clarity and you will come across as if you are not well educated. For most people these errors in pronunciation are just habit. They are acceptable as colloquial vernacular, however, when you are in the boardroom, these habits will greatly diminish the quality of your speech.
A fourth tip to sounding more polished is to simply put the endings on your words. Instead of tha', try that; instead of wha', try what.
My clients have found that as they practice the proper pronunciations, even their voices sound better. They are easier to understand and they do come across as more polished, which is an extremely important part of your professional persona. You will be surprised how these small adjustments can make a big difference in how people see you and even respond to you.
If you take the way you sound for granted, you may find it interesting to note that a study done by Harvard University found that people with great voices actually appear more attractive. In the experiment they paired bad voices to various faces and had the participants rate their attractiveness. They then paired the same faces with great voices and amazingly their attractiveness ratings went up.
Daily practice will help to create new muscle memory in your face and tongue; it's all about creating new speech habits. If you would like me to email free exercises you can practice on your own, send me an email.
o Kim Welcome is the CEO of Influential Voice, a communication trainer and coach. She assists businesses and professionals to achieve their goals by helping them to develop deliberate, skillful, polished communication. She invites your comments at info@influentialvoice.com. For more information, visit www.influentialvoice.com.

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