Diversity Equity & Inclusion
REMOVE LANGUAGE BARRIERS. MAINTAIN CULTURAL IDENTITIES.™
People shouldn’t need to sound the same. On the contrary, this would diminish the rich cultural diversity of our global workforce.
Our DEI program, Powerful Pronunciation®, is not accent elimination. We are averse to that. We believe accents should be embraced. Our program teaches people how to pronounce the sounds in English that don’t occur in their first language. With Accents International, people will still have an accent; they won’t have a language barrier.
Why are accent reduction classes a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiative?
Because everyone deserves to be heard- They allow multi-lingual professionals to communicate clearly, confidently, and with ease
- It levels the playing field for all members of an organization
Creating a world where everyone is heard®
SUCCESS STORIES:
“No more holding back! I now bring all of me to the table!”
WHAT IS ACCENT REDUCTION?
The terms accent reduction and accent modification mean the same thing: English pronunciation training.
The goal isn’t to teach a “correct” way of speaking — there are no right or wrong accents.
WE ALL HAVE AN ACCENT.
SPEECH TRAINING, NOT SPEECH THERAPY
With accent reduction, there’s nothing to fix because there’s nothing wrong.
Another word for speech pattern is pronunciation. Clear communication depends on three things: grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. This is true for every language. Accent reduction training gives learners an additional speech pattern.
Our accent reduction classes teach people how to “code switch”. They can use whatever accent they prefer. Our learners choose how to best express themselves and be heard.
ACCENT REDUCTION LEVELS THE PLAYING FIELD
A Short Case Study: Promoting Minority Talent
Recently DuPont Pioneer, the world’s leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics, decided to offer Accents International’s American accent training to nine lead scientists identified as candidates for future leadership roles. Each one is an expert in his/her field. Yet these scientists, while fluent in English, didn’t have the repertoire of articulation techniques needed to pronounce the sounds in English that do not occur in their first language. This created communication barriers that impeded the scientists’ ability to lead teams of innovators and problem solvers, characteristics that Pioneer is known for around the globe.
A year after Pioneer launched its first set of accent modification programs, Judy Ravin, President of Accents
International, met with Pioneer leadership. What does a successful accent reduction program look like? All of the new managers present were the previous year’s program participants!
SUCCESS STORIES:
“I thought this was the perfect opportunity to do what I love most, work with people from different cultures.”
HOW DO ACCENTS INTERNATIONAL'S INSTRUCTORS ALIGN WITH YOUR DEI INITIATIVES?
Our instructors are bilingual and know what it feels like to master pronunciation in another language.
Results:
With 15 minutes of practice a day, the average rate of improvement is >70%- Rates of improvement for accent reduction training programs conducted in Accents International’s live, virtual classroom are equivalent to those conducted onsite
- 100% of surveyed respondents receive fewer requests to repeat themselves
- 100% of surveyed respondents use their skills daily
- 100% of surveyed respondents say they are more effective communicators
- 100% of surveyed respondents say they maintained their cultural identity
LEADERSHIP IN DEI
Accents International is a leader in DEI initiatives that create workplaces where everyone is seen and heard.
Judy Ravin, President and Co-Founder, has shared her expertise at:
- 2023 Customer Contact Week National Conference (Nashville, TN)
- 2022 Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (Online)
- 2019 Gold Humanism Summit at the 2019 Planetree International Conference on Person-Centered Care (Orlando, FL)
- 2019 Crédit Agricole Diversity Week (NYC)
- 2018 Exelon National Diversity Day (Baltimore, MD)
- 2017 ASCEND Pan-Asian Leaders National Conference (Houston, TX)
- 2016 ASCEND Pan-Asian Leaders National Conference (Anaheim, CA)
- 2016 U.S. Department of Treasury Diversity & Inclusion Seminar Series (Washington, DC)
- 2014 NATO Global Learning Conference (U.S. Command Center, Suffolk, VA)
- 2014 Multicultural Forum on Workplace Diversity National Conference (Minneapolis, MN)
- 2014 PepsiCo Global Diversity Summit (NYC)
- 2010 -2013 U.S. Navy Post-Graduate School – Leadership Development and Education for Sustained Peace (Washington, DC; Warsaw, Poland; Nuremberg, Germany)
