FEATURE/Foreign Nationals and Their Companies Turn to Speech Pathologists for Communication Improvement.

Lifestyle Editors/Education Writers

FEATURE...

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 2002

The US Census Bureau reported that in 2000, 28.4 million foreign nationals resided in the United States, representing 10.4% of the population. As diversity in the United States increases, the ability to communicate clearly is more important than ever. English is the common language for communication in the United States.

Foreign born individuals and managers in corporate America know the frustrations of unclear communication. For individuals, poor speaking skills affect all aspects of their lives, from meeting basic needs at the grocery stores, banks and restaurants, to wanting to share ideas in business meetings, but not feeling confident that they will be understood. Companies know the frustration of hiring foreign born individuals, such as computer programmers, with outstanding technical skills and poor communication skills. These contrasting skills slow productivity because ideas are not clearly communicated.

Corporate America is turning to speech pathologists to help with this communication dilemma and the resulting productivity problem. Foreign born employees attend workshops where they work on speech pronunciation, rhythm, rate, intonation and grammar. Following the workshops, they report more confidence expressing their ideas. They understand that in the American culture, it expected that they will speak out and that it is acceptable for women to project their voices. Managers report an increase in productivity because work takes less time when communication is clear. Craig Taylor, the CEO of Galen Medical Group in Chattanooga, TN, hired a corporate speech pathologist to work with a highly qualified physician from another country. After the training, he reported that the physician's speech "keeps getting better."

Speech pathologists have traditionally helped individuals with disordered speech. However, modifying accents uses many of the same skills. An accent occurs when a person learns a new language and applies the rules of his or her old language to the new language, in this case, American English. Because of their training in working with speech, speech pathologists are best qualified to guide individuals in modifying their accented speech. With numerous members nationwide, the Corporate Speech Pathology Network, or Corspan, provides a database of speech pathologists who provide accent modification coaching. The online directory for referrals can be found at www.corporatespeechpathology.org.