American Accent Training

“Dr. O. is a real professional accent coach and not an ESL teacher. If you seriously want to improve your accent, her classes should be considered as a first priority.”

The strength of this course is the specificity. Dr. O. diagnosed and ranked prominent issues that I have and tailored the self-practice course to address my most prominent flaws. Excellent!

“I came from Cameroon knowing how to speak English, but not the standard American English. My intonation was crazy, I chewed some of the words, especially the last sounds of a word and my pronunciation to many words was funny. Many people could not understand more than 60% of what I was saying. Three weeks after enrolling with Accent-American I realized people didn’t have to ask me to repeat myself for them to understand what I was saying! I had conversations with people. My intonation got better and better. I could pronounce words clearly without swallowing my words and, above all, I could easily communicate with people without the fear of not being understood. Thank you, Accent-American (Dr. O.) for helping me!

Dr. O., who asks you to call her Cathy, is patient and has excellent teaching skills, the assignments and pace of the class are perfect. She will help transform your deficiency into efficiency! You can achieve your goal with personal effort and Cathy’s instruction.”

“I explained to Dr. Ojakangas that what I needed was not only to learn the pronunciation, but also how to present materials professionally and in an effective way. Catherine tailored the course to meet those needs, and I think that was very effective… I’d recommend it to anyone who has come to America from another country!”

“Dr. Ojakangas’s training was the best pronunciation class I have ever had!”

“I took a small group, online course for 10 weeks with Dr. O. Three of our group were in Tokyo, and one was in Boston. I believe the course has three main advantages. First, the course’s quality is significantly high. Cathy’s comments in classes always come from her deep knowledge of the field. Second, the course covers comprehensive topics of American accent. Comprehensive learning has much more value than learning a part of a subject. Third, Cathy’s instruction is always easy to understand and she is very supportive to make students go further. I personally asked her to make sample readings of some short passages not in the course, and she was glad to do it for me. My accent improved significantly.

All of these advantages come from the fact that Dr. O. is a real professional accent coach and not an ESL teacher. If you seriously want to improve your accent, her classes should be considered as a first priority.”

Catherine is a great accent/communication coach for American English. She teaches in a way that is very different from typical English classrooms. At the beginning of the course, Catherine did a detailed assessment and planned the course with a very specific focus on identified problems. During the 20-class period, I have improved immensely in the accuracy of pronunciation. Also, Catherine did post-course assessments to measure the improvements.
I strongly recommend Catherine’s course to anyone who is not a native English speaker and wants to improve your conversational speaking significantly.

“I was frustrated because it seemed to me that only a few of my MBA classmates fully understood what I said… therefore I worried that I would fail courses due to such issues… Thanks very much Dr. Ojakangas, for helping my speech becomes less-accented and boosting my confidence in speaking English.”

I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Ojakangas for 13 weeks on modifying my accent. She is pleasant and highly knowledgeable. The workload is reasonable, and you see the results throughout the program. I love the fact that your journey doesn’t stop after the program ends. You will learn how to continue to learn and be given the tools and resources to keep improving forward.

“In addition to working with my accent, Dr. Ojakangas helped me with presentations I had to do for high management (several CEOs), reviewing the contents, making it clearer, correcting and helping me to stand and say my speech! I would definitely recommend Accent-American to anyone needing help with American English!”

” This was the first time in my life to learn native English so systematically.  After learning essences such as the IPA, word intonation and word linking, I realized that my speaking skills in English, as well as the listening skills, improved steadily.  I am quite sure that this course was my concrete step to becoming a proficient English speaker.  I think this course is extremely recommended to Japanese people who are struggling to master the English spoken language.”

I worked with Dr.Catherine Ojakangas over a 16-week period. I felt that Dr. Ojakangas was very committed to helping me reach my goals to improve my English pronunciation. Her methodology is very effective. She helped me realize various pronunciation mistakes that I was completely unaware of. Most importantly, she taught me the correct pronunciation and gave me exercises to help with the learning process. I definitely recommend Dr. Ojakangas for those who want to reduce their accent and speak more confidently!

“In a warm, inviting, and relaxed atmosphere, Cathy identified what specific aspects of my speech pattern could hamper my audience from receiving and understanding the main points of my presentations. Cathy then gave me techniques and methods to slow down my speech rate during public presentations, as well as suggestions as how to become a more dramatic and effective speaker. I’d highly recommend her to others seeking to improve their presentation and communication skills.”

“I took the 13-week individual course from Dr. O. and I LOVED it! I am more confident now when speaking, and when I make a mistake I know the scientific basis and can correct myself. The program, materials, and most of all Dr. O.’s expertise were all great. I give her teaching a 10 out of 10, and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to improve their American English pronunciation!”

“During conversations I would always get the question: ‘Where are you originally from?’… This prompted me to take an accent reduction cohort class at a public university, which helped, but not to my satisfaction. Then I found Cathy… I don’t think anyone can find a better teacher than Cathy!”

When Dr. Ojakangas and I started working togethe, my accent was already quite subtle and I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to help. During our first meeting, she won my trust when she found several areas I could work on. Two months later, she has completely transformed the way I speak!
I love working with Catherine and only wish I had found her sooner. She demystifies the American accent and gives easy, step-by-step instructions appropriate for any level. I want to tell my immigrant parents, their friends, and my friends all about her: She’s the instructor we’ve been looking for!

“I took the 16-week accent coaching program with Dr. Ojakangas.  Overall, it was an amazing course.  I learned how to pronounce words and sentences in the American way.  The assessment at the beginning helped me identify what issues my English had and what I should focus on.  Lessons were tailored to what I needed.”

“I worked with Dr. Ojakangas for six months on pronunciation as well as public speaking skills. I don’t think any other course could have provided me with such detailed analysis of my accent and instructions on how to improve. I feel much more comfortable now in front of the class I teach. Her teaching of pronunciation and her suggestions to improve my presentation skills were tremendously helpful! Thank you, Dr. O.!”

“Catherine at Accent-American gave me the tools I needed to considerably improve my accent. The first-week evaluation was instrumental in identifying my weaknesses, communicating my goals, and establishing a plan of action tailored to my needs.

During my 17-week program, Catherine designed coursework content in accordance with our plan of action and provided personalized advice (both during our coaching meetings and through emails) and tools (e.g. audiotapes, personal recordings, workbooks, guides, homework assignments) to help me achieve my goals by the end of the program. I am very satisfied with the progress I made during the program and I would not have improved that quickly without Catherine’s guidance.

Accent-American’s program provided me with effective communicative skills and helped me feel more confident when speaking English.”

“I went to an English language center for two weeks before working with Dr. Ojakangas, but they didn’t teach me how to pronounce English as Americans do. At Accent-American… I learned the system of American pronunciation, which I think is important to do business internationally…

I would absolutely recommend Accent-American’s courses to friends and colleagues!”

“Just before I moved for the first time to the US, I wanted to strengthen my English, to feel comfortable with my pronunciation, and to improve my communication skills. Dr. Ojakangas (Catherine) did all that and more. She tailored a 3-month course, which answered all my needs. From the evaluation through each session, Catherine identified my weaknesses and gave me the right tools to improve those and to achieve my goals. I would highly recommend Dr. Ojakangas’s courses to any international professional who wants to improve their English communication.”

“I visited Accent-American because I was having difficulties expressing myself clearly in English. I am from Japan and, although my English is good, I needed some assistance. Sometimes my boss had difficulty understanding my conversation. Dr. Ojakangas determined what sounds I needed to improve, and how to come to the main point of discussion directly. I am very pleased with the services she provided.”

“My work at Accent-American with Dr. Ojakangas can be described In one word, several syllables: A-MA-ZING! And also REWARDING! I learned so much! I was looking for something different and I found it! I’m now more confident because I learned a lot in regards to the vowels, the consonants, and the intonation of American English. I was always afraid to exaggerate too much when speaking the American language; Dr. Ojakangas reassured me. She gave me this confidence by her knowledge, her patience also and her availability when I had questions.

In addition to work with my accent, Dr. Ojakangas helped me with presentations I had to do for high management (several CEOs), reviewing the contents making it clearer, correct and helping me to stand and say my speech! The lessons are also oriented towards your needs. I would definitely recommend Accent-American to anyone needing help with American English!”

“Knowing what my mistakes are was huge for me. Knowing my areas of weaknesses and working through them gave me a weekly dose of confidence. There is no session that I did not have an AHA! moment. The AHA! moments made me look forward to the sessions. I believed that the more AHA!moments that I got to, gets me close to completely eradicating my accent. What I enjoyed about Dr. Ojakangas is how she was able to inject humor into her sessions. The humor made it fun and exciting even though I saw her late evenings after work when I was almost tired. Her encouragement throughout the sessions was remarkable. Even when you think you are disappointing her, she finds a way to support and cheer you on. This was a valuable and rewarding experience. Certainly, it’s a milestone toward a complete eradication of my accent.”

I worked with Dr. Ojakangas for 3 months. I want to thank her for her encouragement and positivity. She is a wonderful teacher and a warm and personable human! I would highly recommend her coaching.