Helping non-American professionals speak English more clearly
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India native Preetham Gowda, a project manager of Teletracking, has a one-on-one English lesson with Judy Tobe.
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As a speech pathologist in the 1980s and 1990s, Judy Tobe worked closely with individuals suffering from neurological and facial disorders, and she provided diagnostic expertise about whether surgery would help or hinder the patients' communication skills.
When she switched career gears in the early 2000s and became a professional mediator, she handled many labor disputes that she believed resulted from a breakdown in communication in the workplace.
Two years ago, Ms. Tobe, 52, decided to meld her two vocations into a business that helps non-native English speakers tone down their accents and improve their communication -- especially on the job.
The result is Claro, a Monroeville company that Ms. Tobe founded to provide accent reduction services to business and medical professionals, students and others whose communication skills may be barriers to success.
Take the graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University's H. John Heinz III College for whom Ms. Tobe has held on-campus workshops.
"CMU really saw a need for these students," she said about the programs conducted at the university during the summer and fall terms. "They are brilliant but they have trouble communicating. In this fast-paced business world, I think people tend to be tough on people who can't pronounce things and communicate the first time they try."
Like the majority of her clients, the students had a strong grasp of the English language, including the ability to read and write it fluently. But as natives of India, China or other countries, their pronunciation wasn't polished. The students might stress the wrong syllable of a word or speak at a staccato pace without intonation.
"They are getting an amazing education and are incredibly talented, but they are hindered in some way in really reaching their potential in the workplace," said Ms. Tobe, who will conduct more workshops for CMU next year.
"People have language attitudes and they are associated with people's accents," said Patti Adank, who teaches and researches speech communication at the University of Manchester, England. "It's how the human mind works. We have prejudices and ideas based on people's accents. People open their mouths and other people have ideas about them and their personalities. The accent can get in the way."
First Published December 12, 2010 12:00 am
