Sound Canadian

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Your accent tells people your heritage. Not only is that something to be
proud of, it can indicate you are multilingual and have experience beyond
Canada.

Language issues can be a huge stumbling block in developing or advancing a
career.That's a truth not only for foreign-born professionals but for many
Canadian-born English speakers, says Bonnie Gross, a speech pathologist and
president of Toronto-based training firm SpeechScience International
Inc.

"No matter how bright and knowledgeable you are, if you are aiming
for management or leadership, you need the ability to get your message across
and have it understood immediately, or you are going to miss out on
opportunities."

• Why does it matter that people have different ways of expressing
  themselves?
  "In everyday life it doesn't but, in the business world, where
  you have to convey information precisely, if what you say is confusing or sounds
  too laid back, people will get the impression that you lack expertise and
  enthusiasm," Ms. Gross says
• Listening to and trying to emulate others who speak English well can help,
  but you must be systematic about it and tune your ear to subtleties of emphasis
  and pitch.
• It is also difficult for people from India to pronounce words that contain
  the combination "th" or that start with the letter R. Repeating
  a sentence like 'With or without the ruler" about 50 times in a row slowly each
  day for several weeks will help make the pronunciations flow more naturally, Ms.
  Gross says.