What learners say about our apps

Elocution Lessons App

”I can understand any English accent, but when it comes to my own accent, in my ears it sounds just fine! I hear others speak with my accent, and I can even "correct" some sounds. This app is confronting, lol, Listen, record, hear, compare. Yes, it is undeniable; one sentence out of my mouth, and people know where I was born. Even a simple word like "hard" is suddenly a struggle, as I now hear when I say it: "harrd". This app says, "Perfect for children, beginners and anyone starting their English pronunciation mastery". Do not let those words fool you if you are not a child or beginner. If you have an accent, this should be the first app to buy. There is nothing childish or beginner about this app, as the focus is on pronunciation. It is only fitting that the poems are easier, and some are less fast-paced. All poems in this app are as delightful as in the "Get rid of your accent" app. Would it be possible to build in an option of slowed-down speech for sentences and poems? I can understand it fine, but I think if the speech is slower, I can repeat it more slowly, which would help me get the fast version right. Thank you for those great apps!”

Fluent English Speech App

”Usually pronunciation books only teach you how to pronounce separate words and give you some sentences without explaining about connected speech. With this app you learn how to connect words and sentences, and it will definitely help you sound more native like. You also learn lots of British idioms and expressions which will make sound fluent. I utterly recommend it.”

Get Rid of your Accent App

“This is an excellent app. It is the original in a series of elocution books and apps by the same authors, though this app is also a self-contained, stand-alone course. I recommend it highly to both non-native speakers and speakers who want to reduce their native English accent (like myself, before I successfully mastered this course). It teaches Received Pronunciation (RP) which is the traditional elite British accent. There are a handful of other apps available on teaching RP, which I have tried, but they are very basic and do not come anywhere near the quality and scope of this - there is really no competition. The learning method is taken from the traditional approach taught in leading English drama schools, which focuses on the physical aspects of articulation, encouraging practice in front of a mirror. It is a method that works. The app contains recordings of words, sentences and short fun poems spoken by professional speakers with polished RP accents, with a recording mechanism for instant playback. Hearing yourself is an essential part of the learning process. The app is also ideal for people for whom private lessons in elocution/accent reduction (which are rarer and often less rigorous than used to be common in the past) are too expensive. Highly recommended”.

Business English Speech App

“This is the only available course for elocution (teaching Received Pronunciation) with an emphasis on words and phrases used in the professions. There is truly nothing else like this available. I am a lawyer who speaks in court I have found this very helpful.”

“The course is a complete and self-contained elocution course which covers all of the sounds in RP, albeit with the practice words and phrases chosen from those commonly used in business, finance and the professions. It’s a very valuable resource considering what a positive difference this could make to the career prospects of those who want to reduce or lose their accent.”

“I am Italian, and I found this application extremely useful to understand why, after 27 years in the UK, I still sound like an Italian. This app has explained what to change and how, with incredible results in just a few weeks.”

Real results from real learners

“Dear Olga,
I wanted to follow up and extend my heartfelt gratitude once again for analysing my speech and pronunciation. Your expertise in elocution and English pronunciation has been immensely beneficial to me. The detailed feedback and practical tips you provided will surely make a positive impact on my speaking skills in the future.
Your clear and constructive insights have given me the confidence to continue improving my pronunciation. I truly appreciate your time and effort in helping me.”
Rafael Crego, an English teacher from Spain

“I am a native English speaker. But I decided to take elocution lessons in order to soften my Australian accent (and a nasal drawl that came with it) and acquire Received Pronunciation (RP). But elocution, as I knew, is not just about accent. I also wanted generally to maximise the power and expressiveness of my voice and to achieve my full potential in public speaking. This is particularly important to me because I am a barrister and so my voice is one of my main tools of trade.

I began with the excellent books and apps in the ‘Get Rid of Your Accent’ series. I then decided to take my voice training to the next level and seek out one-to-one tuition. Since I was so impressed by the approach in ‘Get Rid of Your Accent’, it made sense get in contact with one of the co-authors, Olga Smith, who, I saw, was also in the business of giving personal lessons.

Since taking up lessons with Olga Smith, it is no exaggeration to say that the change in my voice has been dramatic. I have now not only mastered all the sounds of RP, but eliminated bad (or at least suboptimal) habits in my speech, and my voice is more powerful, authoritative, expressive and interesting. There are huge benefits to one-to-one tuition and professional feedback on the idiosyncrasies of one’s voice that it affords. But beyond this, Olga’s particular approach and method is excellent and unique, for the following reasons.

·       First, the standard she sets is high. She uses traditional teaching methods employed to teach RP and speech in the top English drama schools to training actors (resulting in the rich voices and polished accents of top British actors, both past and present). I have researched other elocution providers and the conventional modern approach seems to be to water-down these high standards (perhaps driven by fashionable ideas that too high standards offend against egalitarian ideals). It seems that Olga’s traditional methods of elocution teaching are very difficult if not impossible to find elsewhere (at least outside drama schools).

·       Secondly, she really knows what she is talking about. She is very perceptive to the nuances of speech when giving feedback, and very knowledgeable about the techniques to make the voice powerful and expressive, and about methods for learning and acquiring new habits.

·       Thirdly, lessons with Olga are always enjoyable, with fun (and often funny) speaking exercises.  She has a warm and engaging personality which creates a real rapport between teacher and student.

I unreservedly recommend Olga as a teacher for anyone who is serious about improving their speech and achieving high standards with it.”
Oxford Graduate Barrister from London, the UK

“I had had a privilege to take a number of private lessons with Olga. I reached out to Olga after I came across one of her amazing books. In a nutshell, she is amazing and very effective. First of all, I learnt a lot about my speech and accent after a careful assessment that Olga administered.  Then, we worked on every issue in detail. Olga provides easy to follow explanations and also makes sure to let me speak a lot and then comment and correct. Just several lessons led to very substantial improvements. I recommend Olga to anybody who would like to master their English pronunciation, accent, and articulation without any reservations.” Ilya Stibulaev, PhD, Stanford University, USA.

What learners say about our books

5.0 out of 5 stars The best contemporary elocution books available
“This is an excellent book. It is the first in a series of books on elocution by the same authors, all of which I have bought and used. I recommend it without reservation to all non-native English speakers and native English speakers (like myself) alike who want to reduce their accent. It teaches Received Pronunciation which is traditionally taught in the leading English drama schools (resulting in the polished accents of top British actors). It is ideal for the many people for whom private lessons in elocution – now rarer and harder to find than in the past – are too expensive.
This first book, although the first in a series, is also stand-alone. It is comprehensive, covering all English sounds. It focuses on the words and expressions most commonly used in everyday conversational English.
The authors’ approach is to focus on the physical aspects of articulation, getting the student to understand the movements of the mouth and tongue and to practice in front of a mirror. This is a method that works, and is effective for adults, who will not be able to change their accent convincingly just by listening and mimicking, as young children can.
I have looked for other books in the marketplace on accent reduction and there really is nothing else available like this.”
Michael

5.0 out of 5 stars Just brilliant.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 February 2019
”I work as an English teacher with students whose first language is not English. These books provide a fantastic resource, including words, sentences and verses, many tongue twisters and CDs with audio files of perfect English pronunciation of every lesson in the books. Highly recommended.”

“ As a diplomat I need effective communication skills, particularly to address public audiences through radio and TV. A clear, crisp accent is always more convincing than a thick, foreign one. I am reading this book and I think it is immensely useful for foreigners like myself.”
Samuel Moncada, Venezuelan Ambassador to the UK

“Clearly, the authors of the book have collected years of experience and expertise to create this practical and effective tool for speech study.”  Joe Windley, Head of Speech, Central School of Speech and Drama, London

“One of the greatest audio books I've ever had in this superficial cyber culture.”
YouTube review

“As a teacher of English I have been using 'Get Rid of your Accent' for a long time, by far the best book on accent reduction out there! I was very happy to find out that there is now an American English version.”
Nienke Visser-Goodenough, 9 January 2020

Get Rid of your Accent,Part One
“This is a great audio book. The narrators are quite good, and the lessons proceed smoothly. Lots of practice works, sentences, and limericks to reinforce. I have been wanting to practice my British accent, and this works well as one of my tools. I listen to ten minute intervals each night, then watch segments of Doc Martin, House of Cards (British), and Parliament.UK to get more immersion. Lots of fun.”

"An excellent, highly recommended book for everyone who wants to improve their accent. I purchased Get Rid of your Accent Parts One, Two, and Three. Each book has a different set of well-structured lessons which make the learning experience positive and highly effective.
The lessons comprise a descriptive commentary supported by exercises and witty dialogues that are easy to memorise while listening to the included CDs.
Regular reading of passages and practising the dialogues greatly improve pronunciation skills and help to grasp the rhythm of English and intonation patterns."

”This book was recommended by a good friend, on whose opinion I can usually rely. Wow! After just a few days of rather intensive practice I received a compliment about how much better I can speak now. Well, actually I can hear the improvement myself. The important change is I can hear myself as I speak much better now, so I pronounce better even those sounds which I have not practiced yet with this app. Great work, thanks!”

”This is a fabulous book! I'm a management accountant, but because of my strong Polish accent, I sometimes felt that people were treating me like the kebab woman. Now, I listen to the CDs and practice and can see my progress; the method and exercises in the book are really working for me.”

“I bought this book/CD Rom combination to adapt to the British accent of pronunciation. It provides you with a list of readings all enunciated by different British speakers. I thought it makes it more interesting to listen to someone who speaks English with a British accent rather than a local New York accent. I found that many people started noticing my changed accent immediately. They all asked me where I came from and thought I might have come from Boston. In an area where most people speak Spanish or English with a difficult to understand pronunciation, the accent I obtain from practicing repeating the lines on the CD-ROMs is clear and succinct. I highly recommend it. Although I find it annoying to have to pause the CD to give me time to repeat each sentence, I manage to repeat each line. Also the chapters are broken up into pronouncing the various phonemes. I find it refreshing to listen to this CD and to repeat the lines. It changes the image that you project to your audience whether to fellow workers or to an auditorium of people where you are required to give a speech. It is also good for those who speak a foreign language and cannot pronounce English correctly. I always misunderstand what people who use English as a second language say and always get misheard by people whose primary language is not English. So this would help a large group of people if they cared enough to want to speak English in an entertaining and succinct way.”
Leonard Mayeron December 11, 2011