Neutral Accent: A Perspective

An accent the world understands

Neutral Pronunciation: The standardization of English pronunciation for communication with the majority of the audience. This is accomplished through the study and knowledge of neutral pronunciation of English, one that is free of regionalisms and that conforms to the norms of the theatrical stage and public usage - that is, the pronunciation of news broadcasters, television actors and national mass media performers.

Neutral English: This is not to imply that neutral pronunciation has greater merit than any of the regional dialects. It is also a dialect, but one without any regionalisms. It is, however, the dialect that is used by trained speakers and performers for public usage. The way we speak English regionally is part of our personal identity. It is something that should be used and mentioned in our everyday speech. However, when we are speaking or performing in a public forum, neutral English should be used, so as to erase regional barriers and communicate effectively with the most people. - Kathryn LaBouff

'A CCA(Call Center Associate) would have to be a good listener and cultivate a neutral accent'.

An actor's job is to be neutral, to be a tabula rasa, and a little kid who wants to be an actor starts learning that right away. Actors may want to sound more neutral.

Gone are the days when call centres required candidates to sound like Brad Pitt or Julia Roberts. The stress now is on a neutral accent that can be understood globally.

A neutral accent, according to Ashish Gupta, CEO from a call centre training institute, is one that removes "regional biases".

But when it was time for them to talk, they spoke in American English, in an accent nearing what is known in the call center industry as the Holy Grail: the neutral accent.

IT, BPO FIRMS ON SAME HEAD-HUNT (IT sector is gauging candidates on voice clarity, neutral accent, fluency and grammar).

It is called, in rather Orwellian fashion, "voice and accent neutralisation". "When I was training I was told to adopt a neutral accent, like the BBC news presenters," says Gaurav, whose mother tongue is Hindi, but who learned English from kindergarten and thus needs little coaching.

Voice and accent training: The objective of the trainer is to improve the speech and diction of the trainees and help them develop a 'global, neutral accent'.

Daniel_Jones
Pronunciation Playlist

A neutral accent is important, as you would be interacting with a global customer base. A heavy regional accent may hinder comprehension.

A neutral accent is safe; you can't offend anyone with it. ... What is popularly known in current parlance as 'neutral accent', a diction devoid of mother tongue influence is a primary requirement.

IBM teaches English skills in India: The focus of the software is on building English speaking skills in a neutral accent that will be universally understood, Verma said.

Why should an employee at a call centre try and develop a British or American accent to her English, or in the least develop a `neutral accent'?

So, having a neutral accent allows an employee the flexibility of switching from an American client to a British one and vice-versa.

Professionals were supposed to speak with a "neutral accent."

Accent neutralisation means achieving an accent that is 'neutral' and therefore understandable to a global audience. ...

"A neutral accent, one that doesn't betray where you come from, is still very necessary," says Henderson

Although anonymous voice actors are paid for their services, even the biggest stars generally donate their time --and that's what they were looking for in this case -- some sort of neutral accent that could be understood ...

Having an accent can be OK, just as long as everyone else around you has the same one. But accents really can be a problem if your job depends on ... Much like broadcast journalists, actors must replace their accents with the "neutral speech" pattern

Accent-neutral is the sound of a coming media culture.

Actors nowadays are making a conscious effort to eliminate these accents. In addition, it is vital that actors speak neutral.

Acting & Dubbing: A central element is speaking a "neutral" accent, free of regional accent. The actor who is dubbing has to merge vocally, temperamentally, and emotionally with the actor onscreen. "The lip-synching is a very big challenge. The timing has to be precise. But one of the most important things is the script, which has to be translated and adapted to lip-synch."

The neutral accent is comprehensible to everyone. In that, there's no regional stereotype to obscure the meaning of the lines.

The accent characteristic of most of the Midwest is considered by many to be "standard" American English. This accent is preferred by many national radio and television broadcasters. This may have started because many prominent broadcast personalities – such as Walter Cronkite, Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Tom Brokaw, John Madden, Rush Limbaugh and Casey Kasem – came from this region and so created this perception. A November 1998 National Geographic article attributed the high number of telemarketing firms in Omaha to the "neutral accents" of the area's inhabitants.

In American English the neutral accent is usually " (Emerging)General American English" and occasionally "Network English" and Broadcaster English." In British English, the neutral accent would be RP (or Received Pronunciation) based primarily on the upper middle-class speech of London.

Over time, computers are getting better at recognizing voices, especially when an accent is fairly common. He said, that is one of the major achievements of voice technology since the '70s. To be understood by computers, it's more important to speak clearly and consistently than to have a perfectly neutral accent, said Tuong Nguyen, a principal analyst Gartner, the research firm for CNN.

Very often, BPO firms serve American as well as British clients. So, having a neutral accent allows an employee the flexibility of switching from an American client to a British one and vice versa. And in communication, the emphasis is on achieving a neutral accent, removed from the vernacular tinge. An essential quality that the BPO employers look for is a neutral accent that can be easily `Americanised' or 'Britainised'.

Graduates with a good command over English language and a neutral accent are required in this field. A graduate degree in any discipline is accepted. An outgoing, assertive and communicative personality with good listening and cognitive skills makes for an ideal call centre professional. Patience and a pleasant manner of speech are needed. Some call centre jobs also require good keyboard and computer skills.

Call centres generally look to employ people with minimal or no trace of inflections of the regional language. One way to remove all traces of a mother tongue influence or a regional dialect is to converse consciously. A number of call centre training institutes have mushroomed that provide accent neutralisation courses. Sign up for one, it should help you considerably.

Assimilation, and not imitation, is prompting BPO workers to discard their disguises. Call centre and BPO workers used to hide behind foreign accents, undisclosed locations and anglicised names. But today `global' English or `neutral' accents are the norm.

International career & Language Barrier: THE increase in globalisation has exposed the homegrown professional to the international community very quickly. Overseas assignments and job opportunities abroad are no longer out of the reckoning. However matching global standards in terms of etiquette and behaviour might be a challenge. Often unprepared professionals fail to deliver what is required.

The panacea: Although the transformation isn't all that easy, it is not impossible. If you are unprepared, here are a few tips to acquire the necessary finesse, which can fly you over the travails _ Acquire a neutral accent, and gain a good command over the language. This will include toning down your mother-tongue influence (MTI) and aiming at accent neutralisation.
This might be a long process and will require a never-say-die attitude, coupled with diligence.

Be flexible and open-minded. Do not expect the scene to be just the way same as it was back home. Since you will be interacting with people of different cultures, you should be open to doing things their way. Don't be reticent to change, instead be eager to appreciate the differences in their culture without being judgemental.

Students are realising that it is not only technical skills that are important to work in a multinational organisation, but also fluent communication skills, and this even decides pay structures. Especially `Neutral Accent' English.

Contact centres have a myriad applications: sales support, technical queries, telemarketing, billing problems, accounts management, complaints handling and market research. Some of the generic skills required are: Fluency in English, with a neutral accent (companies will train on the basis of the requirement), good listening skills (as listening is a very important process in the BPO world), skills to analyse the business transaction, customer service focus and the ability to work in teams.

To be educated was to have access to the perfection of this criterion: to express oneself with chosen words, in chiselled grammar, in a hierarchical syntax, with a neutral accent and faultless pronunciation.

When you’re selling something you need to be understood and to form friendships over the telephone said Ana Isabel Iglesias an Unisono development consultant. So you want a neutral accent.

Neutral accent key to success.(Features) ... find Birmingham Evening Mail (England) articles. A PLUMMY accent is now a hindrance rather than a help when it comes to succeeding in business

A neutral accent one that doesn’t betray where you come from is still very necessary says Henderson. More than six out of 10 business leaders thought a neutral accent was a strong advantage compared to 49% who disapproved of an upper-class impression...

Mr. Nixon benefits from a "neutral" accent that has no regional Identification. He handles himself on TV like the well-trained lawyer. He is responding quickly to questions and shutting off his answers before they become rambling or repetitious.

McGoohan moved to Ireland with his parents when he was very young. He developed a neutral accent that proved useful in British and American productions alike.

Non-localized, betraying little (if anything) of the speaker's place of birth, ' received pronunciation' and approximations met the desire for a geographically neutral accent which Sheridan and Walker had earnestly proclaimed.

Received Pronunciation developed from a regional dialect spoken in the London area before spreading around Britain as a “neutral” accent. Its geographical proximity to London suggests that it would be closer to the accents spoken on a London stage in 1600.

Multi-National Companies, Call Center services companies prefer people with global or neutral accent. People with this skill set get noticed in their jobs...

Neutral Accent & Media

English Montrealers have a neutral accent that was long considered a standard in broadcasting, according to Julia Lenardon, a dialect coach who works with local actors and business clients. However, in recent years, the idea of a neutral accent has lost currency because regional accents are now considered more acceptable in broadcasting than in the past, she says. Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/That+aboat+sums/2564512/story.html#ixzz0h08c3zwc

Citing examples of call centres, he said Bangladesh has a huge potential in terms of IT outsourcing as the English accent here is "neutral". Read more: http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=154903&cid=2

Outsourcing in SA: Linguistic overlap and high levels of fluency in English score high points for South Africa, which allows access to customer service agents with a fairly neutral accent. This is important in telephonic client interactions, as a certain level of empathy is integral to understanding the needs of customers. Read more: http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30930:keep-them-happy&catid=143:industryinsight&Itemid=99

As regards communications skills, most of them have a neutral accent, acceptable to American and British customers. Read more: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/253259/bpo-without-a-twang

Industry analysts say that clients increasingly prefer the Philippines to India in tackling consumer calls due to neutral accents, patience and cultural affinity with Americans. Read more: http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/201004185538/World-Politics/hola-asian-call-centers-lure-back-spanish.html

The right candidates must have an excellent telephone manner and a desire to succeed. They must speak English fluently and ideally have a clear spoken voice and neutral accent as they will be dealing with international clients who may not always have English as their first language. They will also need good computer and interpersonal skills, a professional attitude and a preference for hard work! Read more: http://www.shelteroffshore.com/index.php/living/more/jobs-available-in-spain-english-speaking-financial-advisers-10808

Good Spoken English - Our accent is neutral, we make sure that you are going to have an easy time communicating. Read more: http://www.prfire.co.uk/press-release/habilis-save-time-and-money-9899.html

Attitude Towards Neutral Accent

A neutral accent is one that is grammatically and phonetically correct, but has no regional characteristics. In other words, you can't tell which part of the country the person is from. For example, it is easy to tell if a person comes from the Southern states (in the US) because of their accent; likewise Boston. English is spoken in the US, Canada and Great Britain, but it is easy to determine if the person is from Great Britain, because of the accent. Many diplomats learning a foreign language will learn it with a neutral accent.

In American English the neutral accent is usually " (Emerging)General American English" and occasionally "Network English" and Broadcaster English." In British English, the neutral accent would be RP (or Received Pronunciation) based primarily on the upper middle-class speech of London.

On the other hand, if you learn to speak clearly and precisely, you can be understood by the largest audience as possible. You avoid using slang or contractions. You have to remove local referencing or other idiomatic pitfalls. The best way to learn it is from various speakers with different origins. You will still have to contend with some turns of phrases that may correspond in one region that do not in another..."boot" in the UK is "trunk" in NA, "the pond" referring to the Atlantic Ocean, "football" has different meanings in NA vs the rest of the world, etc.

A neutral accent is good, but be careful that you don't sound like you think you are better than everyone else. Sometimes it is better just to blend in.

Personally,some people don't really mind people speaking with an accent - They find it nice and adding to a person's character. People that speak a cleaner language with a less noticeable or non-existent accent tend to have an easier time getting perceived as intelligent and educated because a clean pronunciation is often required during higher studies.

A 'neutral accent' can be defined as a way of speaking (tone, intonation etc) where people from any geographical location is able to understand you, provided they know the language themselves! The 'neutral accent', in speech training refers to the module in which the participant is taught how to get rid of his/her MTI (Mother Tongue Influence). This kind of training is mostly used in businesses where interaction with over-seas customers/clients is a prerequisite.

Accent Neutralization
1. The main cause of this trend towards accent neutralization / reduction is the demand created by outsourcing.
2. The problem that arises is that many customers have difficulties understanding accents other than their own; hence accent neutralization or reduction becomes important for customer satisfaction.
3. Neutral accent is a good idea.

How to speak with neutral accent ?
1.Frequently listen to language spoken by native speakers and repeat them.
2.Watch movies, listen to music, audio clips, news and presentations.
3.Control your rate of speech to get the correct intonation and rhythm of language.
4.Use your dictionary.Familiarize yourself with the phonetic symbols used for different words in the dictionary and look up the correct pronunciation.This method helps in neutralizing an accent tremendously.
5.Make a list of commonly used words that are difficult to pronounce.
6.Record your own voice and listen for pronunciation mistakes.
7.Read newspaper regularly.
8.Work on how to pronounce the sounds.Mostly sounds play vital role for accent variation.
9.Practice the language sincerely. Don't feel shy to speak a language as a beginner.
10.Try imitating news readers.
11.The method of picking up the accent varies wildly, and speech theripists can pick up what you are doing wrong and explain how to change.

Well, Some people think there is something called as neutral accent. Accents are most clear when you speak slangs and try speaking proper language without any slangs and local pronunciations, you'll be surprised. Neural accent is easy to understand for everyone but rather difficult to speak because there will be some or other word that we use our own (or local/regional) style to pronounce.

Technically you may be correct; there is no such thing as a real neutral accent. However, in most places there is an accent that is perceived as being a neutral accent that is the "correct" way to speak. Rightly or wrongly, having this accent can be beneficial to success in one's career, and it can be advantageous for those who don't have this accent to emulate it in certain circumstances.

Accent neutralization: “The methodology, voice and accent trainers apply to their ESL students to make them speak in a neutral accent” is called accent neutralization.

Accent neutralization is slightly different from accent reduction. Accent reduction means reducing the accent whereas accent neutralization is new branch of English learning related to ESL which means neutralizing our accent which is almost impossible but trying that will atleast reduce our accent to a great extent.

Accent neutralization involves a systematic training process focused on modifying speech patterns. This includes a professional speech evaluation followed by working on clarity of speech sounds, pronunciation, intonation and rhythm of speech. The purpose of this program is to help those, who are proficient with the English language, speak with a neutral globally understood English accent

When people say “neutralize” or “remove one’s accent”, what they often mean is to get the Standard English accent [Neutral Accent].

Accent neutralization module1 includes
# Changing speech patterns
# Voice production
# Intonation and rhythm
# Get to know the sounds of English and
# Get familiar with the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Accent Neutralization module2 includes
•  Identifying and dealing with Mother Tongue Influence (MTI)
•  Pronunciation
•  Vowel Sounds and Consonant Sounds
•  Using Inflection
•  Using Intonation and syllable stress
•  Pausing for effect
•  Reducing Rate of Speech

Trainers Target
# Eliminating miscommunication and language barriers.
# Raising the self-confidence of participants.
# Teaching participants how to better perform and communicate while employing the English language.
# Teaching participants the importance of using their voices effectively and efficiently while at the same time giving them the tools to better understand the body language of North American English.
# Increasing the efficiencies of those whose mother tongue is not English.

Activities in Accent Neutralization Classes
• Express and communicate ideas clearly and effectively
• Take Initiative at school and at home
• Conquer the fear of Public Speaking
• Participate in team events
• Plan and organize in an effective manner
• Think out of the box

Helping the ESL Students
   1. • improve pronunciation skills
   2. • improve use of intonation, stress and pitch
   3. • learn self- evaluation techniques for continued improvement
   4. • become more confident speakers
   5. • speak with clarity and communicate more effectively

Participants will:
    * speak and sound more native-like
    * improve customer comprehension
    * reduce customer misunderstandings
    * increase listener understanding
    * increase sense of acceptance by customers
    * improve business relationship with customers
    * save time by minimizing repetition
    * improve customer perception
    * reduce communication stress by decreasing speaker and
    * listener frustration

Accent neutralization, also known as elocution, is a systematic approach used to learn or adopt a new accent. It is the process of learning the sound system (or phonology) of a language or dialect.
The methodology involves several steps, which include identifying deviations in the person's current speech from the desired accent (such as pronunciation, speech patterns, and speech habits), changing the way you use your mouth, teeth, and tongue to form vowel and consonant sounds, modifying your intonation and stress patterns, and changing your rhythm.
Using this method, individuals such as those mastering a second language may alter their speech to more closely resemble the accent of a certain group of people, and thus enhance the clarity of their communication with those people.
The Accent neutralization workshop is designed for those who are proficient with the English language but speak with a regional accent. Corporate executives, college & management students, educators, recent graduates, communicators, professionals and anyone who wants to develop and enhance his/ her spoken English skills can participate.
The program utilizes the principles of speech pathology, voice science, communication skills and phonetics for training participants. It involves a systematic training process, focused on modifying speech patterns through role-play, quizzes, group activities and discussions.

User Comments: Attitude Towards Neutral Accent

I think it is critical to the success (or failure) of outsource call centers. Not only do they need neutral accents, they also need to be familiar with colloquialisms and dialects so that they can better relate to the callers.

Neutral in what way? Unless you're talking about English accents in languages other than English, there's no neutral way to speak English. Unless you count RP English. Or maybe you mean that some "foreign" accents are very hard to shake off when speaking English - in which case I'm not sure. Some people can use a different accent flawlessly (for example, Englishman Hugh Laurie who plays Dr House), which means it is probably never impossible to shake-off an accent no matter where you are from, though very very hard for most people. But even then, as there's no accentless version of English, you would still be speaking with an English language accent. More specifically, I find that some English accents are very hard to shake off. Is there any way to tell which is more 'neutral'?

As a non-native speaker who enjoys the various dialects/accents the English language has to offer, I have actually wondered about how Hugh Laurie, Anthony LaPaglia, or Marianne Jean-Baptiste's spoken American accents in television shows sound to American ears (my guess is "pretty good", but I lack the nativeness). The best one is Gary Oldman; I always assumed he was American and he was faking a British accent in Harry Potter.

I am from Russia. I hardly listen to this kind of term " neutral accent " . Sorry but Now I am opening my dictionary.

I think news reporters have neutral accents for the most part because you cant easily place the region.

Most of the people from the mid western states are sometimes considered to have the most neutral accent. If you do some checking you will find that many of the most famous news broadcasters for both radio and television are often from those states...

To answer your question, there really isn't a 'neutral accent' in any kind of language. For example, a person who was born in Georgia may sound 'neutral' to other Georgians, but if that person would go up to Wisconsin, they and the people speaking would sound totally different.

There's no such thing as a neutral accent. EVERYONE who speaks has an accent.

I don't know what you mean by neutral accent, and I don't think there really is one unless you mean a sort of accepted standard like what is spoken on TV and radio.

Neutral for where? I live in California, and I've always notice Huge Grant has a very pronounced English accent.

The most neutral accent is in the Loire Valley, between Orléans and Angers, Tours being considered the heart of the French language in its purest form.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a "neutral accent".... the accent will reflect whatever area you live in. As an example, people in the northern US think southerners have an accent, but people in the southern US think northerners have an accent.

The idea of a neutral accent is a bit of an oxymoron since accent usually denotes geographical origins...

Every single person on Earth has an accent; it is impossible to have none, as you will have an accent for someone who comes from a different geographic region. The more isolated a community is, the more evident its accent is.

Middle England English with no discernable (regional) accent.

A neutral accent is supposed to be the ideal "no accent." If you say someone has a neutral accent, it means they don't speak with any regional accent.

To my ears, they all have some sort of accent. Obama, the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, has a Northern accent, which most Americans consider not to be an accent at all.

There are a lot of rants from American customers (who do business with third world) that people outside their country dont speak English properly. Hence the suggestions to acquire a neutral accent and correct diction!!!

An accent coach would be your best bet. Normally, when you try to self-train yourself to speak an with an accent, you end up sounding just like someone who is faking the accent.

Sometimes people think that basically americans speak neutral accent.But it is absolutely not true.Because american accent varies depending on the area of the country the person comes from. In some areas it can be hard to understand what a person is saying. American accent differs from neutral accent.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a "real" neutral accent. This is due to the fact that anyone from a particular region will always identify someone else's accent as "foreign".

There are a lot of different ways to say things that differentiate people from regions in England and America. To have a neutral accent, you have to try to pronounce every syllable that is meant to be pronounced in the first place.

All accents develop in a particular time and place among a certain group of people. There is no place called Neutralia where Neutralians have always spoken the Neutral dialect of English.

A neutral accent is a bit of an oxymoron. I think what you mean is transatlantic English, ie English spoken without obvious regional influences so that it can be understood universally.

My first wife who had her Masters in Communications, used to talk about "Neutral Accent." It is what many broadcasters use and is, as far as I can tell, a type of diction that removes all the regional inflections.

There is no truly "neutral" accent. Everyone who speaks has an accent that indicates to someone who is not from the same region where that person comes from. An accent only sounds neutral to somebody from the same region as you.

A neutral accent is an accent that is completely void of any sort of twang, regional pronunciation, or incorrect grammar. It's basically pronouncing words according to the dictionary and correct grammar.

Voice and accent these days focus on training you on having a Neutral Accent and training you about the nitty gritties of the country's accent so that you can understand the person on the call.

Listen to the BBC - this will be a good example for you.

It saddens me to hear people think, by default, that the Standard American accent is somehow the 'global neutral accent'. No such thing.

In fact, the “ideal” speaker of English speaks with an accent that is “neutral” and non-regional. It is supposed to be an accent that can be understood on an international level. Such “neutral accents” include modern Received Pronunciation (RP), certain London-inspired accents and General American.

Which accent is the most useful and would likely open up good opportunities for you in the future? Many people believe that it's best to speak with a “neutral” accent.

Neutral accent, according to me is really farcical. English is supposed to be spoken the way British folks speak.

English is the most widely spoken international language with a variety of accents. MTI (Mother Tongue Influence) can be avoided by practicing the neutral accent. One can practice neutral accent with help of such mouth exercises. ... But the accent with which people speak English differs from place to place.

The neutral accent is defined as one that any English speaker can understand. A neutral accent is desirable because it makes it easier for agents working in call center companies to interact with global customers.

There is no neutral accent of English. All speakers of English need to cope with many different aspects and learn how to understand them.

Most of the actors in the ad are professional actors or TV presenters and they speak in a quite neutral accent.

-Must speak and write well in English. -Excellent communications skills; Neutral Accent; Spontaneous. -Persistent in pursuing clients and leads. -Have experience in Telemarketing Sales. -Excellent customer handling skills ...[callcenters & bpo]

To be understood by computers, it's more important to speak clearly and consistently than to have a perfectly neutral accent, he said. Another issue: Not all phones have the computing power to handle voice recognition, said Tuong Nguyen ...

Accent Neutralization Ironing out regional influences when you speak. Having a neutral accent so you are easily understood across the globe.

As a speech instructor, I have met many students who spoke excellent English, but their accent immediately identifies them as non-English speakers. Part of my job is to get them to speak in a 'neutral' accent. ...

In India the ability to speak English in a neutral accent comes with a lot of prestige and therefore engenders loads of self-esteem. “How do I do it?” is question.

Speak with your telemarketer to ensure a neutral accent and strong English. For best results from your telemarketing services, train your telemarketer.

They should have chosen a voice actor with neutral accent instead. I just thought it's bad for national identity. Talking about national identity, most Malays and Chinese have their own ethnic centric speech style.

So a non english person who's got a neutral accent and has never been to any of these country still understands them and responds to their queries is really appreciating.

There are many educated Indians who speak English with a neutral accent quite close to standard BBC. However, there are others, like Salman Khan and perhaps Mr Tharoor, who stretch things a bit. ...

What is the neutral accent?The proper way of pronouncing the word of a English language neutrally is known as neutral accent. Lets make it clearer when we speak the English language there shall be no influence of regionalism..

Clarity of speech, fluency, grammar, neutral accent and good articulation of thought. Self Starter with good verbal and written communication skills Ability to understand and speak to US customers Good interpersonal skills and a good ...[callcenters & bpo]

Going by that logic, those who speak the same language with a regional accent have to be the most secure people alive? Hoo-haa. And what about those who speak in a neutral accent? Simple. Neither here nor there. Losers! ...

You must show at least a neutral accent--showing neither too Filipino accent, nor too Americanised accent.

Also only 15 per cent surveyd have a neutral accent a key parameter for BPO jobs.

... Asia's leading English language Research and Training institute, launched its very innovative video based global accent modification programme- helping thousands of learners to learn to speak English in a global-neutral accent. ...

People with a non-neutral accent should at least speak slowly and deliberately… accents are not bad intrinsically, but speed+accent=problem.

Learn to smile when you meet people, again very very important in a call center. Give a firm hand-shake, dont over do it and hurt the other person. Do not fake an accent, speak in a neutral accent.

Neutral Accent: Share Your Ideas