If English is not your first language, or if you speak a regional variety your colleagues find unfamiliar, you've probably wondered whether your accent holds you back. The more useful question is a different one: are you easy to understand?

Research on second-language speech suggests those are not the same thing. This guide shows you how to focus your effort on what actually helps listeners, without trying to sound like someone else.

The short answer: To make your accent easier to understand, slow down slightly, put the stress on the right syllables and key words, fix the few sounds that cause real confusion, finish word endings, pause between ideas, and have repair strategies ready when you're misunderstood.

In this article

• Accent, intelligibility and comprehensibility: what's the difference?

• Tip 1: Aim for clarity, not erasure

• Tip 2: Slow down slightly

• Tip 3: Get word stress and sentence stress right

• Tip 4: Fix the sounds that cause real confusion

• Tip 5: Finish your word endings

• Tip 6: Pause between ideas

• Tip 7: Use repair moves

• For managers: how to listen across accents

• Frequently asked questions

Accent, intelligibility and comprehensibility: what's the difference?

Linguists Murray Munro and Tracey Derwing studied how second-language speech is perceived and found that three things are related but partly independent. In their own retrospective on the original study, they highlight a key observation: speech can be heavily accented yet highly intelligible.

The takeaway: you can keep your accent and still be easy to follow. The goal of the tips below is intelligibility and ease, not accent removal.

Tip 1: Aim for clarity, not erasure

Set the target before you start. "I want people to understand me the first time" is a goal you can measure and train. "I want to sound like a native speaker" is vague, slow to achieve and unnecessary for most professional situations.

A good test: in your next few meetings, count how often you're asked to repeat something. That number is your baseline. Success means it goes down, not that your accent disappears.

Tip 2: Slow down slightly

Speaking rate affects how easily listeners process speech, particularly when it's in a second language or an unfamiliar accent. The Baruch College Tools for Clear Speech guide suggests that if rate may be hurting your intelligibility, you aim to speak just slightly slower than the average English speaker, about 140 words per minute against roughly 150. That's a small change, not a crawl.

Slow down most for new ideas, numbers, names and technical terms. You can speed up on familiar connecting phrases.

Our guide to slowing down when you speak has a step-by-step method.

Tip 3: Get word stress and sentence stress right

Stress, which syllable is stronger and which words in a sentence carry the weight, often matters more to listeners than perfect individual sounds. Getting stress wrong makes familiar words sound like different ones.

• Word stress: PHOtograph but phoTOGraphy; PREsent (a gift) but preSENT (to show). Check stress in a dictionary for any word you use often.

• Sentence stress: In English, the important words (nouns, main verbs, numbers, negatives) get more emphasis. "We need to cut the budget by ten percent" is easier to follow than a flat, evenly stressed version.

Practice by marking stress in your own work sentences, reading them aloud, and recording yourself to check that the key words stand out.

Tip 4: Fix the sounds that cause real confusion

You don't need to perfect every sound. Focus on the handful that cause misunderstandings in your actual conversations. These are usually pairs of words that differ by one sound:

• light / right

• ship / sheep

• vest / west

• sink / think

• bad / bed

Practice these pairs in short sentences, not just in isolation: "Turn on the light" versus "Turn right." Record yourself, and ask a trusted colleague whether the two words sound different. For general pronunciation methods, see our guide to 7 techniques for mastering pronunciation.

Tip 5: Finish your word endings

Many languages treat word endings differently from English, so final consonants and clusters are common trouble spots. Words like asked, planned, months and costs can lose their endings, which can change tense, number or meaning ("he ask" versus "he asked").

Slow practice helps: say the word with every consonant audible, then put it in a sentence, then at conversation speed with the ending lightly present. Our complete guide to articulation includes a cluster ladder drill that works well for this.

Tip 6: Pause between ideas

Listeners processing a second language, or an unfamiliar accent, need more time at idea boundaries. Short pauses between phrases give them that time without you slowing every word. Mark your script with slashes where you'd naturally pause, and breathe at the slashes.

Tip 7: Use repair moves

Even clear speakers get misunderstood. What separates confident communicators is how quickly they recover:

• Rephrase, don't repeat louder. A simpler sentence is easier than the same one at higher volume.

• Spell names and key terms the first time they come up, or type them into the chat.

• Check understanding with a specific question: "What's the next step on your side?" works better than "Does that make sense?"

• Write numbers and dates down during calls.

For managers: how to listen across accents

Understanding is a two-way effort. If you lead a team with a mix of accents, small habits make a difference:

• Ask for a specific repeat ("I missed the date") rather than a general "sorry, what?"

• Avoid finishing someone's sentences or rushing them.

• Use written follow-ups for decisions, regardless of how clear the conversation felt.

• Give people time to speak. Silence is not a sign that they have nothing to say.

You can read more on adapting your style to the person in front of you in our piece on the Hersey-Blanchard situational leadership model.

Frequently asked questions

Can I lose my accent?

Some people choose to modify their accent, and it can be done with extensive practice, but it isn't necessary for being understood. Most professionals get more benefit from working on stress, pace and a few key sounds.

Does my accent hurt my career?

Attitudes toward accents vary, and some listeners hold biases. What you can control is how easy you are to follow. Clear structure, steady pace and good stress patterns help regardless of accent.

Which sounds should I work on first?

Start with the ones that cause confusion in your real conversations. Keep a short list of words people misheard, find the shared sounds, and practise those as minimal pairs.

Is accent training worth it?

Training that focuses on intelligibility (stress, rhythm, key sounds and pace) usually delivers more practical value than training that aims to remove an accent entirely.

How long will it take?

It depends on your starting point and how often you practise. Short, daily sessions with recordings tend to work better than occasional long ones.

Key takeaways

• Accent and understandability are different. Aim for being easy to follow.

• Slow down slightly, especially for numbers, names and new ideas.

• Stress the right syllables and key words.

• Fix only the few sounds that cause real confusion.

• Finish word endings, pause between ideas, and have repair moves ready.

If you'd like private, measurable practice, try Oraton's AI articulation coach. It gives feedback on clarity, pace and filler words so you can see what is improving.

Sources

• John Benjamins: Foreign accent, comprehensibility and intelligibility, redux (Munro and Derwing)

• Baruch College: Tools for Clear Speech, Speaking Rate

Related articles

• Articulation Training: The Complete Guide

• 7 Effective Techniques to Master Your Pronunciation Skills

• How to Slow Down When You Speak

• Articulation Training: 9 Exercises to Improve Speech Clarity