Scientists, Engineers, and Information Technology Professionals
Communication Skills Training
"As a Physical Scientist at the Army Research Laboratory
(ARL), communication and presentation skills play a vital role at work. I
took a series of Professional Speaking Skills and Accent Modification class
with Ms. Lynda Katz Wilner. I was so impressed by her abilities to identify
the problems (such as final sounds, sound pattern linking, thought group,
etc.), and to guide and solve those problems in my communications.
Her reading materials and CDs (RULES), especially RULES BY THE SOUND, were
excellent tools to practice, find and correct the mistakes quickly. The sound
loaded paragraphs give me opportunities to practice challenging sounds with
linking, stressing and thinking simultaneously, and polish my verbal communication
and public speaking.
My speeches have improved significantly at the word and sentence, conversation,
and presentation levels. During the training, I got very positive feedback
from conference presentations, Lab tours, and Toastmaster speeches.
Ms. Wilner is a great professional and advanced expert in this area that
I have ever seen. She provides excellent programs to help individual growth
in communication skills. I would highly recommend Successfully Speaking."
Richard Fu, Ph.D.
Physical Scientist
Army Research Laboratory
Adelphi, MD
"Successful IT projects are often the result of excellent
communication between the business and technology. Lingual
and cultural communication issues can make success difficult.
The Successfully Speaking program helped our staff to better
understand and pronounce the English language which, in turn,
made them much more effective at their jobs. The group who
were trained grew in camaraderie and confidence as their communication
with others improved. This investment in talented staff has
really paid off!"
Marion Mullauer
CIO
Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc.
“I have always wanted to be a top-notch speaker. This
course, while not giving ‘instant results’ that
we crave, gives me the tools, techniques, and confidence that
will allow me to reach my goal of being an excellent speaker.
If I don’t reach that goal, it is because I did not use
all the tools Lynda gave me. Of all the training I have taken,
this, without a doubt, is the most useful. It will benefit
me for the rest of my life.”
RH, Ph.D.
Army Research Laboratory
Adelphi, MD
Thank you for your excellent support to the Army Research
Laboratory (ARL) in the area of language and communication
skills development for our scientists and engineers.
Skilled people are the heart of a research laboratory such
as ARL. For our scientists and engineers, one of the most
important skills is the ability to communicate their work
and its potential benefits to sponsors and users. You have
had a superb customer-focused approach – working with
us to develop appropriate programs for improving these skills.
All of your efforts, in both individual and small group formats,
for language skills for those with English as a second language
and briefing, presentation and speaking skills were on the
mark.
A tribute to the effectiveness of your various programs
is the number of participants who have personally sought
out ARL managers to thank them for providing your services
to assist them.
Joseph J. Rocchio
Deputy Director
Department of the Army
US Army Research, Development and Engineering Command
Army Research Laboratory
Several of the members of the Electrochemistry Branch have
taken several courses on Presentation skills and Accent modification.
They all unanimously thought it very worthwhile and most would
like to continue. F.K. gave a widely acknowledged, excellent
talk at the Power Sources Conference after taking the Presentation
course and credited the course for his success. He would like
to be able to continue improving his skills. As many of the
EC branch have English as a second language, they have also
expressed interest in continuing their accent modification
training.
Cindy Lundgren, Ph.D.
Branch Chief
Army Research Laboratory
Adelphi, MD
Thank you for delivering such a terrific presentation on Public
Speaking. Definitely one of the best I have seen. We will continue
in conversations with you so you can be part of the EMC university
program from now on. It will be very beneficial to all accented
employees to attend your workshop!
Marisol Arroyave
Project Manager
EMC Corporation
Hopkinton, MA
Accent Modification and Presentation Skills
"I was born in India and came to the U.S. when I was thirty to pursue my MBA. For the past 10 years, I worked as a corporate Business Development and Sales Executive for hi-tech companies. Recently, the president of our company referred me to Successfully Speaking to help improve my accent and pronunciation. My basic goal is to speak clearly and ensure an audience understands my verbal communication and conversation. This is particularly important since, as part of my profession, I frequently make public speeches and presentations.
I took sixteen classes of accent modification offered by Ms. Lynda Wilner and began realizing the improvement right after my 4th class. She has not only diagnosed my accent problems very accurately but also taught me the various rules involved in stress patterns of adjective, nouns, words, and sentences, and how slowing down the speed of talking helps in delivering words clearly. The reading materials and CDs (RULES) she provided were excellent tools to practice at home and correct the mistakes quickly. I have improved and learned a lot from these classes that has enabled me to pronounce words accurately, polish my daily conversation, reduce the speed of speech, have better usage of words, and gain confidence in verbal communication and public speaking. Now, I feel more comfortable talking with my colleagues and communicating my ideas better in public for which I frequently get complimented upon.
Ms. Wilner is a great professional and friendly coach not only to work with her on the accent modification but also flexible to accommodate my schedules after or during working hours. I would highly recommend Successfully Speaking."
R.N., Ph.D.
Business Development & Sales Executive
"English is not my native language and I had some problems
with communication in a business environment. Ms. Wilner quickly
identified my problems and the corrective course. After I finished
this customized training program, I now have a deeper understanding
of the American English Sound System for consonants and vowels.
I have increased the pitch variability for multi-syllable words
and sentences. Both my communication skills and efficiency
have improved significantly through this unique program.
From my own experience, I would say Ms. Wilner is an experienced
instructor with an advanced level of expertise in this area.
She provides an excellent program to help individuals interested
in accent modification."
SK, Accountant
"The Successfully Speaking Class is a well worth English
speaking class. I have benefited and learned a lot from the
class, e.g. accurate pronunciation, better use of words,
gained confidence, and in the area of public speaking. Also,
I am
now more sensitive to my speech and use of words than before.
Occasionally, I am able to pick up the mistake and correct
it immediately. In addition, it enabled me to correct and
polish my daily conversation and enhanced my public speaking.
Last
week, I did a five minute presentation at a department meeting.
With Lynda's advice and assistance, I was able to present
the material well and gained compliments from my team leader
and
co-workers."
Elaine Hui, Baltimore Gas and Electric
“I work for The Upside Down Organization in the Department
of Staff Development as an Instructional Coach and Presenter.
I came to the US ten years ago from Spain through an exchange
program. My boss referred me to Successfully Speaking to seek
help to improve my presentation delivery. At the beginning,
I didn’t know what to expect and I was a little bit skeptical
about how much Ms. Wilner would be able to help me after all
this years.
To my surprise, as I started to work with Ms. Wilner, I started
to realize why, all this years, people would ask me to repeat
myself, and why at times people perceived me as abrupt and
sometimes angry. Learning what was I doing wrong and why helped
me to modify it. Just being aware of my speech flaws and how
to remediate them, made my stress level go down and my speech
improved significantly. Now I can say the forbidden words without
fear of being misunderstood: beach and sheet.”
Ana de Gea-Coombs
The Upside Down Organization
 “Working with Successfully Speaking has been one of
the best moves I have made in my professional career. I was
born in Africa, but now work as a corporate executive in
the U.S. Prior to working with Lynda, I had great diction,
construction
and language structure, but little awareness of and focus
on the stress patterns that characterize and distinguish American
speech. My goal was not to acquire an American accent, but
rather to be clear and succinct in my communication. This
is
particularly important as I make many public speeches and
presentations. Understanding tone, voice inflection, stress
patterns - both
syllable and word stress - has significantly improved my
ability to communicate to professional audiences around the
country.
Lynda has through our one on one phone sessions and the material
in her RULES book, helped me to identify, listen for, recognize,
self correct and consistently apply tone and stress patterns
that make my speech easy to understand. She also has a great
friendly coaching style! I would highly recommend Successfully
Speaking."
GG, Attorney
The Successfully Speaking Training Program was important to
help me interact fluently with my guests, employees, and friends.
I have achieved excellent communication skills during my current
employment. Everything provided in the program was very specific,
user friendly, and clear to understand. I look forward to building
my career further based on this program.
Ayub Kato
VistaHost, Inc.
Hampton Inn-BWI
Assistant General Manager
I took private lessons with Marjorie and they were very
helpful in improving my accent and pronunciation. The course
workbook written by Marjorie and her colleague, Lynda Katz
Wilner, is excellent in terms of contents and explaining the
rules with examples. The practice exercises in the workbook
are very effective. The course provided me with all I needed
to know to improve my accent and it was customized for my individual
needs. I am impressed with the instructor's depth of expertise
in speech pathology. It was a worthwhile investment for me!!
V.S., Director, Merchant Asset Management from India
"I really enjoyed learning how to improve my accent during
Foreign Accent Modification Training. Lynda was very effective
in bringing to my attention incorrect pronunciation patterns
that I used. Specifically, I would like to mention Lynda's
outstanding instructional style and her attitude. In my opinion,
Lynda's program is well thought and organized. In addition,
she focused on my most critical areas and helped me to elevate
them."
Database Administrator
UMCP
I will more than 100% always recommend this program to anyone whose first
language is not English. It is very important to be able to communicate
effectively
with the people we associate with especially for those who are in the healthcare
settings or in leadership. Please don’t wait. If you do you will
only hurt yourself. If you believe in your dream you will make it happen.
Thanks.
G.A., Pharmacist
Johns Hopkins Medical Center
Baltimore, MD
I began this program reluctantly because I felt I had no problem with my speech.
After listening to myself on the recorded conversations with the trainer,
I realized that my speech was flat because keywords were not stressed with
the correct pitch. This program has enabled me to assume the burden of making
myself more clear by speaking slowly, stressing keywords, and using the correct
voice pitch when I speak rather than placing the burden on my listeners to
figure out what I am saying. While there is room for improvements, I feel
that my listeners understand me better now because I am not told to repeat
myself as much as I have been previously asked.
Charles Ulinfun
Hershey Medical Center-Dept. of Safety
Hershey, PA
Training for Clergy
"With much apprehension I started the language course with Lynda Katz Wilner because I thought I had pretty good communication skills and people understood me well. I was wrong! Through the course offered by Lynda Katz Wilner, I realized my shortness in my accent as well as in my communication. The assistance of Lynda Katz Wilner helped me to realize the areas of my shortfall and how to correct them. The CDs and books were very helpful. Her recommendations and guidance were so helpful that I could concentrate on them week by week and make improvements. Though there are certain areas that I need to work more, still I feel more confident in my English language and American accent. The use of distant study program using webcam/Skype was helpful to me because of my heavy schedule at my work. It was like sitting in my living room and attending a classroom in Maryland. I want to thank the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston for providing this opportunity to master my communication skills."
Rev. Vincent Joseph, Pastor
St. John the Evangelist Church
Wellsburg, WV
"I want to testify to the fact that Lynda has been one of my favorite on-line teachers of all times. I am so grateful for having her. (I learned) to speak slowly, enunciate articulately, and listen actively. (The training was) designed around the time that I am available to have the class. She has helped me to be a better person. Lynda's kindness, patience, and courtesy is very commendable."
Father Livinus Uba
Pastor
Huntington, WV
"This program is amazing! I can confidently say that
throughout these 16 weeks of classes, my English pronunciation
has improved so much. My parishioners have made comments that
I have less of an accent now when I talk with them. Recently
I spent couple weeks on vacation in the Midwest and people
made comments that among the Indonesian priests they met,
I have the clearest pronunciation. It was so encouraging to
hear those comments. So, I would highly recommend this program
especially to priests and religious ministers from other countries
working here in the States. Thank you Ms. Lynda for working
with me and being patient during these past 16 weeks."
Fr. Matheus Ro
Gassaway, WV
“Successfully Speaking has been of genuine
assistance to our international clergy as they try to modify
their native accents to accommodate the listener in the
American pew. The application of phone and computer communication
to
the learning process has been particularly helpful considering
the distances involved in a diocese that covers the entire
state of West Virginia. I recommend Successfully Speaking
and Lynda Katz Wilner to assist in addressing the needs
of your international clergy.”
Rev. Monsignor Frederick P. Annie, V.E.
Episcopal Vicar for
Clergy
Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston
The training was very effective in my daily communication
because as a priest I
do encounter people daily during the celebration of the Sacraments,
in
counseling, in business life, etc. Hence, the need and necessity
for me to
communicate better and to be heard and understood is of vital
importance because it
would abrogate any misunderstanding arising from people not
hearing or
understanding me because of my native accent. This training
has aided me to speak slowly, enunciate those words that need
to be enunciated and avoid unnecessary words that need not
be enunciated in a sentence. Also, it has made me conscious
of the rhymes, rhythms and different sounds of American English
and how they play out in everyday communication, for example,
the 'ing' endings of words, compound nouns, the 'r', 'th' sounds
etc.
This training program has affected my work and personal life
in a positive light: I
have received sincere and genuine compliments from parishioners
that they can now hear and understand me better. A case in
point was when one of the seniors in my parish brought to my
attention that she could hear and understand me better now
at Mass than she did before, especially during the homily.
A shocker though it was; nevertheless, I owe such a compliment
and gratitude to this program for aiding me to achieve this
milestone.
On a personal level, I am beginning to notice the switch and
shift from how I sounded
some months ago, prior to undergoing this training, and now.
Also, I am becoming more
conscious now, when the unconscious tendency is to recluse
to my native accent, I find
myself struggling not to do that and the effect is that I tend
to repeat a word or sentence.
The program content, materials, videotaping, etc. were of
immense help to me both
during and after the sessions because they were goal specific.
Thus, each of the sessions was aimed at working at a particular
sound or speech pattern and these sounds or speech patterns
were carried out both during and outside the sessions.
The videotaping, while enabling me to witness first -hand how
I sounded, impelled
me to work hard on those areas I need to effect necessary change
to sound better and
clearer. Definitely, I would not hesitate to provide a reference
to anybody who is in dire
need of speech modification or accent adjustment.
AO, Catholic
Priest
"People around me, within a few weeks
into the course, noticed improved speech. They could understand
me more clearly. Over 50% of my job requires me to be speaking
publicly to people. It is important that people understand
what I say to them. This course has helped me considerably
in communicating my message to the audience. I am convinced
they understand me better now and that is very important
to me.
This is the third accent adjustment program I have done.
I was a little skeptical in the beginning of the class about
how much more it will help me. From the very first section
I had with Lynda, I knew the class was going to be exciting.
Even though this class requires a lot of work, I did not
feel bored working with her. She was nice, patient and caring
as she walked me through the difficult pronunciations and
intonation patterns. When I felt a little bit frustrated
that I could not pronounce a word correctly or stress a word
correctly, she smiled and reassured me that I could. Of the
three classes that I have taken, I will definitely rate this
as the best. I have learned much more from this class than
the other two combined. This class was helpful to me and
I will recommend it without any hesitations to anyone who
wants to adjust his accent to the American accent."
BO, Catholic Priest
Media Training and Presentation Skills
I thought the training session was fantastic, and attacked the issues of public
presentation from several angles. The trainer, Lynda Katz Wilner, also did
a great deal to customize the session to the particulars of our industry.
Lynda had a number of unique approaches which I had not learned about from
any previous media trainer. For example we learned techniques for preserving
our voice when forced to give presentations in a loud convention floor environment,
or when presenting very early in the morning or late at night. This information
will come in very handy in our field!
Lynda also had a talent which I found particularly amazing: as she stepped
through her own presentation in perfect form, she was able, seemingly effortlessly,
to step in and out of character, demonstrating both the correct technique and
several possible incorrect techniques. The incorrect techniques were delivered
with such authenticity that it was much easier to imagine oneself making that
mistake and to visualize the road to avoiding it.
Brian Reynolds
President, Big Huge Games
Timonium, MD
Business Communication Skills
Lynda Katz Wilner helped me raise the effectiveness of my verbal and non-verbal
business communication which I am pleased to say is generating positive results.
Her program is well thought out and systematic, but also customized to work
on the skills that I needed to improve upon the most. After she completed a
baseline measurement, we focused on the areas that needed the most improvement.
She pointed out new strategies at each session that I would work on during
my business day or individually. Each session
was an opportunity for me to share my results and begin new skill training to
achieve new objectives. I highly recommend Successfully Speaking and Lynda Katz Wilner to business professionals who are motivated to improve their communication skills in their professional and
personal life.
A.D., Account Executive
Baltimore, MD
RULES Programs
"I like that RULES BY THE SOUND has the practice for the sound system
in a more natural application (sentence and paragraph form) with real life
situations. You can then incorporate the rhythm of American English by discussing
word stress, sentence stress and intonation while at the same time having a
target rich environment for the troublesome sounds. All in all, a very nice
addition to the resources I already have on my shelf."
Roberta Stanwood, M.A., CCC/SLP
Director, Accent Training Resources
Houston, TX
TESTIMONIAL for RULES BY THE SOUND, © 2009
"Lynda and Marjorie must be mind readers! What a great tool we now have
in “Rules
by the Sound”! They have put into one convenient resource much of what
I have struggled to create over the years for my clients. What a great time
saver and transitional tool to get carryover into spontaneous speech! The sound loaded paragraphs allow opportunity to practice challenging sounds
with intensity while addressing the musical cadence, linking and stress rules
simultaneously. Although my clients’ first look at the problem sound
paragraphs in panic, as if they are a first day skier atop a Black Diamond
run at a ski hill, they quickly settle in and build much confidence by the
end of the page!
Thanks for saving me endless hours, Lynda and Marjorie!
“REST IN PEACE” tattered “40,000 Selected Words” book!"
Anne Maki, MS/CEO
Clear Speech Specialists, Inc.
Wichita, Kansas
"Lynda Katz Wilner has co-authored with Marjorie Whittaker, manuals that clarify
the rules of pronunciation and usage for individuals whose native language
is not American English. One version is specific to the medical community,
while the other has more general application. The titles are aptly named:
RULES. The American English pronunciation system is woefully difficult to master
in
terms of sound production and intonation, but these authors have managed
to cogently describe some of our nuances. They give numerous and creative examples
to help both the trainer working with her clients, and the trainee who is
developing
her skills."
Carole Kornsweig
Accent & Speech Solutions
View testimonials
from medical professionals
View testimonials for
the Communication for Allied Health Careers Course at the Community College
of Baltimore County
(CCBC)
Read
what people are saying about RULES!
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