I am currently studying dentistry at the New York University College of Dentistry. I owe my academic success to The Jingles, which enabled me to lead a productive student life in the U.S. without any language barrier. I believe the improvement in my English pronunciation, made possible by the Jingles, is the most valuable asset that I have acquired while learning English.
As a sophomore in high school, I decided to study abroad, and I devoted substantial time and energy to studying English. I then achieved one of the highest TOEFL scores ever achieved by a Japanese high school student (283 out of 300 on the computer-based TOEFL.). As a result, I was accepted at the University of Toronto, one of Canada’s most prestigious universities, with an entrance scholarship. I had confidence in my English proficiency.
But I still encountered one great difficulty in studying English: that was pronunciation. I tried everything under the sun in order to acquire native-like English pronunciation. I analyzed dozens of textbooks on English pronunciation and English phonetics, did shadowing exercises, and used numerous audiovisual materials on English pronunciation. Despite such hard work, my efforts in pronunciation seemed to be going nowhere, and my pronunciation was still far from that of native speakers of English. I was about to give up, thinking that since I already passed the threshold period of language acquisition, it would be impossible for me to acquire native-like pronunciation of English.
As I neared the end of my high school career, I became aware of Mr. Walker’s book As soon as I finished reading the book, I made a reservation for a trial session of The Jingles. In the trial session, I heard the beautiful English pronunciation of the Jingles instructors, and realized that The Jingles is different from any other pronunciation training method I had tried before. I decided to spend the bulk of the time remaining prior to my departure for Canada in practicing The Jingles.
As I progressed through the systematic pronunciation training of The Jingles, I realized why my English pronunciation had not improved with other methods. Without developing the speech motor skills that would allow native-like gestural coordination patterns in producing English, merely trying to imitate the mouth movements of native speakers of English had borne me few results. The Jingles was the only method that addressed the dynamic elements of speech motor skills necessary for native-like English pronunciation. As I progressed through The Jingles curriculum, the dynamics of my English pronunciation changed fundamentally, and I gained facility in pronouncing words and sentences that had previously been impossible for me to pronounce in a nativelike manner.
My newly-acquired nativelike English pronunciation also led to improvement in my listening comprehension. As my pronunciation improved, it became much easier for me to catch spoken English, and I became proficient at repeating English sentences exactly as native speakers pronounced them. In addition, the longer I continued Jingles training, the easier it became to memorize English words. The ability to pronounce newly encountered words in a native-like manner enabled me to memorize those words very easily.
Although the period of time that I was able to spend on Jingles training was rather short (only 7 months), my English pronunciation dramatically improved in that period. I feel I am very lucky to have found the Jingles before leaving for abroad, and I just wish I could have found The Jingles earlier.
After I successfully completed my undergraduate studies in Canada, I went to dental school admission interviews in the U.S. The interviewers told me that they had never met an international student from Asia who had such beautiful English pronunciation. As a result, I was accepted at the NYU College of Dentistry, ranked 4th in research among all the U.S. dental schools, with a full-tuition scholarship.
“Evidence” is one of the words used most frequently in medicine today. The success of The Jingles is based upon empirical evidence – thousands of satisfied Jingles clients, some of whom have developed completely nativelike English pronunciation. The Jingles is a systematic, scientific approach to speech motor skills and speech perception analysis and development, developed through Mr. Walker’s extensive research in speech science and applied linguistics. I sincerely hope that people all over the world who have difficulty with English pronunciation, just as I did before, will develop native-like English pronunciation through Jingles training.
George Yong ( age 40 / English Teacher / Chinese )
I am a teacher of English whose native language is Chinese. Although I began studying English as a child, my accent when I spoke English used to be a bit funny — and I was unable to pick up many of the lyrics in English songs. The situation changed when I came across “The Jingles” in Shanghai in the year 2003.
After practicing The Jingles for about 6 months, I no longer had problems understanding the dialogs in Hollywood movies or in picking up the lyrics of English songs. I started recommending The Jingles to my students. Those who tried The Jingles gave me very positive feedback about the effectiveness of The Jingles as a learning tool.
Here is an example of another person who found success through Jingles training. One day after I finished teaching, I encountered a young lady waiting for me outside my classroom in Hangzhou. I recognized her immediately because she had been one of my most enthusiastic students, always seeking my advice about English pronunciation and always ready to practice Jingles with me.
She explained that she had come to thank me for my help in developing her English pronunciation — and that , because of that help, she had won a position at a famous five-star hotel. The three interviewers had told her that they were truly amazed by and impressed with her deeply “beautiful English”! The Jingles had once again helped someone.
For those who have been studying English for many years but who feel the need to improve their oral English skills further, “The Jingles” are definitely the key!
When I decided to try and reduce my Slavic accent when I speak English, many of my friends wondered why: “Granted, you do have an accent,” they argued, “but so do many people living in the United States. Besides, your accent is not at all unpleasant; it’s even beautiful in its own way…”. And what if despite your best effort and all your determination, you fail? Are these Jingles really nearly as good as they claim to be? Why not just take advantage of your chances to speak with native speakers of English?
To be sure, some parts of what I heard made sense to me. But on the other hand, I was very sure that after years and years of dogged efforts at self-study I had finally come to a point where I did indeed need some professional guidance and advice. I just couldn’t bear any longer the thought of my accent giving me away the very moment I opened my mouth and started to speak. Especially when I earn my living teaching English in Japan. Whether we like it or not, it takes the help of a highly qualified professional who uses an effective method to help us fashion a suitable nativelike pronunciation of English. Mr. Steve Walker’s innovative method of teaching correct English pronunciation to non-native speakers has put me firmly on the exciting and ever-challenging path of self-discovery and self-improvement, encouraging me to work even harder in order to attain my language objectives.
In Jingles training I first learned which muscles I needed to develop. Next came weeks of daily practice to perfect my training technique. With each stage of improvement, I found myself better able to control the way my muscles work while I’m speaking. Now I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I’m deeply grateful to Mr. Walker and all the members of his wonderful team, who continue to help me. The native level no longer seems unattainable to me. The native level of English pronunciation will soon be mine–but I COULD NOT HAVE DONE THIS ALONE!
Be prepared to put in a lot of effort and time. Do not worry! All the teachers here at The Jingles training center fully appreciate the need to customize all the courses they offer. So, put your trust in them. Don’t wait another day! Believe in yourself and your teachers and you’ll make it. Take it from me!
Baharat Karmali ( age 38 / Sales Representative / Hindu )
‘Muscle training’ is directly connected to my successful career.
I have been working for a US company in Mumbai providing online telephone services for 5 years. I received some English training before I started my job. However, quite often my customers ask me to repeat what I have said due to my strong Hindi accent. My supervisor has recommended that I should take some special pronunciation therapy.
So I decided to take Jingles training because it is for business professionals. The training was very unique and effective. After 5 hours of online training, not only has the number of complaints from my customers decreased, but also I can actually FEEL the way I use my tongue has become much smoother.
Now I can carry on long conversations without being asked to repeat. I attribute this to the way I have developed my abdominal based sound production. Formerly I spoke English with the chest based sound production characteristic of most of India’s languages. Of course, I still use chest based sound production when speaking my two native languages (Hindi and Indian English).
Marc Alliot ( age 40 / Assistant Professor / French )
My wish is to give flowless lectures without being asked to repeat.
I am frequently called upon to give lectures in English. I am capable of arranging technical terms and sentence components into the proper order, but I really do not want attention diverted by my thick French accent. I love my native language, but would like to either pass as a native speaker or sound “only somewhat French” when I am delivering my lectures.
After only 20 Jingles sessions, each 30 minutes in duration, the lectures I give in English are now much better received by the international audiences who listen to them. I am no longer asked to clarify most points and — furthermore, recently more people ask me post-lecture questions than used to be the case. Before I started Jingles training, I often lamented that I had not taken up the active pursuit of English oral skills as a pre-adolescent. I assumed that I would forever be merely a person who spoke quaint, sincere Engliish — but with a decidedly French flavor to it. I had almost given up hope when a colleague told me about The Jingles. She described how The Jingles fostered the development of nativelike English speech motor skills.
She added that such training would not in any way cause damage to my French phonological system (my “French phonome”, as Steve Walker calls it). As a result of my Jingles training, I now have TWO “allophonomes”: my primary allophonome (French) and my secondary allophonome (English). I feel that the Jingles is truly an amazing system for developing English pronunciation expertise. By the way, I can easily add a bit of French spice to my English (and vice-versa) whenever I feel like doing so!!
I want to be able to sing with the same pronunciation as foreign musicians.
Whenever I tried to sing, I did my best to imitate how singers I saw on TV or videos moved their lips and tongues and also the way they shaped their mouths. But still, I could not pronounce Ls and Rs properly, still my “th” sounds sounded like s sounds, still I sounded like a Japanese person failing in her efforts to sound like a native speaker of English. Furthermore, I felt inadequate because the English I spoke did not sound “cool” like that of the English spoken by returnees and native speakers.
I now feel that my English pronunciation compares favorably with that of returnees and native speakers of English. My dreams regarding English are coming true. I am beginning to sound “cool”. When I first started The JINGLES, I was dubious about them, but being taught in great detail why such pronunciation was possible, in due time I gained greater facility in my pronunciation of English.
I became aware that my pronunciation beginning to sound like the pronunciation of my JINGLES instructors. By practicing in a rather loud voice, I overcame all feelings of shyness regarding my ability to pronounce English. And suddenly, as if by magic, I found myself capable of understanding the meaning of the words sung by native speakers, words that I had been previously singing without having ever grasped the whole meaning.
From that moment on, I started using English freely, not as a “cool thing”, but as “one of my two languages”. It is not only tongue, lips, and other parts of the mouth that help a person produce nativelike English. That person must also be able to employ the rest of his or her body to generate the sounds and sound combinations characteristic of those of native speakers of English. I am amazed at how my own pronunciation of English has continued to develop.
I am looking forward to the day when I can sing the songs of my choice using a pronunciation comparable to that produced by native speakers of English. I am sure that day will come sooner rather than later. And I owe this confidence to The Jingles!
When I decided to try and reduce my Slavic accent when I speak English, many of my friends wondered why: “Granted, you do have an accent,” they argued, “but so do many people living in the United States. Besides, your accent is not at all unpleasant; it’s even beautiful in its own way…”. And what if despite your best effort and all your determination, you fail? Are these Jingles really nearly as good as they claim to be? Why not just take advantage of your chances to speak with native speakers of English?
