Over the years, I’ve taught a wide range of individuals—from CEOs and doctors to students and retirees. Some struggle to make any progress after months of lessons, while others excel within weeks.
Through this experience, I’ve learned that talent has very little to do with it. Students often think a tutor is a “magic bullet” for accent transformation. They believe that simply paying for an hour of my time once a week will result in a native British accent.
But a teacher can only provide the blueprint. Ultimately, the construction is up to you. Here is the difference between those who fail and those who succeed.
The "Passive Consumer" (The Trap)
Many students approach accent training the same way they approach a university lecture: they sit back, listen, and expect to absorb the information. They view themselves as a customer being served a product.
The Math of Failure
To see real improvement in your motor skills (which is what speech is), you need at least 100 hours of effort. This doesn’t mean you need 100 lessons. For each one-hour lesson you could put in 9 hours of effort, for example.
- If you take 10 hours of lessons and do 30 minutes of practice in between, you have logged 15 hours total.
- You are not even 20% of the way to competency.
These students often show up to lessons without having done the drills. As a result, we spend the expensive lesson time covering basics they could have learned for free at home. They understand their flaws intellectually, but their muscles cannot execute the fix.
The "Active Engineer" (The Success Story)
I’ve had individuals who started with heavy, difficult accents. One might have assumed their chances were slim. But they treated their pronunciation like a mechanical problem to be solved.
These students don’t wait to be spoon-fed.
- They treat the Complete Course as their manual.
- They use the Daily Training Programme to build the muscle memory.
- They use our Lessons for high-level diagnostics.
When they hit a wall, they don’t give up—they drill. Within months, the results are undeniable.
The Science: Why You Can’t Apply What You Learn
Here is the most common frustration I hear:
“I can do it perfectly during the drills, but as soon as I speak in conversation, I lose it.”
This is not a failure of character; it is a failure of Cognitive Load.
Your brain functions at two distinct levels:
- Controlled Processing (The Lesson): You are consciously focusing on the position of your tongue and lips. You are speaking slowly. The content doesn’t matter, only the mechanics.
- Automatic Processing (The Conversation): You are focusing on what to say, not how to say it.
When you speak in normal conversation, your brain tries to run at 100mph. But your new accent muscles can only run at 10mph. Because of this speed mismatch, your brain panics and defaults to “Autopilot”—your native accent.
The Solution: The Speed Limit
I cannot fix this for you. I can guide you, but I cannot rewire your neural pathways. To bridge the gap, you must slow down.
You have to make a conscious effort to override your autopilot.
- If you feel overwhelmed, stop.
- Focus on just one word or sound.
- Do not try to speak at your native speed.
There is nothing wrong with putting in minimal effort if you are happy with minimal results. But if you want to sound like a native speaker, you must respect the discipline.
I can give you the best tools in the world—the video course, the audio drills, and the diagnostic feedback. But I cannot do the exercises for you.