Student Feedback/Testimonial
The following are feedback reports from students who have enrolled in my program. The purpose is to help potential students make a more informed decision before signing up to the program.
Students currently enrolled in the program can submit a report here.
Suzanne
Native language: Polish
Date: Nov 2024
Since I moved to London from Poland five years ago, I’ve been doing my best to learn how to speak with a British accent. For context, I moved here when I was 21 to study Film at a London-based university.
I have always been fascinated with British culture and the English language, with a special emphasis on British cultural context, word usage, and pronunciation. Having a background in acting, I consider myself a person who is sensitive to sound and can mimic them quite well, which led me to acquiring a somewhat estuary-like accent. That wasn’t the end of my aspirations since my speech was still foreign-tainted and unclear. What I wanted was a nice, clear RP accent, but no matter how much I tried, it seemed like my progress plateaued. I was still getting asked that dreaded question: “Where are you from?” after each slightly longer conversation. That’s when one evening I decided to do a Google dive and see if I could find someone to assess the issues in my speech and maybe coach me as well.
I had an encounter with a coach before, who told me that she normally works with people who have a stronger accent and she couldn’t promise she would be able to help, so I expected to have to really scour the internet. Anton’s page showed up at the top of my Google search results and attracted my attention with professionalism and in-depth information. I continued searching but kept coming back to Anton’s page. To be quite frank, I was very nervous about the whole thing. I was nervous that maybe Anton would end up telling me that this is as far as I can go with my accent or that I would end up being disappointed hearing the same advice you can find in YouTube videos on how to sound British.
The first consultation with Anton was eye-opening. From the get-go, he assessed non-RP sounds in my speech (like my Rs that turn into Ws, dark Ls that I struggled with) and pointed out language aspects that I had never even heard of (for example, aspiration). At the end of our session, we agreed on private tutoring and the rest is history.
I’ve been having classes with Anton for a good few months now and the progress I’ve made is amazing. I have purchased his online programme which is very helpful, detailed and informative, and on top of our sessions, it helps me with my daily exercises. In our classes, we looked into all the speech aspects that were making my accent not RP sounding (like the lack of rounding of the lips with W and U sounds or stretching of the lower lip in front vowel sounds). He always tailors the sessions specifically to address my speech issues, with customised workouts and records the sessions so I can go back and rewatch them.
About 10 sessions in, I stopped getting asked where I’m from, and 15 sessions in, I was told by an acquaintance that I’ve got a great RP accent. From someone else, I heard that they aspire to having my kind of accent. It took a lot of work and commitment to get my accent to
where it is now, and there’s still work to be done. I’m willing to put in even more energy into internalising all that I’m learning, but I would never have been able to get here without Anton’s help. He’s an amazing, knowledgeable teacher and I’m always looking forward to our classes.
Katerina M
Native language: Ukrainian & Russian
I have already had 18 one-on-one lessons with Anton. Every day when I don’t have lessons, I try to dedicate at least 30 min – 1 hour to practice RP on my own – using the daily training exercises, that Anton has provided, and I also practice the RP complete course, that I have purchased.
As I speak English on a daily basis, I also made it a habit to check in the dictionary app the correct pronunciation of all the words that I’m not sure about how to pronounce correctly.
My native languages are Ukrainian/Russian. My knowledge of English is very good, but I do have a stronger accent, which I wanted to try to make less prominent. I knew it’s gonna be a hard work.
And I must say, that I still have days when I get discouraged and don’t believe that I’m gonna be able to acquire RP accent.
But at the same time, after 1,5 months of working with Anton, and with the practice on my own, I have already learnt how to distinguish different sounds of RP, which allows me to mimic the words of native speakers mindfully.
Knowing the sounds also allows me to see the patterns, and to guess with relatively good accuracy the pronunciation of different words.
I’ve looked through my old videos where I speak English, and I recorded new videos of myself speaking English. And I must admit, there is a difference.
Yes, it’s not a perfect RP yet, but there is a real improvement. Seeing this difference gives me more confidence in myself, and allows me to trust the process more.
Acquiring RP is a neither short, nor an easy job. But it’s definitely possible to improve your pronunciation. You just need commitment, consistent practice and patience.
I’m very glad that I’ve started to take lessons with Anton, I’m definitely going to continue. And I do recommend lessons with Anton and his complete course for everyone who’s dedicated to improve their accent.
Lucia G
Native language: Italian
There are many levels of language learning, and mastering pronunciation ranks the highest, both in desiderata and difficulty.
When thinking of Britain, the first thing that comes to mind is the crisp, clear accent of BBC anchor(wo)men. Yet, despite its quintessential Britishness, courses in Received Pronunciation (RP) are few and sparse. Don’t get me wrong, the Internet is full of teachers promising you will “speak like a native in just three hours!” but they are mostly fads – guess what, to learn how to speak like a native you must first learn how they speak. Literally. From breathing (aspiration is key) to tongue placement. It turns out muscle memory works for every part of your body, face included.
I signed up to Anton’s Received Pronunciation course with mild expectations, but that changed rather quickly. The course is superbly done. Anton’s passion for teaching is supported by an incredible attention to detail, particularly evident in his videos. The course itself consists of eleven parts, each divided into several subsections, plus shadowing exercises and a sample of his daily training. Parts one to three (fundamentals, short and long vowels) are by themselves worth the price of the course. There are several close-up videos of Anton’s mouth as he pronounces the sounds, and they make a huge difference in understanding the correct placement of tongue, lips, jaws.
I decided to contact Anton for private lessons after finishing part two of his course. Doing one-to-one tutoring has been a game changer and brought me to another level. Each lesson is tailored on my needs: he zeroes in on my weaknesses and gently forces me to remove any filter from my native language. The real work starts when the lesson’s over though. Daily training (a combination of lessons made available by Anton via Google Drive) is a vital part of the tutoring. I have done fourteen lessons so far, and I am utterly amazed by how far I have come. My pronunciation has definitely improved, and I am looking forward to future progresses.
Disclaimer: This in not an easy-fix course. It requires commitment, hard work, as well as the willingness to give oneself time and grace. If you are willing to put in the time, you’ll get your money’s worth and then some! As Anton says, “Consistency is key to success.”
Hiro M
Native language: Japanese
I am a Japanese in my thirties and have never studied abroad before.
As I moved to England due to my job, I wanted to be able to speak British English taking advantage of living here. So I was looking for an English teacher focusing on pronunciation.
A teacher who I was looking for was: 1. understands the pronunciation habits of Japanese (assumed that if they do not know it, they can’t understand why I can’t pronounce as they do), 2. has a logical approach to pronunciation, and 3. is a British native speaker.
I found out Anton on the internet and asked for a trial lesson. As I thought he meets the points above through the trial, I started both the online course and the private lessons.
The online course is comprehensive, starts from scratch, and gives you an explanation of each vowel. This is systematic and enjoyable for me. While at the same time, I found that I didn’t even know how to pronounce the vowels and how much I had been pronouncing incorrectly.
It took about 4 months to complete the course because I did this little by little when I have a short period of time like 15-20mins/day. My colleagues told me that my pronunciation has improved.
Also, I realized that I can use what I have learned from the course, to listen to native speakers more easily, and when I encounter a new word, I can look at the dictionary and imagine how to pronounce it because I can read the phonetic alphabet now.
I think the price is quite reasonable for such a large volume of content and audio samples. I recommend this course to build your basics of pronunciation. Thank you Anton.