Accent Reduction Now

Derra helped me a great deal. I majored in German Studies and had three years of Phonetics, during which I learned how to pronounce every single sound, word, sentence, etc. So my expectations were pretty high because the professionalism of my German teachers was phenomenal. Derra met all my expectations! Give it a try and do your homework at least 45 minutes a day! Thank you, Derra!

I’m so glad to have found Derra Huxley as my speech trainer, and I highly recommend her to anyone wanting to adopt a more American-​sounding accent.
Having come to the US from China only in my teens, I’ve always been conscious about the way I speak with an (Cantonese) accent. For example, I over-​enunciate some syllables or sound them out too harshly, while completely leaving out certain sounds, especially in multi-​syllabic words that require tricky tongue placements. Despite most people telling me that they understand me clearly, my accent has always made me become too self-​aware of speaking up at work or in front of crowds. So after years of dilly-​dallying, I’ve finally decided to look up speech lessons.
I found Derra Huxley to be the most qualified instructor by far. Derra keeps a blog on individual pronunciation traits she’s analyzed over the years, and I identified immediately with her description of Chinese native speakers. Derra also has a short, friendly self intro she put on YouTube, which helped put me at ease of reaching out to her and talk about my «problems». Our weekly lessons take place over Skype (I’m in NYC and she is in California), and the environment is always fun and relaxed. That said, Derra begins every lesson well prepared and she is very energetic, and I found it easy to open myself up to her, which is important because it allows me to be honest with my weak areas so she can help me improve upon them. Our lessons are structured around my pronunciation patterns and each week Derra helps me work on saying one or more sounds correctly. Since our lessons began, I’ve noticed a considerable improvement in my pronunciation and, more importantly, I’ve gained a great deal more confidence in my everyday talking to people. So thank you, Derra!

Definitely a professional who knows how to help people desiring to reduce their accent. Thanks to Derra’s pin-​pointed analysis of what I had to work on more, I was able to improve my pronunciation. She was also very friendly during our sessions last summer, which created a relaxed atmosphere. I highly recommend her to anyone who would like to reduce their accent.