Vin shares his childhood experience of learning English as his third language, after Chinese and Vietnamese. He discusses the challenges he faced with his accent and highlights how he overcame them to improve his communication skills. He stresses that although people may have different accents due to their native languages, the true issue lies in articulation rather than accent itself.

The video also explores methods for improving articulation, which is crucial for effective communication. Vin provides a practical strategy involving daily practice of exaggerated mouth movements for five minutes, ensuring gradual improvement in articulation. He shares personal anecdotes and emphasizes the importance of mastering articulation as a means to effectively communicate.

Takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. articulation [ɑːrˌtɪkjʊˈleɪʃn] - (noun) - The clear and precise pronunciation of words. - Synonyms: (enunciation, speech clarity, diction)

The problem lies with your articulation.

2. fobby [ˈfɒbi] - (adjective) - Slang term used to describe someone who appears to have just arrived in a new country, often characterized by a foreign accent. - Synonyms: (newcomer, recent immigrant, foreigner)

And they would often say, oh, you sound so fobby.

3. dialect [ˈdaɪəlekt] - (noun) - A particular form of a language which is peculiar to a specific region or social group. - Synonyms: (regional speech, vernacular, lingo)

It's a chinese dialect.

4. tease [tiːz] - (verb) - To make fun of or attempt to provoke someone in a playful or unkind way. - Synonyms: (mock, ridicule, taunt)

I remember the kids at school used to tease me because I sounded different to them.

5. mentors [ˈmɛntɔːrz] - (noun) - Experienced and trusted advisers. - Synonyms: (advisors, guides, teachers)

And since then, I've learned from my now mentors, who are speech pathologists.

6. pathologist [pəˈθɒlədʒɪst] - (noun) - A specialist who studies the causes and effects of diseases, in this context, speech disorders. - Synonyms: (speech therapist, diagnostician, clinician)

Speech pathologists who have taught me more effective ways on how you can improve your articulation.

7. articulate [ɑːˈtɪkjʊleɪt] - (adjective) - Having or showing the ability to speak fluently and coherently. - Synonyms: (eloquent, fluent, coherent)

And again, he's got an australian accent, and I love the Aussie accent, but to him, he doesn't articulate

8. exaggerate [ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪt] - (verb) - Representing something as being larger or more extreme than it actually is. - Synonyms: (overstate, amplify, magnify)

But exaggerate the mouth movements.

9. bridesmaid [ˈbraɪdzˌmeɪd] - (noun) - A woman who attends the bride at a wedding. - Synonyms: (attendant, maid of honor, wedding attendant)

Whether it's a speech that your best man or your bridesmaid gave you, that's a form of communication.

10. explore [ɪkˈsplɔːr] - (verb) - To examine or investigate something in detail. - Synonyms: (investigate, examine, discover)

I get my students to change their mouth movements to explore new behaviors.

How I Learned to Speak English: Tips and Tricks for Clear Communication

That's a video of me when I was about five years old, and my dad was just playing around with the camera. You see, you may not know this about me, but English wasn't my first language. It wasn't even my second language. English was my third language. And the language you heard me speaking in that video just briefly when I was young is called. So it's a Chinese dialect. That's fairly rare these days. Osi dijunang gaseng ang ang. Silly little thing that people in Djiu often say. Don't know why they say that, but that was the first language that I learned. Then after that, I learnt Vietnamese, you see? So again, Vietnamese was the second language I learned.

By the time I got into school, formally, in school, I was about six, five or six years old. And for the first time, at five or six years old, then I had to learn English because at home, we weren't taught English. I first learned English at the age of six, and by that point, I'd already understood and was able to speak fluently. Did you? And also Vietnamese.

And I tell you all of this because I want to address the problem that many of my students have been asking me. Over the last year, I've been teaching all the new hires at Microsoft the area of communication skills. And many of the new hires, the thousands of new hires that Microsoft brings on every single year, come from an immensely diverse group of people from all over the world. And the question kept coming up, Vin, is my accent a problem now? This is my firm belief. Your accent is never a problem. My goodness, your accent is what makes you unique. It's what gives you flavor. It's what gives you character.

The problem doesn't lie with your accent. The problem lies with your articulation. If you're someone who has wondered and has thought about, oh, I wonder if my accent is a problem when I communicate, then this video, I hope it will give you some more insight into this. Let's dive deeper into this topic. When I was young and I was speaking English for the first time, I remember the kids at school used to tease me because I sounded different to them. And they would often say, oh, you sound so fobby. And the reason I sounded different was because I had learnt two completely different set of mouth movements before I had to learn a third set of mouth movements.

Let me explain. When I learned Dijiu, for example, I had to learn a completely different set of mouth movements for that language, because Dijiu is very different to Vietnamese. And then when I learned Vietnamese. I had to learn another different set of mouth movements. Now, the mistake I made was when I learned the English language, I brought along the Chinese and the Vietnamese set of mouth movements into the English language, therefore causing me to have a very thick accent.

That accent comes as a result. Your accent comes as a result of us taking the set of mouth movements we learned from our mother tongue into the English language. And depending on how much of those mouth movements we take from the original language that we learned, the first language that we learned, depending on how much of those mouth movements we take and move across into the English language, that will determine how thick the accent that we actually have is.

And for me, when I was young, I had a very thick Vietnamese accent when I spoke English, which for me at the time was a problem, a, because I got teased. But more than this, I couldn't communicate clearly with those around me. They couldn't really understand what I was saying. So I quickly learned in that environment that I needed to learn a completely new set of mouth movements for this particular language. And without knowing at the time, when I was a kid, when I learned these new set of mouth movements for the English language, what I did without knowing was I enhanced my articulation and the way I practiced.

My articulation wasn't actually the best way to do it, but it was the only way I knew how to do it. I started to imitate people that I heard on TV. So I used to watch the prices, right? In Australia, I used to watch Sesame street and something called play school, and I would record them and I would actually try to imitate them and practice speaking like they would speak. And that's how I learned the new set of mouth movements for this new language, English. And since then, I've learned from my now mentors, who are speech pathologists who have taught me more effective ways on how you can improve your articulation.

Now, one of my mentors taught me that the strategy you can use is every day for five minutes, grab any book you like, open it to a random page, and you've got to read it, but exaggerate the mouth movements. So, for example, if I was reading you this quick passage, I'd do it like this. For five minutes. You'd do this. You go read out loud. Obviously, you may have noticed that it is easier to train forward vibrations if you stay on the same note. And by doing this, what you're doing is you're training your mouth to learn the new set of mouth movements.

Five minutes a day is all it takes. And trust me, within three months, two months, if you stick to this and you're consistent, you'll notice your articulation improve dramatically. It doesn't matter where you're from, it doesn't matter what accent you have. We all can do with a little more articulation. One of my gardeners, I love him, but he's a true blue Aussie. And every time he comes to my house, I always slightly struggle to understand him because when he speaks to me, he generally does this.

Ah, g'day, vin. How you going, mate? Good to see you. Bloody. You let your garden go too far. There's bloody weeds everywhere, mate. You gotta take care of it. You gotta get me out more often. And when he does this, sometimes I'm like, oh, my goodness, I barely understood you.

And again, he's got an Australian accent, and I love the Aussie accent, but to him, he doesn't articulate. He doesn't articulate very well. He doesn't move his mouth enough for the articulation to come through. So it doesn't matter what accent you have, if you don't have good articulation, it's very difficult for people to understand you. What I want to quickly mention here as well is the way you currently speak. It's just the set of mouth movements. Don't be so attached to those behaviours.

Often when I get my students to change their mouth movements to explore new behaviors, I find that they're fairly attached to the way they currently sound. They're attached to a series of behaviors, and I say to them, don't be so attached to those set of mouth movements that you don't give the future version of you a chance. Again, don't be so attached to who you are right now that you don't give the future version of you a chance.

You know, I create these videos every week because I hope to inspire you to go on the journey to improve your communication skills. And let me tell you why. I believe that the most impactful moments that you've had in your life so far involve some kind of effective communication. Whether it's a speech that your best man or your bridesmaid gave you, that's a form of communication. The words they said, the way they said it was a form of communication. Whether it be a conversation you had with your parents, whether it be a YouTube video you watched online that inspired you, a speech you saw at a conference, a TEDx talk, all of these moments involve effective communication, and you use communication in every single area of your life, when you talk to the kids, when you talk to your partner, when you talk to your colleagues, when you talk to your boss, when you talk to people online.

It all involves communication skills. It's why I say that when you improve this skill, it's the tide that lifts all boats. And I hope this video has inspired you to improve your articulation and to start the journey of improving and enhancing your ability to communicate. And as always, thanks for joining me for this video.

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