• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

Obession with trying to "change" the way I speak

Hurting89

Well-Known Member
For the last several months I have been trying to iron out certain inflections I don't like from my speech. I want a neutral dialect, but it's becoming so apparent that getting rid of Canadian raising and a slight lisp at 26 is nearly impossible. It's "ingrained". I'm pissed because I want to sound more professional and sophisticated and despite all the effort I don't see myself sounding that much different.

It sucks...
 
For the last several months I have been trying to iron out certain inflections I don't like from my speech. I want a neutral dialect, but it's becoming so apparent that getting rid of Canadian raising and a slight lisp at 26 is nearly impossible. It's "ingrained". I'm pissed because I want to sound more professional and sophisticated and despite all the effort I don't see myself sounding that much different.

It sucks...

Are you working with someone toward that goal?
Even reading out loud, I would count as 'working with someone.'

How have you been going about it?
 
I speak with a markedly West Virginia accent. I sound like a hick. That never stopped me from climbing the corporate ladder.

If you have something to say and it is important enough,people will listen to you no matter how you come across
 
I never tried to change my accent, but I have a pretty neutral one. I did manage to change my laught, though, and also my tone (using a lower one). If I managed on my own, I'm sure you can change your accent. But accents are nice too. Even if you don't like yours, others may like it.
 
When I was younger I hated my voice. My accent didn't bother me but my voice was another matter. I was mocked and bullied at school because my voice varied between droning and monotone to sing-song when excited or agitated. I have quite a deep voice for a female as well, and I used to inadvertently add an extra vowel sound onto some words (think Italians speaking English) or an extra syllable in some words. My sister and I made fake radio show recordings on one of those mono tape recorders that people used to use to load software up on the computer and I was mortified as to how my voice sounded. So, so upset. I then worked on my voice both consciously and subconsciously. A few years later I had such a good voice that a company hired me to be their telephone receptionist and had me record their voicemail message. I shouldn't have had to change my voice though and looking back it seems like yet another thing about myself that I have changed and ended up with rather bland results. Ho hum.
 
Well just recorded myself while speaking spontaneously (phone conversation) as opposed to on the voice recorder and aaagh I still have a lot of elements of my previous voice I definitely did not want to keep. Back to the drawing (or speaking) board methinks.
 
I try to maintain a north midatlantic pronunciation. It's not always easy, as I live in the southern appalachians, but I mostly like the way I sound.

Have you done any research on phonetics, the sounds of your dialect, the one your trying to emulate, and how human speech sounds are produced? You may find this a good place to start http://www.internationalphoneticalphabet.org/ipa-sounds/ipa-chart-with-sounds/

Yes I have read a little about the IPA but not enough, it's difficult to learn. I know what you mean about it not being easy to not be influenced by other people as I live in a small-ish Ontario city where most people speak like this


And it only gets stronger and stronger the further you go outside the major cities.
 
I'm not sure working with someone is the right approach - if you're this down on yourself about it right now you don't need anyone else telling you what's correct or incorrect - that will lead you down that slippery slope of low confidence.

I like the suggestion that tree had about reading out loud. I would take it a step further and record yourself and then listen back. John Fogerty of the Creedence Clearwater Revival did this to get the sound he wanted when he sang - he would record each performance, go home, and listen back, and then try different approaches until he found his groove. Start small - like 3-4 sentence passages. Painful as it will be the first few times, the good news is that nobody else needs to hear it other than you; pinpoint what you did or didn't like and then re-record it until you get the sound you want.

Honestly, though, don't let your self-consciousness about this hold you back from achieving your goals. Confidence, self-assurance, and security - no matter how feigned - go a really, really long way when dealing with NTs. I was reminded of this big-time today. One thing I'm really self-conscious about is that I like to explain everything, and what I intend to come across as caring and excitement and motivational usually ends up being long-winded and jampacked and pedantic (not to mention confusing and boring). I had to deliver a presentation for my job today; it was an orientation and I had to do two different sessions during the day. I made sure to plan and practice to keep it short - no longer than 5 minutes for 5 PPT slides. Looking at people's faces (including the department coordinator's) during that first session presentation I thought I was sunk, that people still found me boring and annoying, regardless of how concise I was. For session 2, I got there a little early, and the department coordinator, with a big smile and a chipper disposition, could not stop talking about how much she and the participants loved the goodies I had brought along with me to the orientation - goodies that included pens, key chains, and highlighters; this was, apparently, good enough for them to want me to present at other events for them. Long story short - they could have cared less how on-target and engaging the material was so long as it was accurate and I presented it with certainty. Ultimately, and ironically, the "useless" decorum was what made my presentation memorable and engaged them.
 
Last edited:
I'm not sure working with someone is the right approach - if you're this down on yourself about it right now you don't need anyone else telling you what's correct or incorrect - that will lead you down that slippery slope of low confidence.

I like the suggestion that tree had about reading out loud. I would take it a step further and record yourself and then listen back. John Fogerty of the Creedence Clearwater Revival did this to get the sound he wanted when he sang - he would record each performance, go home, and listen back, and then try different approaches until he found his groove. Start small - like 3-4 sentence passages. Painful as it will be the first few times, the good news is that nobody else needs to hear it other than you; pinpoint what you did or didn't like and then re-record it until you get the sound you want.

Honestly, though, don't let your self-consciousness about this hold you back from achieving your goals. Confidence, self-assurance, and security - no matter how feigned - go a really, really long way when dealing with NTs.

It's not about dealing with NT's, that's not the problem really. It is about trying to improve my self confidence I suppose just like my past other obsession with weight loss, skincare and makeup. I just want to be "better".
 
It's not about dealing with NT's, that's not the problem really. It is about trying to improve my self confidence I suppose just like my past other obsession with weight loss, skincare and makeup. I just want to be "better".

Got it. I still struggle with self-confidence, too. I hope you find the thing that does it for you! And that you get your voice to sound the way you want to!

Do you have any hobbies or self-restoration practices that feed you spiritually? (Don't get any funny ideas by that "S" word - painting, playing an instrument, collecting vintage magazines or fashion items, etc., count as spiritual fulfillment. I mean it more as that thing that you love and it's yours and nobody can or will ever take it away from you, even if you are terrible at it. Meditation seems to be that thing for me right now, coupled with an unexpected, but much-welcomed, newfound obsession with Whitney Houston's '80s hits as my soundtrack for the drive to work.)
 
Got it. I still struggle with self-confidence, too. I hope you find the thing that does it for you! And that you get your voice to sound the way you want to!

Do you have any hobbies or self-restoration practices that feed you spiritually? (Don't get any funny ideas by that "S" word - painting, playing an instrument, collecting vintage magazines or fashion items, etc., count as spiritual fulfillment. I mean it more as that thing that you love and it's yours and nobody can or will ever take it away from you, even if you are terrible at it. Meditation seems to be that thing for me right now, coupled with an unexpected, but much-welcomed, newfound obsession with Whitney Houston's '80s hits as my soundtrack for the drive to work.)

Not really. Since I was around 19 every obsession has been motivated by insecurity. Sometimes when I "fail" an obsession I kind of give up. Maybe this conversation is best suited for a p.m?

I used to enjoy poetry but I haven't done that since I was maybe 19?...
 
I'm at this point becoming very linguistically insecure, I find myself avoiding words like "about" "house" ect. and carefully watching my intonation. Sigh..
 
I tried so hard in secondary school to adopt the local accent, because I was teased about being 'posh'. The others from my primary school (all equally 'posh' as it was an upper middle class village) managed to successfully drop their Ts and Hs and start saying "ain't" within weeks of starting at the new school, but I never managed it. Apparently my attempts just sounded ridiculous and I would forget anyway as soon as I stopped paying attention, and so the teasing continued. Such is life. I gave up by the time I was 14.

Anyway, I wish you luck. I've heard that singing can help with pronunciation and voice control.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom