OzTalk – Australian Speech Training

For teams with people who speak English as a second language
by boultons MultiMedia

Until you can hear the nuances of actual Australian pronunciation, you can’t reproduce them in your own speech.

A real client from one of our TAFE courses

“I mother class”? She meant “I mow the grass.”

We asked one of our clients in a TAFE (Technical and Further Education) course what her job was. She said “I mother class”. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, it turned out she was saying “I mow the grass.” One small blend, gr, had turned grass into class. Here is the gr lesson exactly as your team would see it. Press Play and watch Annie’s mouth.

1Hear the blend
2Click the word
3Record yourself
4Hear yourself
1 Hear the blend
Annie says the gr blend close up, so you can see how her lips round for the r. Replay it, slow it down, loop it.
2 Click the word
Tap the word to hear it in full, then say it back. Record yourself and play it next to Annie.
Your turn. Say “gr”, then say “great” out loud three times. Mouth tip: Voice on for g, then straight into r with lips slightly rounded: great.
Mouth Gym · gr workoutTongue twisters by Trevor Boulton
Warm-up drillCombines the blend with all the vowel sounds. Say along.
Tongue twisterGlen gladly grabbed for the glorious green grapes lying on the grass.
The complete course

More than 20 years. Thousands of learners. One complete course.

Used by thousands of people for more than 20 years, and developed and produced by Trevor and Annie Boulton, who have taught English as a second language around the world.

The course screen your team sees: six modules, one click to start
The course screen your team sees. Six modules, one click to start.
Try the free lessons No sign-up. No card. Click and start.
How it works

Six steps for every sound. Hear the difference first.

1
Hear itAnnie says the sound, close up on video.
2
Say itYou say it back, watching her mouth.
3
ListenSlow it down, loop it, hear it again.
4
RepeatSay it three times, tap a circle each time.
5
RecordRecord yourself. Recordings stay on your own device.
6
ComparePlay your version next to hers and hear the gap close.

Six modules: every letter sound, the vowels, beginning and ending blends, numbers and colours, and the top 100 words, plus Mouth Gym drills and tongue twisters.

In medicine, a misheard word can change a life.

Fifteen milligrams or fifty. A symptom described, a diagnosis explained. Being understood the first time is a safety issue, not a courtesy. If a sound is not in your mother tongue, you must learn to hear it before you can voice it.

What changes

From "Sorry, could you say that again?" to understood the first time.

Priya, a doctor trained overseas

Priya passed her English tests, but in the surgery patients still asked her to repeat herself, and she began saying every dose twice to be sure. She watched Annie’s mouth, said each sound back, recorded herself and listened. Soon she could hear the difference before she spoke, and patients stopped asking twice.

An illustrative story.

Customers tell us the same thing: seeing the mouth up close, then recording yourself and hearing it played back, is what makes the difference.

From customer feedback over the years.

Medicine is the clearest example. The need is everywhere.

Wherever people need to be understood the first time:

Medicine
Banking and finance
IT
Farming
Hospitality
Hairdressing
Building and trades
For call centres

Your agents serve Australian customers. Train them without taking them off the phones.

We know the problem first-hand. We tried teaching Australian pronunciation inside a call centre in the Philippines. It took far more paid time than the centre could spare.

So we built the trainer into the course. Each agent works through it at their own pace, in short sessions, on a desktop or a phone, with no classroom and no timetable.

What your team gets
No trainer needed. Annie shows every sound close up, so agents can watch the mouth, copy it and hear the difference.
Practise anywhere. Short lessons that fit a break, a commute or time at home. Agents can record themselves and play it back.
One passcode for 25 agents. About $4.00 per agent, per month. Need more? Just multiply by 25.
Try the free lessons
No sign-up and no card. Pass the link to a team leader to try it first.
For your team

One passcode.
Twenty-five devices.
The whole team.

Desktops at work, laptops, phones, and the family’s at home. When the whole household hears Australian English, everyone’s ear improves.

$100
per month + GST, for 25 devices
That is just $4.00 per device, per month.
Billed every 6 months: $660 including GST.
Subscribe for 6 months
Try the free lessons first, no sign-up and no card.
Need more devices? Just multiply by 25. Two lots is 50 devices, four is 100, and so on. All prices plus GST, billed every 6 months. Same passcode for the whole practice.