Emergency Help for an Inarticulate Spouse
By Susan Berkley
VoiceCoach subscriber Mary writes:
“My husband has an extremely poor vocabulary and a 70’s dialect. I find his constant pronunciation errors embarrassing, for him as well as myself. I often worry about what people really think. He’s a professional who meets with other professionals and homeowners regularly. Do you have any suggestions for helping him?”
Susan Berkley:
“In every relationship there are things about our partner that tend to bug us. It can be the way they leave the lid off the toothpaste, the way they dress, their table manners, or the way they speak.
Sometimes there really is a problem. But often times it’s the “I’m perfect, you’re a slob” syndrome. How do I know? I used to be married to one of those guys. My ex- husband was the mispronouncing Mr. Malaprop, the slayer of syntax, the Gollum of grammar, while I (of course!) was the paragon of polished speaking perfection.
What did I do about it? Well, it used to drive me absolutely crazy. But then I corrected his word usage once too often and had to dodge a flying dictionary. So I decided to just get over it.
Eventually, we parted ways, and for the past three years I’ve been dating a writer– an eloquent, well-spoken writer with a masterful command of the English language.
Ahhhhhh. Blessed relief.
Look, your husband may truly be an inarticulate Archie Bunker sound-alike. But you risk sounding like a nag if he hears it coming from you. My advice? Buy him a copy of my Voice Mastery Formula here: http://www.greatvoice.com/voice-over-store. Hide it. DO NOT give it to him for a birthday or Christmas present.
One day (hopefully soon) someone else will mention his speaking problem and he’ll come crying to you for advice. Then you can whip out the course, give him a kiss and know you’ve done your best to give him the resources and tools he needs to improve. The rest is up to him”
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Susan Berkley is a top voice over artist and founder of The Great Voice Company, a company devoted to teaching great voices around the world how to become successful voice over actors. The Great Voice Company is an international leader in voice over training and in providing top quality voice over recordings in all languages to discerning businesses and marketers. For additional information visit www.greatvoice.com.
