Improving Fluency | San Diego Voice and Accent

I'm Julie Cunningham, MA, CCC-SLP, a licensed speech-language pathologist. I help people who know a lot of English but feel that their speech doesn't flow.

Prefer one-on-one help? See my private accent reduction training.

Want to start for free? English Pro Lite is my free online American accent course, with 45 lessons and 2.5 hours of video.

Ready for the full program? English Pro, for intermediate learners and above, is $49.99 a month or $479 for lifetime access, with a 10-day money-back guarantee.

Does this sound like you?

You pause often to search for words.
You know the grammar, but your speech sounds slow or choppy.
Native speakers talk fast, and it's hard to keep up.
You worry about your accent, so you speak carefully, one word at a time.

Improving English Fluency: What We Work On

Much of what makes American English sound fluent is rhythm and linking. When you learn how native speakers connect their words, your speech flows more easily, and fast speech gets easier to understand, too.

Rhythm: the pattern of strong and weak syllables
Linking: connecting words smoothly, as in pick it up
Reductions: common short forms such as gonna and wanna
Thought groups and pausing, so you have time to plan your next words
Organizing your ideas before you speak
Useful phrases for meetings and everyday conversation

How I Can Help

In private sessions, we meet 1:1 on Zoom and practice with the conversations you have every day. I listen for the places where your speech slows down or breaks up, and we work on those first.

English Pro has full courses on rhythm, reductions, and linking, with audio and video exercises you can practice anytime.

Start practicing now with these free lessons:

Questions about training? Contact me.

Common questions from speakers who have difficulty speaking English fluently

What are the biggest communication challenges for speakers who have difficulty speaking English fluently?

The most common are pausing to search for words, speech that sounds slow or choppy, trouble keeping up with fast native speakers, and speaking one word at a time because of worry about your accent.