The state of corporate affairs and lifestyle is changing and apart from your educational qualification and skills, one of the most important aspects that H.R managers closely monitor is communication skills. The corporate ecosystem is highly communication based across industry and it is no longer based on textual context. While the 90’s and early 2000’s was dependent on textual communication like fax, and mail, thanks to digital advancement, the corporate system is quickly becoming highly communicative over channels.
Employees are needed to be present on conference calls, meetings are held over Skype, there are presentations to be done every day and hence speech and communication is now a career enhancing skill or aspect that decides how your career progresses.
One of the speech problems that many seem to suffer from is pronunciation problem. We are not talking about the kind where you end up pronouncing a word incorrectly because of your mother -tongue’s influence; we are talking about graver pronunciation problems that arise due to physiological or developmental disorders pertinent from childhood.
Pronunciation problems can be of many kinds. It could be either a problem with articulation, it could be a phonological disorder, or it could be due to childhood apraxia of speech.
Articulation Problems: This problem deals with the replacement of certain sounds with another sound that causes the word to be articulated in a wrong way. For e.g, replacing the ‘ra’ sound with ‘wa’ sound. While this is apparent and pertinent in children, adults suffer from this problem too. Another pertinent articulation problem is a lisp, where the ‘s’ sound is more enunciated. Most people believe that a lisp cannot be treated but it is quite the contrary in reality. It is perfectly treatable with therapy, even in adulthood.
Phonological Problems: Many children have trouble classifying sound groups or classes. For example, replacing all the sounds made with the back of the mouth (like g and k) with sounds made with the front of the mouth (like t and d). This is a very common problem with children and it may carry on into adulthood if attention is not given to rectify it beyond a certain age.
Apraxia: Apraxia is actually a motor-planning disorder. Due to this the brain is unable to send the right signals to the jaws, lips, and tongue to get it moving correctly to make the right sound.
While most of these conditions are predominant in children, many adults still suffer from one or more of the above mentioned pronunciation disorders in speech and language. While this could have been rectified in childhood, most of these problems go unnoticed mainly due to lack of awareness and financial issues. Most adults who face such pronunciation problems in speech and language are often stigmatised and hence suffer from conditions like low self-esteem, depression and more. They hence go in to their own shell and are never able to communicate freely with confidence. This impacts their career more than anything.
In a quick-paced corporate world, is there any way these problems can be treated or overcome quickly. Can adults be helped to get rid of their pronunciation problems without digging the pocket deep?
The answer is a resounding, yes! Organisations like Speech Plus are providing crisp and integrated correctional therapies for treatment of pronunciation problems in Kolkata. Some of these therapy courses are specifically designed for the working corporates so that corporate communications are also enhanced in this process. With the best speech therapists, these organisations are helping thousands of young professionals with state-of-the-art treatment of pronunciation problems in Kolkata.
Some have completely overcome their speech issues and have turned themselves and hence their careers around 360 degrees towards progress, while many are improving at a quick pace. Some of the leading corporate houses, especially the I.T companies at Salt lake, and Rajarhat are already welcoming speech therapists into their premises for workshops and awareness drives. The reception towards treatment of pronunciation problems in Kolkata has been great and ever improving.
So, if you know someone who has a pronunciation problem, or you have one yourself, know that it is not something to be ashamed of. And also that regardless of age it can be cured with rigorous and extensive planned therapy. Ask for help, and consult with a certified speech therapist to find the right kind of help for your problem. You have nothing to worry about, because free speech is now official…error-free speech!