This week, you’ll hear from the very first guest on the Express to Impress podcast. Allyson Plumberg, Founder of Rooted Accents: Solutions for Accent Modification, joins me to discuss accent modification. Allyson provides speech therapy services and accent modification coaching to students and professionals worldwide. She has a Master of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Arizona State University. The episode is the first of two with my conversation with Allison. It’s packed full of useful information for English language learners. We kick off the conversation with a definition of an accent and have a quick discussion about the General American English accent and micro accents. Then, we dive into a discussion about common beliefs about accents. Allison debunks common myths that limit people from being able to speak English effectively. We also talk about speaking speed, word stress, content versus function words, stressed and unstressed syllables, reductions, contractions, and more! Episode originally published February 26, 2021. Original theme music by Lucas Knutter Read the transcript at https://www.express-to-impress.com/american-english-accent/ Join the Express to Impress community on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/express-to-impress/. See infographics for this episode on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/ExpresstoImpress/_created/.