English is the international language of choice for most businesses around the world.

In addition to the business opportunities that flourish in our global economy, we are privileged to get a first-hand glimpse into the lives and cultures of people we meet and do business with every day. Learning about and experiencing other cultures enriches our lives tremendously.

Communication between us can sometimes be challenging, however.

Often, our conversations contain great ideas but important content is not clearly understood. The effect is like reading an article with every third and fifth word omitted. This can be very frustrating to both parties. Listeners must struggle to comprehend while "re-winding" and "re-analyzing" conversation in their minds. For many speakers, frustration and embarassment builds as they are asked to repeat themselves and they are tempted to avoid speaking!

At times, even the most proficient second language speakers of English are hard for American and non-native listeners to understand. Why is that?

The answer is: The Speech Accent.