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Accent Reduction Coach, Dialect Coach, Lyric Diction Coach
Miguel B.

5.0 (678 ratings)

1,199 hours tutoring

Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee
Hourly Rate: $59
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About Miguel

Bio

What do I tutor?
Accent reduction. I have taught General American pronunciation to speakers of twenty-one of the world's forty most spoken languages, some smaller languages like Belarusian, Catalan, Maghrebi Arabic, Hebrew, Kyrgyz, Malayalam, Polish, and Swedish, and other dialects of English.

Dialect coaching. I teach actors to speak a General American accent and several others. Ask me about the accent you're interested in.

Lyric diction. I have given seminars and written IPA...

What do I tutor?
Accent reduction. I have taught General American pronunciation to speakers of twenty-one of the world's forty most spoken languages, some smaller languages like Belarusian, Catalan, Maghrebi Arabic, Hebrew, Kyrgyz, Malayalam, Polish, and Swedish, and other dialects of English.

Dialect coaching. I teach actors to speak a General American accent and several others. Ask me about the accent you're interested in.

Lyric diction. I have given seminars and written IPA transcriptions for choirs singing in Ecclesiastical Latin, Middle English, French, Czech, and Slovak. I have given private lyric diction tutoring for individual singers in English (both General American and Received Pronunciation), Italian, French, German, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Old Spanish, German Latin, Tagalog, and several others.

Phonetics and phonology. I have done monolingual fieldwork demonstrations working with languages that have no writing system yet. I teach university students phonetics and phonology regardless of field of study. I provide feedback on broad and narrow phonetic transcriptions.

How am I as a tutor?
I am gentle and considerate of my students' feelings while also pushing them to achieve their goals. I provide balanced and honest feedback so that my students know how to practice and move forward. I enjoy being patient and finding creative and clear ways to explain or practice a new skill or concept. Let me know how I can continue to be a better tutor.

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Education

University of North Texas
Spanish Education, Vocal Performance
Dallas International University
Graduate Coursework

Policies

  • Hourly Rate: $59
  • Rate details: No shows will be charged 75% of student rate; late cancellations will be charged 50% of student rate
  • Lesson cancellation: 12 hours notice required

  • No background check

  • Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

Schedule

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Approved Subjects

Accent Reduction

Accent Reduction

I primarily teach General American (GA) pronunciation to foreign-born professionals, actors, and singers. I have taught General American pronunciation for 11 years to speakers of: Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, German, Swedish, Russian, Belarusian, Polish, Farsi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Estonian, Turkish, Kyrgyz, Modern Hebrew, Modern Standard Arabic, Darija, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Yoruba, Ewondo, Thai, Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese Hokkien, Shanghainese, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, and dialects of English such as Southern American English, Nigerian English, British Received Pronunciation, and Indian English. For actors, I am currently certified to coach Broad Kiwi (rural New Zealand) and African-American Vernacular English and of course General American. I am currently working on getting certified in all super-dialects of North American English.
ESL/ESOL

ESL/ESOL

I am a certified ESL teacher. I taught ESL at a public middle school. I have 7+ years of experience in phonetics including accent reduction and lyric diction. I primarily teach General American (GA) pronunciation to foreign-born professionals, actors, and singers. I have taught General American pronunciation to speakers of: Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Swedish, Russian, Belarussian, Polish, Farsi, Urdu, Turkish, Kyrgyz, Hebrew, Modern Standard Arabic, Darija, Telugu, Yoruba, Thai, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and dialects of English such as Southern American English, Nigerian English, British Received Pronunciation, and Indian English. For actors, I am currently certified to coach Broad Kiwi (rural New Zealand) and African-American Vernacular English and of course General American. I am currently working on getting certified in all super-dialects of North American English and in working class Belfast English.
French

French

I have taught French at the middle school level. I specialize in phonetics and phonology. I have tutored in accent reduction and lyric diction since 2014. I generally help singers, linguists, and beginning language learners with how the writing system (orthography) matches up with the pronunciation (phonology), but I also help advanced French learners to get rid of their foreign accent. I am most familiar with the Parisian accent, but I may be able to help with other French accents too.
Hebrew

Hebrew

I have 7+ years experience in accent reduction and lyric diction. I tested into Dalet-level at Ulpan in 2018. I generally help singers, linguists, and beginning language learners with how the writing system (orthography) matches up with the pronunciation (phonology). I can also help advanced learners of Modern Hebrew to get rid of their accent. I am most familiar with the Tel Avivi accent, but I can help with other Hebrew accents too.
Linguistics

Linguistics

I began studying phonetics related to singing when I was studying opera. I have gone on to get my masters in Applied Linguistics with a concentration in Descriptive Linguistics. I have a 4.0GPA so far. I have also traveled with the school recruiting team around the US doing monolingual demonstrations in which I have 30 minutes to describe as much of their language as possible without using a common language. I have experience teaching phonetics both in accent reduction and lyric diction for singers. I mainly tutor phonetics and phonology and have a lot of experience in narrow transcriptions. I am familiar with the extIPA.
Portuguese

Portuguese

I have 7+ years of experience tutoring in accent reduction and lyric diction. I generally help singers, linguists, and beginning language learners with how the writing system (orthography) matches up with the pronunciation (phonology). I also help advanced Portuguese learners to get rid of their foreign accent. I am most familiar with the Rio de Janeiro accent, but I may be able to help with other Portuguese accents too.
Spanish

Spanish

I am a certified Spanish teacher with a bachelors in Spanish Education. I have taught in public middle and high schools. I taught Spanish 1, Spanish for heritage speakers, and Dual Language social studies. I have 7+ years of experience in lyric diction and accent reduction. I generally help singers, linguists, and beginning language learners with how the writing system (orthography) matches up with the pronunciation (phonology). I also teach advanced students of Spanish to get rid of their foreign accent. My idiolect (my personal accent) is a mixture of a few different Latin American varieties. I teach a "neutral" Latin American accent (pretty similar to Peruvian Coastal Spanish), but am also familiar with Standard Venezuelan.
Turkish

Turkish

I am a phonetician who studies the diachronic phonology of Turkic languages including Turkish, Uyghur, and Chagatai. I have been teaching phonetics to singers, language learners, and linguistics students for at least seven years. I generally teach how the writing system (orthography) correlates to the pronunciation (phonology) for İstanbul Turkish. I teach beginning Turkish students so that they can understand how to pronounce the words they see, and I help advanced Turkish students to get rid of their foreign accent.
Voice (Music)

Voice (Music)

I have a Bachelor's in Music Education and Vocal Performance and 7+ years teaching lyric diction. I have given seminars and written IPA transcriptions for choirs singing in: Ecclesiastical Latin, Middle English, French, Czech, and Slovak. I have given private lyric diction tutoring for individual singers in: English (both General American and Received Pronunciation), Italian, French, German, Russian, Czech, Slovak, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Old Spanish, German Latin, Tagalog, and several others Always feel free to ask me about other languages. Early music was my forte, so I have great resources for singing European languages in very specific time periods. And I love to learn the orthography and phonology of other languages so you don't have to.

Examples of Expertise

Miguel has provided examples of their subject expertise by answering 3 questions submitted by students on Wyzant’s Ask an Expert.

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Miguel B.'s Photo

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Ratings and Reviews

Rating

5.0 (678 ratings)
5 star
(676)
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1 star
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Reviews

Masterful and intuitive accent coach

Miguel pinpointed the nuances of my accent from the very first session and developed a training program that was both systematic and rigorous. Miguel possesses a rare gift in phonetics that seems almost supernatural. Through a webcam, he senses every subtle movement of my tongue during the speech. Miguel’s talents extend beyond the mere mechanics of language. He employed visual cues and contrasting sounds to train his students. Two sessions later, my ears were reborn, capable of discerning accents in movies and online. Miguel is not just a coach; he’s a linguistic virtuoso. Under his coaching, you're not just learning; you're embarking on a transformative journey.

Hui, 25 lessons with Miguel

Wonderful teacher

Already the first lesson was so great! Miguel really knows how to teach; he explains and demonstrates the correct pronunciation of each word and phrase. I highly recommend Miguel.

Liisi, 12 lessons with Miguel

Knowledgeable tutor and beyond my expectation

Miguel's teaching approach was exactly what I was looking for. He first assessed what part I needed to work on and how many lessons I might have to take. We began with working on ear training to get my ear familiar with and be able to differentiate between the sounds. I've been able to recognize the improvement so far. Miguel was well-prepared in every lesson. I was impressed that he was very knowledgeable not only in English pronunciation but also in foreign languages. He said he wanted to understand the difficulties non-natives may have. I would recommend Miguel to anyone who wants to improve their general American accent.

Wipanee, 21 lessons with Miguel

Great experience

Miguel is a great teacher. He is very patient and knowledgeable. I wish I found him 10 years ago, during the session, Miguel pays close attention to my pronunciation and write down the words I miss pronounce then go over them. His method of teaching is fantastic.

Hamid, 80 lessons with Miguel

Great tutor!

Love working with Miguel in improving my General American Accent. He is very knowledgeable and eager to help me with my difficulties in pronunciation and intonation.

Chandu, 26 lessons with Miguel

WORTH YOUR TIME!

Miguel has been so helpful on my process to become a Pilates instructor. I have struggle understanding why I pronounce words different and how to be understood by others. His classes are very structure. Each session worth it!

LINDA, 6 lessons with Miguel

Wonderful tutor!

Miguel really knows how to teach; he explains and demonstrates the correct pronunciation of each word and phrase. My pronunciation has been improving with his help. Recently, a few native speakers have said to me that either I don’t really have an accent or that my pronunciation is similar to a native speaker. Thank you so much Miguel for your efforts, corrections, and helpful feedback!

Yunhee, 22 lessons with Miguel

Wonderful teacher

I got another wonderful lesson with Miguel’s help. He is always encouraging me on my progress and I am seeing my improvement every week. I will continue to have lessons with Miguel to improve my English.

Jeff, 81 lessons with Miguel

Miguel rocks! Helped me a lot with my Spanish pronunciation

Miguel's lesson helped me a lot with my Spanish pronunciation. I am a self taught beginner using material from the internet and DVDs in the library. I have no clue how I am doing with my spoken Spanish. Miguel spent the entire lesson with me going through the subtleties of the pronunciation of various consonants. Miguel is very patient and encouraging. Not one single minute in the hour long lesson is wasted. All good stuff. I cannot wait for the next lesson!!

L, 7 lessons with Miguel

Very Knowledable

I was struggling in language acquisition and Miguel made it so much more simple for me to understand. He explained it in a way that I retained so much. If you are looking for a tutor on this subject he is the guy!

Matt, 4 lessons with Miguel
Hourly Rate: $59
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