How important is it to have an American or British accent to succeed as a Udemy instructor?

Hi @Madhu-Nag-Shety
Accent do play an important role but Indian accent is accepted and promoted largely on Udemy and there's a great scope for indians to Reach international audience.

So i think you should go ahead and set an example.

All the best 🥳!

The issue really isn't whether anyone has an accent. We all do to someone from another country, or even people within the same country. The issue is whether someone will be able to understand you.

If I purchase a course and I have a hard time understanding the instructor or I'm spending too much time focusing on the actual words coming out of the instructor's mouth, I will get a refund. Your (non-Indian) students will do the same thing.

I will admit I have a very difficult time understanding most Indian instructors. Not only does their accent tend to be very thick, but they often talk fast, which makes it even worse. You said your accent is thick. If so, you really need to focus on speaking SLOWLY. Otherwise you will find that many of your students will ask for refunds, or leave you with a bad rating.

Hi,

Just curious, how much does subtitles help? I mean, even if you're struggling to the extent that you need to turn off the audio, but the subtitles ( auto-generated or self-made) are in good sync, would you (or in general, someone) still ask for a refund?

Thanks

Hi I am a indian to and am leaving in USA, but I have really few problems with other people understanding my accent so I think you are good

Hi, In my opinion, words contribute to the least, compared to your body language and the liveliness, you bring to your lectures ! It is the 'feel' that the audience get from your lectures, which brings about an 'understanding' in them and not just giving information. My first course is on communicating effectively, and you may want to have a look, if you wish! Thank You.

No, I didn't say that. Some people might find captions ok, some will not. Not everyone likes captions. I personally do not. I find it distracting to listen to the instructor and have to read captions to understand what the instructor is saying.

Granted, I could mute the instructor but you have to remember that your students will be paying you money for your course. They should not have to mute the instructor and read captions. They expect the instructor to be able to communicate clearly and effectively. If you cannot do that then you could hire a native english speaking person to do your voice-overs. I'm not sure this will be financially viable, but it is an option.

I would make creating captions a last option. Not only will you need to find someone fluent in english to create them but it will be very time consuming and will need to change every time you make a change in your course.

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@Madhu-Nag-Shety
wrote:

Hi,

I'm an Indian and like most Indians my accent is quite thick.

It's observed that fellow Indians normally follow what I speak, but have never taught a foreign national..

Does this restrict my reach only to Indians?

Do I have to change my accent to expand my reach?

Could some one please help me understand what role does ones accent or pronunciation play on being an effective Udemy Instructor.

Be Happy!!
Madhu Nag Shetty

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Hi Madhu,

Unfortunately, I do believe having a thick accent restricts your reach. It is not about having an Indian accent, though. If I have a hard time understanding your lectures because of your pronunciation, speed, intonation, rhythm, etc. I will very likely not get much out of the course or even ask for a refund.

That being said, if you want to reach an international audience, work on having a neutral English accent. For natives of different languages you'll be able to find tips on Youtube and other platforms in how to neutralise their accent.

I'm German and worked on my speaking skills with a programme called Speak Clearly, which helped me a lot. Send me a PM if you would like more information.

P.S. I don't think it's about having an American or British accent. It's about speaking in a way others can easily understand. I often think of people who went to international school when it comes to that. It's neither American nor British English they speak but they're pretty much the easiest to listen to because they've adapted their speaking in a way to make it easy for non natives of different backgrounds.

Madhu,

I also see that you got your degree is from Swami Vivekananda's University who has probably had over one million students outside of India. Highlight your educational background and you will have no problem helping students with wellness and yoga. soloyogacoach@gmail.com

Dear @Jorim
,

Can you share (here on this forum) more details about the Speak Clearly programme and/or how you worked on your speaking skills?

It would be very, very useful to many instructors (and me, of course).

Thank you,

With kind regards,

Vlad.

Dear @Vlad_B
,

This programme helps to understand how every single letter is pronounced and is pronounced in connection with other letters. What I liked most where the so-called "minimal pairs". Those are words that are almost the same but pronounced slightly differently:

sheep - ship

thing - thin

bet - vet

You can find a lot of these just googling for "minimal pairs". Nailing the pronunciation of these can help a lot. Just practice saying the pairs and pay attention to the differences.

Additional to that, it looked at the rhythm of the English language (which usually is overlooked in language classes!). Check out Youtube for free resources on that and experiment speaking with the rhythm (keep in mind that the rhythm changes a lot from e.g. British to American to Australian English etc.)

If you really want to go deep and improve your pronunciation a lot, check out

https://www.speakmoreclearly.com/

and

https://www.mimicmethod.com/

I've used both and liked them. Keep in mind though, that you get out of the programmes that which you put in: Low energy and effort = almost no results; high energy and effort = big results ;-)

Hope that helps,

Jorim