One of the most frequently asked questions I am asked when people first contact me is, “How long will it take me to improve my accent?” This is a very good question, but one that is a bit complicated to answer.
 
I tell potential clients that there are three important factors that determine the length of time it will take them to change their pronunciation, intonation and stress patterns in order to reach their goals:

Voicing is a term used to categorize speech sounds.

• Voiced sounds - your vocal folds vibrate
• Voiceless sounds - you push air out, but your vocal folds don't vibrate

You can test this by putting your fingers on your throat. If you feel your throat vibrate when you say the sound, it is voiced. If you don’t, it is voiceless.

Let’s try it. Put your fingers on your throat and say, “B, D, G.” If you feel your fingers vibrate, that means these sounds are voiced.  Did you feel them vibrate?..Yes, these are voiced sounds!

ALL vowels are also voiced.

Now let’s try to feel the difference between that and voiceless sounds. Put your fingers on your throat and say, “P, T, K.” You can’t feel your fingers vibrate, can you? That means these sounds are voiceless.