"This too shall pass."

Dear Fellow Earthlings,

The Jingles are an effective method for helping people sound the way they want to sound. For 25 years Jingles clients have been discovering that the claims I have made about helping business people sound so good that they land big contracts, having pilots achieve pronunciation levels that foster clearer in-flight communication, and preparing students for studying overseas with high levels of achievement, are far from hollow.

Indeed, expectation is so high that some Jingles clients become frustrated when they are informed by their instructors that while some of their sounds have "improved", others are foundering -- and even that certain sounds among them have actually shown drops in their improvement curves...

Fear not! Just as a growing teenager can sometimes appear gangly, suffer from acne, and move kerm arms and legs with less than ideal coordination, temporary setbacks, such as vowel pitch change that comes and goes, or R/L distinctions that seemingly "never develop", will eventually "fall into position" as the client's total secondary phoneme system (known in Jingles terminology as kerm secondary allophonome) weaves its way along "The Jingles Road".

One client recently wept in frustration because her F/V gestures, which formerly had caused her no difficulties, were corrected on numerous occasions during one of her sessions. She asked "What's wrong with me?"

I reassured her that all Jingles clients run into such impasses from time to time, but that with perseverance and earnest training, the problems in question clear up. I went so far as to point out to this client that even children who are learning their mother tongues master certain sounds much later than others.

Will this particular client accept my words? There are occasionally clients who do not...

Very truthfully yours,

Steve Walker

Earthsaver and Jingles Ceator

© 2013 Steve Walker, The Jingles-The Japan Foundation for English Pronunciation, Summit Enterprises.