For non-native English speakers · Academic & research
Sound sure of yourself
in academic & research.
Present findings, defend method, teach a room. Your grammar is not the problem. What makes English sound confident is which word takes the weight, where the pause goes, and where the voice rises and falls — and nobody teaches that. Below are real lines for this situation with those three things marked. Hear each one said well, record yours, and see how close you came. Free, no account.
gold = the word that takes the weight · ‖ = a pause · ↗ the voice rises · ↘ the voice lands · → stays up, more to come
8 of 100 lines in this path
Lines people actually say.
Marked by the same engine that marks your own script in the app. The gold word is the one to lean on; everything else is lighter than you think.
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mediumPresenting findings
Stating the claim
Our central finding is narrow.
Under these conditions, and only these, the effect holds.
Hear this line said well → -
mediumDefending your work
Conceding a point
You are right.
That is a genuine weakness and it should be in the limitations.
Thank you.
Hear this line said well → -
mediumTeaching and lectures
Explaining an equation aloud
Ignore the symbols for a second.
It is saying: the more you have already, the less each new one adds.
Hear this line said well → -
mediumAcademic life
Talking about a rejection
It was rejected twice.
The second reviewer was right and the paper is better for it.
Hear this line said well → -
mediumWriting and clarity
Describing future work
The obvious next step is a second site.
Without it, this is one region and a hypothesis.
Hear this line said well → -
easyPublic engagement
Explaining research to the public
We are trying to work out how often people should be tested.
Too often wastes money.
Too rarely costs lives.
Hear this line said well → -
hardDepartmental life
Disagreeing in a faculty meeting
I think that changes the degree in a way we are not admitting.
Can we say that part out loud?
Hear this line said well → -
mediumMethod and rigour
Discussing missing data
Six percent dropped out.
We report the analysis both ways.
The conclusion does not change.
Hear this line said well →
What this path covers
The moments inside it.
- Presenting findingsClaim, evidence, limit
- Defending your methodAnswer the reviewer
- Opening a lectureHook them in a minute
- A viva answerThink out loud, precisely
One last thing
Hear it in a voice like yours,
then in yours.
Pick the accent closest to yours and hear one voice say a line flat, then confident — same words, same accent. Then practise any of these lines against it. Your own voice takes a ten-second read and a free account. No card.