Name: Yan Kong

Q: What is your first language?
A: My first language is Mandarin.

Q: How many years have you been in Canada?
A: I have been in Canada for four and a half years.

Q: What was your job in your home country?
A: Medical Doctor.

Q: Where do you see yourself working in five years?
A: I see myself working in the medical field.

Q: How has taking Accent Reduction lessons changed your life?
A: Accent Reduction lessons have helped me to become more confident in my speaking abilities and I pay more attention to certain sounds such as l, n, and r.

Q: Tell us about a time your accent caused difficulty.
A: Sometimes people don’t understand me, so I have to resort to spelling things out.

Q: What is the greatest strength you offer your employer?
A: As a medical doctor, it is very important to be patient and empathetic. There are many different cultural aspects, but I am very enthusiastic and optimistic about transferring my skills to a new environment.

Q: What advice do you have for other iTP’s?
A: Speaking English with the right accent is very important to sounding fluent and communicating clearly. Having a heavy accent can lead to a lot of misunderstandings. In order to avoid these misunderstandings it is better to learn how to speak clearly.

Q: What can be done to assist the transition of employers?
A: It would be helpful if employees could provide additional training to help us learn the cultural differences quicker and more efficiently. These things are subtle and often take many years to master. If someone showed us how to understand these differences it would save a lot of time and would help us advance in our careers