***3 Steps for Eliminating Valley GirlEse

If your speech is symptomatic of the Valley Girl sound, you need to break the habit. Unless you are at a bar, speaking in Valley Girl-Ese gives the wrong impression, especially to prospective employers. They are looking for professionalism. Inflecting the pitch of your voice up at the end of your sentences does not give the impression of maturity or professionalism. The problem with Valley Girl-Ese is that every sentence being said, whether it is a question or a declarative statement, sounds like a question. That manner of speech does not sound confident. It sounds like you do not know what you are talking about.

When you are asking a question, the pitch of the voice normally goes up. (Pitch refers to the highness or lowness of sound – not the volume which denotes loudness or softness.)

When making a statement, on the other hand, the pitch of the voice generally drops at the end of the sentence.

The best means of breaking this habit is to: 1. Record yourself in normal conversation. 2. Play back the recording and listen closely to how you end your sentences. 3. Practice making declarative statements and dropping your pitch at the end of the sentence. Train your inner ear to recognize when you are raising your pitch. Your inner ear is how you recognize yourself when you speak. Your outer ear is how you recognize all other exte al sound. The most difficult part of breaking this habit will be when you are with your friends or in a social setting. When you are in a social situation, become very discriminating in your listening – both in hearing yourself speak and in listening to others. It will take practice and time, but it is well worth the effort. Valley Girl-Ese is not a professional image to project. Sounding intelligent when you speak, is. Do not think that prospective employers will find your ‘cute’ manner of talking engaging. They will not. Instead they will higher the other highly qualified candidate who speaks intelligently and with confidence.