About Me
Hi, my name’s Luke and I’m a British accent coach based in London. I teach English learners how to communicate more clearly.
I was frustrated at the lack of high-quality teaching materials for British English pronunciation. So in 2012 I set up my business to change the situation.
I have over 10 years of teaching experience and I lecture at the Summer Course in English Phonetics at University College London (UCL).
I am a member of the International Phonetic Association and have trained with KT Speechwork in New York City. In my spare time, I study and learn languages. I can speak German and Italian. Currently I am learning Tamil, Russian and Vietnamese. I am also the creator of funetics.com.
I have the technical, academic, and practical skills to help you improve your accent.
Hi, my name’s Luke and I’m a British accent coach based in London. I teach English learners how to communicate more clearly.
I was frustrated at the lack of high-quality teaching materials for British English pronunciation. So in 2012 I set up my business to change the situation.
I have over 10 years of teaching experience and I lecture at the Summer Course in English Phonetics at University College London (UCL).
I am a member of the International Phonetic Association and have trained with KT Speechwork in New York City. In my spare time, I study and learn languages. I can speak German and Italian. Currently I am learning Tamil, Russian and Vietnamese.
I have the technical, academic, and practical skills to help you improve your accent.
Learners From Across The World
I have taught people from 90 countries around the world…
Afghanistan, Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe
…from 18 to 76 years old!
Media Appearances
You can hear me being interviewed by BBC Radio London here:
You can hear me being interviewed by Times Radio (the radio station for The Times newspaper) here:
You can read an interview with me in The Evening Standard (a newspaper in London) by clicking here.
I was quoted in this article about Meghan Markle’s accent.
I chatted about pronunciation on Luke’s English Podcast here. (This is a different Luke!)
I gave tips on how to improve your pronunciation and clarity in English with Adriana‘s podcast here.
I discussed accents in Rosetta Stone‘s podcast here. I also produced a number of videos with the company here.
Awards and Nominations
My online pronunciation course was shortlisted for the British Council ELTons Awards 2021.
I won IPSE’s UK Freelancer of the Year 2017. You can find out more information by clicking here.
YouTube gave me the Silver Creator Award in 2020 for reaching over 100,000 subscribers. You can check out my channel here.
Theo Paphitis (from BBC television show Dragons’ Den) selected me as a winner of his Small Business Sunday (#SBS) initiative.
I was shortlisted for Sole Trader of the Year at the British Small Business Awards.
Publications
My paper Teaching vowels physically was published as the lead article in Volume 11 Issue 2 of the VSR.
Qualifications
International Phonetic Association (IPA) Certificate (at University College London. This qualification certifies an advanced knowledge of English phonetics and the sounds of hundreds of world languages.)
CELTA – Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (This is the standard qualification for English Language teaching in the UK)
First-class BA(Hons) German Studies & Italian Studies (at the University of Birmingham. This provided excellent training in linguistics.)
MA Acting – Distinction in Voice and in Articulation (at East 15 Acting School. This provided advanced knowledge of how the voice and speech organs work.)