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want to hear me I will speak as often, and
as loudly as theywant …but still maintain
the clarity and precision that the language
deserves and still be able to revel in the joy
of English … a language with noses that
‘run’ and feet that ‘smell’!
Yourvoicedoeshaveacertain familiarityto
it.What elsedoyoudo?
I always get immense pleasure when
members of any audience compliment
the clarity, the tone or whatever after I
have spoken. Best of all, though, was after
one event with nearly a thousand in the
audience, the 2009 Master’s Football Gala
Dinner at the SheratonHotel inKL, and the
one guy who comes up to me afterwards
and says “‘I need your voice!’” “‘Okay, can
you elaborate?’” “‘Yes’” he said, “‘I am
doing a radio ad and need an English voice
for the campaign. I want yours!’”
What could I say but when and where?
And so chapter two began and the rest is
history.
Andhowgoes the future?
That was five years ago and the story is still
writing itself. I have done numerous voice
overs for radio andTV,withmany corporate
videos and such like under my belt Thank-
fully, I continue to get requests each week
for both voice and emcee opportunities. I
love my work and that’s why I always say
that I have found my voice in Malaysia.
Contact Nick at: nick@kinson.my
The Spoken Word
i
t
was at a recent event when the
master of ceremonies called us all
to attention; Clean and clear, soft
but firm and the spoken word came
through. FireFlyz was fortunate to
catchupwithhimafter the formalities
were done and he agreed to answer a
fewquestions about ‘his’ spokenword. Let
us introduce Nick Atkinson.
Whereareyou from?
I am from the United Kingdom and the
majority of my early years were spent in
a small village near Cambridge, called
Catworth.
What memories do you have of learning
English?
Obviously, English has always been my
native tongue and to be honest I don’t
clearly remember the English lessons at
school, let alone the examinations and
countless essays that I must have written.
I wonder -- who does? Surprising though
it may seem I feel I didn’t learn to speak
English until I was 30. That was when I
went to Japan as an English teacher having
never taught before and realised how I had
never had to think about what I was saying,
why I was saying it andwho I was saying it
to; but when you do and also start to look
at how the language is formed it takes on
a whole new light.
How did you start with the Master of Cer-
emonieswork?
When I arrived in Malaysia in 2005 I was
not sure what I would do. I set up a busi-
ness and had the required work permits
and even though things were pretty tough
in the early years it was after a relatively
short time that I knew this was going to be
my home. I had no idea though that once
again the spoken word, as it came out of
my mouth, would change my life. I was in
ameeting, selling international newspapers
of all things and the gentlemen I was speak-
ing to askedwhat I was doing the following
Wednesday. A strange question to which I
answered with a bit of puzzlement.. “‘Uh,
nothing, I don’t think.’”
“‘Well, can you host a conference for
me? I need your British voice.’” The thought
With Dato Jimmy Choo at
his shoe festival launch.
was, to say the least, a bit daunting for a
moment, but he then said, ‘“I will pay
you of course.’” That was November 2008
and when I arrived at the Sime Darby
Convention Centre I remember being so
pleased that the rostrumwas a solid block
and covered my shaking knees.
And thus, chapter one began; slowly
to start with but I became involved with a
small business organisation that organised
regular events, seminars, dinners and
such like and I would be the Master of
Ceremonies or, ‘emcee’ as we like to say
in Malaysia. Every event was a challenge
in itself, not least to create a script that fits
the topic, aswell as the audience bearing in
mind that 99%of themareMalaysian; this
taught me to think about the who, what,
why, where, when and how of everything
I did. Additionally I had to deal with the
fact that I needed to talk ‘to’ my audience
and not ‘at’ them!
On that note, how do you feel about the
English language today?
Let’s keep it simple; English itself is a
beautiful language with a simple gram-
matical structure that incorporates words
and phrases from many other languages.
It has produced some of the best literature
the world has ever seen, and has been at
the forefront of themodern communication
age, providing a common communication
point for people who otherwise might not
have had one. I am lucky to have this as
my native tongue and as long as people still