Hey everyone, welcome to the English Fluency Journey podcast.
These episodes were created based on our videos on YouTube for those who'd rather listen than watch.
So happy listening. Hope you enjoy our content.
Today I want to talk to you about a very controversial topic. about having an accent and the reality of it affecting people's perception of us.
First things first. Every one of us has an accent.
Even within any English speaking country, people speak with different accents.
Also keep in mind that everyone's biased in one way or another, we're influenced by others.
And everyone has their own take on things.
And I'm going to give you our take, mine and my husband's because we recently discussed this and just share with you some stories and thoughts.
And yes, I'm not going to be teaching teaching you English in this video.
I just want to talk to you guys and find out what you think.
Nonetheless, By listening to me, you can work on your listening skills and if you hear some new words or expressions, you can improve your vocabulary.
Of course, I felt this firsthand being a non-native speaking YouTuber teaching English and the way I speak, my accent has had different effects on me and my career.
Some people like the way I speak in my accent, while some people absolutely hate it.
Some people say that I will never find a job in Europe if I wanted to, because I speak with an American accent, while most of the people in Europe speak with a British accent and strongly dislike the American one.
Some even go so far as to say that I'm being discriminative towards other accents because I favor an American accent or that I'm being inconsiderate and disrespectful for not speaking with my native accent.
So you see how controversial it is? Let's dive even deeper.
For example, it's believed that in the UK, when people hear a person speaking with an American accent, they don't like it.
Because they think that British English is the proper English, thus the British accent.
Not everyone, but it's a common opinion.
Then there are people that just don't like American or British accents, one of those.
And when they hear you speak with either of these, they unfortunately unfortunately form an opinion about you as a person.
Yes, that's not a good thing, but it is the way it is.
And this doesn't mean that they can't change their opinion about you after communicating with you.
I had a student who was working on acquiring an American accent with me and she told me once that her friends were very surprised, well not surprised, they didn't understand why she was working on her accent and even sorta made fun of her. like she didn't have anything better to do and she just wasted her time and that she pretended to be someone she's not.
And accent absolutely didn't matter to them.
They said that if you can communicate in English, even if it's not fluent communication, that's already enough.
They thought that she didn't need to be fluent in English and work on her pronunciation and speaking skills basically just for traveling. and communicating with people around the world.
And being her friends and saying that, it affected her and made her doubt her choice.
But this doesn't make them bad people. They just don't understand this because they don't care.
They're not even learning English. They're just expressing their opinions.
They're just talking. Now this shows us that it's really important to choose whom to listen to and take advice from and whom we are allowing to affect us.
Because a lot of the times the loudest people are the ones who don't know anything about the subject in question.
Keeping your accent or getting rid of your accent has to be your desire and choice, right?
Some people think that being able to read in English, understand English and express yourself in English more or less understandable is enough.
And all the rest is just pretentious. And I come across such an opinion pretty often.
But what if it's necessary? What if it's a requirement?
I had students that wanted to work in call centers and their employers told them that they needed to work on their pronunciation.
And of course on their English in general, because the people they were going to talk to were mostly native speakers. and they needed to understand them well because they were going to have phone conversations.
And thank God those people understood this and were willing to work on their pronunciation and worked on it.
And their bosses were very happy about it.
They saw their efforts. And they're still working on those things, by the way.
It's not a fast process. process, but that's the thing.
You don't have to be perfect. You just need to work on yourself and try and you'll inevitably see improvements.
But some people are very appalled by such demands, I think it's fair because If you go to another country where people speak another language and you want to work there and they require you to work on your pronunciation and accent,
It's only logical because let's be honest, oftentimes it's not only about our accents and pronunciation.
It's also about the way we speak English.
And because of the mistakes that we're making.
All of this makes it really hard sometimes to understand a person, so surely Some employers may require you to work on your pronunciation so it is easier for people to understand you.
You must consider these things. Nothing's ever black or white.
Plus, you can always say no and just walk away and not be offended or appalled and calling them names.
You can just go and do your thing. You have the right to choose and so have they.
Mind you, this is not a discussion about this real discrimination when someone says something along the lines of If you're not a native speaker, you can't work here because a person can't change where they were born.
But on the other hand, if they're asked for some improvements, they certainly can work on themselves and improve.
Let's say you're planning to live or work in the UK or in Europe.
What accent do you think you should work on?
My guess is it would be a British accent, right?
And it's rational and you'd be right. But if your answer is none, or the one I want, you'd also be right because at the end of the day, this is your choice and it's nobody's business.
Even native speakers from the USA, for instance, have to sometimes work on their accents.
Because within the country, there are many dialects, and if a person has let's say a heavy Southern accent, it's going to be harder for them to get a job on radio or as a reporter on television.
I also had the chance to talk to native speakers and ask their opinion on this question.
So the common opinion among native speakers who are also bosses to non-native speakers is that if a person doesn't need to talk to anybody regularly and their job doesn't depend on them speaking to people directly. then their English, accent or whatever doesn't matter at all.
But if their job depends on speaking and they need to talk to people regularly, then of course it's very preferable for them to work on their English in general because it does matter.
And then they say that this is just business.
It doesn't mean that if they require those people to work on their pronunciation and English, they think that those people are stupid or incapable or not worthy.
It's not about this. This is just a requirement, just like Every job has requirements.
And they're not judging people by their accents or whatever.
In fact, when we're not talking about jobs or working in English-speaking countries or for foreign companies, Native speakers say that having an accent is sexy, cool, and it makes a person who they are because it shows their identity. makes them unique and very interesting.
But in the business world, it is what it is.
As I said, some people think that having an accent is so sexy and it makes you super special.
They even go so far as to pretend to have an accent.
Have you heard the story about Hilary Baldwin that she pretended to have a Spanish accent?
Hilary Baldwin is under fire for accusations that she's been misrepresenting herself as a Spaniard, even though she was born in Boston.
Now to Ilaria Hysteria. Alec Baldwin's wife has been spotted for the very first time since being accused of faking her accent and lying about her Spanish heritage.
Ilaria Baldwin breaking her silence on accusations that she faked her Spanish heritage for years.
This is quite an interesting case. I don't know all the details about her past.
Obviously she speaks Spanish pretty well, but in my opinion she didn't have and doesn't have any Spanish accent. but apparently she wanted to.
If you haven't heard the story, but now you're interested, you can search for it on YouTube.
You'll find lots of videos on it. and then share your opinion, especially if you're a Spanish speaking person.
Tell me if she has or had a Spanish accent at some point, because I'm very curious.
Some sources say that she also lied about being born in Spain, growing up there.
Well, we all know how social media exaggerates and twists information, so...
I mean, I completely agree that Spanish accent is super sexy.
There are so many opinions on this topic and the point of this video is to give you those opinions.
I get so many comments on my videos from people saying that looking at me and listening to me makes them feel worse. because their accents and pronunciation aren't that good no matter what they do.
And this is definitely not what I want you to feel after watching my videos.
I want my videos to be inspiring. I have a lot more examples and thoughts, but my following words are probably my main conclusion because These days, it seems that people are ready to argue and... attack and tear each other down, not even considering the other sides of things, and there's always more than one.
Having an accent or not having an accent doesn't make someone better or worse.
My capability to speak with an American accent doesn't make me better than anyone else.
And that's what I'm trying to say and show you that circumstances and situations are different.
Opinions are different and people are different.
We have to learn to accept these things the way they are and adapt.
And I'm not justifying anything and I'm not saying that it's right or wrong.
What I'm saying is that if you let someone else's opinion affect you, then you let them control you.
Believe me, I'm under fire because of the way I speak and not only just as you are.
I'm no exception. And I'll put it like this, there's a price of being a YouTuber.
That's it for me for today. It was really nice to talk to you guys like friends.
Tell me your stories and what you think.
Like and subscribe. Until the next one.
