“Should I worry about my accent?”

Hey, everyone. This is Alex from engVid. Should you worry about accent reduction?

This is a question I want to help you answer today, and a conversation I want

to begin with you. So, before I start, I want to make it clear: Accents are a

regular part of language; not just English — any language. But within

English itself, there is, you know... a Canadian accent, an American accent, a

Scottish accent, an Australian accent. In countries where English is an

official language, you still have accent variety in those countries. In addition

to that, we also have German English, or French English, or Indian English, for

example, depending on where you travel in the world. And an accent gives your

English a particular sound; a particular flavour. And accent is about the

intonation and the rhythm of your speech, and sometimes the tone of your

speech as well. Now, where some students get confused is they confuse: "accent"

with "pronunciation". So, let me be clear: Focus on your pronunciation.

Always try to improve your pronunciation — 100%. So, for example, if you are

saying the word: "down", you know... the direction "down", and you're pronouncing

it as: "dawn" — that's a big problem, because those are two different words.

So, make sure that you are always working on your pronunciation; while

your accent is something that you will probably acquire naturally anyway,

depending on where you're from, and you know... how long you've been learning

the language.

So, there are three things you need to consider. Number one: Where do you live?

Number two: What do you do? And number three: What level of discomfort are you

comfortable with? So, number one: Where do you live? If you live in a country

where people have the same accent as you do when they speak English, you probably

don't need accent-reduction classes, because you already fit into the

community; it's totally fine. Number two — this can be linked with number one,

but: What do you do? Now, if you have a job, for example, in Canada or the

United States, where the clients that are gonna be calling you — if you work

in emergency services, for example, and you take emergency phone calls — they

need to be able to understand you. And maybe they are familiar with a standard

American-English accent or a standard Canadian-English accent — whatever that

means. It's usually, you know... the... the English that you hear in government

commercials. Okay? So, that's the standard American or standard Canadian.

In those cases, you might want to consider accent-reduction courses

because if a person's life is on the line... I know it's a very extreme

example. But in some jobs, it's important for your clients to be able to

understand you. So, know who you're working with; and if they have, you

know... a prejudice, or maybe a lack of familiarity with your particular accent

— it could be difficult, it could create a conflict in the conversation. And

number three — this relates to what I just said — what level of discomfort are

you comfortable with? So, depending on where you live, people sometimes are not

nice. Okay? So, some people, they don't have a tolerance for anything that

sounds — quote, unquote — foreign. And, in those cases, you need to make a

choice. You need to say: "You know what? I can understand what I'm saying. Most

people can understand what I'm saying, but this jerk over here — he is trying

to make a big deal out of it, or he's trying to make me feel like I don't fit

into the community." Forget him. They're probably not important. And the other

thing in that case: If you do feel self-conscious... like, I feel

self-conscious when I, you know... go to a grocery store in Montreal, or you

know... where I live in Quebec, and they don't understand me 100%. Or they

understand me, but they can tell that I have, like, an English-French accent.

So, if I say, for example: "Un sac s'il vous plait", okay? Like, that means: "A

bag, please". And it should be, like: "Un sac s'il vous plait". Okay? Like, it

should be similar to that accent. They can tell that, you know... I'm not

originally grown up and speaking French, but it's okay. I have, like, you know...

an English-French, French-English accent when I speak French, and I'm okay with

it. I'm fine with the level of discomfort when I visit a public place.

And you need to make a similar decision if you are considering accent-reduction

classes.

So, just to recap: Definitely always focus on your pronunciation. Don't worry

about your accent too much because it adds flair; it adds flavour to the

language that you are speaking. When I grew up, I heard Portuguese English,

Italian English, Indian English. I understood everybody as a kid. Okay? I

still understand everybody. Because if you have... the pronunciation is

accurate, the accent just adds a different rhythm, a different intonation

to the language. So, let me give you an example. Like, if I say: "Where is the

park?" Okay? So, this is, like... I'm speaking right now in my standard

Canadian-English accent. Versus if I'm speaking like Italian-English, the

intonation would be different. So, it would be like: "Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm,

hmm". Right? Because you bring your own intonation to the language you're

learning. And learning a language — you have to relearn a melody. It's like

learning a different song. It's like going from hip hop to rock music, or to

something else like that. Okay? So, you have to think of your accent as: "You

know what? I'm not speaking hip hop, but I'm speaking rock." You get the analogy,

right? It's kind of like that. You can still understand what someone is saying

in a rap song versus a rock song, but the rhythm is different, the intonation

is different, the accent is different. So, I hope that I have, you know... put

your fears at ease a little bit in this video. Keep practicing your

pronunciation. Think about accent reduction if you are going to be working

in an important job where it is essential that your clients, you know...

understand you 100%. And that is also related to where you live. Okay? So, if

your clients also have your regional accent — don't worry about it. Okay?

That's it. That's all I have to say for today, guys. So, if you enjoyed this

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next time, thanks for clicking. I'll see you in the next one.