No accent is better than another

I recently heard on NPR that there are American English accent enhancement programs that help immigrants from Asia, Latin America, and Europe to “make their American English sound more like that of Americans.” These services are primarily targeted to those individuals who wish to succeed in the American business world, especially those involved in Sales and Customer Service departments. When I first heard the news commentary I thought to myself that the program was fair, especially because as a consultant, who constantly deals with clients from all over the world, you have to ensure that ideas are being conveyed clearly and effectively.

I think that the phrase contained in the website linked above is a fair summary as to the purpose of accent enhancement programs: “Everyone has an accent. No accent is better than another. Some people will understand one accent better than another”

But of course NPR wanted to make a point with this story and did not naively air it. The man who was being interviewed on the radio was from Mexico and was enrolled in an American accent enhancement program. He was a Systems Engineer who worked at Silicon Valley. He spoke perfect English and because compared to Chinese or Japanese, the nature of the Spanish language is not that much different to English, you could perceive that only a few of his syllables were pronounced incorrectly. Nevertheless, the communication was still effective and quite clear. He said that he wanted to “sound more American” so he could succeed in his company. He added that people perceived other people differently if they were not distracted by a foreign accent.

People usually don’t believe me when I tell them that I was born and raised in Venezuela, because, apparently, I have a South Louisiana accent. My dad was always proud of me because I sounded “so American.” “That’s great…” I thought disappointingly. I always wanted “an accent,” perhaps that way I could be more mysterious to other people, but of all the accents I could have learned, I got the one that had the “y’all” in it! My dad added that the fact that I had an “American accent” would help me in the business world… but what if it has indeed helped me?

“Is this discrimination against those people who have accents then?” I asked myself. Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it’s just human nature. This fact does not only apply to Americans. Recently, one of our jobs in the Dominican Republic was not going too well: our clients were not giving us the information we needed and it seemed that communication had broken down. One of my coworkers called me and asked me to be part of the conversation so I could speak to the client in Spanish. It seemed as if the client was relieved when I talked to him in Spanish although he knew English perfectly. The conversation from that point on was much light-hearted and we got all the information we needed from them. Sometimes I don’t think is a matter of discrimination, but just a matter of a “comfort factor.” When we hear an accent similar to ours we feel more comfortable, because there is a degree of familiarity with what that accent represents.

The oil business is quite a diverse field, as well as other global industries, and I think that, for the most part, we all have gotten used to different accents. The more we are exposed to different accents, the more comfortable we become with them and the less they become a hindrance in communication.

I have in fact learned to enjoy accents and wonder about people’s lives and experiences that gave rise to their accent. I do believe that certain accents can hinder communication and I have experienced it with some of my coworkers. In such cases, I believe that accent enhancement programs are useful. But I do worry about the abuse of such idea and that the intention is to erase the culture of a person by erasing their accent, because a person’s accent is much more than a different way of pronouncing words.

I never remember hearing of “Venezuelan Spanish enhancement programs.” We just thought that foreign accents were just so “cute” and perhaps exotic and refined. For instance, Spanish from Spain was always much better than the Spanish from the Caribbean or South America. Even the Italian, German, American or British who could not speak Spanish with a Venezuelan accent was more refined than our own accent!

My grandfather was a Serb and he knew seven different languages. For some reason, Spanish was the only language he did not master well, which makes me wonder how the courtship went on with my grandma! Either way, his frequent mispronunciation and misplacement of words reminded me of who he was and where he came from, which led me to admire him even more. Same with my dad. He has a strong Spanish accent when he speaks English and my brother and I cannot avoid laughing when he mispronounces the word “interested,” for instance. My dad encouraged us to learn the accent and so we have, but I don’t want to lose my roots. I don’t want to forget where I come from and my dad’s accent is perhaps that constant reminder.

At my current job, for the most part, I am around people with British accent and it is such a pleasure to listen to them! So I wonder: “Why aren’t there British Accent Enhancement Programs instead!!??”

So, what about your accent? Do you agree or disagree with accent enhancement programs?