On Talking With or Without an Accent

By Tim | Thursday, May 7, 2009 | View Comments

CB103295 I recently read a blog post from Louis Yap, an 18 year old Malaysian, on the topic of putting on a fake American accent when talking to foreigners. Apparently a lot of Malaysians drop their typical Malay accent and go for an American or English accent when approached by a non-Asian.

His reflections on this topic made me think about how the way I talk has been a major influence on how people react to me when they first meet me. While I was born in Taiwan, I moved to the U.S. when I was just shy of three years of age. I picked up American English easily, and while Chinese was my first language, I speak English completely accent free.

When I was younger and I lived on Long Island, I would regularly have people approach me, and say things like “Wow you speak English so well”. I always had the immediate gut reaction of wanting to say “Of course I do you dimwit, I was raised here”, but usually kept my mouth shut instead. These people were clueless, because there were few Asians if any on Long Island at that time (unlike today).

So, I grew up thinking I didn’t have an accent, until I went to college in Philadelphia, a short 2 hour train ride from New York City. As soon as I stepped foot in my freshman dorm, I was teased mercilessly for having a Long Island accent. So much so, I learned to speak with out it by the time I graduated. Like Louis Yap, who affected an American accent to non-Asians; even I learned to speak differently to fit in to what was expected to come out of my mouth.

But it wasn’t until I was older that talking without an accent really affected the way people treated me. In the working world, other Chinese, would automatically assume I was ABC (American Born Chinese) based on my lack of an accent, and that was enough for them to leave me out of their social circles. While the native Chinese speakers hung out in cliques, I always felt like an outsider, even if I could speak a dialect of Chinese flawlessly.

Of course there’s also an upside to speaking perfect English. Everyone assumes I have no knowledge of Chinese, and will tend to make remarks they don’t want me to hear in Chinese. This too has happened to me on more than one occasion, usually when I’m traveling in Asia, and has led to quite some embarrassment for the other party.

So, what’s the moral of the story? Don’t judge a person based on their accent. You may get more than you bargained for.

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Christopher

If you travel to different parts of Asia, American English IS the real English to them. People in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia all refer to British English as British English, but someone speaking with an American accent just speaks "English."
Mary

I was fortunate to grow up with very little discrimination regarding my speech, and rather reverse discrimination when I went back to China over the summers, with everyone looking at me in awe when I spoke with a perfect American accent. Unfortunately both my standard American accent and standard Mandarin accent are working against me in Singapore, where it seems I'm viewed as one or the other, but people just don't get it when I can speak BOTH. For some reason, people can't seem to understand my accent because I don't speak the "Singlish" way. My success rate in Chinese is far better than English, but nonetheless - getting screwed by my "newscaster worthy" accents. -___-

Regarding Elton's comment - perhaps it was my time spent in England, but it irks me when Americans so often forget that theirs is an accent too, albeit a widely recognized and accepted "standard" accent. But the same goes for a British accent - standard English of a sort, no? Yet Americans call it the British accent and don't recognize their own pronunciations as the American accent. This perpetuates the idea that Brits have of us as self-centered fools.

Finally, I, like Jeff, have no clue what this California accent is. Since I moved to LA seven years ago, I have never really noticed a huge difference from what I heard on the East Coast and in the Midwest. Perhaps they just mean the slang terms that you use, rather than the actual pronunciation of the words? Or maybe I'm just used to a bunch of accents so I don't notice slight variations.
Xxxtine

It's funny because meeting up with people from all over the world, some of them Asians, actually comment, "Wow, you speak English very well!" ... my response is I chuckle and say, "I better, I was born here!"

In any case, interestingly enough, I was in a job interview where I was told I spoke with an accent. "Really?!" I said recounting numerous times before I've been told I have no accent at all - none where one could place it. "Born and raised here," I replied. The interviewer stated I spoke without any slang. I suppose proper English COULD be an accent as well.
daniel

when i hear that, i'm annoyed too. but i just say a brief "thanks" and keep it moving.
jeffat8asians

When I moved to the East Coast to go to college, people said I had a "California accent." I have never figured out exactly what a "Californa accent" consists of.
Meg

Great topic. I'm an actor in NY who does voicer. If a person were to listen to my demo. they would know I was a native speaker of "standard" American English. However, when people see my Chinese last name they ask me to do an Asian accent which irritates me because the purpose of doing voiceover was so I wouldn't be judged on my ethnicity.
stan

I do get the "You speak English so well" exclamation, and I find it annoying too. And self-professed linguists will suddenly notice a "hint" of my Asianness in my speech. I usually get asked to explain how I managed to achieve such a non-Asian accent, and I would, for the purpose of keeping the conversation short, just blame self-study or a background in acting.

With a lot more second-generation Asian-American kids growing up and interacting more with their non-Asian peers, I am definitely seeing the phasing out of what constitutes a "asian" accent that seems to be genetic. I've spent quite a few years now in the South, and I can definitely say that I have picked up a little bit of the Southern drawl, depending on my mood.

The Asian accent has been parodied so much in popular culture as a cheap joke, and I myself will admit to doing my best impersonation for a laugh.
timat8asians

@Elton: Yes, I use the term "accent free" and "perfect English", and perhaps should have been more generic. I use them relative to where I live, and in my context. Thanks for the reminder to generalize!
Elton

You seem to realize there is something wrong with assuming "mainstream" or "standard" American English is perfect and without accent, the way whiteness is equated with having no race and no ethnicity. You know that all accents are loaded with social implications.

Yet, you equate the American English accent with speaking "completely accent free" and "perfect English." Is the irony lost on me or you?
Teresa

"So, I grew up thinking I didn’t have an accent, until I went to college in Philadelphia, a short 2 hour train ride from New York City. As soon as I stepped foot in my freshman dorm, I was teased mercilessly for having a Long Island accent."

Thanks for including that bit in your piece. Accents are much too often regarded as something that "tweaks" with the English language...a negative additive or taking away from. It is a very specific type of English that is considered "the universal." Different types of English spoken in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago or Singapore (for example) are definitely seen as an incomprehensible branch off of General American English and BBC/Queen's English. These different types of English are often read as uneducated and "uncivilized."

As well, for those who only speak or are surrounded by General American English or Queen's English, I am guessing that it can be hard to think about accents in other languages. 'Cuz...damn...listening to white folks try to speak Mandarin can be really hard to the ears AND the mind.
yoko

I really hate when people say "you speak English so well!"
I grew up outside of Philly, but I don't have the accent at all. When I went to school in the Midwest, people thought I sounded like I came from New York. (I don't think I do, at all.) When I speak Japanese, to my ear, my vowels (especially the a and the o) sound strangely American.

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