Write an Opinion Piece Article in Which You Discuss the Issues Surrounding People Changing Their Accents. [40]

I consider myself to be a global citizen. Studying in a country like the U.S, I have chances to befriend with people from all around the world. Sometimes being a cultural outsider is quite difficult, but it gives me the opportunities to see many cultures from different part of the world. Some people compliment that I almost sound like an American when I speak English. Little did they know that I am trying to hold onto my Asian accent because that is what makes me

In the essay titled "How to Tame a Wild Tongue", Anzaldúa writes about how the language a person speaks shows who they are and is also connected to their identity. Anzaldúa also writes about an issue that is people criticizing a persons accent and language they speak. This is made clear when Anzaldúa states, "I want you to speak english. Pa' hallar buen trabajo tienes que saber hablar el inglés bien. Que vale toda tu educación si todavia hablas inglés con un 'accent, my mother would say, morified that I spoke English like a Mexican.

8c) I am kind of surprised that the British accent is perceived as more credible. There might be some cases where a British accent would be more trustworthy than an American. Although, everyone, no matter what their accent is, can come across as deceiving when they start talking. As a side note, the source they received this information from—Psychology Today— is not necessarily the most credible source itself. I feel as if a person who has a British accent might be more engaging in a conversation with a stranger over an American accent, but I do not personally think that makes them more reliable. Perhaps it could be seen that way because we want to trust them more since we enjoy their

This vlog was about how accents vary between Deaf people and hearing people. This man signs about how there are many different Deaf accents similarly to there being not just one accent for those

The article “A person’s Accent Can Change Your Perception of What He Is Saying” by Alice Robb was very interesting. The title of the article says it all. I agree with the author statement in the article “listening to a voice with a foreign accent can prime people to see a situation according to the values of foreign culture. The Chinese-English speakers voices seemed low, soft, scared, and did not stand out as independent, therefore when I looked at the picture of the fishes it made me think the group of fishes were chasing the single fish that was swimming ahead. Once I listened to the American-English speakers the voice sounded more at a higher pinch, strong clear, and independent, which made me looked at the picture differently than when

The film “American Tongues” documents a variety of English accents that are present across the United States and highlights a lot of the opinions people have about accents and people who speak these accents. A large majority of the people who express opinions about other peoples’ accents tend to express negative views, as they see their own accent as the superior one. The film focuses on showing the array of accents found in the U.S., but also how a lot of people who speak these “inferior” accents work to learn “Standard American English” to increase their chances of getting jobs and communicating in more official domains. Although the film was made in 1988, it expresses views still present in today’s society towards different accents, as people tend to continue judging others based not only on what they say, but also how they say it.

One of the notable attributes about living in a state and/or city in America is that whenever you travel outside of your city or state, most people are quick to point out your “accent”. However, from your standpoint,

I think the main idea of the reading is that everyone does have an accent even though you don’t think you have an accent when you speak to others around you. The person you speak with will think you have an accent but you, yourself don’t think so. John Esling stated in the reading that there is two different types of accents, one is the ‘foreign’ accent where someone speaks a language using the sound of another language, for example someone has trouble on pronouncing some of the sounds of a second language that they are trying to learn. The other accent is the way of a group of people speaking their own native language. Like a foreigner you met, their accent can determined where they live and what social groups that they might belong to. For example, you grow up to share the way of speaking or accent with the community you grow up with, which will be

A recent phonological development in Australian English displays a difference between younger and older generations through the High Rising Terminal (HRT) which is a rising intonation contour on declarative clauses. The intonation pattern is considered a distinctive feature of Australian English and shows how speakers carry themselves as a person. HRT is used primarily by the younger demographics in Australia, in particular female speakers and has been criticised often, deeming it as a marker of insecurity. However as researchers now point out,

As a matter of fact, the Canadian employers typically prefer hiring the citizens of the country who were born and reside in a specific location. This helps the employer to avoid the strict application process of the immigrants and to avoid any complications regarding the relocation and adaptation of the immigrants. In fact, almost all of the Canadian employers suggest higher payments for the local employees who are the citizens of Canada. This creates a severe condition for the immigrants to find the job at all. The immigrants who are hired from abroad have higher education, a set of unique skills and experience that is valuable for the employer. In other words, the same employee could not be hired in Canada and out of necessity the employer hires someone from abroad. The immigrants who do not have a set of unique skills and knowledge struggle to find the job, even though they have higher education and even scientific degrees. Their wage is lower, compared to the native employees and their opportunities are limited as not all of the employers are ready to hire an immigrant (Nangia, 2013). When it comes to the accent, the employer already sees that he/she is immigrant, even though one might live in the country for the last decade. The accent creates a stereotype about the immigrant and the employer could not ignore it. In fact, the color of skin is ignored nowadays because the society and employers recognize the diversity of the population and the team of workers. With the progression of society as an organism of relationships more and more aspects become irrelevant when it comes to education and employment. Indeed, for the employer it should not be relevant if a person is African or Asian, he/she has to have experience and skills that are important for the organization. Nonetheless, the accent could not be ignored as it is a tool for communication. In other words, every time the

The objective of this article is to emphasize the role of mutual understanding rather than an isolated pronunciation. The method used is quantitative because they evaluated the speech that the then Mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella, gave to the 2015 International Olympic Committee with some research questions to describe her non-native features in terms of

Do you ever think about the way you speak and why? Well, Paul Robert does an excellent job explaining why people use the dialect they use in Speech Communities. He discusses that people change their use of language throughout their lives to conform to either society or to what kind of person they want to be, or to just conform to who they need to be at a particular moment, in which I agree. People’s choice of language, including myself, are affected by many of their surroundings, such as where they live and grow up at, their peers, and a person’s work place.

When people speak of affective qualities of a language variety, it is not the language that is being evaluated, but an underlying stereotype of the speakers themselves. For this reason, attitudes toward divergent language varieties “are better understood as attitudes towards the members of language communities” rather than the variety itself (Edwards, 1994, p. 89). In this way, then, by judging the speakers of in-group language varieties, respondents are also indirectly evaluating members of these in-groups as well , essentially making qualitative judgments regarding language and their own group identity (Edwards, 1985). Fundamentally, as Edwards (1985) writes, language attitudes “allow some insights into the perception and presentation of identity” (p. 151). Therefore, by looking at attitudes of learners of Mandarin toward regional accented-Mandarin, we can probably understand whether this language variety is more likely to be used, emulated, and accepted throughout learners of Mandarin.

Other forms of the English language are developed from speech communities with an intention, for efficiency and to show inclusion, and to exclude others. It also helps to convey a specific identity of the speaker, with the use of syntactic and phonological differences from Standard English. These modifications form non-standard dialects, transferring the speaker’s cultural background and language to provide a better perception and reflection of identity. The falling intonation accompanied with interrogatives in the Asian ethnolect, such as ‘Gravy?’, is the opposite of the rising intonation used for the same purpose by Australians, and can quickly cause conflict between the two communities due to the missing benchmark in language. Pronoun deletion in ‘No like’ (‘I don’t like it’) is a feature of many ethnolects (Greek, Aboriginal English), and is differing from the Standard, yet still helps to get the message across. Ethnolects develop from Standard English, and helps to express a user’s identity through their language use and in-group solidarity within the speech community.

In the poem Dharker writes, “When I speak on the phone and the vowel sounds are off…. they’ll catch on at once and pin it down” she explains how the way she speaks is way different than the way people in that country speak. She feels that it is easy for others to notice and that they will right away assume that she isn’t from there. There are many people that have accents and they might feel bad about it because they don’t sound like everyone else. It may seem that the way you speak shouldn’t be important because everyone speaks different but Dharker explains how her vowels may sound harsh when they should sound soft and that is when people assume she isn’t from there. It isn’t the way she speaks but, the way she pronounces her words that make her sound different from everyone else.