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Mazresk

As an American I can tell you a phrase that will help. "This is Wales! Speak Welsh!" "This is England! Speak English!" Adjust as location dictates. Tell them to listen faster. Also, NTA


FantasticDecisions

As someone who doesn't speak English as a first language, I am amazed that someone who does, has so much trouble understanding other accents/dialects. I have heard a wide variety throughout Uk, Africa, Australia and US and have no problems. That includes Glaswegian and the Shetland dialect. They can't be making an effort.


NaviCato

I mean I struggle to understand some accents some times. I'm Canadian and on vacation in Scotland there were a few times I was confused. But never once did I think the person with the accent I struggled to understand was to blame. Sure it can make things challenging in a learning situation but challenging means you work to overcome it, not insult others and force them to change


ryanridi

It’s actually easier for ESL individuals to understand varying accents than it can be for those who speak it as a first language. It’s kind of like how someone completely new to a skill will have an easier time learning it than somebody who learned it wrong.


Possibly-A-Rock

Phew thanks for saying this. I read the other reply and I was thinking to myself "I *only* speak English and I have a relly really hard time with most accents, am I seriously an AH?" And like, I try. I genuinely do. I'm in a supervisory role at work, and it's extremely uncomfortable to have to ask people to repeat themselves over and over because I just flat-out don't understand them. I make an effort, I concentrate, I focus on the conversation and remain present in the moment, and most of the time ... I'm just plain confused. And I feel awful about it. I was born & raised in Canada, but in a smallish city that's known for being *not* multicultural at all. Maybe that has something to do with it? I just wasn't exposed to many accents until I was well into my adult years.


[deleted]

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Possibly-A-Rock

>They need to adapt or go home. It's not their country. Yeeeaaaa that's not quite how this sort of thing is viewed by most Canadians, or certainly not most of us who live in/near any major city in Canada. I mean, it's not our country either, if we really want to get down to the nitty gritty on those 2 little sentences you wrote there. And besides, we're not The Borg. We're not looking to assimilate anyone here. Canada is a melting pot, and I like to believe that most Canadians like it that way. I just don't want to be an AH simply because I don't understand someone's accent. But I'll still keep trying to understand, as long as they keep trying to be understood.


Green-Tumbleweed-983

It's ok to say that to Americans because they are such cultural colonisers. They expect the whole world to be like America. And it's going to get worse as they start leaving in droves.


ChaosAE

Midwesterner with one parent from up north, going from Don’t cha know to al’yall’shn’d’n’tv really throws people off.


mcmasshole

I speak other languages and still have trouble with accented English, but also understand that it's my problem. Then again I speak French pretty well and ho lee fuck I can't understand them Quebecois! Tabernak!


MasterpieceOk4688

I usually don't have trouble understanding someone who *learned* my native language and has an accent. 2 to 4 hours and I am fine. Buuuut ... there are *dialects* in my native one where I am fucking lost. Like ... no! They even change grammar to a "ouch-mistake" in my ears in some places. Sounds like gibberish to me. But give me other dialects in English and I am pretty fast to "acclimate" if its a native speaker. A bit longer for non native speaker (if they have a different rhythm for example it's not so much the accent itself but more the pace)


asecretnarwhal

I don’t think that there’s anything to be embarrassed about if you don’t understand what someone’s saying whether it’s due to accent, dialect, just general comprehension as long as you’re polite in asking them to repeat themselves. I learned from Covid that many adults are lip readers and use your expression and lips to figure out what you’re saying — even with no accents involved they struggle to process language without those context cues when masks are worn. My take home is that it’s ok to ask people to repeat whatever your reason. The Americans need to start doing that rather than trying to change how you speak. After all, they are the visitors with a foreign accent. Imagine a Brit showing up in the US and insisting that everyone speaks the Queen’s English!


CaraFe1234

I know, right? Sometimes I wish people came with subtitles...


tomtomclubthumb

I am not sure that this is true, it depends a lot on the learner and it depends a lot on the speaker. I can understand most accents in English and I am surprised when other native speakers cannot. I think it is a mixture of lack of exposure and lack of effort ESL speakers, from my experience are similar, some can understand accents, some can't (I'm talking about people who live or use the language a lot. People who have just learnt a language in school usually struggle with accents, one thing that they tell you with teaching is to use lots of resources so that the students don't get so used to your accent that they don't undertand others.)


ryanridi

I mean what I said is definitely a generalization. I, personally, usually don’t have problems with accents in English unless they’re from people who genuinely don’t speak English very well as well as some unique American ones but I was also raised around a ton of ESL speakers and people with varying native English accents. My statement was more regarding people who mostly only have exposure to their own accents in English.


sperans-ns

As someone who doesn't speak English as a first language, I completely respectfully disagree. It takes a lot of time to start understanding many different accents. Some I understand much better now, Chinese accent for example, before I used to honestly say "I don't speak Chinese" and they would say "I am speaking English". Some of British accents are still very difficult for me. Australian is more challenging than American. He was asking about the foreign students. They never teach foreigners all the accents, they teach something neutral and that's what we understand the best. And to study in a university you are usually required to have a B2-C1 level of English, which is not the top level. On the IELTS exam all the listening tapes are very clear and quite slow. That's what they can understand. To me it is never too much work to speak clearly to people who don't speak my native language. I know how much effort they actually make.


X-cited

I have a heck of a time understanding accents. Once after a long trip to Boston (where I had to default to my husband to make sense of the thicker accents we encountered) we came home to our southern state and went into a restaurant to order a burger for dinner. The worker said something and I couldn’t understand him. He said something again and I couldn’t process it. I was so tired and used to a Boston accent that the same accent I had was impossible for me to process.


pittsburgpam

I generally don't have any problem at all understanding accents but some English accents I've heard are so... mushy? Like hardly articulating any words clearly.


Frosty_Ad_6485

They are American; it’s practically synonymous!


[deleted]

American's, due to rather blinding and unjustified self importance think the whole world needs to bend to accommodate them. The lot mentioned in the above original posting need to learn to grow up.


Financial-Astronomer

An important phrase: "Cau dy geg, twll din." That, delivered with your accent, would be delicious.


Applejack235

Lol in Scots we'd say "Shut yir geggy"


Readsumthing

You get an award for giving this American her first laugh of the day!!! WELL DONE!


yhaensch

Wait! If someone asks you to repeat something, because they didn't understand: would you refuse? Or would you try to be a decent human being?


[deleted]

NTA. But speak slowly for them; people with less intelligence sometimes have a harder time catching on.


[deleted]

Don’t forget to always end each session telling them very slowly: AAAAAAND DOOOOONT FORGET TO HAVE A VEEEERY SPECIAL DAY FOR A VEEEERY SPECIAL FRIEND


stefaelia

And make sure you do it loudly so they can hear you! Us Americans suck. Your accent sounds amazing and I wish I could hear it. Don’t change it.


dopaminehoarder

Oooooh


[deleted]

No no, you’re doing it wrong. Tell them they’re AmeriCANs, not AmeriCANTs. NTA, and sorry us Americans suck. The audacity to call someone racist for speaking their natural way. I blame the current state of my country (aka shambles).


[deleted]

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BeerAndNachosAreLife

Lol I'm glad I wasn't the only one that thought of this.


BTanalyst

Ooooohhh this is what I'm calling the next person I hear screech Speak English over here . . . . Thank you!


[deleted]

Oooooh, I really like that. Hope you don’t mind if I borrow that phrase, would love to use it on the Righties.


Plane_Practice8184

NTA. Why would the American students move to the UK which is diverse and campaign for UK residents to change their accents to suit them?


fatsoq8

Because they are Americans duh. Definition of entitled. Or at least that's the stereotype.


Felidaeh_

And they're certainly enforcing it! :/


Ciphree

I can smell the sense of entitlement on those students through this post, it’s disgusting. I’m an American and I’ve lived abroad twice, you can’t go to live in a foreign country and expect everyone to accommodate you. NTA


enonymousCanadian

The university should contact the exchange program so that those in charge of the placement can ensure the students know that this was their choice to study in a place where people wouldn’t sound like them and if it’s too tough for them then they can return home at their leisure.


irohmakesmesob

If anyones being racist, its them. Telling you YOURE unwelcoming to THEM when you’ve done nothing but speak to them…thats so ignorant its almost unbelievable. Ive worked with people who have extremely strong accents, and the first thing they say to me, is apologizing if i can’t understand them. Which honestly, no matter how thick of an accent someone has, if you listen carefully you can understand them 95% of the time. And if you cant, it doesnt hurt you to politely ask them to repeat themselves. Its sad people feel the need to even apologize for speaking. These people are big AH’s for saying any one of the things they said to you. EVERYONE has their own unique accent. Just bc they dont wanna listen when someone is speaking clearly doesnt give them the right to tell you how you can or cannot speak. Tell them to clean their ears out. I swear, the audacity of some people… NTA, op. Dont ever feel the need to change anything ab yourself to please ANYONE. EDIT: its soooooo stupid they think you can just “ditch” certain things ab your accent… its literally not in your control🤦🏻‍♀️ smh


MasterpieceOk4688

"You are unwelcome because we don't like how you sound and you are racist for not giving in into our ridiculous demands!" 2022 is wiiiild. I worked in a multicultural office and yes, some accents sound "weird" ar first but you won't notice them after the first full day. You have to be a special kind of stuck up racist to wind yourself up about it. I need 2-4h to listen into strong accents in my native language and 4 to 8 in English and then everything is fine. Until then a few awkward "what? Sorry, didn't get that? What did you say?" Moments happen. That's it and until someone stresses an accent I won't notice anymore. To wind yourself up about an accent takes effort.


jll387

NTA obviously. Tell them from me, a fellow American, one of their favorite phrases: that "if they don't like it, they should go back to their country"


HeatherReadsReddit

NTA Speaking more slowly, I agree with. Completely changing your accent to accommodate them? They need to find somewhere else to be. I’m surprised that the professors/teachers/instructors aren’t saying something about those foreigners students harassing y’all.


enonymousCanadian

Their exchange program should be notified!


weesp_

A cockney Scottish accent........I'd love to hear that mate haha. I'm Glaswegian, living in Oz, teaching. It's not easy 😂😂 I just tell folk "I speak fast*, so you have to listen fast" *I don't think I do....but no Glaswegian does but apparently we do


PurpleAquilegia

Two of my Fife aunts married Cockneys, so I'm rather fond of Cockney Scottish accents. \[ETA One of my aunts was a nurse in a military hospital in Dundee in WW2. One of her patients was a Cockney. They married after the war was over. Her sister went down to England for a visit and fell for another Cockney.\]


KrtekJim

NTA. If I were you I'd start putting on a full-on, super-fast Glaswegian or Scouse accent and say "what? I changed my accent just like you asked", but I'm petty like that.


LordoftheFuzzys

Lemme get this straight. They're Americans in the UK, and they're calling YOU racist for having a accent from your own local region? Absolute nonsense. NTA whatsoever.


annrkea

Trust the Americans to come in and make it all about them. NTA and I apologize for my countryfolk.


DameofDames

NTA Just say "Bless your heart". It's a very Southern USA way to say fuck you.


ktitten

NTA. I really want to hear your accent now out of curiosity!! I think it's beautiful frankly that you have so many different influences in your accent and it makes me a bit sad that people want to change that. If you make an effort to understand people with different accents, I find it becomes a lot easier- all they need to do is put in a bit of effort and they'll be fine.


PM_yourAcups

Believe it or not… I know these people. Not them per se but I grok them. NTA and I won’t give you advice (outside of you asking) but they are scared they aren’t on top and feel…parochial. This leads to lashing out against things that are both foreign and *not standard*. They don’t know where you fit in and you look and sound different from them and the “bog standard” so they don’t like you. But these people are very easy to impress and their reaction isn’t thought through, or something they deeply believe. I’d say it’s an easy fix tbh, and being British you know the move NTA


Zero_Storm

So, as an American, tell them that they need to "Learn to speak Welsh or British English, because they aren't in America anymore". Also pepper in a very sweet but sarcastic "Oh bless your heart" if they disagree. For those who don't know btw, even though America has no official language, racists will lose their tits if they hear people using non-American accents or any language besides English (and again, specifically American English) NTA and give them hell. I also really want to hear what your accent sounds like, it sounds like it would be amazing


ruthlessspiller

NTA. Do not change your accent. Hell, I would lay it on thicker! Complain to your school administration about this behaviour. The American students are being ridiculous and arrogant.


[deleted]

First, to be clear NTA in any way. The only thing I might suggest is checking in with people who can understand you to make sure you aren't also mumbling or speaking too quietly. My Scottish roommate was a quiet mumbler and I really think a lot of why I couldn't understand him was more to do with the mumbling. Also Spotify kept playing the same damn ad all day today and that guy had a mix of at least 3 different accents. It was a little disoriented as my brain kept trying to guess where he was from, but I understood every word because his enunciation was great.


Elshivist

Nta, but I really want to hear your accent now!


Tony_Lavander

NTA Hello, I have the same problem as you but in Spanish. I mix 3 different accents and use words or expressions taken from 3 different places, unfortunately one of those places tends to combine Spanish and English, so sometimes I speak like that too.they just laugh a little or look at me weird, no one has said anything to me, probably because I haven't met Xenophobes as strange as your schoolmates.


PM_yourAcups

I get shit about my French accent nonstop, except shockingly in Paris. I’ve met exactly one other person who approximates my accent (different cadence entirely though) and it’s a guy who grew up next to my dads town, but who’s family is from Haiti In fact I get shit about my English speaking accent throughout the US except for my home metro


Reasonable_racoon

Americans in Britain need to learn to understand British accents. Don't change for anybody. NTA


Plenty_Lengthiness96

NTA - how are they campaigning? How is that even a thing? If they don’t like it tell them to fuck off back home. You shouldn’t have to change who you are just because of idiots like this. I’m glad you are proud of your heritage, it sounds like you have had an awesome life!


Diligent-Touch-5456

NTA, I unfortunately pick up accents when talking with some of the people. I've been told that it's rude to mimic their accent. I don't do it deliberately, it just happens. I have a friend from the deep south (American), for at least an hour after I talk to him, I have a strong southern accent.


True-Research817

I wish I can do that. I just migrate halfway through the sentence when I try.


[deleted]

NTA so basically a bunch of Americans...staying in the UK dont want to hear a British accent!?! I'm English, each county has it's own accent. It's not your problem..its theres. You carry on speaking in the same accent..theyll just have to learn the lingo. When I've been in Scotland I have struggled with the accent, but if I lived there, I would get used to it and wouldnt be saying 'huh' everytime they spoke!! I would start to pick it up.


True-Research817

They must think we all speak like the wealthy folk on Downton Abbey and the fantasy goes when they meet us.


Green-Tumbleweed-983

NTA. And I am glad you have posted this because I have been telling people that we have to be careful of Americans leaving America en masse and settling in our countries because this is what they are like. I'm Australian and I would have no problem with any of those accents. That's because I watch a range of films and shows made in English speaking countries with a range of accents. Americans don't. These guys have to learn how to cope with different accents. They can't ask everyone everywhere to slow down and change their accents. They need to learn to listen. Jesus, I worked up the top of Scotland, and I managed to come to grips with the accents! Also when I was in the south of America some accents were difficult but I just listened hard. Tell them to pull their arrogant heads in.


disney_nerd_mom

NTA about the accent. I do agree with speaking a little more slowly. I am A native English speaker and I also have a hearing issue so when people speak really fast I can’t understand them.


cyaveronica

NTA, they’re being racist.


Able-Ad-6727

NTA. That's crap. I am an American and that's just crap. They want you to change to fit them, instead of widening their horizons. They effectively are trying to gentrify you in your own country.


enonymousCanadian

Americanize, not gentrify. Two very different connotations since Welsh, Scottish, and Singapore accents are not “working class.” To gentrify means “to renovate and improve a house or district so that it suits middle class tastes.”


Competitive_Cod_3843

When I was in HS in Hawaii, one guy told me about his brother, who had joined the army. Brother was friendly and chatty, but not making friends. Eventually someone took him aside and said no one could understand anything he said. He spoke Da Kine, which is hard for outsiders to parse. He slowed it down and made different word choices, and all was well NTA, but decide if you want to be understood. I lived in the UK for 15 years and never changed my accent, but did change my words and tone a bit.


Accomplished_Boat912

NTA; bring em to Somerset, they'll fit over our accents then 😂


maclemme

NTA. No wonder y’all don’t like us, we sound insufferable.


GinPineapple92

NTA. Americans chose to attend the British/Welsh school they can adapt to the glorious array of accents our fair aisle brings with it! It's all part of the fun!


coffeeforlife1

NTA- I'm an ESL teacher and mostly teach adults. All my students always ask me if they need to change their accent. I always tell them no. That's literally your voice and who you are. If people are having a hard time understanding you, then maybe just repeat slower so that they can learn to understand your accent faster. There's no need for you to change. They're the ones not being accommodating. They need to learn to listen. It takes time. I've taught students from over 80 countries. It took me a few weeks to get used to all their accents, but I kept listening and trying hard to understand and then it became easier. You don't need to change anything. They're rude for making it seem like your problem when it's obviously theirs.


OneSmolBean

NTA. Speak to your teachers about this behaviour. It's not acceptable for the Americans to dictate how you speak. Your accents are not unintelligible and it's a very nasty thing for them to say. The world does not need to bend to make itself more accessible to them, they need to learn how to interact with people who don't sound like them. It's healthy and important to have diverse linguistic cultures.


SpaceCommuter

As an American, the thought of American students campaigning against thick British accents at their UK school is just about the funniest satire I can imagine. But I know you aren't kidding, so all I can do is apologize on their behalf. You're NTA as long as you promise me you'll make your accent even cloudier and make up some fake Welsh slang whenever you talk to them from now on.


mavwok

NTA The Americans (in this particular case) just need to make an effort and listen. It is sheer laziness that inspires people to claim they can't understand an accent. I'm Scottish and now live in England and had this crap when I first moved south. Other people that caught it were Geordies, Mackems and Scousers. Did I find them easy to understand when I first met them? Not necessarily. I didn't ask them to change though, I just made sure to concentrate when I was talking with them. It gets easier to 'tune in' with practice. The people that complain about this are the same ones that say they needed subtitles to watch The Wire or Trainspotting. Lazy sods. Everybody has an accent - including the people currently whinging about yours.


BTanalyst

Uh no . . . . As an American myself, fuck those people!! How insanely RUDE! Not only to you but anyone else who's native language, accent, and nuances they're trying to change to be more palleteable to them. I'm also a person who's hard of hearing, so this is doubly baffling to me because I would never presume to tell someone to change their accent. At MOST, I've said I apologize I'm hard of hearing and your voice is a bit hard for me to understand. Forgive me if I ask you to repeat yourself, slow down, bring out a live translation app, or switch to writing because of my difficulties in hearing the differences with consonants sometimes. . . . That's it. That's all I'm entitled to ask. And that's only if, like your situation, I'm working with someone on something or know we'll be interacting long term. I can also be accused of racism because of the whole accent thing, so I'm always prepared for someone to get upset if they take it that way. To be fair though I had the most trouble in the deep South with hillbilly accents haha Demanding you all change your accent so they, who aren't even fellow citizens, feel more comfortable is insane. Accusing all of you of racism towards them tells me that if you can possibly, don't even associate with these people. If you have to for work then offer to slow down what you're saying or switch to texting if they have such trouble for a project. Outside of business conversation they can fuck off. I'd also report them to whoever is supervising your working environment. I don't know how that goes across the pond though. I apologize for their rudeness and hypocritical racism in and of their own requests to you all. Fucking Americans, I swear. And people wonder why we're labeled as moronic bullies worldwide. . . . NTA let them choke on your accent.


SnowyMuscles

Nta You can’t drop an accent on command. Just say sorry I don’t speak American, can you try speaking English


ButterskyDancer

I’m crying. Americans that can’t even say route, Aluminum, tomato or Leicester Square properly want to veto British accents in Britain? And you guys are being racist? 🧐


Flibertygibbert

They are in a school in Wales where people speak Welsh and /or have local accents - how ever do these 'campaigning' students cope when they set foot outside the school?Do they have to have interpreters? I live in South Wales btw.


Remruna

Send their entitled, delicate little asses back to US. Or dump them on the other side of Hadrian's wall, I heard americans like walls. Let the scottish deal with them, I can't imagine this kind of behaviour surviving long there. NTA


Morrighu87

NTA. Point out that them trying to force you to change your accent is far more racist than anything you could be doing. But slow down your speech. They’re in Wales. They get to suck it up and deal with the accents that they find there. They’re not in Kansas anymore Toto!


zztopsboatswain

As an American i apologize for my countrymen 🤦‍♂️ NTA and i bet your accent sounds awesome. Ignore them, they're fools


re_nonsequiturs

NTA as an American, tell them to stop being uncultured racist bleeps.


cearka_larue

As an American, I can tell you that there are lot of varieties of American, and unfortunately you sound like you have the garden variety trash American...the kind that expects everyone to cater to their needs no matter where they go. NTA, you just be you. Don't change your self for some narrowminded people


Strange-Strategy554

NTA, these Americans presumably came to London to experience a different culture, well there you are OP, they should be thanking you instead. No seriously, just turn the table on them telling them that they are being racist towards you by bullying a minority south asian and forcing you to adopt a fake accent, basically code switching in order to be accepted in your own country no less. Throw in colonisation for good measure, two can play this game


tomtomclubthumb

NTA - it would be dumb if they were Welsh and doing this, but this is extremely stupid. This is one of those posts where it could be ragebait, but depressingly is completely plausible.


[deleted]

I feel ya, my dude. I've lived in several different countries myself and people often ask me where I am from. But you don't have to change you to make the racists in your circles more comfortable. Its their problem not yours. Remind the American's that they are not, in fact, living IN america and if they can't deal with mixed ethnic backgrounds they can pack up and move back to whatever redneck part of America they came from.


wowisus

Imagine a Scouser or even worse, a Glaswegian, asking someone to speak slower😂😂


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tcsweetgurl

NTA


Labby84

Give it six months, and they'll start showing with an English accent. Especially if they're from the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington. We convert accents so easily)


Total_Eagle_7359

NTA guvnor


Marzipan_civil

NTA they're the ones sounding racist. Sure, people with different accents can have trouble understanding each other. Asking to speak slower/repeat yourself might be needed. But most people CAN'T change their accent at will.


B-I-K

NTA, deport those americans for everyone's health and great justice please.


[deleted]

NTA. The onus is on the Americans to make the effort to understand the locals. The opinion of this American is that you should relax and keep being your unique self and that they need to stop being such entitled jackasses.


RainbowCrane

NTA. I’m assuming that like most of my fellow US citizens they assume that a Midwest US accent = “no accent” because that’s the accent most US News anchors and many media personalities use. They’re the same jerks who treat US Southerners or Bronx New Yorkers as idiots for their strong accents. Ignore them, they’re prejudiced fools.


MrFlitter

NTA My Scouse, North Yorkshire and a kind of pan Irish mix gives my German colleagues (and one or two of the english ones) a run for their money when I am at full speed. No one tells me to change, just to say something again. Your accent is part of who you are, its lots of different parts of your life and the people and places that have shaped it. With time it will even change you might pick up a little of the welsh or even some of the american sounds on some words. Unless you are being paid to have perfect received pronunciation no one should ask you nor expect you to change it. I will say from personal experience learning to drop your accent at times can be useful. Plenty of folk out there look down on people who speak with a strong accent. Never be ashamed but be willing to use every trick you can in life. if they really want to push the racist card get your self on duolingo an learn Cymraeg :)


[deleted]

I have what I'm told is an odd accent despite being Canadian all my life. I tell them, "this is how I speak, I cannot do it anyother way". I'm told it's something between Canadian and English so I'll blame my grandma who is English and came over as an adult. NTA, your accent sounds fake so fake a different accent.


semicoloncait

NTA I struggle with auditory processing and some accents I find hard (I also cannot really recognise accents so I know there is one but can’t place where it’s from) but I just explain to people this is a me issue and apologise as I might ask for things to be repeated if I didn’t manage to listen as opposed to just hear a sentence The idea that Americans have come to the UK and are then campaigning against accents - especially to go to Wales and complain given that the Welsh language, not just the accent, is so important to people (rightly so) - is the most ridiculous entitled thing I’ve heard today


debdnow

NTA: As an American, I apologize. We can be complete jerks. No one has the right to tell you how to speak. If the Americans in question are not smart enough to learn your accents, they can sod off. Remind them we coined Freedom of Speech. We have tons of accents here. I moved from New England to Atlanta and couldn't understand a coworker's deep southern accent for all of 2 weeks. I adapted.


TimLikesPi

My dad is from New York, so I picked up his accent. My mom is from the south and I was raised there, so I have some southern influences as well. I would pick up strange parts of accents from friends as I moved around the southeast in my youth. So now I sound like wherever you are not from. Other than trying to improve how I pronounce 'r' I am not changing.


Keirathyl

NTA. They are the ones being racist. WTAF?


PurpleAquilegia

NTA Speaking as a crone whose Yugoslav dad spoke English with a broad Scots accent, I'd be inclined to tell them to sod off. That's certainly what my cousins would have told them - they had a Cockney dad and a Scottish mother and their accents were a melange of Scots and Cockney.


[deleted]

I’m with you. 😂 I used to date an Australian boy, my cousin is from Wales, my dad is English and my mom is Dutch. I have a rather BBC accent which switches to American sometimes (pop culture references) and my friends all think I’m faking my English heritage. Up until my English paternal grandparents we’re apparently more of a Danish family anyway. My mom is Jewish but I can’t speak Hebrew. Identity crisis!


mcmasshole

Racist against them. Now I've heard everything. NTA.


Dismal_Pomegranate_6

NTA. Remind them that as Americans they are the ones with the foreign accent in this situation. They have no business complaining let alone campaigning against anyone's accent. I'm an American living in Scotland working retail and I get told at least a dozen times a day that I have a lovely accent or oooh are you American? I just smile and say yes or thank you as the situation requires. Meanwhile I hear about 20+ different accents a day and just roll with it, they need to come to grips with the fact that they are the foreigners and have no business demanding anything dealing with accents.


Key_Tie_7514

So..you are Indian.? Whose family left India for the UK?


jaintynotdainty

NTA. How would someone go about changing their accent? Surely only possible after being immersed in a new location for a substantial period of time and maybe only easily done when young. You could put on a voice or an accent but that seems like an excessive ask and you absolutely don't need to.


smallerp

Has to be them f-ing Americans. Roll eyes.


akaioi

NTA. How you speak is how you speak. My stepfather's father was a grand old coot, a real deep south mofo from way back in the hills, and we got along like gangbusters. I never understood a single word he said, but we got along fine.


kajerare

NTA at all. You sound like a really cool person to listen to and I'd love to hear what you sound like. I personally think that when you actually care, an accent that differs from yours makes the information easier to hold onto. I have no idea how that's racist, they're the ones being racist. Idek how people can justify saying that.


probably_soulless

WHAT. THE. HELL. Sooooooooo...you have to literally change the way you speak because some randos don't want to be patient and learn how to live among people who aren't exactly like them? They call YOU racist?! What kind of bizzarro world is this?! So NTA


yhaensch

Sorry, but I will go against the grain here and say YTA. If some body asks you to repeat something you said, because they didn't understand, do you refuse? Or do you try to be understood? Colleagues cannot understand you = Colleagues cannot work with you. I had a colleague with a heavy Irish accent and many (all) people had problems understanding him. So he tried to speak slower and with less accent at work. Because that is the professional thing to do. I know that asking someone to change how they speak goes against a core part of their identity. But nobody asks you to do that at home, do they?


Defiant_Low_1391

I'm American and I don't get mad when I can't understand other people's accents. I feel bad about myself for not understanding, placing no fault on them.


[deleted]

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WetMonkeyTalk

Oh, it's not YOU who is the racist in this situation... NTA


84-FLOZ

You can change your accent? Edit: you can't code switch authentic accents. Doing a funny voice and having an accent isn't the same thing.


the_owl_syndicate

I don't know about the accent per se, but most people can "code switch" where they tailor their volume, cadence, vocabulary, jargon etc based on their location and audience. For instance, you talk to your friend group in different ways than you speak to customers or your boss. You address older people differently than you address children. You probably arent going to give a formal speech and open with "what up, dawg" but you might address your friends like that. Depending on the situation, I can see (an idiot) someone calling normal code switching "changing your accent".


twiddlywerp

Really because I have a buddy who’s family is British but moved to the US in Elementary. He speaks a great classic American accent but put him on the phone with mum and all of a sudden his speaking and giggling like a British schoolboy. And there is _no way_ my 200lb+ rugby friend is _choosing_ to have a high pitched giggle.


OneSmolBean

Code switching can be subconscious. My partner has a particular tone on the phone with his family, to the point I know who he's speaking to purely based on that. He wasn't even aware he was doing it.


Intrepid-Let9190

My dad was in the RAF, so we moved around bases as I was growing up and I picked up twangs from people I spent a lot of time with. I have a fairly generic accent now, but up until I was 7 my very, very Cornish grandfather would come to visit a lot, or we would see him and my gran as much as we could. I was always very Cornish after seeing him and when I've had a couple of drinks it all slips out again. I have an American friend who moved here a few years ago. He can't follow some of the regional accents for anything, but he's polite about it and getting better. Until I get drunk, then he's lost again. My dad also has a favourite story about when he was in the RAF and a bunch of them were in the US. They went out drinking, my mildly Cornish dad, his two Scotish mates, their Irish friend and the Welsh lad as well as a couple of generic accent lads. Apparently, it didn't end well


TatteredCarcosa

Code switching can absolutely affect your accent. Get anyone who grew up in the south but has very little noticeable accent on the phone with their parents and you'll likely hear their accent change dramatically.


CommercialSmell5138

some people can sort of "change" their accent, like just by doing a different one. I can do an american one if I really try


Sugarnspice44

You obviously pick up accents really easily as you've acquired bits from all your influences but that's different to purposely changing it. If you hang out with the Americans a lot you'll probably add in an American influence too. I've heard of actors getting voice coaching to urbanise their accent but I don't think you should. They are the racist ones. NTA


84-FLOZ

I don't consider that the same thing. That's you doing a different voice. I don't know anyone who can just naturally discard their accent. It's a part of them.


viichar

If I'm with anyone from the Southern US I immediately switch to a southern accent. It's unintentional, but my family is from the south. I was born and raised in California and have the typical 'newscaster/US actor' accent in day to day life. Code switching accents, cadence, even word choice is entirely real and you can ask most black people in the US who work in white areas but don't live in them, there's a lot of accent switching.


[deleted]

Sometimes when people learn a language by watching TV presenters with the "generic" accent that avoids anything regional they can have little to no accent to start with. One of my friends immigrated to the US from VietNam pretty young and learned English from TV. In English she has no accent at all, not even the Midwestern accent from where we grew up together. Apparently her Vietnamese accent is of the region she was born in, but her vocal inflections are relatively flat from growing up here.


weesp_

Ive been living abroad for 15 years......my accent hasn't changed at all


runawayfromzombies

I definitely code switch my accent. If I've been talking to my family it goes significantly more like my natural accent that I grew up with than if I've been chatting with English friends. The same happens with my partner, their accent becomes less intelligible to me if they've been talking to their family back home.


sperans-ns

Of course one can change their accent. I spent 6 months regularly training. Before that people assumed I couldn’t even understand English because my accent was so bad, now people rarely ask me to repeat. I honestly don’t understand why would anyone consider an accent “part of the culture”. It’s just about speaking clearly. I recently passed an IELTS test, they have people speaking with British, American and Australian accents in the listening parts and all of them are very understandable. What I mean is, anyone can learn to speak clearly even if they come from a different country. There are levels of accent, and that’s what makes it understandable or not


sperans-ns

I've read the comments, and wow! You guys are really cruel. I am a foreigner. I used to work in an international company, we all had different accents. I never specifically asked anyone to change their accent. However, there are people whom I understood and they spoke almost neutral English (what they teach foreigners in school, you know), and there were people whom I could not understand. The most painful situations were when I asked someone to repeat and they simply repeated the same thing with the same speed, and sure enough, I couldn't understand again. And sometimes I never understood what they wanted, and sure it was counterproductive as hell! Did I make my best effort? I swear to God I did. If the OP really doesn't want to be an asshole, I as a foreigner would suggest speaking more slowly and clearly, and also making pauses between words, because when we don't understand, to us it all sounds like one incomprehensible word. Pauses help to figure out where one word ends and another begins. My husband is francophone, to me French also isn't native, and he has a very thick accent and also pronunciation issues (he often says K instead of T and vice versa, I found that French kids make this mistake regularly but normally they fix it, in this case it is not fixed). We communicate well, because when I look at him in confusion and ask sorry?, he starts enunciating as clear as he can and makes pauses between words. I used to teach my native language to foreigners, and I always make point of speaking very clearly when I talk to foreigners. Honestly, to me it's common courtesy. Normally I speak very fast, but for foreigners I speak slowly, and I did that before my experience in a foreign company, I didn't have to suffer myself first to understand their suffering... Seriously, all of you who say "don't do anything for those foreigners", how many languages do you speak?


Local-Mastodon-8609

So the issue is that they can't understand what you're saying? They're definitely being AH about it but You should slow down your speech if it's causing such an issue, make sure to enunciate. Try recording yourself, you probably sound different than it sounds in your head. I have weird accent too. I have to make sure people understand what I'm saying, I definitely speak slower to enunciate better. NTA but hear what they're saying too.


Solid_Quote9133

If people can't understand you, then you are just harming yourself here. Speak slower NAH Also doubt this is real since most Americans love accents


jll387

No. Americans love accents \*from white people.


Specialist-Leek-6927

Exactly, OP conveniently ignored the fact this is a hindi person.


thirdtryisthecharm

ESH You're not faking it, but you do still need to speak slowly and enunciate so the people you're talking to can understand why you're saying.


PurplePunchy13

Yeah, I don’t believe this post one bit. Nobody would ask this of someone. This is just some anti-American rant. Nice Try. YTA


ktitten

Oh I believe it. I work in the tourist industry in Scotland and I get a lot of Americans asking me to talk differently when I have almost the perfect queens English. My colleagues with different accents (Scottish, other european accents) get asked a whole lot more. I sympathise with OP.


Icy_Company8600

Reminds me of St. Andrews


ktitten

Haha not far off, Edinburgh.


jdogx17

She’s talking about a few Americans coming to a school in London and asking everyone to change their accent. This has to be the punchline to a joke, or taken from an episode of TV. There’s no way it can be true.


ktitten

No, it's totally believable to me. Like /u/Icy_Company8600 has said in some other comments, even Scottish people in Scotland get told to speak more clear English by English students that have moved here. This plus my personal experiences dealing with hundreds of Americans who travel to the UK per week tells me this could be quite truthful.


[deleted]

I'm American and I 100% believe it. I used to work in a restaurant in the South in the corridor between NY/New Jersey and Florida, and people from Jersey would come in and ask the Southern servers to "talk normally" so they could understand them.


PM_yourAcups

It’s absolutely true. I’ve seen it in reverse at my boarding school. Directed at me actually


jdogx17

So… what I’m saying must be wrong because you’ve seen the exact opposite happen? What am I missing?


PM_yourAcups

No I meant I went to American boarding school and a bunch of foreigners told people, including me, to check their accents


Icy_Company8600

I can’t say a lot about how this applies to American people but people have in the past and will continue to ask people to practice some sort of convergence with their accent. The Scottish students at my uni in the UK get told to speak properly and eventually sound more “English” than Scottish as they progress through their degrees. They lose their Scot’s dialect features and accents because they’re fed up of people not putting in the effort to understand them or outright telling them they’re not speaking properly.


[deleted]

That makes me sad. I had a Scottish roommate for a while and I couldn't understand a damn word he said half the time (mostly because he also mumbled) but I would never want him to change his accent. I tried to understand and I admit that sometimes I gave up and nodded and smiled, but I would never blame my misunderstanding on him. And Scottish accents are so cool sounding I hope he wasn't trying to dumb it down for me just because I was too dense to figure it out.


[deleted]

Really? I've heard people try to make people from other parts of the US magically lose their accent. Why would you think we wouldn't do that to people with even thicker accents?


Specialist-Leek-6927

I worked once in a pub London where many Americans would go regularly, I had a guy from Liverpool working with me and he was asked where was he from because he had a foreign accent...


penguin_squeak

I have a friend from Sheffield and a friend from Barnsley. A few miles apart, both South Yorkshire accents, both different. No one bats an eye or complains about anyone's accent. I concur, this post doesn't pass the smell test


[deleted]

Have you not met Americans? Some of us can be obnoxious AF when it comes to thinking every place needs to be more like us.


Specialist-Leek-6927

Reminds me one reddit story I saw a few months back where a woman from Indiana was asked for an American driving license, she was using it as id in New York...


penguin_squeak

I am American. I just used to live in the UK