I Hear Accents: My Eye-Opening Journey Through Sound and Identity

A few months ago, I had a service issue that I really needed help with. When I called, I got a technician on the line whose accent was hard for me to understand. At first, I felt frustrated, but then I took a deep breath and reminded myself that he was doing his job, just like I was.

I told him that I sometimes struggle with different accents but that I could follow him if he spoke slowly. I also mentioned that people sometimes have trouble understanding my accent too. I encouraged him to let me know if he couldn’t understand me so we could work together to figure it out.

At the end of our call, he thanked me for my patience, and I could hear the emotion in his voice. It made me think about how often I’ve heard people complain about service workers from other countries. He probably deals with a lot of criticism just to do his job. It humanized us both to connect and agree to help each other understand.

That one call was the first of several similar experiences. Over the past few months, I've noticed the challenges people with different accents face in our country. Here are some stories I've heard:

• A friend told me he wouldn’t tolerate speaking to customer service representatives with heavy accents. If he couldn’t understand them, he would just hang up and call back.

• A professional group discussed the struggles immigrants face when their accents are hard for others to understand.

• A woman from India believed her coworkers who said they didn’t understand her were being unfairly and deliberately discriminatory.

• Another woman of Asian descent shared that a relative told her to “Americanize” her appearance and “de-accent” her speech, which she found very insulting.

We value having a diverse workplace with people from many countries, but we often hesitate to speak up when communication is unclear. So, what can we do about it? 

Understanding Accent Discrimination

In the musical “My Fair Lady,” there's a famous song where Professor Higgins sings about how accents can create class distinctions within England. He points out how someone’s way of speaking can lead others to judge them unfairly.

And that song was reflecting on different accents within the same country.

He was right. Research shows that people with foreign accents often face discrimination in many areas like work, healthcare, and education. This can lead to negative stereotypes, fewer opportunities, and feelings of exclusion.^{1 2}

For example, two researchers conducted a study called "Why Don't We Believe Non-native Speakers? The Influence of Accent on Credibility." They found that:

• Foreign accents can make it harder for people to trust what someone is saying, even if they don’t realize it.
• When listeners struggle to understand an accent, they may question the truthfulness of what is being said.
• The stronger the accent, the more likely it is that listeners will doubt the speaker's credibility.³

To paraphrase the authors, the accent makes it harder for people to understand what the non-native speaker is saying. They misinterpret the difficulty of understanding as a lack of truthfulness.

Additionally, research by Hosoda and Stone-Romero showed that job applicants with foreign accents were often seen as less suitable for high-status jobs compared to those who spoke with standard American accents.⁴

So, who should take responsibility for clearing up misunderstandings? Is it the person with the accent? The listener? Or the organization? Maybe it's all three.

What does it take to foster an inclusive environment for everyone?

The Speaker's Job

Most people think it's up to the person with the accent to make themselves understood. After all, they're the ones in a new country.

Yet remember, many folks feel insulted when told to get rid of their accent. It's part of who they are and connects them to their home.

But do they have to “de-accent” to be understood?  Turns out there is another option.

To my surprise, I learned that linguists distinguish between comprehensibility and accent. This means we can improve how easily others understand us without losing our accent. One article explained it this way:

In other words, it’s possible to work on being clearer without eliminating your accent.  Keeping in mind that not everyone has an ear for accents, you can:

• Find a language expert who can help you be clearer while keeping your accent
• Focus on the sounds that confuse people the most

The Listener’s Job

If you're a native English speaker, you have a role too. We can:

• Be more open-minded about different ways of speaking
• Ask people to slow down if we're having trouble understanding
• Try to learn to recognize accents from different countries (one person I know proudly taught herself to recognize accents from several countries!)

Teaching ourselves to recognize different accents aligns with current thinking in language education. As one article states: "There are so many people using English now, our students are going to encounter a wide range of different accents, and they need to be ready."⁶

The Company’s Job

Organizations can legitimize discussion of this issue and provide a forum for solutions.

• Make it okay to talk about accent challenges
• Make sure nobody is treated unfairly because of their accent
• Provide training to help people speak more clearly or understand different accents better
• Create a welcoming environment where everyone's voice is valued

My Takeaways

We all have accents! I'm a Southern Black woman, and people often recognize my accent over the phone. They can usually guess my gender and race, and sometimes even which part of the South I'm from.

This reminds me that it's important to separate accents from how easy someone is to understand. I'm keeping my accent, thank you, but I'm also happy to work on being easier to be understood. And I'm always okay with people asking me to repeat myself. After all, what's the point of talking if no one can understand you?

What Do You Think?

Have you had experiences with accents at work? How do you handle it when you have trouble understanding someone?   

I welcome your comments. 

[1] Al Shamsi H, Almutairi AG, Al Mashrafi S, Al Kalbani T. Implications of Language Barriers for Healthcare: A Systematic Review. Oman Med J. 2020 Apr 30;35(2):e122.

[2] Language Barriers in Health Care: Findings from the KFF Survey on Racism, Discrimination, and Health

[3] Foreign accents make speakers seem less truthful to listeners, research shows

[4] Language Barriers in Health Care: Findings from the KFF Survey on Racism, Discrimination, and Health

[5] Reference: "Second Language Comprehensibility Revisited: Investigating the Effects of Learner Background." [Wiley Online Library]

[6] Reference: "Billions of voices: Raising learners' awareness of international accents of English."
[Macmillan English]