The subject of accents came up in a discussion I had with my mother today.
She teaches English and literature at a career college. Their student demographic has shifted greatly lately, and the majority of the students are Latin or Haitian with a few Asians and Americans sprinkled in. She has one coworker that's complained about the "behavior" of his students before, and this time, was complaining that students had accents so thick he couldn't understand them. Kind of ironic since he's not American himself and I'm sure has had exposure to heavily accented English.
This is a complaint I have precious little sympathy for. Why? I'm American born with parents that speak standard American English. Sure, there was a relative here and there with a thick Southern drawl or Bahamian lilt, but nothing that would classify as "thick" or exceptionally foreign.
I think back to my high school trigonometry class. Our teacher was Ms. Vadakara. She taught quickly and with a heavy Indian accent. When I first started, I was scared that I'd never pass because I couldn't understand her...but guess what...after about two weeks, her words sounded less and less strange. I began to understand her with no effort. I sat through those two weeks because I had to to learn. I cared about getting through that class.
And that's the key. You have to actually care about what someone is trying to communicate with you to take the time to sit down, focus, and listen through an accent. Even now, I work with a lot of developers from India, partner with a lot of Chinese speakers and go to a gym with a lot of native Spanish speakers. (I've been called in at work to conference calls to "translate" through an accent multiple times.) I listen because I care what they have to say.
What does this have to do with self and alternative education? One of the biggest changes going on in the environment of education right now is a rapidly...I mean it...RAPIDLY shrinking globe. Anyone who does not have the patience to take a little time to not even learn a foreign language, but simply get used to hearing their native tongue spoken with a new accent will undoubtedly miss out on a world of opportunities.
3 comments:
Fantastic post. Thank you so much.
People behave as if someone's accent is something that is "done" to them to prevent their learning or work experience instead of realizing, accepting and understanding that people are not all American with standard American English accents.
At the end of the day it is simply prejudice, entitlement and ignorance that causes this behavior.
People need to get over it as you say. If they actually care about learning or work and not being the center of attention, they'll learn regardless.
(P.S. I loved Mrs. Vadakara. I especially loved my A in her Trig class. Ha!)
Yeah...I would understand frustration before anger or condescension...especially from non-native speakers themselves.
She really was a good teacher. Funny, all the kids in that class (it was a pretty big one) from all the different places they were from eventually learned to hear.
Thanks for reading!
Post a Comment