English accents and ESL speakers

[Ferhenrique]

Good morning/afternoon/evening to you all! Thanks for having me here.

I'd like to propose a discussion on the English accents (from native English speakers) and how we as ESL teachers/speakers deal with them.

As ESL teachers/speakers, do you feel that, aside from your natural accent (the one that comes from your native language), people find it natural to at least "try" to sound as standart American as possible, and as a consequence they think it's "weird" when ESL speakers, because of whatever reasons may be, use another native-english accent such as the British or the Australian?

I'm asking this because as an ESL teacher/speaker I have noticed that, at least here in Brazil, standart American is considered the "right" way to pronounce the words and when we see native-Portuguese speakers trying to sound differently from that, we tend to believe that this is necessarily unnatural, forced, even an attempt to sound "fancier" compared to the other ESL speakers. This kind of "prejudice" is actually unconscious, I feel it and I've talked about it to some of my advanced English students, who feel the same way.

Could this be a consequence of the american culture widespread - specially in the American continent? After all, as ESL speakers we would theorically be free to use whatever accent we want to and not be judged by it, but that's what seems to happen very often...

Could this also be related to the way that the Americans themselves think about the way the British speak? (I've seen Americans refer to it as "classy" or "noble").

Thanks for your thoughts on this subject.

 

[emsr2d2]

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

Before we continue, please click on Edit Post and capitalise English, American, Australian, Portuguese and British each time they appear. You remembered to capitalise Brazil so you clearly know that proper nouns like this need a capital letter.

 

[Ferhenrique]

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

Before we continue, please click on Edit Post and capitalise English, American, Australian, Portuguese and British each time they appear. You remembered to capitalise Brazil so you clearly know that proper nouns like this need a capital letter.

No problems. Sorry about that

 

[Tdol]

There are many parts of the world where other variants tend to be more common, so I would say no. What's true for Brazil doesn't apply in many places. My experience has not been in your part of the world, so I see things differently. However, that is not to say that ESL speakers in, say Europe, are speaking with a British RP accent.

 

[Tdol]

Most learners seem to acquire a fairly neutral accent with first language influence. I have rarely come across learners outside London who have picked up strong Cockney accents. International English seems to be winning the day for me. Gor blimey, guv, and no mistake. ;-)

 

[Tdol]

Among European speakers, for instance, there is something of a general international standard, which has some first language influence. A young German speaker will probably have less difficulty in understanding a Spanish speaker than many a British regional accent. However, I don't see it as RP- it's more neutral than that because of it's supranational.

Interestingly, one place where RP is alive and well is the Singaporean Asia News Channel, which has many RP speakers- far more than BBC World.

 

[Ferhenrique]

Thank you for answering. Would you mind telling me where you're from? I wonder if the case I presented would then be exclusively valid for Brazil (where I'm definitely sure RP would not be perceived as "neutral") or if it's related to the American continent or something like that, since you both seem to be speaking from an European point of view.

 

[emsr2d2]

Are you asking exactly where they're from in the country in which they developed their natural/native accent? If you just want to know which country they're from, simply click on the "Member Info" under the username on the left and you will see any user's native country.

 

[Ferhenrique]

Are you asking exactly where they're from in the country in which they developed their natural/native accent? If you just want to know which country they're from, simply click on the "Member Info" under the username on the left and you will see any user's native country.

Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of that. I see it now

 

[Skrej]

I generally don't worry much about accents with my students, other than trying to reduce their first language accents to a point where it no longer interferes with their ability to speak comprehensible English. At their level of language, there are far more pressing problems to worry about.

I teach in the middle of the United States, primarily with unskilled laborers. As long as their English is comprehensible, I don't consider it at all important what accent they have. Of course, they tend to pick up my accent if they remain with me for long, but fortunately I have a fairly neutral generic US accent, at least when teaching.

Since many of them are migrants, I do make a point to point out that not every native English speaker they will hear will sound like me, and cover a few of the basic differences they can expect to hear in various parts of the US. I don't spend a lot of time on it, just some general highlights, mostly dealing with regional vocabulary differences on common items. My primary goal however is just to teach them how to deal with unexpected differences, rather than expecting to adapt their accents as they relocate.

I only occasionally say anything about non-American accents, aside from the rare times something comes up in class discussion, although towards the end of a session I do sometimes play samples of English accents from around the world, of both native and non-native speakers, for fun and to prove my point about not expecting everyone to sound like me. I'll play some samples of accents that I even have a hard time comprehending, contrasted against some I have little or no trouble following.

When you start dealing with students who are concerned about using English for international business or higher academia, then accent reduction and English variants are more of a concern. Generally, it's my opinion that students should learn a fairly generic, neutral accent of the type of English where they're most likely to live, study, and do business. Ergo, a neutral US accent is probably better for those who'll be living anywhere in the North, Central, or South American continents. If they're going to be living in Europe, then a fairly neutral British accent would serve them well.

Students from most Asian countries seem to prefer a US accent, mostly because they expect to be dealing with American clients. I've heard and read that for example in South Korea, the preference for American English is so strong that some language schools will even hire an American over a potentially more qualified British candidate just because they deem American English more desirable, for right or wrong.

I sort of suspect that American influence in film and music probably plays a role in that preference in Korea as well, but that's just a hunch. The irony with that of course is that there are a good many actors from all over the world, some whose native language isn't even English, who adopt an AmE accent for a film role.