Mocked by Accent

[darkchild]

Many language speakers have one accent or the other; has anyone been mocked or laughed at because of your accent and how did it make you feel? 

How easily did you fit in after the mockery? At work, with friends or on a holiday.

[宇崎ちゃん]

Moved it to general discussion.

I've never been mocked about it because unlike most language learners, I care about using the right accent for the right language.

[Ogada]

I'm french and most people when they speak french with an accent it actually sound really nice so I haven't have any experience with it. As for myself when I speak english I do sound very french but people are okay with that :). We mostly make fun of the different accents of french people aha.

[Wanda Kaishin]

I've been misunderstood, but (to my knowledge) not mocked. People will sometimes mock or imitate "the American accent" in their language, but that's more general and I actually find that humorous. 

[sillylucy]

I am a native English speaker and I have been mocked so many times for not being able to pronounce certain words in Spanish to my Mexican friends.

[Chemist]

We like to joke about the words that French speakers have trouble with in English and the words that English speakers have trouble with in French while at work.  It's a two way street so I wouldn't really consider it being made fun of.  The word I cannot get as an English speaker is Pedro in Spanish.  I keep destroying it after trying to learn it for years.

[anna3101]

I've never been mocked and certainly never mocked anyone. However, I do have personal preferences when it comes to non-native speakers and their accents. I find some accents very likeable and others a bit ugly. But I would never say that out loud.

That's about accents - but using wrong words or grammar structures is another story entirely. I had some people laughing to tears when I was starting to learn Polish

[ancestraltongue]

I have been teased about my Boston accent but not really mocked per se. At times when I have met native Russian speakers and have greeted them in Russian, I have been complimented on my pronunciation and accent which makes me feel good! I think one of the most important parts of any language is the accent, it adds authenticity and relatability. If someone mocks your accent, perhaps they are insecure or just don't know how to relate to people outside their own circle. 

[Richard.H]

Kind of yeah.

It's not nice, but hey. It's like being too fat or too skinny. It's one of those things that can be changed. So if it really bothers you so much you can go to the US / the UK / Australia for a while to get your desired accent.

I've become comfortable with having less than perfect accent. In fact I like it now. So I really don't mind that much. Of course having somebody trying to insult you in your face because of it sucks for sure.

But if that's the case then the real question is, why the hell are hanging around with that sort of people?

[Shounenbat]

I've actually never been mocked for my accent, although it's caused me to be misunderstood before.  Accents are easier for some people than others, but most people are kind enough to not mock a non-native speaker.  I mean, do you mock the people you meet who speak English fluently, albeit with an obviously foreign accent?  No, and I don't know anyone who actually does that sort of thing unless it's just joking around, and even then I've never heard someone do that.

It seems as though that's a very real fear for people, though.  I know a lot of people who could use speaking practice but never get it because they're terrified of their own accent.

[Lingua Franca]

I have, and I did feel a bit bad a bit bad about it. After talking to a friend about it he simply turn to me and said that I shouldn't be worried about it, I had a whole new world opened up to me while they only knew how to speak that language. That really put things into perspective.

[reverserewind]

I gave up on learning languages, locked myself in a dark basement, and went on a heavy alcohol binge in attempt to battle my depression and growing social anxiety. 

This is in a parallel universe.

Actually, I've never been mocked or made fun of in an evil way. However, sometimes my words choice (very uncommon ones) make people think that I'm a nerd or an old-fashioned guy. When this takes place, they usually giggle.

If someone does it just to hurt you then you should probably never talk to this person again. Haters gonna hate, you know.

[Trellum]

I told my fiance to stop mocking my accent   He did it a couple times and it really hurt my self-esteem.   I told he he had to stop that, because that didn't help at all with my desire to learn and improve the language. Thankfully he has stopped   I hope it continues like that. 

[DivaDee]

Hell, I get mocked/questioned about my normal voice/native tongue (English) and that by my own fellow classmates, but mostly the reason behind that is because since I moved around a lot as a kid I ended up in different parts of america so my "accent" is a little weird for someone living down south... Also it doesn't help that since I'm studying different languages it add even more to my already weird "accent"... So yeah...

[sidney]

Well I haven't been out yet of my country so I haven't experienced being mocked yet because of my accent, but if ever that happens to me then I will just take it in stride because I'm not really sensitive and I will just shrug off the mean comments.

[Verba]

I have been teased about my accent but not mocked. Anyway, I also tease other people about their accents especially when they try to speak my language. But my friends and I do it with people we are good friends with. I have never teased others I am not comfortable with since I do not want them to do that to me as well. 

For me, it is even a good way to remember the proper accents that native speakers have when speaking their language. So I do not have any problem with it as long as it is not done in an insulting way. 

[Miya]

I wouldn't call it mocking but some people laugh when I say words incorrectly. They mean no harm though...and they try to help me correct my pronunciation and speech afterwards. 

It'd be terrible to mock someone for their accents when speaking a foreign language. It's one of the reasons why people give up learning languages -- they don't want to be made fun of. 

[wolfette]

I've been mocked for my accent. I'm British and here in my own country I've been mocked and told I sound too "posh" and not understanding regional terms. I went to secondary school in a different area to where I grew up and I was mocked a lot for my accent there. By teachers too, not just pupils. One in particular when I was trying to learn French used to mock me for my accent and say I couldn't speak French properly when I was trying to learn it because of my accent. It really put me off wanting to learn it actually. 

Since then though my accent hasn't ever been mocked. I'm told I say some words a little oddly in certain languages, Spanish in particular somehow, but I think the more I speak it the better it becomes and I learn the correct way to pronounce words more and can correct my accent a bit. 

[Baburra]

  On 3/30/2016 at 4:14 PM, wolfette said:

I've been mocked for my accent. I'm British and here in my own country I've been mocked and told I sound too "posh" and not understanding regional terms. I went to secondary school in a different area to where I grew up and I was mocked a lot for my accent there. By teachers too, not just pupils. One in particular when I was trying to learn French used to mock me for my accent and say I couldn't speak French properly when I was trying to learn it because of my accent. It really put me off wanting to learn it actually. 

Since then though my accent hasn't ever been mocked. I'm told I say some words a little oddly in certain languages, Spanish in particular somehow, but I think the more I speak it the better it becomes and I learn the correct way to pronounce words more and can correct my accent a bit. 

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Sorry to hear you were constantly mocked for your accent. You should try visiting as much foreign countries as you can I think because British accents are appreciated in a lot of places and I'm sure having a much more "posh" type of British accent will only endear you more to the foreigners. I have heard french people are very particular about the accent used for their language to the point where many dislike Quebec accent which I guess is a little bit understandable in some ways but I don't think it's right to discourage people from learning a new language just because of it especially since it's a way of showing appreciation for the language and culture. 

[wolfette]

  On 3/30/2016 at 4:36 PM, Baburra said:

Sorry to hear you were constantly mocked for your accent. You should try visiting as much foreign countries as you can I think because British accents are appreciated in a lot of places and I'm sure having a much more "posh" type of British accent will only endear you more to the foreigners. I have heard french people are very particular about the accent used for their language to the point where many dislike Quebec accent which I guess is a little bit understandable in some ways but I don't think it's right to discourage people from learning a new language just because of it especially since it's a way of showing appreciation for the language and culture. 

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I agree with you completely that it isn't right to mock people for their accent. It can really hurt to have something as simple as the way you talk getting mocked. It's nice to hear that a British accent is something that people in other countries might like more though! When I've visited France before people there didn't seem to mind the accent so much (so I guess my French teacher was maybe more in line with other French people in being more particular about the accent?). I'd love to go back there but haven't had the chance to yet! 

[VinayaSpeaks]

I use English as a second language. I learned the language by reading. I think I am not very bad with English writing, but I have difficulty with speaking English. I have an Asian accent. Most of the time I caannot pronounce the word correctly. Because of my inability of using language I have been mocked many times.

[lushlala]

I just find the whole thing stupid and the very height of bad manners, and there's no way I'd ever mock or laugh at someone for having a really broad accent. Most people have worked really hard to get where they are with their language skills and have had to probably drum up some courage to speak their chosen language. The last thing they need is for some hare brained person to take the Michael out of them, often people who can only speak 1 language....their own.

 

I think I'm lucky that people from Botswana tend to have a fairly neutral accent. I lived in the UK for years and worked in a few contact centres while there. Most customers would compliment me on my good command of the English language ( a bit weird because I've spoken the language virtually all my life, but ok LOL) and would struggle to place where in the UK I was from. Or those who sussed out I was not British would be lost as to what part of the world I was from. Needless to say, it came in handy as an ice-breaker. 

[FenWoFon]

Well when I started to learn english it was really a problem for me because I couldn't get people to understand my english without repeating myself over and over again, but thats what made my english improve so much over the years that I'm glad I got mocked by my accent nowadays I can put up to the par with the people who mocked me for my accent. Once I read on a beautiful image " Do not ever make fun of someone for their accent, that means they speak another language". After all those training years of making mistakes while talking/writing it paid off and I'm glad I got mocked from time to time, cheers.