Posted on by rinaz

Does having an accent makes you sound more credible?

Here is a honest question for you. If you speak in an English accent, would it make you sound more credible?

By the way, Marino will be here to assist in the latest video blog below

Discuss.

And I expect a 1000 word report on my table by tomorrow

9 Replies to “Does having an accent makes you sound more credible?”

  1. Actually, I’d be very disgusted to have EITHER of them as my English teacher. Too extreme lah, both of them! I wouldn’t want my English teacher to have an English accent (which is kinda hard, with him being born and raised in Britain), as I find myself, and my classmates paying more attention to the mistakes he makes in class, rather than what he’s teaching at the time. I guess I should know that it’s really childish, but we get a thrill from catching our ‘ang moh’ make mistakes in his native language.

    The same could be said about an ‘action angmoh’ teacher – we’ll take her in, expecting more out of her since she has the whole accent down, be disappointed when she makes mistakes, and come to resent her in the long run.

    I wouldn’t want Fatimah Anak Mak as a teacher either though, she sounds like she wants to eat the children, instead of teaching them. 😛

    I’m not sure if I expressed my opinions as clearly as I could have, and I’m not sure if it’s hit the 1000 words mark, but I hope my reply is good enough for you Cikgu Marina!

  2. Hello Marina. Probably some people told you already the same, that the focus is not totally on your accent, but also if you have a teaching method and if you have previous experiences on this field. This is particularely important if you apply for a job in a english school, in an organization. If you look for giving private lessons or in a company, the focus, I think, will be only on your accent, on your language skill. But all this will be appreciated as long as you have a good italian level.
    By the way, we all can see that you’re really talented at video editing an acting also! And this skills are no to be forgotten while you’ll be looking for a job.

  3. I agree with Diana, both as teachers will be bad. Accents are just a part of you, i don’t think it makes you sound credible. Just because you don’t have an English accent doesn’t mean you can’t speak(or teach) English. It is sufficient enough that people understand what you are saying, don’t you think? 😀
    Anyway, i think you should continue teaching IT as it is what you are most talented at. I don’t think they offer such subjects though:(
    Oh well, good luck Maestro Marina! ;D

  5. Hi Marina,

    I really enjoyed yr video.. so funny!!
    If a school looks at the paper qualification one has to become a teacher, accents doesn’t count in. But if a school only looks at the language spoken and accent without looking at paper qualification, I think you can give it a try!
    We are qualified native English language persons.. since we learnt English as our first language in school! 🙂 Good luck to you in yr job applications!!

  6. Diana

    Oh my! I didn’t realise that you focused more on your teacher’s mistakes! Haha! This is going to be so stressful knowing this for anyone to to become your future teacher!

    Emanuele

    I prefer teaching computer applications actually, but to be honest, I don’t really see much demand for it in Rome. I dont think thats much of a culture here seeing my niece and nephew on the computer :S

    But I could be wrong.

    Maalikka

    I am maestra, not maestro because I am a female .. hehehe

    Anyway, yes! I much prefer to teach computer applications, but I dont think that there is much of the culture here or the demand that is. Seems hard.

    But I try to keep on finding 🙂

    Foxtwo

    My mother is actually more classier than that though 😛

    Sally

    I dont know which school that is though! Haha! I can speak like Ms Fakey!

    But like the comments above, I still prefer to teach in computer applications. I dont know how easy that would be, seeing the culture here in Rome.

  7. Hi Marina,
    Your video is so great. To me your question very much highlights issues of cultural diversity. I live in Vancouver, Canada, a city founded by the British but where “asian minorities” have recently become the majority. As well, my wife and run a business that helps people reduce their accent. (no kidding http://www.L2accent.com) You see, your friend has a point about being a teacher with an accent. Despite how diverse the world is getting, people still cling to old values and expect certain people to sound certain ways. Even Shade of Melon shows this contradiction by saying that having an accent does not matter but that speaking clearly does. For the most part, when people learn a foreign language, correct pronunciation is often overlooked. For some people, this results in natives speakers of that language straining to figure out what they are saying. So we actually have this software that uses a model of standard deviation and voice recognition. When our clients say the words on the screen, they will turn green if spoken with a neutral enough accent, or red if the accent was too strong. This way, people can change how they sound and make themselves more marketable in the workplace. Accents are something all people have. Sometimes accents help, like that Canadian fashion guru Peter Nygard. For others, they can be held back. To answer your question, although I don’t work with British accents, I understand that certain British accents are not desirable, like Scottish or Liverpool. Ironically, a guy from Liverpool might be selected over a Singaporean like yourself.

  8. I have to say that even though my accent is not an ‘ang mo’ one, my boss actually prefers me to two of her previous teachers who were American and Australian. So as I mentioned before, the bottomline isn’t really all about your accent but whether or not you have a good command of the language and can teach. There are people with American or British accents who can’t teach ‘for nuts’ and having an American or British accent does not mean you have good grammar.

  9. I loved your video so much, that you just need to work as a comedian! And by the way, about being an english teacher, frankly the Italians love branding, and for them, when they learn english from a “native” english or american english speaker, they inherit the accent… Bah humbug… I think you should go do acting instead! More fun!

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