I Don’t Have an Accent, You Do!

52 Replies
Discrimination and accents barking dogs

Courtesy of   http://chapmangamo.tumblr.com

“You talk to her.  She’s got a thick accent, and I can’t understand a word she said.”  These are the words I overheard from the nurse on the other end of the line. Before the nurse who took over the call began to speak, I wondered if I’d been in the South so long that I’d lost all my northern pizazz and somehow traded it for a southern drawl. But that couldn’t be it – people I meet still call me out on my New Yorkish pronunciation of “cawfee.”  I had grown up on the East Coast, gone to school in the North, meandered in the Midwest, and landed in the South. In each location I was faced with adjusting my understanding and accommodating my own style.  I hung on for what seemed like eternity as my professor from Mississippi pronounced my name at such a generous pace, that for the first time I discovered that it took three syllables to get through it.  At first I held back my laughter, thinking it was a joke.  Later, I held my tongue so as not to finish the word for him.  On another occasion, I drove around a four-block area in Indiana for a half an hour, looking for a street I had transcribed as “Ahaya Boulevard,” only to discover the gentleman giving me directions meant “Ohio Boulevard.”

Though humorous moments occur as we all try to understand one another, I suspected that the source of my current misunderstanding, as my long-distance call was shuffled from the first nurse to the second, was much more pervasive.  I believe it had to do with the quick conclusions we all jump to.  Another way to conceptualize this idea is our ongoing process of judging, both overtly and covertly.  Yes, we are judgmental beings who draw conclusions in a blink of an eye.  This fact is not all bad and can serve to be adaptive for our survival. Indeed, there is a wonderful book based on this premise titled Blink.

However, in my practice of meditation, I have become more interested in the ways that judgments cause us distress.  Meditation is not about annihilating all assessments. Like much of mindfulness, it is about becoming more aware of judgments and preconceived notions that we make. As we “sit” with our minds, we tend to become more aware of thoughts about ourselves and others.  In this spaciousness we can challenge our views, particularly ones that create distress.  It’s not uncommon to meditate and realize that along with our suffering we are telling ourselves they we are stupid, lazy, or in some other way not good enough.  Once we become aware of the underlying dialogues about ourselves and others, we can open to the possibility of seeing with greater clarity. This process brings us the opportunity to experience even difficult situations with less distress and decrease our prejudiced thoughts of others.

As for my phone call, you see, I was calling the hospital near where I was raised to speak to a nurse about my recently admitted mother.  My mother does have an obvious accent since she grew up in Europe.  I was raised in the US and thus do not have “that” type of accent.  So, I asked, the nurse what kind of accent it is that I seem to have and she chuckled saying she didn’t know and offed the explanation that there is a bad connection so perhaps the other person had not heard me well.  Still, I noted how very quickly a conclusion had been drawn that had little to do with me.  It made me wonder what other judgments would be made about my mother, that might affect her medical care.

Unfortunately, as linguistics professor Walt Wolfram confirms in his article Everyone Has an Accent, “People’s intelligence, capability and character are often judged on the basis of a sentence, a few phrases or even a single word… Views about dialects also affect how we feel about ourselves.” Perhaps, as more and more people engage various methods, including meditation, to gain greater self-awareness, we can help shift this damaging paradigm.

So, how about you? What ways might you be judging and being judged by others as well as yourself?

52 thoughts on “I Don’t Have an Accent, You Do!”

  1. Ramsey, NJ

    Well being raised up North I was taught about winning the revolutionary war and that Southerners were stupid. The basic stereotypical consensus was that they couldn’t speak correctly, they were only good for menial labor and had no sense about them. Well, moving to the south I discovered that just because they “talk funny” doesn’t mean they are stupid, just different. Hell, to them I had the accent and there was no way I could survive the lifestyle. Well I found a very smart man, Georgia born and bred as they say here whose intellect just blew me away. I was raised in an upper middle class area, he was not. We were certainly not educated by the same books or even schooled by the same lifestyle. I learned that different is not necessarily bad. I am different and I am not bad. He assumed my upbringing would make me snooty, but he judged me. ( Erroneously of course ) it is very easy to judge I think we are hard wired to do that. ,l

    Reply ↓
  2. Daniel (Yong) Kim

    I grew up and lived in Georgia most of my life. Although I am an asian ethnicity, most people tell me that I do not have an accent wether asian or southern, but I was able to obviously read the accent of others. I have just started meditation through our English Teacher and at the moment it has done nothing but make me drowsy and relaxed, but that is to be expected at first. A lot of people get humiliated behind their back or face front because of their accent. For example, whenever people hear an asian or indian person through a telephone, many people immediately and quietly laugh at their accent. I’ve seen this happen when my friends was trying to order customer service and an Indian person answered with a very heavy accent; they all laughed. That is related to Walt Wolfram’s article “everybody has an accent”. Through mediation, I believe we can limit our judging like you stated, with less distress, and focus on what is more important.

    Reply ↓
  3. Nykeria Smith

    In this article, Dr. Klich speaks on how meditation can help you with judgement. I performed meditation today from audio companion:visualization, and on the track she tells you to realize any tension in your body. She emphasizes realizing it, but not judging the tension. In other words, she is asking you to observe your muscles but not try to change it. “Let it be itself.” As individuals, we can take this concept and apply it to everyday life. Instead of looking at a person and automatically judging, we should just observe and let them be themselves. In the link that she provides in the article, I found it interesting people automatically think a person is ignorant because of they way they pronounce the word ask. Also, as I continued to read, I found it ironic how it was widely accepted in earlier times, but not it is considered ignorant. It made me realize how things have really changed because of the emphasizes society puts on standard English. I’ve never had a experience where took someone laughing at my accent negatively. I am from a extremely small, country town and it shows in everything I say and how I say it. I constantly here from strangers even my friends how country I am because I do things differently or I say things differently. If I had a penny for every time a person told me I sounded like Rasheeda off the famous show love and hip hop, I would be rich. When people automatically assume that I practice certain customs because of the way I talk, it does aggravate me a little, but I usually brush it off by simply laughing.

    Reply ↓
  4. Shreyans Shah

    • Pretty interesting never thought about judging could play a vital role in behavior of humanity. I might have always suffered it being an immigrant but also doing it, I am shocked now that I think of it I have done it plenty of times to feel the guilt. Our minds are so close-minded that whenever we interact with strangers involves judging in some or other ways. I have this strong feeling that if I let go off of judging I could do more for humanity.
    Everyone has an Accent:
    • Totally agree with the article since there are so many languages and pronunciation of each differs from other. Only solution to improve the dialect is with spending time with people. Eventually one start adopting the pronunciation, but it only helps when they are trying to adjust with all the obstacles and learning from it.
    • I feel so attached with the article. It was four years ago when I moved to US and I had all this negative thoughts of people treating me the wrong way due to my accent but luckily they were all nice people. Now that it had been a while my accent is hardly visible. My dialect has a great change sounding more Americanized. This article perfectly explains and delivers this strong message.

    Reply ↓
  5. Alisha

    I absolutely enjoyed reading about how meditation can change a persons perspective on looking at one who has an accent. I think it is important to not be narrow-minded when it comes to listening or hearing someone speak with an accent. I have to admit that growing up I have always been a little more mature about hearing someone speak with an accent because I am from Indian decent; I hear accents around me all the time. I can recall a time when my friend and I were ordering Chinese food on the phone and my friend got frustrated because of the lady’s accent, she immediately handed me the phone and I was a lot more flexible with repeating what I said and mending my speed to hers.
    I found it interesting that throughout meditation it is clear that you are feeling pain or sorrow because you have judged someone by their accent. I understand that in a way too. It is almost like your conscience telling you that you have done something wrong and that is just one more reason to appreciate the art of meditating.
    Although I have been born and raised in the US, I come from Indian decent which means a lot of my family members have, if not thick, somewhat of an accent. Like I mentioned before, I hear accents around me all the time. I have gotten use to them and in fact, enjoy them! It is nice to know more about a culture through the way of speaking itself.
    -Alisha Ukani

    Reply ↓
  6. Andrea Herrera

    I am from Charlottoe, NC. I have parents of Hispanic descent. I currently live in Georgia. You could say I have a wide variety to crazy accents. I have always been told I have a very slight accent, but at times the way I say things are confusing or strange. I have always been told to speak proper English or to speak proper Spanish. It is so difficult because people will always have something to say about me. I do think meditation will allow that judgement call on peoples accents to dissolve. It forms an ideology to just “let it be”. The tension and stress people undergo from hearing others accents or suffering their own will fade because the judgement and the whole idea of protocol; if you do not speak the way I speak, you are wrong. Well that is wrong. Meditation tells you to accept everything around you, because it just is. And people have accents because it just is. It is nothing new, and we all need to learn to let it be. Letting go of judgement will help those around you and yourself by feeling stress free when it comes to understanding those. You will not have to worry about the things others say because you understand that it just is. We accept the flaws that have been given to us, and who is to say what proper English is. Just let it be, and stress free will flee!

    Reply ↓
  7. Tobi Ogunyale

    I was raised in a different environment than most .I am an African american, but I was raised in a majority white community not really being exposed to African american culture.For instance from 1st grade to fifth grade they were a total of six African american students in my class and the majority of them were in the same situation .So i was raised to talk, act and think differently, and was told to frown upon on how most African american speak, act , and think.So later in my life when i was exposed to the African american culture, I was predisposed to judging other African by the way they talked. So when i meet someone who is black and talks differently, i would look down on them in a way. So now that i have started mediating for my English 101 class, im trying to incorporate that into my mediation, trying to change my state of mind on topics such as this one.Trying to create a more positive feeling.

    Reply ↓
  8. Giang Nguyen

    I’m a Vietnamese and I’ve live in the US for 4 years so I can relate to both of your and professor Wolfram’s articles. Fortunately for me, throughout my high school career, I didn’t get humiliated, except for a few times in 9th grade. Nobody have told me to speak proper English, either (lucky me!). In addition, my accent get lighter every year (though not a lot), so I feel more confident to speak in front of many people in recent years. I’m also surprised that meditation can decrease prejudice. I’m not quite sure about that though. I have only practice meditating for a couple of times so I haven’t experience in change yet. However, I do agree that if we become aware of our action, we start to judge people less often. This might be because we don’t want to be judged by other so we will try not to judge them in return. I might be wrong.

    Reply ↓
  9. Alejandra Yacaman

    I enjoyed reading this post a lot since i am foreign and i have been called out for my accent several times.I will say words awkwardly at times because i am not all that confident of my english. My friends will often make fun of the way i say words, but i will just laugh along with them because i do admit it can be funny. In the other hand, meditation has really opened my eyes to the way i judge other and that there really is no point in judging them. We just have to let them be. Meditating has also gotten me to relax and think about what I’m saying more and that has a lot to do with how i say stuff and how much thought i put into my wording of sentences.

    Reply ↓
  10. Nelida Munguia Rascon

    Part of my life growing up in Iowa and Atlanta, I’ve noted several differeces. I used to have sort of like country accent which was like the weirdest thing for a Hispanic girl to have. When I came to Atlanta to perminantly live, kids and teachers would tell me I talked funny when I thought they did too. It is really interesting to see how people can judge one another by there accent. Everyone is obviously not going to be the same so there really is no point in doing so. My parents are Mexican and when my mom would call to make an appointment for something, she would ask me to translate what she was saying because she knew people couldn’t understand her because of her thick spanish accent. If she were in Mexico right now, people would understand her better than me. It really depends on where the person is at. Meditation has given me the patience to ignore the ignorant things people say about others. It also has helped me be at peace with myself so that I could be in peace with others.

    Reply ↓
  11. Samir Basu

    My parents are both Indian and they speak english perfectly however I hear from friends and family my dad has a sort of accent when he talks however I cannot notice it for some reason. Prior to moving to Atlanta, where I live now, I used to look down upon southern dialects of english but not anymore. I became used to it because there are even more dialects I hear my first language in. However I won’t conform, I haven’t given in!

    Reply ↓
  12. Briona Forbes

    I think the 1st blog was very truthful. I think it did have a correlation towards meditation and passing judgment. Everything in the world shouldn’t bother people as much as they let it do. To be quite honest what people do with themselves or their decisions is their business and nobody else’s business. What I liked in particular about this blog would have to be when Wolfram made a statement about what people think about having a different dialect and in actuality what it really means to have a diverse one. This world is made up of diverse cultures and religions so why should somebody be judged by the way they speak. I can relate to the hole dialect situation because I came from New York and at first people would either look at me weird, ask me ludicrous questions, or ask me t pronounce something just so they can hear it.

    Reply ↓
  13. Ekaterina Selivanova

    What an amazing thing to read! Especially, for me as a young immigrant. I moved to the United States three years ago and am now going through “Oh, you have such a funky accent! Where’re ya from?” kind of thing from time to time. Some people catch the Europeish way of my pronunciation, some think I am from the North or the Midwest. Yet, my northern friends claim that I start sounding like a true southern girl, which I totally disagree with.

    I find it interesting how all these judgmental thoughts go away as you find your way to peace with your mind, body, and the world around you. Meditation teaches us to be patient, guides us through the thoughts and emotions we have; both positive and negative. Despite of how hard we may try, we all can’t help, but judge others every day. We always notice if there is something different about them. Then we decide whether we like it or not. However, if you are someone who has practiced meditation at least a couple of times, you soon realize how silly and unnecessary it is to make such judgments. Of course, you never erase these thoughts from your mind. And it is not what the meditation is about anyway. You “simply notice it” and move on.

    I found it so fascinating that a person who grew up in this country still faces such a thing as accent judgements. It makes you realize that no matter where you are coming from and how good your English might be, you can still go to another state and have people wondering what you are trying to say and where in the world you got that accent from.

    Personally, I love accents! I have some favorites (Boston and British) and the ones I struggle to understand (Southern and Asian). I still find it interesting and cool to learn how people from different backgrounds have their own dialects and ways of pronunciation and how it reflects them.

    Reply ↓
  14. Quynh Nguyen

    Growing up as a first generation Vietnamese American wasn’t always full of butterflies and rainbows. Society is filled with people whom are quick to judge when you’re different. Most people in my family and my boyfriend have accents and every time we go out, people would stare and judge us. I love how Walt Wolfram states in his article that, there isn’t really any right or proper way to speak English because there are many regions containing different dialects. People in this generation are starting to judge others based on the way they use their grammar and that is not right. It just makes them seem very ignorant. As one can see, negative energy exist through criticism and judgement, therefore I agree that by meditating, a person can release all the negativity and transform them into positiveness. By doing so, not only will that be affecting one’s mindset, but the person’s usage of language can be greatly influenced for the better.

    Reply ↓
    1. Urszula Klich Post author

      No, not always butterflies and rainbows…Perhaps the rainbows can come after the rain, within our own reflection. I see you followed us on FB as well! I look forward to your comments

      Reply ↓
  15. Andrea Khairunisa

    Thank you for sharing this article! Having been raised in the states since I was four years old, my Indonesian accent quickly dissolved. This happened in a matter of 2-3 years as I caught on the English language. When I returned to Indonesia two years ago, my relatives laughed at my way of pronouncing words in my native language. They’d say, “Andrea, you sound like an American!” I was confused and dismayed because I speak predominately Indonesian at home and neither one of my parents have said anything about the way I spoke. I thought I sounded absolutely normal until I spoke at a public venue, and a large crowd of perhaps high school students started laughing at me and mimicking my enunciation. At that moment, I can definitely relate to the emotions that Tanya felt, except I felt greater shame than embarrassment.

    As Walt Wolfram pointed out, everyone has a dialect because we are all from different cultural backgrounds. We speak the same language, but to someone else, it may sound totally different. It is human nature to perceive and judge one another. We assume it’s safe to judge someone or something that society doesn’t consider the norm. We simply can’t resist the urge to judge someone who speaks differently, dresses differently, or looks differently than us. However, we learn to inhibit our judgments when we start to learn more about the person. I have a friend who is of Pakistani descent and she has a very thick accent. When she first started speaking to me, I had jumped to the conclusion that she was an immigrant. Apparently, she’s lived here for most of her life, had perfect attendance all four years of high school, and was capable of maintaining a 3.8 grade average.

    I think it’s interesting how you made the connection between meditation and our judgments. We can slowly learn to abstain from judgments by continuing to meditate. Like you mentioned, meditation will surely open our minds to allow us to think before we speak. Holding onto a lot of distress and frustration boggles our minds, so we find meditation as a sort of release.

    Reply ↓
    1. Urszula Klich Post author

      Isnt it amazing how much of our sense of self comes from others perceptions. Also, something that is simply a matter of practice can be a source of humiliation, like we have done something wrong. Speaking a certain language over time is influenced by that language. I hope you can follow us on FB as well! https://www.facebook.com/MyMindfulWayOfLife

      Reply ↓
  16. Michade Truitt

    Being that I was born and raised in San Diego,California and moved to Georgia in middle school, it was hard to adjust. My father is from Georgia so I was use to his southern “accent”. I thought of it as regular and I thought I spoke regular as well, but apparently I had an accent to the other kids out here. They teased me about speaking to proper. I really enjoyed this article because it relates to me, people may be judged based on their accent but through meditation you can broaden your mind to the point where you may be “more aware of yourself and others”. What caught my attention was that reading this article made me realize that other people from other places aren’t the only ones with accents; to them I’m the one with the “accent”.

    Reply ↓
    1. Urszula Klich Post author

      Isnt it amazing that we can be chastised for speaking “too proper” or not proper enough. Judges judges everywhere including ourselves. Meditation can help bring that to light and quiet it. I am glad you you can follow us on FB and look forward to any comments there as well!

      Reply ↓
  17. Joshua Kim

    This blog has a relation with me and my current chemistry class. I have a chemistry professor who has a very deep accent. At first I too have been judgemental and I have thought badly of the class as a whole. After reading this blog, I feel mixed emotions of guilt and sympathy for my teacher. Having come from a family which english is not my first language, I too must have an accent. I was amused how realizing that judging others due to his or her accent causes distress. Same with my chemistry class, the course has been stressful. This connection of judgement and distress with meditation has awaken me from the ignorance of my own.

    This blog has allowed me to understand one another, and not come to conclusion of one for their first impression. It was interesting how judging others or being judged by another can be prevented through meditation. Meditation clears our minds and allows us to awknowledge what are invisible in our ignorance and minds of being quick to conclusions. And this also allows us to prevent from possible stress that can be brought to us.

    Reply ↓
    1. Urszula Klich Post author

      Joshua, I am glad that the article and meditation are starting to allow space for you to see things differently and with less distress! Enjoy the process. I hope you can follow us on FB as well!

      Reply ↓
  18. Taylor Hicks

    I definitely have to admit that I too have been judged based upon my accent. Recently I moved to Georgia from California and almost immediately people pick up on my so to speak “Cali Girl” way of speaking. Some of the slang I use is different versus the words other use down here so it sometimes takes me a minute to fully grasp what an individual is saying to me and vice versa. I have been called stuck up because I may not respond I guess in the proper manner because I simply did not understand what another person said to me, but I am learning and quickly! I will admit, I never thought that meditation could be used as an outlet for handling stress until my English teacher introduced the process to my class and I. I have not fully grasped the technique but I am hoping that I can use it to assuage the irritation I sometimes build up.

    Reply ↓
  19. Nikolas Holloway

    For some an accent can be a prized possession or a curse. Everyone discusses the so called funny accents such as the Asian, Indian, and the ones portrayed on television. I have a friend who was born and raised in New York, and he has a very thick accent. When he gets into a conversation for long periods of time his accent starts to come out and people question him. Being in South I guess most aren’t use to hearing a very thick northern accent. It’s pretty sad how your judgement of someone can change just on their accent. People don’t really have a control on how their accents form. A person’s accent usually doesn’t have anything to do with his personality. I can see how you can relate this to meditation. Many see meditation as something “those” type of people do. I guess it’s just human nature to judge something from a 3rd person perspective.

    Reply ↓
  20. Sydne Rouse

    1. Interesting. I always knew judgement was a real issue we humans have , I never knew it was controllable with meditation. I always believed human nature got the best of us all when it came to prejudging.Now I’m learning meditation can help you accept things for what they are , don’t change it accept it and that goes for everything around you.

    2.100% agree with this article . There are tons of unique accents everyone has one, we as humans should just learn how to embrace different instead of making fun of it . That is related to Walt Wolfram’s article “everybody has an accent”.

    3. I am from Atlanta Georgia so i have really southern twang when i talk , but my parents are from up north so every time i take a darn trip up there I’m laughed at . it doesn’t bother me as much as it use to but i still wish people would accept others and not prejudge them .i personally love accents , it amazes me how an accent differ from the voice, pronunciation, and distinction of vowels.

    Reply ↓
  21. Vilexia Jackson

    I am initially from Alabama, but I moved to Georgia when I was in the 3rd grade. I always hear that I have an accent, even though to me I personally don’t see it. I’m constantly being mimicked and imitated by the way I pronounce certain words, but I really don’t take it personal. I never knew dialect played a major part in judgment and meditation, but because meditation wants you to accept things as they are, I do see the connection. As Walt Wolfram mentioned, everyone has an accent. Because people come from different cultures and background, people are going to talk differently. That’s why people are judged by their accent, because it gives the listener a hint to a person’s background. That’s why whenever someone tells me, I have a “twang” I guess that’s their way of learning more about me.

    Reply ↓
  22. Axel Krug

    I was born and lived the first few years of my life in Chicago, although most of that northern talk, was washed over and replaced with a southern drawl, I still say a handful of words that revert back to my “Chicagan”accent. Every time my friends call me out on it, I never take it personally but rather hysterically. It is easy to see however that judging a person on how they talk can block, or deter the information that is coming from their mouth, without actually giving them a real chance. Everyone has an accent because no one group is secluded entirely from the remainder of the world, cultures mix and melt together.

    Reply ↓
  23. Wagaki Karaba

    I am African; I can to the United States when I was eight. I was made fun of my accent and always told that I spoke incorrectly. As a result, I did not have confidence in my reading and it affected me to the point I imitated the “proper” accent, the American accent. So, I understand how judgment people can be towards people with different accents. I believe all accents are perfect in their own way and that one’s accent does not determine one’s intelligence.

    Meditation gives you a sense of peaceful with yourself and the world. Also, meditation helps you analyze your thoughts without judgment and so it enables you to logically think. Thus without having judgment, you are not ignorant to people of different backgrounds.

    Reply ↓
  24. Lante Lal

    Thank you for the recommended page: Everyone Has an Accent. Such encouragement to me, because i have an accent – whether i am talking in English or even in my own dialect! My country have over 100 dialects, and my first language is not the political one. I get laughed at when i was at home, same result when i’m far from home. So most of the times, I would just read in a very thick-pretended-accent just to cover my different accent with humor. Nonetheless, I am no better, for I used to judge other people who has less met the norms than i do. But this approach to let go of judgment using meditation would be so helpful for everyone, because according to Walt Wolfram, it seems as if everyone is a victim, and the worst thing is you feel terrible, it shuts your mouth; just like the speaker from New York City put it. So later on, even when others don’t judge me, i am constantly judging myself – insecurity. I really hope that through meditation, i would not only learn to let go but also not to judge others as well. Thank you for this enlightening post.

    Reply ↓
  25. Ann Nguyen

    With my parents being Vietnamese, it was very hard to see them struggle with english and having the people around us laugh and joke about their accent. I would like to think that I don’t have one, but there will be days when I pronounce an everyday word or name wrong. I never considered meditating as being a helpful approach to letting go of the judgements society throws at foreigners for having a bizarre way of saying things. The judgments have become too overwhelming for me to let them go.

    Although I do not have this problem because I speak standard english, I think there is a discrimination between what accent is acceptable to society’s ears and what accent sounds completely laughable. For instance, when a european speaks english with his or her accent, I have noticed that people respond positively to their mistakes. On the other hand, when an asian speaks english with an accent, society tends to become frustrated and label them as being uneducated.

    Personally, I enjoy accents because it is a characteristic that define a person’s individuality! I do not believe that they contribute to a person’s intelligence whatsoever.

    Reply ↓
  26. Grayson Bianco

    I’ve been in Georgia since before I could talk, and I’ve never traveled much domestically, so I’ve never been called out on having an accent. But the majority of my friends come from Middle Eastern countries because I went to a certain high school where that population was prevalent. At first, I judged their accents because it sounded so off and I felt isolated because I didn’t talk like that, but I learned that they are no different than me and how someone talks is something you are born into and is part of your identity. So when I see people judging others based on their language or accent, I feel sorry for them because it prevents them from meeting great people. Meditation, I believe, is a really good tool to break the habit of judging because it gives you time to reflect, not just on yourself, but others as well. Maybe when people sit down and think things over, they will remember the thoughts that they had about that guy at the park or girl talking to her mom on the phone and realize that they have no right to judge them for not having a choice in which culture they grew up in. When I meditate (granted, I am only starting), I have my own reflection time and after clearing my mind in the meditation, I can look at the judgement I make and others make more clearly and it helps to target your own shortcomings in passing judgments and prevent them in the future. I didn’t think I was going to write this much, but I’m glad I did. Thanks for the post!

    Reply ↓
  27. Graciela Carrau

    It was a really interesting post, I knew that meditation had a lot of benefits, but never imagined it could help us comprehend that around us people have different accent,and that is not a reason to judge them. I also read the article “Everyone has an accent”, and I found very creative the programs for dialect awareness. It is very important that the society understand that no one have a perfect english, and that everyone has an accent. Being a latino student most of the time, although is not directly, I can feel the people judgement toward my accent. This rejections and judgement can discourage me and also make me insecure of may way of speaking. I have been learning and speaking english since pre school, but society sometimes have to understand that not matter the time you have been learning or speaking it you would get the accent of the area around you.

    Reply ↓
  28. Austin Hoang

    This post is very interesting. Although I am of mixed nature(Vietnamese & Black) I have developed a sort of southern accent. I don’t have an asian accent at all, but people do treat me a certain way after they hear me. I believe I speak clearly enough for people to understand. But at times I always find people that hear my accent and automatically tone me out.

    Reply ↓
  29. Joshua Katikala

    I was not born in America. However, I have never been judged for the way I talked. When I first moved to Georgia, I thought that the “southern accent” sounded funny. As I got accustomed to hearing words like “y’all” and “mighty good,” though, it wasn’t funny anymore. I thought it was interesting that you were being judged for the way you talked, even though you were born in America. I find it fascinating to know judgments cause us distress. I think meditation can help us to overcome being judgmental because, like you said, meditation is just being aware of our judgments and preconceived notions. By being aware of them, I believe we can also learn to fix them.

    Reply ↓
  30. David T.

    I’ve lived in the south my whole life, but my parents are from Pittsburgh and Bermuda. So I grew up constantly being corrected of my developing southern accent. To this day I don’t speak with a southern accent, but regardless of my parents corrections I try to never judge someone by their accents. It’s good to see that others are rising against judgments through meditation. I did find it eye opening that no language has a correct way of speaking though. It’s all based on the current environment. Before people make judgments based off language, or based on anything for that matter, I think they should put themselves in their shoes. How would you feel if you moved to another country but was constantly judged because of your background.

    Reply ↓
  31. Cherie Yoo

    I was born in New York and lived there till I was 10 then moved down to Georgia. When I told my friends I was moving they all made fun of me and start acting like redneck hillbilly. I was actually really nervous. When I final reached Suwanee, my current hometown, and started school I did not see a major difference. Like someone said in a previous comment, up north we learn about civil war and civil rights like the North fix the country. We learned that anyone from the south is stupid and I believed this stereotype. I judged the south and was actually surprised. Yes, we do have trucks and lots of land but it wasn’t the ALL the “country” I expected.
    I come from the North now living in the South with Korean ethnics. I really relate to this article because now I cannot say I have one accent. When I visit NY I get eyeballed for having a southern accent and the opposite when I am in the south. I am a bilingual and my English is lacking when compared to an English native , and my Korean is also lacking to a Korean Native.
    I really enjoyed reading this article it is really relates to my personal life

    Reply ↓
  32. Ben Stevens

    I find the idea of a solution to prejudice and other related issues being meditation to be very interesting. Unfortunately the majority of the population feels uncomfortable with or is unaware of the simplicity of this idea.
    I agree with Walt Wolfram’s article as well. I believe in order for society to progress we must accept all people regardless of speech or where they are
    from.
    I was raised in Georgia by my parents who lived in many northern and western areas of the United States. I do not really have an accent which is distinct to a certain region but I have lived in a state which has quite a distinct way of speaking. This has caused me to be the odd one out in most situations through grade school and my perception has changed because of it.

    Reply ↓
  33. Jerry Chang

    Although many people think their accent holds them back, my aunt think accents are what makes individuals unique and stand out from the crowd. My aunt embraces her accent and does not get bothered when people comment on her accent. I believe her accent made her more stronger in confronting people’s judgments. She also teach others to feel better about themselves, so I think having an odd accent can also be a good thing. It can give people a sense of uniqueness and identity in our society today.

    Reply ↓
    1. Urszula Klich Post author

      Jerry, we are all unique in so many ways. Isn’t it interesting how the brain wants to analyze and sort similarities and differences into ones that are good and bad!

      Reply ↓
  34. Toddarian Boyd

    I enjoyed this article, There are many different dialects spoken around the country. In this situation also there are a lot of people being judged on there accents or where they’re from. From personal experience with this I’ve kind of went through judgments and stereotypes. I’m from the south Georgia, so during a sports event when me and my team had to travel to a Northern school or state. We would be judged on our accent, because everyone had that southern slang.They would say things like ” They have no education,” and “they’re just a bunch of kids who chop wood for a hobby.” Also some of the slang we use like ya’ll, gonna, getcha etc.

    Reply ↓
  35. Hyeongu (Bryan) Kang

    Accents and dialects vary according to the specific regions. As a native Korean, I understand what people have to go through because of their accents. When I first came to this country, many kids at my school laughed or made fun of my accent. In addition to that, I have found that people tend to treat others differently when their accent is interesting or different. I have been introduced meditation by my college teacher recently and I love it. It is just temporary but I can focus on my inner emotion and develop a sense of courage. This article seems to be connected with Wolfram’s article on accents because it is common for people to judge others through accent.

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply