28
votes
Accepted
How do I respond to children slightly younger than me laughing at my accent?
Just be proud of the fact you're putting in the effort to try and improve your accent. If anything it'll be a great way for you to know when you've successfully gotten rid of your accent.
Having been ...
- 403
23
votes
How do you tactfully suggest that someone would benefit from making their accent more clear?
As someone who speaks their second language with a fairly strong accent... it's very difficult to bring this up without being offensive.
Learning a language is extremely difficult. Changing your ...
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20
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How do I respond to children slightly younger than me laughing at my accent?
I just want to raise a perspective that wasn't necessarily brought up by Edlothiad.
For many of these kids, hearing someone with an accent in their language is very different. They may be looking at ...
- 934
12
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How do you tactfully suggest that someone would benefit from making their accent more clear?
They can do better
As a French working abroad, I'll take the opposite stance to the current answers: it is important to mention to them that they are hard to understand.
If you've ever heard the ...
- 221
12
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How do I respond to children slightly younger than me laughing at my accent?
Kids laugh at almost anything they find unusual.
Your accent is just that. Unusual. Perhaps like the others said, it'll be an indication for you that you've improved your accent when they stop ...
- 10.2k
8
votes
Is it appropriate to adopt features of the dialect or accent of your ancestors?
There is nothing wrong with being interested in various local dialects & accents. It can be fun to learn them & use it for impersonation, etc, but I do not think most people take to it kindly ...
- 10k
7
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How do I deal with accents and my audio processing issues without annoying people?
I have the exact same issue,
My hearing is actually good, I can hear a phone ringing over a loud television etc. and will often be telling my GF her phone is ringing when she can not here it.
...
- 171
5
votes
How do I respond to children slightly younger than me laughing at my accent?
In Switzerland,we have the same thing with different dialects of swiss german. Everyone laughs about everyone (especially about the guys from zurich and st. gallen). As I moved to a different region, ...
- 171
5
votes
Accepted
How do I deal with accents and my audio processing issues without annoying people?
Background: I live in the northeast U.S., I assume I am about the same age range, and I am deaf, with cochlear implants. I often speak for myself, but struggle to understand what others say. I've been ...
- 3,571
4
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How do you tactfully suggest that someone would benefit from making their accent more clear?
When you say "I suggested that making their accent more clear" did you actually say "you need to make your accent more clear"? Because that's not something that's actionable.
For ...
- 167
4
votes
How can I get across "Stop making fun of the way I talk!"
I was mocked for having an English accent when I first moved to Canada. I was younger than you are, and it was really upsetting. I can't control how I speak! In my case I lost the accent very quickly ...
- 44.9k
2
votes
Is it appropriate to adopt features of the dialect or accent of your ancestors?
Your case might be somewhat uncommon, but I think a more common case to be considered is when people specifically try to hide their original accent/dialect in order to 'fit in' more with the people ...
- 1,423
2
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Is it appropriate to adopt features of the dialect or accent of your ancestors?
Unless you develop an accent automatically, I don't think it's appropriate.
People will assume you are just "having fun with accents" or something.
I grew up in the Middle East mostly, ...
- 10.2k
2
votes
How do you tactfully suggest that someone would benefit from making their accent more clear?
Sadly, many people who bring up the topic are approaching it from a standpoint that's ungenerous at best, and I think there is rather a lack of accepted idiom to discuss this professionally.
What I'd ...
- 433
1
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How can I get across "Stop making fun of the way I talk!"
Make a joke, so instead of them laughing at you, they're laughing with you.
You can say something satirical to make light of the situation, such as:
Contrary to what you might believe, people in the ...
- 6,807
1
vote
Is it appropriate to adopt features of the dialect or accent of your ancestors?
I'm a little torn here... On the one hand you are free to speak however you damn well please. On the other hand, you will annoy a number of people by affecting an accent that you didn't come by the "...
- 5,965
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Is it appropriate to adopt features of the dialect or accent of your ancestors?
Why do you need to do this? People who do have this accent will just think you are making fun of them. What's wrong with the accent you grew up with? It's perfectly fine and nothing to be ashamed of.
...
- 1,072
1
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How do I respond to children slightly younger than me laughing at my accent?
Work on your speech but realize that you will always have an accent. Since you're young, the better chances you will speak more like those around you the more you talk to them. So don't respond by ...
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