Acceptance of accent

Have you ever heard someone speaking and thought to yourself how beautiful their accent is? Did it make you adopt an accent similar to theirs? 

Most people will say yes. Many of us tend to copy other people's accents instead of being satisfied with our own. This is true not only in the case of the English language but Bangla and other languages as well. 

We can call this language, or more appropriately, accent inferiority. Most of the time we try to sound like other people, especially native speakers. This is one of the reasons why we have so many spoken English coaching centres across the country. 

Of course, they help people get better at pronouncing words, but a lot of people join those with hopes of developing an accent similar to what they hear in movies and series. They want to train themselves to sound more Western. But why?

Before answering the question, let us talk about what an accent is. 

The accent is our regional identity. Our accent describes which part of the world and culture we belong to. 

Our accent does not measure our ability to do anything better or worse. Language is a mode of communication, nothing more, nothing less. Pronunciation is how a word is intended to be pronounced, and accent is a way of pronunciation that is associated with a given region or culture.

Years of colonisation and constant exposure to the Western media have somehow ingrained this idea in our minds that if we do not speak English like native speakers, we are doing it wrong. Not only that, this idea has a massive negative impact on a lot of people's self-confidence. For example, at university, a lot of students are not comfortable speaking in English. 

A similar situation can be seen at job interviews too. Non-native speakers are just not confident enough to speak English in a public setting. They think that their English is not good compared to others. Bangla medium students often compare themselves with English medium students, who in turn compare themselves with native speakers. 

Our accent does not measure our ability to do anything better or worse. Language is a mode of communication, nothing more, nothing less. Pronunciation is how a word is intended to be pronounced, and accent is a way of pronunciation that is associated with a given region or culture.

When someone says "Your accent is very American," why do we take it as a compliment? Why do we take pride in the fact that we sound like Americans? 

Being a Bangladeshi and sounding like an American is not something to be proud of. This is the consequence of what we call linguicism. Linguicisim is when people discriminate against others based on the language they speak. 

To avoid being discriminated against, people often desperately try to adopt fluency in foreign languages. This is primarily seen in countries where English is not the first language. 

However, there are countries like Japan, South Korea, Germany and Thailand that are not very keen on learning the English language. They would rather have foreigners learn their native language. 

This is something that we can adopt as well. Bangladesh is a country that fought for its mother tongue. But we are no longer showing much respect for it anymore. Knowing English and being fluent in it is more of an achievement for us now and people who opt to use Bangla more are often looked down upon.

While the existence of accent inferiority is already a sad reality, accent superiority is an even worse scenario. A common example of accent superiority would be Americans mocking the Indian accent, while Indians mocking the Chinese accent. This is an endless loop. Everyone is mocking everyone else based on their accent. 

Is it really that hard to respect everyone's individuality and culture?

Let's focus on Bangladeshi local dialects for a moment. People of Bangladesh are always making fun of the accent of one reign or the other. Everyone thinks that they are better Bangla speakers with superior accents. 

Not only that, in Bangladeshi media, in most television dramas, most of the time the actors are seen speaking in rural accents of Barishal, Mymensingh, Noakhali and any areas with a relatively thicker accent. A reason for that is these are the accents that get the most laughs out of people. This practice has been so normalised that during Eid, or any special occasion, if you sit down to watch seasonal dramas, at least 7 out of 10 will be village dramas mocking regional dialects and accents for cheap comedy.

Every accent is unique and beautiful. Accents are representative of one's homeland and culture. It is a part of their identity. How can we claim ourselves educated if we do not respect other cultures, languages and accents?  

Jabin Tasmin Shatabdi is a student at North South University majoring in English Linguistics.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.