To not be ashamed of my regional accent?

[ethelfleda]

I’m from the midlands - and you can tell when I speak. I’ve spend a good few years trying to ‘tone it down’ a little.

I’ve also met a lot of people in my new job that speak with completely neutral accents and I’ve been surprised to find out that they’re actually from the Black Country, or Birmingham or Leicester etc. Nearly all of them have said that they’ve toned their accents down either because they’ve been advised to by recruitment agents, or their own family forced them to speak differently from a very young age.
I find this quite sad. Whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong (and actually, a lot right) with an RP or a neutral accent - isn’t variety what makes us interesting? I’ve decided to stop ‘toning down’ my midlands accent and be proud that I don’t pronounce the word ‘laugh’ as though it rhymes with ‘scarf’

I’m Black Country and proud currently living in North Devon 🙂 have people tell me they love my accent 💕

I'm jealous of people who have regional accents! I've mostly lost mine, over time and not purposely, and now I've realised I miss it. Embrace yours!

I'm from an extremely not-posh part of Kent, and I spent a lot of time when I was growing up trying to ditch the accent in order to not sound "thick".
Kind of wish I hadn't, because what I'm left with is a sort of in-between accent. Half-chav half-BBC newsreader.

My DP still teases me occasionally about my missing Ts in words like butter, water and matter, but that's all in good fun.
People who judge on accents are people not worth knowing.

I was born in the West Midlands but left when I was 10years old. Initially I was teased for my accent and therefore actively changed the way I speak. My father always says he's glad he moved us for various reasons but partly because of the accent.
To me it's quite a friendly accent but it can also sound quite depressing.

There's nothing wrong with having a regional accent but unfortunately the black country and brummie accents are probably perceived as being less desirable if you want to get on in life. It's awful but it's a harsh reality.

I'm a yam yam and proud of my accent too.

I have a strong regional accent but needed to tone it down on leaving my remote home town as it wasn’t always easy to understand. As a language teacher I need my accent to be fairly neutral. Believe me, when I‘m back there, it returns with force!

I’m the same OP, I have a broad Derbyshire accent but I’m regularly asked if I’m from Yorkshire. We should embrace our different accents, I love to hear them!

BTW - I love accents

Ay up mi duck!

I grew up in Derbyshire, and I’m very proud of my accent. Deliberately ‘losing’ your accent displays social insecurity.

As long as you speak clearly and everyone can easily understand you, it’s much better to sound like you are from somewhere, rather than sounding like you come from nowhere.

Basically everywhere in the north accents are fine and celebrated and we all have friendly jibes. Go in to London for work with a strong scouse accent? Fuck that.

My Liverpool accent wasn't even strong, just a gentle lull. But I had to all but eliminate it when I worked in London when I was younger, just like Jodie Comer has recently, because of the connotations and that come with it. It wasn't worth the grief.

I have an east London/Essex accent, and... I was just about to say I’m very proud of having it, but it’s not even that, it just is what it is.
I think it’s so depressing that people are ashamed/worried about their accents.

You’ll get everyone along in a minute saying they grew up in a council estate but had parents who ensured they spoke ‘properly’, but as long as you can communicate, it shouldn’t matter.
Speak with pride!!

No matter where i go in the country people try and mimic my accent and say yawm from Birmingham ay ya. I'm actually not but i am from the Midlands. I wouldn't change my accent it's a good conversation starter

AgeLikeWine, I agree with speaking clearly.

Personally I also had to slow my speech. And I'm talking about being understood, not "presenting" differently!

I think about the person I am speaking to: I don't want a barrier to communication. It doesn't mean I'm embarrassed by my accent. (But then again I'm not looking for promotion anymore and I don't know YOUR workplace!)

On the other hand I have no reason to be proud of any accent. (My accent reflects my journey - how cheesy!)

I hate it when people try to mimic my Scottish accent. They are mostly rubbish at it and it feels slightly piss taking.

The only person that can really do it is a friend of mine who speaks beautiful RP, is gorgeous and very well groomed, but who had a gallus Glaswegian MIL and my friend can nail a Maryhill accent. It is delightful.

I did have to moderate my accent a bit when I arrived in London as I was a bit tricky to understand, but it’s definitely still there.

I like regional accents, always have. The important thing is to speak clearly and not too fast so that you can be understood. Accents are great. I don't have one which is probably why I'm so keen :-).

So long as everyone can understand what you are saying it really doesn’t matter (but do bear in mind that some regional accents are like a different language to people from abroad, I speak with experience here). My children have really sweet local accents at the moment (the older one has pretty much lost it though and the younger one is also starting to speak more normally since starting school so I suppose it’s not permanent). We have a very class insecure relative (British obviously) who always gets really wound up that we let them talk like that which is quite funny (might be part of the reason why I was in no hurry to correct their speech).

Rev Jolly, I have drummed into my kids not to "do" accents outside our four walls.

It just comes over as rude.

OP I am with you on giraffe and scarf!

I gave away the Julia Donaldson book as I just couldn't make it work with my voice.

I have a N.Irish accent, live in England and have a thriving English tuition business. No one seems to be put off and every so often I get compliments on my accent. I like English regional accents and find the Southern accent the most dull. Some of the regional accents are beautiful.

I grew up in Essex and I've completely de-essexed my accent over the years. However I don't think it's even the actual accent that comes with the Essex accent that is the issue...I think the dimwit-girl type intonation (upspeak, vocal fry, long vowels etc.) beloved of reality TV contestants for some reason just sounds so much worse is an Essex accent than lots of other regional accents! I find listening to Sophie on this year's LI with her really draaaaaawn ooooout vooooooowels yeeeaaaaaaaaaah like listening to glass down a waste disposal unit.

I’ve never lost my accent despite living in Southern England for decades although according to people at home it’s very diluted and I sound ‘English’! I like my accent, it’s part of who I am.

Oh I am a stick in the mud now and am finding lots of younger speech irritating.

All accents are morphing through time as well of course.

The world is full of people trying to be “ better” than they are. It can be healthy or neurotic.
Being the best you can be, if the goals are set by you , is great. But we are very influenced by advertising and the media.
It’s increasingly unacceptable to seem human, flawed or different from the norm.

I am from Barnsley and it has a language all of it's own. I have a mild Yorkshire accent, I guess I toned it down a bit at Uni because people couldn't understand me. Apparently a Yorks accent is one of the most trusted?

I lived in Brum for six years and love a Brummie or Black Country accent. Mother was RP and from London and I grew up in a rural area, we were corrected every time we said anything that had even the remotest hint of the local accent. So none of us have the accent and people remark on how well spoken. DH has a beautiful speaking voice, it is RP but deep and sounds a bit like ripping velvet voice over stuff. DS has not been corrected and we live in the mIdlands still but as he has been at home with us his accent is mixed.