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’

No matter the accent most could benefit from the advice to speak more slowly (and clearly) at work.

Except Bristolians.. (Chucks grenade and runs!)

I don't have a strong accent. But then I always made sure I didn't. It was partly a conscious decision.
Most of my school friends have moved from Devon to the SE and home counties. We meet for lunch in London. None of them have strong accents, but we put it on and tease each other when we meet : 'alright my lover. Alright me handsome'.

Some accents are softer :some of the Scottish ones are beautiful. Some accents at stronger and more harsh. If very strong other nationalities have trouble understanding.

Most people think having a soft accent, is advantageous, especially in business.

Didn't Ant & Dec have voice coaching? They are both much softer than originally.

I love lots of UK accents. Brummy, Welsh, Liverpool, Scotland. Females with a Newcastle accent. ♥️
The one I find a bit harsh are some cousin's from London, their DM kept her Irish accent 45 years in London.

I knew before I opened this thread you are from the Midlands I’m from Birmingham myself and years of working on the phone has toned my accent down a little... not that it’s ever been a problem, people do tend to say ‘are you from Birmingham by any chance’ and I’d joke back ‘how did you guess’

I'm from Derbyshire, and have still got a discernible accent after living in the South for over 15 years. I love meeting other people with accents. I'm particularly attracted to men with Northern/ midlands accents. I spend my uni years living 8n the West Midlands, and love a Black Country accent

@TheWickerWoman I prefer to say no when people ask if I’m northern to mess with their heads

I love hearing accents. I find people with northern accents are more friendly generally. I'm from London, born and raised. I'm told that I sound cockney/Essex. I haven't lived in London for over 45 years! I think you can take the girl out of London but can't take London out of the girl.

Why should you tone down the way you speak? Be proud of where you come from.

I'm from the West Country (rural South Dorset) but live in Yorkshire and I've found I'm treated very differently when I use my own accent. People treat me like I'm stupid, make jokes about tractors and "ooar get off my land", and are generally quite patronising! Either that or tell me how posh I am.... I'm actually quite well spoken having done a lot of public speaking, so it's not an enunciation thing; people just seem to have an inbuilt West Country accent = thick farmer mentality...

an RP or a neutral accent
No such thing. RP is a regional accent from the South of England

CaptainCallisto

My mum deliberately changed her accent when she moved from Yorkshire to Devon as a teenager. The teacher would make her stand up in front of the class and would mock how she spoke. It’s not a north / south thing it’s a “people” thing. It’s not even a terribly imaginative thing either. I’m in London now and my department Is full of accents from everywhere - I’m particularly fond of the Yorkshire ones because it reminds me of my extended family. I did get a bit 😍 over a guy from Northern Ireland who has a gorgeous accent and I sometimes speak to someone from Atlanta, Georgia who has a voice like caramel. I’ve no idea of what he looks like but in my head he’s very, very hot.

I'm from the West midland but am currently studying in Suffolk. I always thought I had a quite neutral accent with perhaps the odd twang in there.

But I have never had so many people comment on how I talk before! For the last 4 years people have asked if I'm a Northerner!! I just say, I think they need to get out and about in the country more to hear different accents!

I cannot say the word "onion" without being mimicked! It was amusing at first but now I just ignore them.

I like having an accent. If people remark on it I usually tell them that everybody has an accent, but some people are arrogant enough to assume that theirs is the default one!

Divebar I agree it's a people thing not a Yorkshire one (didn't mean to imply that in my post!) - I got the same at uni in Warwick and when I briefly lived in London. I blame The Wurzels

Arm from the Black Country. Mother and dad day want us spaking yam yam when we was babbies. Ar still do though, cuz ar Dow wanna lose my accent.

Actually I dow spake yam yam all the time, I just slip into it now and again when I fancy it. I live in the south now and they’m a bit funny about accents. I don’t want to lose it though, it’s my roots. I also weave in proper yam yam words like ‘yampy,’ ‘wammel,’ etc into my every day speech. Ar dow care if people think it meks me sound thick, it’s marn so arm gunna spake it.

@Cryingoverspilttea my "strong" Scouse accent is often commented on my London based colleagues, I'm from the very edge of Liverpool and would be deemed a wool by some ! I don't have a strong accent at all.

I won't change my accent but I do consciously try to slow down a bit.

everybody has an accent, but some people are arrogant enough to assume that theirs is the default one!
^exactly

Suffolk accent here. Very proud of it!

Except Bristolians.. (Chucks grenade and runs!)

There is a neutral accent, I have one, nobody can tell at all where in the country I might be from if it ever comes up in conversation - I get asked where I'm from as they can't tell. It's a shame really.

Regional accents are great. Be proud of where you come from.

When I was a child I had a west country accent because I spent the first 11 years of my life there. Everyone took the piss out of me when my family finally settled in the south east so I learned how to talk like my peers. Now I have an estuary English accent and work in a middle-class environment where I am one of a tiny handful of people who don't speak with a RP accent. If I wanted to be thought of as more than a working class oik (not my words but those of a former manager) I would have to either go back to the west country accent or try for an RP one. However, since everyone in my job knows me with an estuary English accent, if I suddenly spoke "properly" people would comment. Gah! TL;DR: people get judged by their accents and it sucks.

Same happens with my Yorkshire accent - loads of people say 'oh I'm from Yorkshire!' In a crazily southern accent... meaning people then think I'm really common or something.

I can't bring myself to care much. I like my accent and my family would take the piss if I Londoned it up

And yes people thinking they're doing a great impression of your accent but actually they make it sound like you're thick with a speech impediment.:. And then wonder why you don't find it funny ffs

l'm from a town a few miles north of Newcastle on Tyne, but l live in Yorkshire. l work on a supermarket checkout, and at least twice a day l get asked where l'm from, or people try to 'guess' with degrees of success.
l've had a couple of people ask where in Scotland l'm from, but the weirdest one wasn't at work, l was actually in another supermarket and the young lad on the checkout said l sounded like Carol Vorderman! l do not sound like her. She's Welsh!
Some people guess really accurately, though. l've had a few narrow it down to within five miles.
l love the Yorkshire accent, l could listen to it all day. l haven't got a handle on the regional variations yet, though, where back home, l could narrow someone down to a few miles.
l do know a couple of people (one back home in the North East, one here in Yorkshire) who don't have typical regional accents, though, and they both sound very similar. l've been told it's a 'university accent'. l don't know how far that's true, though.

Whatisthisfuckery l went out (briefly) with someone from the Black Country and l have to admit l did struggle a bit sometimes with his accent. And being called 'wench'....