Aibu to be annoyed to change how I speak

[Passedmybedtime]

I have a strong accent and like others in my area we talk faster than others, a new colleague has started work and English isn't that persons first language, I have already changed how I speak to help the person understand and I was barked at by management to speak slower, and that annoyed me, I was offended if I'm honest. I can't help how I speak and I thought I was speaking more clearer and slower for the other person to understand. I dont know what else I can do?? I feel I'm being unreasonable asking this and I tried my best to acdondate the new start esp since it was the person's first day and trying to show the ropes even with a language barrier. I can't go into much details of my work but I feel a annoyed and upset to get into trouble at work when I was trying my hardest to help the person

Am I wrong to feel annoyed?

What accent is it? Glaswegian?

I think you are being oversensitive - you obviously weren’t slowing down as much as you thought.

Go and explain to your manager you were already trying but you will slow down more.

Try and slow down some more, and if your accent is still too strong, then you’ve done what you can to mentor them, and they will have to be paired with someone else.

Yes :(

Yanbu to be annoyed because you were already speaking slower than usual but I guess that you need to try and speak even slower without cringing about possibly sounding patronising because you are speaking so slowly.

My first language is English and I struggled in Glasgow

So what solution to this do you have?

My hearing impaired parent struggles when she visits me because she's not used to the local accent here. She's English, I'm English, I live in England.

I don't see that it's a dreadful imposition to speak more slowly whilst your new colleague acclimatises. It's not a personal attack.

I've got a strong Glaswegian accent - but I have had to slow down and adapt how I speak to make sure everybody understands what I'm saying. Not an unreasonable expectation as I had to communicate a lot at work.

However - 'being barked at by management' isn't acceptable.

I do notice however that some people are lazy listeners - as soon as they are confronted by an unfamiliar accent they say 'what' before you've even finished speaking. I learned to wait a bit before repeating myself - and am amazed how they 'get it' once they have processed it.

I can switch in and out of my 'strong accent' and have fun doing so in certain circumstances.

I'm from Glasgow and I know I change how I speak when I'm around someone who comes from England for example, And that's fine because I know my accent esp talking in my normal voice people it can be difficult to understand.

To the other person I'm not being oversensitive though, asking me to try an change something impossible about myself is what annoys me

My first language is English and I struggled in Glasgow

We moved to Devon in my teens. As we were unloading the van our new neighbour, an elderly farmer, stopped to say hello. We did not understand a word 😂 Our ears learned, eventually.

As someone who has family in Edinburgh/fife and spends a fair bit of time up there, I still struggle with strong glaswegian accents. I guess all you can do is try but you have to understand to even a lot of British people it sounds like another language. Would be very difficult for the non brits.

I have a Glaswegisn friend and sometimes struggle to follow what he says. I know it is a PITA for you but you really do need to try harder. I love Scottish accents but I do find a Glaswegian accent the most difficult Scottish accent to follow. I'm English BTW.

I met a man with a strong Glaswegian accent on a Scottish island. I honestly couldn’t understand him and felt dreadful continuously asking him to repeat himself. I ended up just nodding and smiling whenever he spoke.

I have to go against the grain and say I don't find Glaswegian accents all that difficult, having English as a second language. I live in England and actually prefer Scottish accents (in general) to English ones, Glaswegian very much included. 🙂 If you're not talking at the speed of light then it's fine, people also need to make an effort to adapt to understanding your accent.

It’s a difficult accent to understand

I'm a Glaswegian and I work with lots of East Europeans who don't all speak great English. Me and my colleagues (most from here and with a normal Glasgow accent) just slow down and pronounce words carefully. It's not changing something about yourself, you just need to try a bit harder and be more helpful. It's not that difficult and they'll get used to you quickly enough.

Or you could try learning a few words of their language, use Google translate on your phone if you need to.

It's not at all if you slow down and don't run all your words together, my foreign colleagues manage fine most of the time

Another one here that doesn't find Glaswegian accents a problem. Maybe I have a poor sample size because I've never lived there, but I can follow Limmy's Show with no problem at least.

That said, it is one of the harder accents to follow if you're expecting textbook-style 'RP' English pronunciation and grammar.

I can't help how I speak and I thought I was speaking more clearer and slower for the other person to understand.

Yes, you can.

YABU

The point of speaking to someone is to communicate to them & be understood by them. So you have a choice here: behave like a considerate communicating adult, or stay in your (frankly xenophobic) childish mindset.

To the other person I'm not being oversensitive though, asking me to try an change something impossible about myself is what annoys me

Speaking slower isn’t impossible.

Why wouldn’t you want to be better understood by a colleague?

Xenophobic? I find the majority of accents around the Midlands a nightmare, is it everyone's responsibility to speak slower to accommodate me? No, I live and work in England so I've grown to understand.
I can ask people to slow down if needed, I'd be furious if someone was "barked at" on my behalf.

The OP mentioned she is working with someone whose first language is not English. She sounds pretty intolerant of this.

I have an accent and a way of speaking that I had to alter to be understood. I revert back to the old ways when drunk or angry etc... I find that I struggle with some accents but the longer I am exposed to it the easier it is. It's not just accent, it is the words themselves that can confuse.

Nobody should bark at you though.

I voted yabu - it's the responsibility of the speaker to ensure that the listener has heard & understood.
It might be annoying & frustrating at first but new colleague will probably adapt over time.
I lived with a lovely girl from Northern Ireland once and she spoke so fast & was so strongly accepted that at first I couldn't even understand her name when she said it!

If you part of your job is to train someone (and communicate with them) and that someone needs to slow down further, then yes, it’s your responsibility to slow down.

it’s bizarre that anyone thinks it isn’t. Can’t imagine ever saying to a colleague ‘oh you don’t understand me. Tough shit. That’s your responsibility.’ I just don’t get people who have never changed how they communicate depending on who they are communicating with. We all communicate with different people, differently.

some of my closest colleagues are Glaswegian. I can understand them, but colloquialisms means somethings are lost, so I don’t use them like I would with friends who live here. And vice Versa. And where some just slip out, we explain them.

op doesn’t seem that bothered that she was barked at, which isn’t ok. She is bothered that she is being expected to change how she speaks. That’s the title and the main part of the op.

and the Op does come across as xenophobic to me. To me it has a whiff of ‘not my problem if that person who isn’t a native English speaker can’t understand me’.

the only resolutions here are

Op slows down

Op tells her bosses she simply will not put more effort in to slow down and training needs to be done by someone else

New employee is let go, because op is offended by having to change how they communicate.

That’s the 3 outcomes. I wonder which one op wants.