Would you label someone as "stupid" because they have an accent?

[mony34]

Evening all,

I live in UK (I'm not British) and have been over here for 20 years.
Lately I've been feeling soooo low after coming across people who the second they hear I have an accent start treating me as if I'm extremely stupid and as if I am an illegal immigrant.

As I've mentioned.. have been over here for 20 years, I have an extremely good job( so I certainly don't consider myself stupid) and yes my English is not 100% perfect but I would say it's pretty good.

Most people are lovely but every day or week there's certain people that make me feel like I don't belong here.

For example, Today I was at my GP surgery waiting in line. The receptionist was so kind to everyone in line explaining there would be a delay in seeing the gp today and asking them politely to take a seat and have some water etc.
my turn came .. she greeted me nicely then she heard my accent ... I was given an assertive tone asking if I qualify for NHS treatment? I've been registered with this gp surgery for over 10 years. Then she sent me to my seat like I was some sort of an animal ... then the next persons turn.. receptionist was back to being lovely again.

My question is. Do you judge people by their accents? Do you Consider them to be bellow you? If so why?

I would love to understand the thinking behind this.
Tia x

It's quite sad as my DH is British & our DC speak English, but I never speak to them in my native language & I am almost scared of them wanting to learn it one day.
I'm scared they'll catch "the accent" and have to potentially deal with the same behaviour from people as I do and I wouldn't want that for them.

That's so, so sad OP! I'm a language teacher and I think you should be proud of speaking more than one language. I teach in a school in NW England with a very diverse intake and quite a lot of students for whom English is their second language. It's a very welcoming, supportive school and I love the fact that the students from other heritages are happy and confident to chat about the other languages they speak, and aren't ashamed of their 'non-English' accents.

You know who's stupid? The ignorant idiots who make assumptions about you because you have an accent! Everybody has an accent! I wonder how many languages those ignorant racists can speak

You know there is nothing wrong with your accent and you should not accept this behaviour from someone in a workplace you should not feel you need to change to be respected. You have experience racism or at least prejudice and it is really not acceptable in today's society. Don't feel like you are making a fuss or you need to change what you need to do is make a complaint to the practice manager about how you were treated differently to everyone else in the queue that day and you are not sure why but you think it was because you were being judged because of your accent can they please explain why the receptionist behaved in that manner to you and not to anyone else. They need to address this and provide training or disciplinary as you cannot have your staff acting in this manner and making people feel the way you do please please make a complaint it is the only way to stop this horrible attitude everyone should be treated with the same respect as the next person regardless of colour race religion accent sexuality appearance or anything at all It is the law of the land.

Omg where on earth fo you live op? Come to London. We have all the accents here. No one bats an eyelid 🤗

She was being racist. If I were you I'd ask for a word with the practice manager about her behaviour.

Another one saying to contact the practice manager. I'm sure the doctors would be horrified that one of their employees was behaving this way.

I would have complained on the spot.

I suggest you phone or email the practice manager and make an official complaint. They might even have this recorded on CCTV.

She made an assumption based on your accent (that you were not registered with the practice and not allowed to have treatment) and that is unacceptable. She should not be in a public-facing role & certainly not in healthcare (where so many of the staff themselves are from abroad anyway).

I think Brexit has given a lot of the closet racists and xenophobes a licence to be more vocal and a twisted sense of superiority.

I am in London and half the population is probably foreign at this stage but you still get the odd idiot that assumes that if you have an accent (I was born in an EU country and have lived here for 30 years & I am British) you are somehow inferior and stupid. Thankfully I have no issue with putting that type of person back in their place.

Your accent isn’t the problem.

The racists/xenophobes are the problem.

Speak to the practice manager about the receptionist.

I'd report the receptionists behaviour to the GP practice manager.

This.

I had a lovely colleague back along who used to share examples of this all the time. She was a black African British lady. She got frankly abused every time she had to deal with the local hospital (we lived in a small coastal town at the time) who interrogated her about nhs entitlement. She was very feisty but it must have been so wearing and dehumanising.

It's unacceptable.

No and anyone who does has low IQ.
I only speak English no other language

I live in the North of England and I have a ew friends,who come from the South.

Oops, too early. Continuing..

I live in the North of England and I have a few friends who come from the South. They make fun of my accent and certain vocabulary that I use...and they actually are foreigners to my area. The cheek. But I love my northern county, I like the words I use and I'm content with my northern accent, so I just laugh.

There's a saying, Reject your sense of injury, and the injury itself disappears. It's so true. The power to not be affected lies in your own hands.

I have taught overseas students for tyears and I can promise you loads of Brits love foreign accents and find them very attractive so don't let anyone make you feel bad about yourself.

Oh love I’m sorry that racist receptionist made you feel so small, what a horrible person. Bet they can’t speak another language so fluently.

please please do teach your children your language, they’ll be at a massive advantage if you do, and if they already speak English now anyway they aren’t going to catch the accent in some way. How old are they?

People do sort of judge the Brummie accent, though.

I live in london and one of the joys of that is the huge range of accents and language you can hear. It's lovely.

It's always amazing to hear non Brits speaking English so beautifully, and with a lovely accent. The fact that anyone can master a second , third, fourth language is just so impressive and I appreciate it so much.

I work with multiple nationalities and am frequently amazed at the sophistication and vocabulary, which often puts many Brits to shame 😂

Never lose the accent. Be proud that you've mastered another language and know that some of us (many of us/ most of us?) either don't care about an accent, or are in awe that you have learned our mother tongue.

So, pish to that fucking receptionist. Ignorant, racist cow.

Accents are part of brain development and there is a window of opportunity where your brain is primed to listen and learn words. I think it’s about 7- 9 years part of brain closes - after that it’s very hard to change an accent.

I think that this issue - regarding being treated as different because you have an audible difference in your accent is one of these ‘things we don’t talk about’ but not taking about it makes it worse somehow not better.

Difference - any difference accent, skin colour- is just that - different from the majority.

And when the majority come across it they may be curious, they may be afraid, they may be rude, they may be prejudiced, they may be a mixture.

I think we ignore the deep, tribal nature of being human, which is expressed through asking someone where they are really from or assuming someone’s intelligence level due to an accent.

These behaviours reveal a deep desire to self soothe, to reinforce a persons own sense of belonging whilst highlighting the others outsider status.

It must be so horrible to be on the receiving end of ‘you don’t fit, or belong, you are less than, you are the outsider’ messaging. I am sorry you have to go through that so regularly.

will say the current immigrant crisis will fuel racism

Someone mentioned this upthread. It's actually a home office incompetence crisis. Important difference.

My husband had this years ago. Swedish, speaks likes a native, with a slight accent. But he was questioned/lectured about being allowed to use the NHS. I'd go for jobsworth rather than rasist. A little bit of power....

This reminds me of a story my father told me.

When my parents were first dating back in the 1960s they witnessed a nasty car accident. They both waited around for the police so they could tell them what happened. When the police arrived they had no interest in taking statements or contact details from them, they only wanted to see my mother's paperwork to prove she was legally in the country!

This country is going backwards! Put in a complaint to the practice manager.

Your experience sounds horrible. I am sorry. No one should be allowed to speak to others like this. I am also foreign, been in the UK for 20 years. I am in London and actually have never experienced anything like you describe. Ever. In so many years. Occasionally I get someone talking a little slower but they soon get over it and I don't take offence at something like that. Like other posters said I would definitely complain. It isn't accord or behaviours.

Don't change your accent
Do report the receptionist.

My polite NI accent has me shorthanded as snobby by neighbours (West Yorkshire), and my very London-centric (and exclusively white MC) team at work make me feel like I should be invisible and disappear. The former overt, the latter covert. As a neurodiverse person I find it hard to speak up, but when I do I'm generally not received favourably. It's so disheartening.

The receptionist wasn't judgy OP, she was racist. I get that they have to ask anyone who them deem may be a visitor to the UK whether they're eligible, but no reason why she couldn't have done that in a polite and welcoming way.

I'd definitely consider having a word with the Practice manager, as this woman needs some diversity training.

I lived in Spain for over 8 years and often got this from native spanish people. It's not pleasant at all.

How did she send you to your seat like you were an animal? That isn't on.

You don't want your children to speak your native language in case they get treated like you? I'm sorry but this is irrational, your children learning a second language from a close native speaker who lives with them is a massive advantage, I cannot comprehend how you think that would be a negative in their lives.