So.. You Want to Lose Your Accent.
Don't.
Before we get into the pros and cons of losing one's accent, let me tell you a short story of a young man travelling overseas for the first time.
Once upon a time, there was a young man (yes, it's me), who set off from his native New Zealand for the first time to search the world.
Something that I discovered was that not all traffic lights are the same. In the U.S. for example, you have the chance to turn right on a red light (at your own peril). And in Europe, I was surprised to find that late at night and in the early hours of the morning, traffic lights turn into give-way/yield signs by flashing the middle amber light constantly.
This was quite a revelation to me and it made me wonder why all the traffic lights in the world didn't use this wonderful system (as I recalled getting a ticket from the NZ police officer for driving through a red light at 3am with zero cars on the road!).
When relating this discovery to a friend back home, my friend answered by saying, "Yeah. But that would make the world a boring place.. if everything was the same."
I saw his point.
And so we return to you, my dear language learner. Let me now make a case for keeping your wonderful accent:
Point 1
As stated above, diversity is a wonderful thing. Enough said.
Point 2 (more important)
What is communication all about?
.... Communication, in my view, is the ability for one person to say something and the .....other person to hear and understand the same thing.
It doesn't matter if you make a grammar mistake, use the wrong word, go "um" a few times etc etc. All that matters is that they understood you clearly and thus are able to easily and comfortably continue the conversation.
Pronunciation is of course very important. However, your pronunciation can be "perfect" with or without an accent.
Worth considering...
23 juillet 2020
