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1 results

  • Chapter 8 - Can You Repeat That, Please?

  • from Part III - Cultural Integration through Language
  • Vered Shwartz, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
  • Book:
    Lost in Automatic Translation
    Published online:
    08 October 2025
    Print publication:
    21 August 2025, pp 139-149

  • Summary

    Even after achieving a high level of English proficiency, our accents – along with involuntary code-switching, pronunciation of English words as they are pronounced in our native tongue, and more – may still give us away as EFLs. Accent is the most immediately noticeable feature of EFL speakers. After moving to North America, I was faced with a conflict: Should I preserve my foreign accent and embrace it as part of my identity or try to pass as an American? While the perception that all accents are valid is true, it is also – to some extent – naïve. It not only ignores the desire to assimilate into American culture but also minimizes the impact of implicit biases, which can go as far as labeling people with foreign accents as less competent. Another practical reason to develop a North American accent is to adjust to personal assistants such as Siri and Alexa that often fail to understand foreign accents. At the same time as the world is becoming more progressive and inclusive, language technology sometimes inadvertently pushes us a step back.