Prejudice against Accents

Posts0Likes0Joined19/9/2019LocationSão Paulo / BR
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Portuguese
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In Brazil we're prejudiced against some of the country's accents. We tend to value the southeast region accents and devalue the northeast ones. Within São Paulo, where I live, we split the language into good and bad as well, the suburban accent being considered a poor Portuguese. What about your countries?

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#1
Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
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In the US, the "Southern" accent is sometimes considered to be unsophisticated. Historically it was spoken in southern states, like Texas, Alabama, Georgia, etc. But the accent is quickly morphing into a more homogenous accent that seems to resemble the west coast accent (at least to my ears).

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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#2
Posts38Likes31Joined28/1/2021LocationCO
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Spanish
Learning English, Portuguese

Uh, in Colombia we have some stereotypes when referring to an accent. I don't think (from my perspective) that it is related to a good or bad Spanish. As Spanish is spoken in so many countries we don't have that approach. However, we do critize people and tend to label them based on their accent. "Paisa" girls are stupid. "Costeños" are vulgar, "cachacos" are pretentious, and so on. All of this regionalism has a big connotation when it comes to accents. Just when you speak already people start making a opinion about how are you based on a what accent do you have.

I hope you have a nice day! Native: Spanish 🌺 

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#3
Posts0Likes0Joined23/3/2021LocationDavao / PH
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Tagalog
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My country, the Philippines, has a lot of dialects ( given that it consists of 7,107 islands + other small islands unmapped). Our national language is Filipino but we have a lot of words that have a Spanish origin. English is a second language here. 

Some people are making fun of a person who speaks Tagalog but still carries his dialectal accent. When in fact, Tagalog is native only to those who live in Luzon (the Northern part). And those who live in the Middle and Southern part uses Tagalog only in official settings like at work and at school. When a native Tagalog speaker hears a Filipino with a thick "Southern accent" (like Bisaya or Hiligaynon), they would really notice you. 


On the other hand, when foreign nationals try to speak "broken Tagalog", they are considered cute. :P

P.S We have a city in the South named Zamboanga and they speak "broken Spanish". 



- By small and simple things are great things brought to pass! 

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#4
Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
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july.lullalove wrote:
On the other hand, when foreign nationals try to speak "broken Tagalog", they are considered cute

Just curious - do you think this guy's accent is "cute"?

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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#5
Posts0Likes0Joined23/3/2021LocationDavao / PH
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Tagalog
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leosmith wrote:
july.lullalove wrote:
On the other hand, when foreign nationals try to speak "broken Tagalog", they are considered cute

Just curious - do you think this guy's accent is "cute"?


Well.. for me partly cute, partly funny. :D I got used to it when I served as a volunteer missionary for my church. I helped some Polynesians learned Tagalog, well some North Americans too. And they went home using their hands as a measuring tool when cooking rice. :P



- By small and simple things are great things brought to pass! 

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#6
Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
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Cool. By the way, to make your attachments show up, edit your post, hit the "inline" button, then update.

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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#7
Posts0Likes0Joined23/3/2021LocationDavao / PH
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leosmith wrote:
Cool. By the way, to make your attachments show up, edit your post, hit the "inline" button, then update.

Alright. That helps. Thank you.

- By small and simple things are great things brought to pass! 

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#8
Posts0Likes0Joined24/3/2021LocationManila / PH
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English
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As mentioned by july.lullalove here, in the Philippines, we look down on people who have Visayan accents. People with those accents are not taken as seriously as those without it. In job hunting, employers prefer those without the Visayan accent even if they are more competent. It's a sad reality. How about in other countries, do accents affect people's employment opportunities? 

Faye

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#9
Posts0Likes0Joined24/3/2021LocationLT
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In Lithuania, we have different dialects, depending on where the person is. And there is the common dialect, which is considered the correct way to pronounce words, In some cities and other places this common dialect is actually common, while people from different, most likely smaller cities need to learn "the correct" dialect. 

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#10
Posts1630Likes1092Joined18/3/2018LocationBellingham / US
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Ugne.Bulotaite wrote:
people from different, most likely smaller cities need to learn "the correct" dialect.

What happens if they refuse to learn the correct dialect?

In Thailand now. Next up Tanzania and Philippines.

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#11
Posts0Likes0Joined23/3/2021LocationRanchi / IN
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Hindi
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Here in India, we have hundreds of languages and numerous accent depending on the region. Yes we do have our set of prejudices but at the end of the day most of them are cute 

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#12
Posts0Likes0Joined23/3/2021LocationRanchi / IN
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Faye.Vitan wrote:
As mentioned by july.lullalove here, in the Philippines, we look down on people who have Visayan accents. People with those accents are not taken as seriously as those without it. In job hunting, employers prefer those without the Visayan accent even if they are more competent. It's a sad reality. How about in other countries, do accents affect people's employment opportunities?




Actually yes, here in India Biharis are kind of looked as black horse because they lack sophistication and don't wear fake facade all the time to appear one. That goes against them mostly, not taken seriously and ill-treated for the same reason

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#13
Posts0Likes0Joined24/3/2021LocationLT
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leosmith wrote:
Ugne.Bulotaite wrote:
people from different, most likely smaller cities need to learn "the correct" dialect.

What happens if they refuse to learn the correct dialect?

Well, basically, in schools every kid is being reached to use the right one and with time, most of the people do learn "the correct" one, but in the case, if they refuse or just don't learn, they just keep talking they way they did and there are some problems with people understanding them or making fun of their speech along with it. 

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#14
Posts0Likes0Joined19/9/2019LocationSão Paulo / BR
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HolaIsabel wrote:
Uh, in Colombia we have some stereotypes when referring to an accent. I don't think (from my perspective) that it is related to a good or bad Spanish. As Spanish is spoken in so many countries we don't have that approach. However, we do critize people and tend to label them based on their accent. "Paisa" girls are stupid. "Costeños" are vulgar, "cachacos" are pretentious, and so on. All of this regionalism has a big connotation when it comes to accents. Just when you speak already people start making a opinion about how are you based on a what accent do you have.
I was married to a Peruvian guy and, when we travelled to visit Peru, I realised that same thing you've described, around making an opinion based on accents. There was this situation of asking for directions on the street, in which my ex-husband labeled the girls as "pituca" just by by her way of saying the name "Urubamba". Just this single word!

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#15
Posts0Likes0Joined19/9/2019LocationSão Paulo / BR
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july.lullalove wrote:
My country, the Philippines, has a lot of dialects ( given that it consists of 7,107 islands + other small islands unmapped). Our national language is Filipino but we have a lot of words that have a Spanish origin. English is a second language here.
Some people are making fun of a person who speaks Tagalog but still carries his dialectal accent. When in fact, Tagalog is native only to those who live in Luzon (the Northern part). And those who live in the Middle and Southern part uses Tagalog only in official settings like at work and at school. When a native Tagalog speaker hears a Filipino with a thick "Southern accent" (like Bisaya or Hiligaynon), they would really notice you.
On the other hand, when foreign nationals try to speak "broken Tagalog", they are considered cute. :P
P.S We have a city in the South named Zamboanga and they speak "broken Spanish".

In Brazil it depends on where the foreigner is from to be considered cute. If Latin American or African, if coming from the global North...

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#16
Posts0Likes0Joined19/9/2019LocationSão Paulo / BR
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Faye.Vitan wrote:
As mentioned by july.lullalove here, in the Philippines, we look down on people who have Visayan accents. People with those accents are not taken as seriously as those without it. In job hunting, employers prefer those without the Visayan accent even if they are more competent. It's a sad reality. How about in other countries, do accents affect people's employment opportunities?
In Brazil accents affect people's employment opportunities as well as in social situations.

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#17
Posts0Likes0Joined19/9/2019LocationSão Paulo / BR
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Nirupam.Deo wrote:
Faye.Vitan wrote:
As mentioned by july.lullalove here, in the Philippines, we look down on people who have Visayan accents. People with those accents are not taken as seriously as those without it. In job hunting, employers prefer those without the Visayan accent even if they are more competent. It's a sad reality. How about in other countries, do accents affect people's employment opportunities?


Actually yes, here in India Biharis are kind of looked as black horse because they lack sophistication and don't wear fake facade all the time to appear one. That goes against them mostly, not taken seriously and ill-treated for the same reason
In Brazil people with northeast accent are mistreated and made fun of when they come to the South. We regard them as vulgar and non-educated, although they have a really rich culture up there.

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#18
Posts0Likes0Joined24/3/2021LocationManila / PH
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Valeria.Fontes wrote:
In Brazil people with northeast accent are mistreated and made fun of when they come to the South. We regard them as vulgar and non-educated, although they have a really rich culture up there.
That sounds a bit sad. Is the northeast part of Brazil, rural?

Faye

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#19
Posts0Likes0Joined25/3/2021LocationSouth Cotabato / PH
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july.lullalove wrote:

leosmith wrote:
july.lullalove wrote:
On the other hand, when foreign nationals try to speak "broken Tagalog", they are considered cute

Just curious - do you think this guy's accent is "cute"?

Well.. for me partly cute, partly funny. :D I got used to it when I served as a volunteer missionary for my church. I helped some Polynesians learned Tagalog, well some North Americans too. And they went home using their hands as a measuring tool when cooking rice. :P


Yes July,ITS CUTE 

hehehehhe


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#20
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