ACCENT ISSUES......

I have often heard people saying, or rather arguing on the fact that they do not have any accent in the way they speak English! The premise of this argument in itself amuses me. As every person who speaks any language is bound to have an accent.

In fact 'accent' is the distinctive way of pronouncing a language. The fact that this distinctiveness comes from geographical influences is the secondary stage.

The influences that we have on our speech are more than geographical at times! Sometimes it is the regional language influence (RTI), then at other times it is the mother tongue influence (MTI)! Sometimes it is the mirroring effect where we unknowingly start to imitate the accent of the person we are interacting with! This is done, unconsciously on a psychological level, where we intend to create a comfort zone for the person we interact with!

Nonetheless, the bottom line is that we all have an accent! What marks the difference is the degree of other heavy influences on this accent and to what extent they hinder the comprehension of the listener.

Strong accents can affect hiring chances.

It is true that heavy accents can cause a hindrance in the hiring propositions for hospitality personnel. The reasons for this are not based on regional discrimination but solely to facilitate effective communication.

HR personnel believe that the lack of clarity due to heavily accentuated speech can hamper good customer service. If the customers have to struggle to understand the instructions of the hospitality candidates, then there is an unnecessary air of friction created among individuals.

The customers who cannot understand what is being said and the hospitality candidate who is struggling to make him/her understand, both go through high frustration levels. If not controlled in time, this can lead to incorrigible losses.

What's the solution?

The solution lies in the preliminary education level in our country. The phonetics taught across the country have to be uniform and globally approved. The fact that some schools in rural India still teach 'L' as 'yull' and "M" as 'yumm', makes it very difficult for the adult mind to create in later stages. The initial years, where the foundation of speech and sounds are laid, have to be carefully monitored. The use of Audio tools for learning at school level through prescribed audio text books, can enhance the uniformity in learning the correct global accent.