Whether English is your first or second language, you may have wondered at some point: “Do I speak with an accent, and how much does that matter?”

Because English speakers, like speakers of any language, aren’t created in a vacuum, are they? They’re created in distinct places with distinct cultures, histories, and identities that play a significant role in a person’s spoken dialect.

If English is your second language, you may speak with an accent that reflects your cultural background. But how much does your accent matter, especially if you have to use English daily in your professional or personal life?

The short answer is: It doesn’t matter. The “quality” of your English does not depend on the origin of your accent. There’s no such thing as a “good” or “bad” accent.

But an understanding of clarity in English, and how your pronunciation can affect communication, does matter, and that’s something you can improve.

After today’s post, I hope you come away with a bit more understanding about the difference between “accent” and “pronunciation,” and why pronunciation matters more.

Our English-speaking world is evolving in a beautiful way, yet there are still many individuals who face prejudice and discrimination when they speak with a particular accent. So, keep reading if you’re ready for a bit of #realtalk about “accent bias.” But don’t get too discouraged! We’re going to follow that with a bit of positivity and practical advice for improving your pronunciation.

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Does My Accent in English Matter?

What’s the difference between “pronunciation” and “accent?”

After all this talk about pronunciation and accent, what’s the difference between the two?

Well, not to confuse you, but they’re the same thing. They’re both aspects of a person’s dialect, which is one particular variety of a language that belongs to a country or region. Your dialect might affect what words you say and how you say them, which is your accent.

So, your accent refers to how you pronounce certain words, such as how British and American English speakers pronounce the word “water” differently. It's not that British speakers are right, and Americans are wrong; it’s merely a matter of geography.

If you’re an English learner, you can choose what kind of dialect and accent you want to learn, and this will probably affect who you choose as a teacher and what materials you use to learn.

And even though it’s the same thing as “accent,” the idea of “pronunciation” has come to be associated with clear communication, and not dialect. So, as you learn and improve, you should emphasize pronunciation - especially clear pronunciation - over accent.

Improving pronunciation will help you with communication. For example, think about how close the vowel sounds in these two phrases are:

“good luck” and “good look”

If you pronounce them exactly the same way, this will definitely lead to confusion!

Now let’s think about the way the ending “-ed” sounds in

“worked,” “solved,” and “wanted.”

The “-ed” in each of these words has a completely different pronunciation. The “-ed” at the end of “worked” sounds like a “t,” and the -ed after “solved” sounds like a “d;” neither one of the endings should add an extra syllable to the word.

However, if you try to add an extra syllable to these words, it can sound like this:

“work it” and “solve it.”

Remember that it’s more important to be able to communicate with other English speakers than to sound like someone who was born and raised in the U.K. or North America.

It's not that choosing a dialect to work with is wrong, but there's no such thing as a perfect example of any dialect.

The key is to remain as consistent as you can within a dialect that works for you, but only for the sake of clear communication.

What about “accent bias?”

Have you ever seen the movie “My Fair Lady?” It’s a musical about a snobby British phonetics scholar who teaches a young flower girl with a Cockney accent how to speak “proper English.” He succeeds, but only by bullying her so severely that she eventually runs away. And he (kind of) learns his lesson in the end when he realizes he loves her.

I know it doesn’t sound like it, but it’s a comedy.

Now, sadly, I think this movie might be a little problematic. Still, it’s allowing me to shed light on a more serious issue: the very real problem of “accent bias.”

“Accent bias” is a kind of prejudice that causes a person to make unfair judgments about another person based on that individual’s accent.

It happens all the time, all over the world, and it’s not ok. In fact, it seems to be the last acceptable and most hidden form of prejudice. And, unfortunately, it only takes about 30 milliseconds for a person to hear you speak and form this prejudice.

In an article for Forbes, behavioral scientist Dr. Pragya Agarwal discusses how accent bias can cause us to assume lots of things about a person, from their I.Q to their educational background and their socioeconomic status - even a person's sense of humor. But it can be even more harmful when it affects a person's educational, career, and housing opportunities, and prevents a person from moving up in their industries, getting job interviews, getting into school, or renting an apartment.

The world is changing and becoming more inclusive as English takes greater hold as a global language of business and travel. But, if you are ever a victim of accent bias, at work or in your personal life, just remember that this says more about the person with the bias than it does about you. You have a voice, and you can call attention to this kind of behavior and ask for better from those around you.

When does your accent matter?

If you want to play Alfred Doolittle in your local theater’s stage performance of “My Fair Lady,” - (although maybe you won’t, since I called it “problematic”) - you’ll need to master the Cockney accent, which is a distinct British accent originating from London’s East-End. If you want to play Henry Higgins, you should practice the “Queen’s English.”

My point is, besides situations like this one, your accent doesn’t and shouldn’t really matter.

Yes, your accent might matter if you want to be an actor. However, this has to do more with aesthetics - the philosophy of beauty and art - more than it has to do with the idea of a “good” or “bad” accent.

People who work in news and media, such as camera-facing reporters and journalists, often have to speak with a “standard” or “neutral” English accent, which can vary from country to country.

Yet even this idea can be harmful and limiting. Spanish and Portuguese teacher Robert Rey Agudo has this to say about the “standard accent” in his New York Times op-ed:

“The privileged status of the standard accent is, of course, rooted in education and socioeconomic power. The standard accent is not necessarily the same as the highest-status accent. It is simply the dominant accent, the one you are most likely to hear in the media, the one that is considered neutral. Nonstandard native accents are also underrepresented in the media, and like nonnative accents, are likely to be stereotyped and mocked.”

Don’t worry if your accent doesn’t sound “standard” or “neutral” like the ones you may hear in news and media. If you have a job that requires a lot of communication in English, and if you feel that you’re having a hard time being understood, you can focus instead on improving pronunciation.

So, let’s take a look at how you can do just that!

How to improve pronunciation

How have you practiced pronunciation in the past? Have you studied different words or phrases and practiced repeating them over and over?

This method can be helpful, but it’s not the most effective way to improve pronunciation.

When it comes to practicing and improving pronunciation, you should spend most of your time focusing on any common errors that create communication problems. As you saw in the example from before - in the words “worked,” “solved,” and “wanted” - if you don’t pronounce these endings correctly, it can sound like an entirely different set of phrases.

That’s why it’s great to have conversations with an English teacher or a language partner who can help you identify any problem areas.

A good English teacher can steer you in the right direction in terms of pronunciation, and should work with you in specific areas:

Consonant sounds

A teacher can help you emphasize certain consonant sounds, such as in the “th” or “sh” sound, the “t” in the middle of “water,” or in words that end with a “p,” “t,” or “k” sound. They can help you practice these sounds in the context of communication, because it’s one thing to pronounce the word “water,” and another to use a sentence like:

Could we please get some iced water for the table?

I haven’t had any water yet today, so I’m really thirsty.

Can you hear how the word “water” sounds compared to the other consonants in these sentences? What about the way it affects the flow of the sentence? Practicing these sentences in conversation helps you get a sense of the way consonant sounds work together.

Vowel consistency

If your teacher comes from a particular region with a certain dialect, they can demonstrate the way they use vowel sounds in their dialect, and help you with vowel consistency if you want to work in that dialect.

Take the Australian and New Zealand accents for example. English speakers with an Australian accent tend to pronounce the short “i” in “did” more like the long “ee” sound. So, it sounds more like “deed.” English speakers from New Zealand, however, tend to pronounce this with a schwa or “uh” sound, and it sounds more like “dud.”

Both of the words “deed” and “dud” exist in English as well. That’s why choosing a dialect and focusing on vowel consistency is so important. As long as the people you communicate with have an understanding of the way your dialect affects your pronunciation, they should be able to understand you with no problems.

Intonation

Asking questions in English can be hard for many English learners to master, and part of that is because of intonation. Intonation is one of the things that gives English it’s musical quality, but it’s also important for communication. And it’s hard to practice on your own.

“Yes/No” questions tend to have a rising intonation, which means the tone is highest at the end. But “Wh-” questions - questions which start with words such as “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” and “how” - have a falling intonation: the tone rises in the middle and falls at the end.

Think about the way intonation works differently in these sentences:

Do you like your job?

What do you like about your job?

How long have you been working at your current job?

If you could change anything about your job, what would you change?

But intonation also communicates a speaker’s feeling and intention. Imagine you have been dating someone for a few months, and things are going well. While you’re out at a restaurant together, this person grabs your hand and says:

I think you are so great.

If they say this with a joyful, happy intonation, you shouldn’t question what this means. They just really like you! But if they say this with a sad, regretful tone, they are probably about to break up with you.

Besides working with a teacher, recording yourself speaking and listening to the recordings - or having a teacher listen to them - is another excellent way to work on pronunciation. You can use a recording program on your computer or phone, a recording device, or use English-learning apps to practice pronunciation and record yourself.

Again, it’s not about pronouncing individual words and phrases, but practicing pronunciation in communication, which will improve with time and repetition.

So, readers, you can improve your pronunciation, but you may never lose your accent. And that’s ok. We like all of your accents, and we hope you learn to like them, too.

About the Writer

Marta is an online ESL teacher who works with students from around the world. As a writer, language nerd, and content contributor for In English With Love, her mission is to empower English learners with knowledge and positivity.