Now, I’m just going to say right off the top, there is nothing wrong with having an accent because everyone has an accent based on where you were born, where you grew up, and where you live. It’s associated with where you’re from. So why are we trying to erase or assimilate into the same accent? And honestly, I love it when I travel because people are like, Whoa, I love your accent. And I’m always astonished. Like, what? Me? My accent? No, your accent! You know, it reminds me of when I went to New Zealand, I thought the New Zealand Kiwi accent is awesome. But they were like, Whoa, where are you from? I love your accent! Or also, a really good friend of mine, she is from Australia. And when she came here, everyone of course is like, Cool! An Australian accent. And she’s like, Nah, you guys! That’s why I’m here. You guys have the awesome accent, the Canadians. So really there is nothing wrong with having an accent. I said it again, yeah, there is nothing wrong with an accent. Speaking well does not mean you need to sound a certain way or to sound “smart.” A lot of work behind us has to do with self-esteem. Like, what are your first notions or preconceived thought or a stereotype about an accent? Are you feeling trapped by that accent? Is it all in your head? Because the ability to be fully understood while embracing who you are is so empowering. Voice is powerful well beyond words alone.
So as I touched on earlier, what do some accents and stereotypes come to mind for you? People make judgements about who you are in a matter of seconds. Two, three seconds, maybe. And many times that fact alone can stop people in their tracks and step away from getting behind the mic. But imagine this power you have with your voice transcending words to make an emotional human-to-human connection. That is power. So let’s break the rules about accents together. Let’s come along this ride with me so your listeners can get to know you first before trying to assimilate with the crowds. If you want to improve your precision when making certain sounds or syllables, this we can work on. It’s not about trying to eliminate your accent. You can’t because everyone’s got one as I said earlier. It’s geographical. So don’t assimilate, be you, but empower yourself to know that you can change and slightly alter certain sounds or syllables based on your muscles, your tongue, your lips, and how you say something because we’re not going to erase who you are.
Now, if you haven’t guessed by my name, Mary Chan, I am Chinese, but you wouldn’t know it from hearing my voice alone. My voice story is that I am born in Vancouver to parents from China and Hong Kong. And so I grew up with English as my second language in Canada. But if you had to categorize my voice, it would be that I have a neutral North American accent because, since I was born in Vancouver, as kids, we really absorb our environment and we are a product of our environment and our voice is no different. Kids tend to feel the pressure and need to assimilate. So that’s what I did. I didn’t want to sound like my parents. However, like I’ve been saying, we all have accents and it could be the way we roll our R’s, like in the word “garage” or somebody might say garage or tomato, tomato, things like that. Your accent is part of your personality. It makes you who you are, so follow the path that you’ve been taking so far. Imagine the power we have to speak directly to those we want to and how we want to be represented. This is something called code-switching, where we can switch from one accent to the next adjusting based on our audience. We do it subtly when we speak to our parents versus speaking to our boss or perhaps your best friend or a stranger on the bus. So why not code-switch for your own podcast as well? How do you want to sound and be represented behind the mic? Who are you speaking to? Is it that best friend or is it a complete stranger? Podcasting and broadcasting are similar in many ways, but one way that I truly believe is not similar is the accents.
In broadcasting, it almost feels like the ideal is to eliminate that accent, to have a neutral-sounding voice because we want to be heard by the more general population. That’s what broadcasting is for. You are broadcasting, sending your voice out to a general population, and I think that’s where this whole idea of accents is a bad thing. The media plays such an important role in how we shape our thoughts and what we perceive to be right or wrong. However, we’re in a new age. We really are in a digital age. And in podcasting, your accent is your identity and should be embraced because it’s who you are and your audience will gravitate towards you because of your personality and voice. Podcasting is not broad-casting. In podcasting, you want to be broad, you want to be niche, and you want to be very specific. And so having your accent is going to be gold for you.
Now, think about it this way. You either speak English or French or Spanish or Chinese, whatever your language is, you speak that well or you don’t. It’s not about the accent. You don’t speak English with a “good” accent. Yes, there’s a British accent, North American accent, the East Coast, West Coast, regional, all this stuff. But when we learn English when we were in school, you learn with proper grammar using vocabulary, word structure, all that sort of stuff that I really didn’t pay too much attention to honestly growing up. But we were never taught to speak with articulation and a single sound. And this is where you might get stuck in your head as one language might not have the same sounds like another language. So when that happens, it might be harder to enunciate certain words because like I said, in school, we were never taught about how to use specific sounds and how to manipulate your lips and your tongue and your mouth to make these sounds. Sounds are syllables and syllables become words. Words are phrases, phrases are thoughts. It all builds on each other. And so when we have this thought of an accent, we’re like, Oh no, we can’t be understood. But that’s not true. When you go back to how your lips and your tongue make sounds, I think back to my first language, Cantonese.
In Cantonese, there is no “R” sound, but Mandarin does, so you can’t just lump all Chinese languages together. So for example, my parents would use a W sound, wuh-, wah-, wih-, instead of, say, like an “R”, or they might drop the wuh-, W sound entirely. So for example, carrot. Production. Your. Or even my own name. My parents would not call me Mary. They would usually call me by my Chinese name, but when they use my English name, they would say “Meh-whee,” changing that “R” sound to a wuh- sound. Mary. So again, it’s not about the proper grammar-using vocabulary because my parents have that. They might not have an extensive vocabulary, but they have enough grasp of the language to communicate. So own your accent. Own your words. That is essential in podcasting. If we can’t be comfortable when speaking behind the mic, we are not connecting with our listeners. An accent is not a distraction and shouldn’t be used as an excuse to hide who you are. So going back to my parents as an example, my dad currently lives in a long-term care facility, which speaks English, but they have a Finnish accent. My mom, English-speaking with limited vocabulary, yes, but also with a Chinese accent, yet she can communicate excellently with the staff. They can share their ideas and they can care for my dad using melody in their voice to convey their emotions and wishes. So it’s not about the words, but the emotions behind it. They know if there is something more urgent because your voice is screaming out for help or they know that you are having a really good day because your voice is smiling and bubbly. Or maybe it’s a sad moment and your voice is more flat and withdrawn. Accents do not play a role in these emotions. It’s not about the words, but the emotions behind it. You can still get the gist of a story in that conversation without even having to know the other person’s language. I dare you. Do you have a friend who can speak another language? I dare you to ask them about their story and for them to tell you in their first language. If you listen carefully, you’ll understand when maybe they were in pain, when they were truly happy, when a surprise came about, or when something was really traumatic and triggering and painful. Voice has that power. That power to share and to connect, transcending beyond words and accents.
So use what you have and if you want, you can fine-tune it. Fine-tune your voice. Like I was saying, maybe be precise in your “R” sounds, but you don’t have to because it’s your show, your podcast, and your audience will connect with your emotion behind the mic. So embrace your accent. Embrace your voice, and don’t let that hold you back. Do you have a story about an accent that you’d love to share? Because I’d love to hear it. I know growing up I didn’t want to sound like my parents, but they were still learning the language at the time. And now, 40, 30, some odd years later, they don’t care. Their accent doesn’t hinder them. And in today’s world, we are all about our differences, embracing who we are at the core, how we look, and how we speak. Being different is celebrated. So embrace your accent. Share your story. I’d love to hear it. Please do leave me some feedback. You can click on the “Send Voicemail” button, and maybe I’ll challenge you if you have an accent. Please, please do share your voice with me. I would love to hear it. What does embracing your accent mean to you?
Next episode I’m going to get more detailed about this. I’ll be interviewing someone who had to overcome many language barriers and how she empowered herself to embrace her accent. So until then, speak up, have fun and embrace your voice.
