Why do american ppl care so much about accent?
Why do they feel the need to say: oh you have accent, where are you from?
Like who cares? Why is that even relevant? Why do ppl in the US think is ok and normal to ask strangers about that?
Why do american ppl care so much about accent?
Why do they feel the need to say: oh you have accent, where are you from?
Like who cares? Why is that even relevant? Why do ppl in the US think is ok and normal to ask strangers about that?
We're curious about the outside world?
I think I can offer perspective on this as I am an American expat in Japan, and spend my workdays speaking Japanese.
I think most Americans are just genuinely very curious and interested in where in the world you came from because a huge number of us have never traveled internationally. I myself have never been to a country besides the US and Japan. Less than half of us even have a passport, compared to well over half of Canadians and over 3/4 of Brits according to Forbes. We also are very accustomed to Hollywood, in which most actors sound just like us, so we have this sense of our accent being "normal" and thus boring. We just had some new arrivals from the US and they met our regional representative last night who is British, and both of them said they had never even met a British person before then. I had only met one before coming here. The rest of the world feels like a very long way away to a lot of us, so naturally we are curious about it. Yes, there are xenophobes too who ask for malicious reasons, but that's certainly not the case for most people.
Even in Japanese I love to ask people what my accent sounds like to them. I try to get them to tell me what adjectives they'd use to describe it, and what region of Japan it sounds most similar to. I wish people would comment on my accent more, but they sadly don't, and don't seem to know what to say when I ask them.
Americans should definitely know better than to ask about someone's accent, as it is generally considered rude I think, and I'm not defending that. Just know that for most people it comes from a genuine place of curiosity about the world
Last edited by AWellArmedCat; 11-13-2021 at 12:32 PM. Reason: Said "to the US" but meant "from the US". Fixed it
“Things always seem fairer when we look back at them, and it is out of that inaccessible tower of the past that Longing leans and beckons.”
— James Russell Lowell猫が生き甲斐
When I hear an accent, I immediately want to know where they are from. I don’t ask usually because yes, I don’t want feel intrusive in any form. I kinda see it as rude too, however I am extremely curious. I love meeting people from all over the world and I want to know their story. Why here?
I think most people who ask are genuinely curious. Though I do think there are so assholes that do that too.
Maybe a bit but a little bit of rudeness can be overcome by the upside of learning something new and potentially forming a connection with someone interesting.
Personally, I approach this gently because I understand it can be taken the wrong way, but once I get to know someone, learning little factoids like this about them is part of getting to know them.
As employee from an international company when in the middle of an interaction it sounds rude to most of us (because obviously we are just working not introducing ourselves), plus, we all had experiences with ppl being rude just because we are from the outside . While I speak with ppl with a lot of different accents Daily and I never think of remark: oh, You have accent (plus it's obvious they are aware of it).
I'm not American and I don't think it's rude at all. I think it's natural to be curious about that.
Chronic "grass is always greener" syndrome
Nice German accent you got there. Which part of douche-land is that from? That’s how you guys really pronounce it, right?
Literally never met a single human being who thought asking about their accent was rude. I think you're just insecure.
Technically everybody has an accent, right? The accent I like the best is 'hot all-american Chad white male' - I'm not really fond of most foreign/ethnic accents except maybe some Irish ones. I guess that's a bit racist or whatever but eh we all have our Fi preferences.
I don't mind when people ask me where I am from based on my accent. I always thought of it as people being curious.
“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.”
― Anais Nin
It's not racist to have a preference, but you do have shit taste
I'm sure it's not a surprise that I think Japanese and Korean accents are some of the hottest, but I really love accents in general. I've only ever dated one person who had a standard American accent lol
Now that I think about it more though, I honestly would prefer to speak the other person's language though rather than English. When I've dated Japanese people here they've all wanted to speak English with me, but I'd rather just speak Japanese tbh. I don't speak any other languages besides Japanese and English, but if I date someone who speaks another language I'll probably just start learning theirs
“Things always seem fairer when we look back at them, and it is out of that inaccessible tower of the past that Longing leans and beckons.”
— James Russell Lowell猫が生き甲斐