Intimidation foreigners experience from using the English accent is equal to how Americans get conscious with their accent.
Discrimination of foreign accents
In 2013, around 232 million people lived outside of the country they were born from, either seeking employment or refuge. In the U.S. alone, around 13 percent of its residents are considered immigrants. In 2014, Europe was a refuge for around 60 million migrants displayed by war, and this includes Syrians, Libyans, and Iraqis. Asia in 2015, around 260 million Chinese from rural areas lived in progressive cities like Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.
Displacement is one of the main reasons for linguistic jumble. Scientists found out that language discrimination usually starts with how our brains process foreign accents upon hearing them. For example, with the English accent, if you are from a place not familiar with such an accent, then it is most likely you will find it difficult to understand.
For people not practiced in speaking foreign languages, there is an estimated 30 percent utterance and pauses as you speak, not considering the tone and accent in which you deliver your conversation.
Familiarity with the English accent
According to Dr. Alex Baratta, a lecturer in language, linguistics, and communications at the University of Manchester:
Based on a joint study using the linguistic app, Babbel, Americans tend to be more worried about how their accents are perceived. Fifty-four percent are anxious as to how their English accent do when in foreign countries. And sixteen percent of the participants consider the English accent to be the most uneducated.
The term uneducated must be coming from the sentiments of other people who are being discriminated against with their English accents once they reside or work in the U.S. A lot of immigrants feel the pressure of living up with the expectation Americans are expecting from on the way they talk. They feel that all they can do is either take speech lessons or be part of the exclusion.
Sometimes native Americans act as if they have never heard a person with an accent.
-Galo Conde, New York City teacher
