<p>Ok, maybe if you are from canada, australia, or other english-speaking nation this is not as much of a barrier as it is say for an asian or hispanic internatinal student; anyhow, I was wondering how to cope with the intimidation of being an international student and having accent. For current students, Do you think having accent has been a social hindrance or segregating factor in any way? How many people here are concerned about this and what sort of attitude should an immigrant have in those circustances?</p>
<p>Btw, I ask this because I am will be attending a college in a mostly white state this coming fall and although I have been in the US for 4 years, my international background is obvious in speech(accent/pronunciation wise).</p>
<p>Don't worry. Everyone will understand your accent (and, contrary to what you may think, everyone has an accent), so don't let this intimidate you. No one is going to make nasty comments about your accent, they will accept it, and possibly think its "cool" :)</p>
<p>ok. I am a Nepali and Indians and us have pretty similar accent as to my understanding. so that means our accent will be cool as well. anyway, does our accent change in the four years os study if we are to socailize wtih only Americans or it takes time for the accent to change. I am not referring to the fake twang here.</p>
<p>Your accent could change, but it really depends on the person. I attend an international school, and about 2/3 of people have a mixed American-their nationality accent, while the other 1/3 (myself included) have their traditional accent still :( I wish mine would change.</p>
<p>This guy entered my school in mid 05, and he had a very strong indian accent.</p>
<p>Honestly, I really couldnt grasp what he was saying. My friends said the same thing. He had perfect english - just his accent.
But I guess I got used to it. Or his accent softened. Well something happend and I can understand him 100% now.</p>
<p>As for the social hinderence thing... well, I didn't make fun of his accent - even the macho guys didn't make fun of it, or stopped talking to him, or thought he was weird.. I liked him fine - I just couldnt understand him initially. And that happened in junior year.. so don't worry, college students are much more mature so you should have no problems with intimidation in college :)</p>
<p>People will naturally adjust to your accent. At my school, there is over 90 nationalities and so many accents - there is the occasional student I struggle to understand (solely because of their accent, not their English), typically from South Korea or India, but within a week or so you can understand it without any difficulties. No one in their right mind would "bully" or tease you over such a minor and unimportant issue.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input everyone. Since I will be rooming with two other people, I was concerned as to how I would be received. I go to hs in nyc, which everyone knows is a widely diverse city, so it wasn't a big deal. Now that I am going west to a school with only about 2% internationals, I was wondering how I would be received. </p>
<p>To the poster: generally, If you don't go to a country as a child(<13(?)), it is impossible to fully acquire a native accent. You may develop better pronunciation, but people will know instantly you are an immigrant even if you have been in the place for 30 years--this can be explained scientifically with an understanding of how phonims are established at an early age.</p>
<p>I went to the US when I was 11... most people say i have no accent but sometimes i cannot fully adjust my mind to speak english so I confuse people when I am speaking.. anyways...</p>
<p>personally, I am impressed at how international TAs that either can't speak english or have a thick accent still teach some intro classes. Granted no one I know of likes them, but it does take a lot of courage.</p>
<p>
[quote]
To the poster: generally, If you don't go to a country as a child(<13(?)), it is impossible to fully acquire a native accent. You may develop better pronunciation, but people will know instantly you are an immigrant even if you have been in the place for 30 years--this can be explained scientifically with an understanding of how phonims are established at an early age.
[/quote]
Only 99% true. I met a university professor a while ago who learned German as a foreign language in Poland (just like we have learned English) and then came to Germany as an undergraduate student and has stayed here ever since, and I really couldn't tell that he was not a native German.</p>
<p>I think it's not so much the native country that's important, but rather the environment one is exposed to and whether one makes the effort to change an accent during youthful years. I lived in Hong Kong all my life till I came to Canada last year, and people say I have a North American accent practically indistinguishable from other people. I'm now 17. I did, however, work on my accent when I was young though.</p>
<p>I'm from the Netherlands and I learned to speak English by watching televison. I now have a pretty American accent. I'm not sure whether it's flawless or whatever but people at MUN often think I attend an international school or whatever.
So sometimes it's just about how well you can pick up certain accents and adapt.
And I'm sure you'll do fine :)</p>
<p>I've lived in the US for five years, and I don't think I have an obvious Swedish accent anymore, at least not when I'm calm and confident (it gets worse when I'm nervous, which is a bit embarrassing). </p>
<p>I lived in Brussels as a child, and my younger sister and I were both fluent in French, but she forgot most of it when we moved because her elementary school didn't offer foreign languages. Now she's a high school freshman taking French for the third year, and although her vocabulary and grammar aren't great, she still has a near-perfect accent! I thought that was pretty interesting considering she hasn't spoken French since she was five years old.</p>
<p>That happens too. I have a Russian friend who immigrated to Canada when he was 9 and now speaks with an almost full North American accent, but when he gets ****ed off you'll hear some of his Russian accent coming in.</p>