Are Eastern European accents actually your hidden superpower?
Olivia Agnelescu spent 13 years studying English at a school in Hungary and has spent almost the same amount of time working for large multinational corporations in the UK. However, every time she has considered starting her own business, she would become “paralyzed” at the idea of having to compete with already native English speakers.
“I thought that my clients would think less of my abilities when they hear me speak, which now I realize is nonsense,” said Agnelescu.
Indeed, it has taken her some time to shake off the doubts in her confidence. To this day, Agnelescu still recalls a live webinar session, where a British woman commented that she should leave the online event because she could barely be understood due to her strong accent.
It is no surprise, given several articles and research showing how entrepreneurs with a strong accent have a more challenging time gaining the funding they need or how those without an accent have an easier time getting promoted.
However, reflecting on it now, Agnelescu says that she has come a long way since then and understands that she cannot please everyone.
She currently runs her own online business, providing content marketing services and coaching to clients worldwide, and she does it all in English.
“One client mentioned to me that she picked me over many other people, who offered their services because she found me charming and a pleasure to talk to because of my accent.
“Also, she was sold because I had built a successful business writing content in English and doing it much better than many other native speakers,” said Agnelescu proudly.
According to Dr. Alexander Barrata, a senior lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Manchester, having an accent can be advantageous whenever ‘different’ accents are not expected.
Moreover, Barrata places stress on the differentiation of the plethora of Eastern European accents and the significance of knowing from which part of the region the speaker against you actually is- the significance of displaying which region a speaker originates from?
“It’s important to help people understand that this is a large region with many languages, cultures, and indeed accents.”
However, he also highlights that the assumptions we have of the speaker’s culture are what makes their accent desirable, or not:
“Associations of high culture, romance, and fine food are naturally transferred onto the French or Italian accents”. The negativity attached to Eastern European accents is thus parallel to any unpleasant images we associate that particular region with, as opposed to the sounds themselves.
“If an Aussie works in London, the fact that they are a native speaker of English, most likely, would mean that this is the dominant factor. But suppose someone is not a native speaker and retains a strong accent. In that case, assumptions are sometimes made about their ability to understand and speak the language, whether English or any other.”
The media also plays a role in the grim portrayal of the Slavic accents, particularly in reports on Eastern European gangs, corrupted governments, and low quality of life.
Julian Kostov, a Bulgarian international actor and an advocate for equal representation for Eastern Europeans on screen, confirms this notion.
“You can bet if you were a girl, the role would’ve been of a prostitute, or if you were a guy- a Russian gangster.”
He further attributes that Eastern Europeans are highly neglected and not solely in the television industry.
“The spotlights are not on Eastern Europeans because we are white. There are black and Asian minorities who are suffering more because of their color, which is true, and we are suffering because of our insufficient whiteness and accentism.”
In fact, there is mounting proof that accents, rather than skin color, may soon be used to indicate “foreignness” in Britain even more due to globalization, according to a recent survey. Although the UK is home to an estimated 40 different dialects alone, Britain’s colonial history has established the link between accent and class; thus, making everything that sounds foreign ultimately wrong.
Alternatively, Jana Puisa, a creative coach from Latvia, who has lived in Scotland since 2006, believes that having an Eastern European accent can be both “a blessing and a curse”.
She reminisces about her time working in a restaurant after she first moved to the UK.
“Even though people were friendly, they still looked down on me. Everyone in the restaurant always wanted to know where I was from,” said Puisa.
She felt that the most exciting thing about her was that she was from a different country, but she also struggled with that feeling.
“I am human; I have so much more to offer than just being from Latvia.”
Eventually, her permanent residence in Scotland had taken its toll on her native accent to the point where Puisa now sounds typically British.
She now works for a company amongst natives and she stresses that she does not know if she would have gotten this far if not for her acquired local accent.
In the meantime, Daiva Ivanauskaitė, an artist who performs stories orally in both English and her native Lithuanian, believes that she met her Scottish husband, in part, due to her accent.
“For my profession, it somehow gives me some unique identity. I think they like to hear the stories in my accent because it’s something new they haven’t heard. My husband came to one of my shows, and he said that the accent I had was the first thing he noticed about me.”
Despite accepting her ‘quirk’, the artist is still concerned about community projects, where she may need to speak with older people.
“I’m so afraid that they will not understand it or like it because of [my accent]. I have to be very clear and sometimes repeat the same things a few times.”
Because of her insecurities, Ivanauskaitė admits to sometimes rehearsing her stories with her husband first, where he would “judge [her] use of grammar and sentence structure”.
Ivanauskaitė admits that even though she feels a part of the Scottish arts community now, she still has occasional interactions where she considers her accent discriminated against. However, she decides to approach these situations with a sense of humour.
She laughs at an experience she had nearby Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, close to her home.
“There was this lady, and she explained that she was a tourist from London. Speaking to me, I felt that she’s a little bit racist. She asked me about the area and what she should see. When I replied in my very Eastern European accent that I have lived here for ages now, she asked if there wasn’t someone local she could ask.”
Similarly, Kostov has also found how to use his Bulgarian origin as an asset.
“I’ve heard Michelle Obama talk about being black; she would try always to be the best example of a human being so that the whole community would get a good representation. I feel the same.”
He adds that if one in a hundred people judged him because of his accent, he would focus on the one ready to listen.
As for advice, he says that essentially what all Eastern Europeans abroad should do is embrace their culture, be their best self and educate people on the representation issues they face.
He concludes to say that once someone is confident in their own skin, this also reflects how others will accept them, accents included.
