Could You Repeat That Please? Mocking Your Accent&Your Confidence - a podcast by Kc Okafor

Your accent is the way you sound when you speak and in reality everybody has an accent – in somebody else’s opinion. Most accents have some kind of stereotype attached to them. While European and American accents are found to be sophisticated and elegant, other non-white accents such as African, Caribbean, Asian, or Latino accents maybe perceived to be crude and lower class because those minority groups are treated lower in society and their accents are associated with something undesirable.

Although people poke fun at British or American accents, but it’s never with the intention of making it sound unrefined, as it is with other accents.The thing about mocking accents is that we often dismiss how hurtful they can be under the pretence of  “it was a joke” or “all in good fun.” But for people who have relations to accent issues, it can be hurtful and impact their confidence as there still exists in our society subtle discrimination against them to indicate they are different. 

On this episode, we discuss whether having a Non-Amercian or Non-European accent has an impact on your confidence or ability to progress economically and take up more senior leadership roles in society. We are joined by Rennae, JJ, and Kene as they share their personal experiences on how their accents have been perceived and why this shouldn’t be a barrier to achieving your goals and speaking up when any form of social injustice or discrimination is directed towards you or any of your loved ones.  

 

Further episodes of Cultural Ties - Life of Foreign Africans

Further podcasts by Kc Okafor

Website of Kc Okafor