The term “accent” usually refers to the sound aspect of language. Everyone has an accent in their native form of speech. Every language has unique sound and rhythm. We tend to follow our native sound and rhythm whenever we speak other languages. Our brain and nervous system master the motor skills and cognitive patterns for the language we first hear and learn around us. Thus, we bring an “accent” from the patterns of our first language into the next language we learn.

I was practicing an introduction speech during one of the beauty pageants in Nepal. My past experience as a media person in Nepal always made me confident when it came to communication skills, but I didn’t have a strong command in English then. Nevertheless, I chose English over Nepali for my introductory speech as introducing yourself in an “English” style was considered the second cool thing after beauty in the glamour world or so I thought.

The speech was supposed to start with the quote “Success does not mean the absence of failure, it means winning the war, not every battle”. Before I even finished my speech, our trainer yelled at me for not pronouncing the word ‘battle’ properly and on top of that I had an accent. I still remember that moment I felt ashamed of myself and I was discouraged. That event left an unforgettable mark on my mind until I came to the US in 2013.

In the US, I got an opportunity to work in diverse environments with people from different countries. Most of my coworkers, who are not native speakers, have an accent. It is not a big deal here as long as you communicate well and no one looks down on you. One of the joyful compliments I receive regarding my accent is, I sound very cute when I speak English with a Nepali accent. Not only that, I was told not to lose my accent as it makes me unique. I never believed this until one day I heard my supervisor speaking Spanish with an English accent. It was so soothing, I was amazed.

During my visit to Seattle, I stayed in one of the local hostels. They put me on the hot seat and I had to do something. My friends insisted I sing a Nepali song which I did, they loved it and they wanted to know more about Nepal. It was a good experience. A few played the piano, some sang songs, and others told us stories of their lives. When people started introducing themselves, sharing their stories, I noticed different accents like British, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese.