Accents

J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings (1955), created the Elvish languages Sindarin and Quenya specifically to sound beautiful. Marc Okrand, however, developed klingon with a radically different intent. Harve Bennett, the producer of Stark Trek: The Search for Spock (1984) had asked him to create an alien tongue that met two criteria: it should sound both extraterrestrial and ugly. Twenty years later, during the pre-production of Avatar (2008), linguist Paul Frommer was commissioned to engineer another language. This one should be both alien and beautiful. Na'vi was the result of that request. Whether their endeavors were successful or not is a matter of debate. I suspect, though, that opinions are probably varied. The members of the Klingon Language Institute find their favorite language quite appealing and, conversely, some people unfamiliar with the Avatar universe might question the beauty of Na'vi.

Natural languages also elicit all kinds of reactions. Obviously, they were not developed with an intention to sound ugly or beautiful. Yet, they are often perceived in those terms. We know that the alleged aesthetic virtues of a language are not necessarily connected with the language itself, but rather depend on personal feelings about the culture that these languages happen to represent. The Hebrew language, for instance, is often described as "beautiful" by deeply religious people, whereas more impartial observers might struggle to distinguish its phonetic profile from that of other Middle Eastern tongues. Similarly, French has been consistently associated with glamour and sophistication. The loanwords that English has borrowed from French are a testament to that attitude. For equally arbitrary reasons we find a host of  deep-seated stereotypes around other European languages. Thus we often hear that German is harsh, Italian is sweet and Russian is serious. And while those opinions might be inocuous, the associations that they entail are most certainly not.

An accent that is perceived to be unfriendly will be a liability at a job interview. One that is typically linked to a lack of sophistication will be uncommon at the reception of a five-star hotel. The traits of the speaker's alleged culture are magically transferred onto the pronunciation and intonation of the dialect that he or she speaks. And this happens to accents within a language and, of course, to accents that come from outside the English-speaking world. I know. It's not fair.

Regional and social accents

In the U. S. accents are, by and large, geographical. In United Kingdom, though, things are a lot trickier. Accents can indeed be regional, but also social. And by that I mean that your consonants and vowels can be deemed to be working class, middle class, upper-middle class or insufferably posh. And if you think that I'm exaggerating, I'm afraid you are gravely mistaken. British politicians of patrician origins have been rumored to take elocution classes to soften their elitist accents in order to be more appealing to voters of less privileged backgrounds. I don't know how much of that is true. It is not an unreasonable notion. After all, an Oxbridge accent is far from relatable to the average waiter or mechanic or is it? The crazy thing about it is that sometimes differences between accents may come down to individual sounds.

In Ian McEwan's novel What We Can Know (2025), the narrator of the second part says the following:

At last, the boy lifted his drooping and well-fingered companion closer to his chest. It was a green lizard with red spikes along its spine. "I'm waiting for my mummy." In that English way, I automatically registered the fully enunciated "t" and was already placing him in a social order, I disliked myself for it.

Think about it for a second. Just the pronunciation of one consonant can place you in a social hierarchy. Imagine what type of impact full sentences may have on a casual listener, let alone someone working for a recruiting firm.

Learners of English

To you, avid English learner, regional accents are probably not a major concern. Still, I believe that you should strive to achieve an accent that is, first and foremost, understandable and then (in so far as possible) close to some standard variety of the language, be it general General American, standard British English or, even some form of International English. Why? Because a speaker with a strong foreign accent will inevitably trigger unconscious ideas of unsophistication, not to mention the various prejudices that the culture in question entails. A native-like accent, on the other hand, brings about a priceless sense of at-homeness amongst competent speakers. Now... I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with having a foreign accent. I'll repeat that. There is nothing wrong with having a foreign accent. That said, we must acknowledge that not all accents are perceived equally and many of those reactions tend to be shaped by factors that are beyond your control. That much should be uncontroversial.

Also remember that two non-native speakers that use English as a lingua franca will have serious difficulty understanding each other if they don't try and find some common ground (i.e. some kind of standard pronunciation). Just imagine a Cambodian and an Italian having a conversation in English. If they stick to the phonological inventories of their respective mother tongues misunderstandings are bound to ensue. I still remember the case of a Spanish student of mine who was vacationing in Thailand with a group of friends. One day my student picked up the phone, called the front desk and requested two cars. As it happens, the group had decided to spend the day driving around the countryside. Minutes later a hotel employee showed up at the door holding a sugar pot. Two cars. Sugar.

Interestingly enough, the consequences of having a marked foreign accent can be quite unexpected. Actress Sofia Vergara, for example, speaks English with a strong Colombian accent that has served her well in Hollywood. Americans love it. They find it cute and sexy. Film director Wener Herzog, however, has a German accent that can sound unappealing or even intimidating. But that's not all. Sometimes identical accents can elicit strikingly disparate reactions. Thus, Slavoj Žižek, a well-known public intellectual who speaks with a pronounced Slovenian accent, comes off as likeable whereas Melania Trump, another Slovenian with a heavy accent, is generally perceived as unsophisticated despite the fact that she used to have a glamorous job and is now the first lady of the United States of America. I suppose that blunders such as her notorious mispronunciation of the word corps while addressing a group of marines at a military base haven't helped much.

It can be argued that, more often than not, it is the personalities of the individuals that determine how their respective accents are perceived. After all, Sofia Vergara is funny and sexy and Werner Herzog can have a menacing gaze. And, obviously, Slavoj Žižek is a philosopher who often displays cognitive resources that Melania Trump doesn't seem to possess. To all that, I would counter that prejudices die hard. Part of a person's reaction to a foreign speaker does indeed depend on their personal qualities, but there's a part of that first reaction that has little or nothing to do with the speaker's demeanor and a lot with how they say things. And if we are to believe that the first cut is the deepest, then we should consider the very first thing most people think about when they hear a random stranger speak with a thick foreign accent. Usually it's not the complexity of their grammar or the accuracy of their vocabulary, but rather the culture associated with that particular accent.

If you are still skeptical about all this I recommend that you watch the video below in which English actress Miriam Margolyes (of Harry Potter fame) explains why she sometimes chooses to speak with a Scottish accent. That says all you need to know about accent-related biases.