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In this episode of The A to Z English Podcast, Xochitl and Jack help out a listener who is anxious about having an accent when speaking English.

Dear Xochitl and Jack,

I recently moved to an English-speaking country to pursue my studies, and while I'm confident in my academic English, I find it challenging to engage in casual conversations with native speakers. I often feel self-conscious about my accent and worry that I might not be understood clearly. How can I overcome this fear and improve my spoken English in informal settings?

Sincerely,

Accent Anxieties

Transcript:

00:00:00

Jack

Hey A-Z listeners, this is Jack here.

00:00:03

Jack

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00:00:23

Jack

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00:00:42

Jack

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00:00:44

Jack

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00:00:52

Jack

Now let's get on with the show.

00:00:55

Jack

Welcome to the A-Z English podcast. My name is Jack and I'm here with my co-host social. And today we are.

00:01:03

Jack

Doing a dear social and Jack episode where one of our listeners has written or sent us an e-mail.

00:01:12

Jack

With some kind of problem that they need help with and it is something language related and so.

00:01:18

Jack

Uh, and I know I know what you're going to say already, because I've read this before, so I can kind of predict what your answer is going to be social. But I I like I you've said this before and I I like it so much. I I hope you say it again. So here's the here's the letter. Here's Social and Jack.

00:01:36

Jack

I recently moved to an English speaking country to pursue to pursue my studies.

00:01:43

Jack

And while I'm confident in my academic English, I find it challenging to engage in casual conversation with native speakers. I often feel self-conscious about my accent and worry that I might not be understood clearly.

00:02:01

Jack

How can I overcome this fear and improve my spoken English in informal settings? Sincerely.

00:02:10

Jack

Accent anxieties.

00:02:13

Xochitl

Alright, acts and anxiety. Well, I think the fear that you're having is really valid. It's really normal. I think anyone who learns a new language feels this way. I know I certainly did when I moved to Korea. I'm going to tell you.

00:02:28

Xochitl

The way that you're going to see the most improvement.

00:02:32

Xochitl

Is jumping head first just nose diving into that fear?

00:02:39

Xochitl

And trying your hardest anyway. Yes, there will be uncomfortable and awkward moments where people don't understand what you're saying. Yes, sometimes people might correct you, some people might be jerks and make fun of your accents. I had people laugh at me in Korea to my face.

00:02:55

Xochitl

Yeah, it stings a little bit, but how many languages could they speak fluently so you know, most of the time, any. Yeah. Most of the time, people who can speak two languages fluently are not going to be the same people laughing in your face because they can appreciate how difficult it is to learn a second language. And they're going to be respectful.

00:03:02

발표자

Yeah.

00:03:02

Jack

Yeah, yeah.

00:03:15

Xochitl

About it.

00:03:16

Jack

And what? What does your mom say about people that speak two languages?

00:03:21

Jack

Do you remember? Ohh you forgot. Ohh OK. God love. I'll never forget this because your mom, your your mom said like what? The only thing that means is when when you have an accent it just means that you can speak two languages.

00:03:22

Xochitl

I forgot Jack.

00:03:34

Xochitl

And.

00:03:37

Xochitl

Right, right. That's true.

00:03:38

Jack

You know that's, that's all it means. Like if you have an accent and you're speaking English with an accent, it just means you speak multiple languages. You're you're smart, you're, you know, more than the the people you're talking to, you know.

00:03:46

Xochitl

Right. And that's part of.

00:03:50

Xochitl

Right, so don't be ashamed. Just.

00:03:53

Xochitl

Just launch in there and I don't hold back. I know it can be daunting. I know it can be embarrassing, but you'll never learn if you don't try. And I see this with my mom and her sisters. I see that. I think my mom.

00:04:08

Xochitl

All her sisters and her moved to the US around the same time and started learning English around the same time. But my mom? Really.

00:04:18

Xochitl

Kind of launched into using it. She didn't really care what people said. She wasn't embarrassed if people made fun of her accent or said they couldn't understand her. And I think that that's what led her to develop her English the best because she wasn't bothered by the comments or the people making fun of her. And in Korea, it stung me a little when people made fun of my accent.

00:04:40

Xochitl

Laughed at me.

00:04:43

Xochitl

And then I shook it off and I was like, hey, I'm trying my best here so that I have nothing to be embarrassed about. So don't hold back.

00:04:51

Jack

I think it's interesting that you're, you know, of your, your mom and her sisters, not everyone developed at the same rate because I'm assuming, you know, and this is.

00:05:03

Jack

Uh.

00:05:04

Jack

I think this.

00:05:05

Jack

Is a correct assumption.

00:05:06

Jack

It's not. They're all equal, and they're all of equal intelligence. You know? They're, they're all you know, they're, they're they're cognitively very, you know, healthy or whatever. And there there's no, there's no. The issue is not it's not that it's it's an attitude.

00:05:10

Xochitl

Yes. Yeah, I would say yes, yeah.

00:05:20

발표자

Thanks.

00:05:24

Jack

Issue almost. You know what I mean? It's like this. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead.

00:05:28

Xochitl

Oh, go ahead. I was just gonna say her two sisters are are are more shy than she is. And one of them even took formal English lessons far longer than my mom did and got, like, a.

00:05:42

Xochitl

Some kind of I don't want to say in a degree, but she does. She passed some kind of course.

00:05:48

발표자

Hmm.

00:05:49

Xochitl

Still, if you compare her English and my mom's English, my mom's English is far superior, and it really can't come down to my mom uses it every day. My mom incorporates new words every day. My mom isn't, like, scared or shy to engage with people in English, and my mom never says I can't do it. And her two other sisters sometimes have a attitude of like.

00:06:10

Xochitl

Ohh I can. I don't know if I can. They like more. You know, my mom has a very can do attitude. She's very straightforward. Yeah, lady and I really think believing yourself and having that confidence it will lead you to be better in the long run.

00:06:24

Jack

This is gonna sound cheesy and cringy, but my basketball coach had a a.

00:06:31

Jack

An expression of a banner that had this expression up hanging in the gym when I was in high school and he said attitude, not aptitude, determines your altitude. And I always remember that, you know, and I think it's very true.

00:06:44

Xochitl

Right.

00:06:50

Jack

And sometimes we think, oh, I'm not smart enough. Ohh, it's I'm not good at languages. I'm not this. I'm not that. It's those are just excuses. It's like what you're really talking about.

00:07:01

Jack

Is fear you're afraid?

00:07:03

Jack

And if you can just put that fear aside and face your fear you, you'd be surprised just what you can accomplish, you know, and I think that we're and that I think that's universally true for everything, not just language learning, but just like learning anything.

00:07:03

Xochitl

Right.

00:07:21

Jack

In general is that I think everybody has to start with the kind of incompetent.

00:07:27

Jack

Level. You know when you're first learning a language you're like I'm incompetent, but as you just keep fighting and fighting and fighting and and working hard, you become competent and and it's it's, you know it it it does feel like a.

00:07:32

발표자

Right.

00:07:43

Jack

Sometimes impossible journey I I think learning a language is kind of like climbing.

00:07:49

Jack

I don't know Mount Everest or something. You know? You can't. You can't look at the peak. You can't just be like, hey, I just want to jump up to that peak there and then pop back down. You know, it's like, no, you gotta go to base camp one base camp, two base camp three. You gotta go. You know, you've gotta go through all the stages.

00:07:52

발표자

Right.

00:08:09

Jack

First, before you get to the where you want to be, so I think I think anxiety accent anxieties is just feeling a little bit overwhelmed, but it sounds like he or she is already so far down the road.

00:08:26

Jack

Obviously, don't even think about the accent thing like you're fine.

00:08:26

Xochitl

Right.

00:08:29

Xochitl

Right, yeah. Don't be embarrassed. You're already doing really well in academic English, which is one of the hardest things. Pat yourself on the back and don't be afraid to.

00:08:39

Xochitl

You know, just put yourself out there because I guarantee that those students that you're learning with, I mean, you're learning in a foreign language.

00:08:47

Xochitl

So you pat yourself on the back for that because that's something I wouldn't.

00:08:52

Xochitl

Want to do?

00:08:53

Jack

It's like doing it with like two hands tied behind your back, you know?

00:08:57

발표자

Yes.

00:08:57

Jack

It's.

00:08:57

Jack

Like and I'll I'll like, I'll. I'll, I'll tell you what I'm from Minnesota.

00:08:59

Xochitl

It's hard.

00:09:04

Jack

And I didn't even know I had an accent until I moved to California and everybody started making fun of the way that I spoke English. So even as a native speaker, my own accent, I had to change it because I was. So I'm. And now if I had more confidence, if I had had more confidence as a young person.

00:09:24

Jack

I probably would have just kept my accent, but the Midwest accent is very specific as social knows what I'm talking about because she's from the Midwest as well.

00:09:27

Xochitl

Mm-hmm.

00:09:35

Jack

And when I moved to California, I would say really weird things like that. My pronunciation was really strange and people would be like, where are you from? Are you from, you know, are you from Minnesota? Are you from Wisconsin or something? And and I I thought I was saying it normally, you know. And then I I realized that I wasn't. And so I even worked on my own.

00:09:58

Jack

Accent as a you know, as an American to have a more kind of generic American accent. So this is, you know, don't don't worry about it, you'll be fine.

00:10:09

Xochitl

Yeah. Don't sweat yourself. You'll be OK anyway, if you have any questions, make sure you leave them down below or any comments at A-Z. Englishpodcast.com shoot us an e-mail at AZ englishpodcast@gmail.com and make sure make sure to join who we chat and WhatsApp Group so you can talk to Jack Knight directly. We'll see you guys next.

00:10:27

Xochitl

Time. Bye bye.

00:10:28

Jack

Bye bye.

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