To have or not to have American accent...


The past week, I started my new part-time job as an on-line English tutor. What we do is we teach English to Japanese (based in Japan) via the Internet. This can be quite tough since the students fall on different levels. Some can already converse in English pretty well; some could barely understand English. This means that we have a lot of adjusting to do. Having had experience in teaching English, this is not really new to me. I know how difficult it is to teach a second language, especially to reluctant learners. The teacher always has to be up on his/her toe trying to get everyone to participate and learn some basic things at the very least. Basically, I already expected how tough the job might be.

But, what really shocked me is the fact that in my new teaching “stint”, I would have to try to change my accent. My accent has never really been a problem, but the Japanese, it seems, want to be taught English by someone who has American accent. I find that quite weird because having a particular accent doesn’t necessarily mean that your language or your knowledge of a certain language is perfect, does it? If American accent was THE correct accent in speaking English, then what of the British? And, what American accent are we talking about anyway? Southern, Northern, Eastern, Western, Black American? Who is to say that this accent is more standard than that other one? Being an English Language major, I know how controversial “standard English” could get!

Last Friday, as I was talking to one of the executive officers of the company I work for, he mentioned that an American accent was the only thing I lacked. He said that if I had American accent, I would be the perfect English teacher. That’s, of course, according to their standards- the Japanese standards for a perfect English teacher. I was flattered yet taken aback. I was flattered because he appreciated and commended the way I did my lessons. And, I was quite taken aback by his comment about my having to learn American accent. I really don’t feel like I need to have a different accent just to be a competent teacher. I’m not saying that my English is impeccable as it is. But, having to speak in a totally different manner as I normally would? That would be a little weird for me. Besides, it’s not like I can master American accent in a few weeks time.

They say they’re going to send me to an American accent training school. That would be a great opportunity for me to learn new things, but I’m not really sure if I’m very excited about it. Until then, I’ll just wait and see.


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