Foreign accents: problem in a diverse workplace?
Today’s business success requires a diverse body of talents to implement new ideas, points of view, and perspectives. The customer base has become multicultural and the need for effective communication demands diversity. In the past, white men made up more than 60% of the American workforce. A pattern of steady growth created a skilled staff shortage, resulting in today’s multinational workforce and an altered image of the typical American worker.
The report “Futurework:” Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century from the US Department of Labor states that, by 2050, the US population is expected to increase by 50% and minority groups will constitute almost half of the population. Immigration will account for nearly two-thirds of the country’s population growth. The population of older Americans is expected to double. A quarter of all Americans will be of Hispanic origin. Nearly one in ten Americans will be of Asian or Pacific Islander descent. And more women and people with disabilities will be at work. Clear communication is obviously a must. However, in today’s workplace, communication is poor due to much of the accent of the international workforce.
R. Roosevelt Thomas, author of “Beyond Race and Gender” states that diversity management is “a comprehensive management process to develop an environment that works for all employees.” However, that supported environment does not yet exist in workspaces. Some American co-workers have a very bad attitude and a great lack of patience when it comes to conversing at any level with those who speak with a heavy accent. Their attitude is “Why can’t they go somewhere and learn English?” The truth of the matter is that they have gone somewhere and learned English and it is not unusual to see statistics showing that non-native speakers often score higher on the standard grammar test than native English speakers. Therefore, “learning” English is not always the problem, but speaking is.
The second language learner (including Americans acquiring a foreign language) speaks the acquired language in the same way as the native language, thus creating an “accent.” The rhythm, the accent, the intonation and the projection of the voice of the native language is transferred to the second language or acquired language and, when it is spoken, causes a series of distortions in the formation of words, pronunciation, etc.
Callous American co-workers have said, “Why can’t you just listen and repeat like our children do?” If simply listening and speaking were the only requirement for language acquisition, there would be no communication problems anywhere in the world. There is nothing simple about language acquisition. In fact, it is a very complicated business. In addition to linguistic characteristics, there are other factors that contribute to speaking with a foreign accent. (On the nature of foreign accents, Daniel P. Dato, Ph.D, CCC)
Example (1) physical factors: speaking a single sound involves using an estimate of 100 different muscles in the throat, larynx, mouth, lips, tongue, and respiratory mechanism. We do a lot of this unintentionally. Imagine consciously trying to control something so complex.
Example (2) cognitive factors (mental activity involved in problem solving). Consider perception, memory, formulating ideas, and language processing. Children acquire language more easily using all sensory modalities and acquiring new knowledge. The adult generally acquires language in an artificial classroom where neural activities are limited and his sensory associations are restricted. He does not have a significant experience with the new language 2) he does not live these experiences, but analyzes them 3) he ends up over-intellectualizing the language and therefore limiting its natural flow. In addition to cognitive factors, there are emotional factors involved. These can be fear, humiliation, and inhibitions. These combined cause more ineffective communication.
Example (3) sociocultural factors When you learn a second language, you also have to learn a second culture. The student must be able to interact, exchange points of view, accept new ideas, risk making mistakes and assimilate into a new and strange environment. If the student views the new culture with a negative stereotype, learning is inhibited. In addition, there are pressures from the natives of the culture to expect that the command of the language is a sign of intelligence, good faith and a willingness to communicate. How many times have the natives of that country treated foreign people to a country as if they were stupid or hard of hearing because they could not communicate clearly? There is also pressure from the student’s ethnic group, who feel that it is unfair to their native culture to learn the target language and culture of another country.
When adapting to a new culture, one’s own identity, among many things, is interrupted. Underlying cultural differences often cause culture shock, which can create physical or mental illness. The second language learner living in another culture loses all commonly perceived and understood symbols and signs of social communion.
Many native English speakers do not realize all the complexities involved in the acquisition of English by non-native speakers.
There is a tendency to be insensitive towards those with an accent and some live happily in ignorance of thinking that they (Americans) do not have an accent. Could not be farther from the truth. People who have not studied English in the United States have learned British English (English that sounds very different from what is spoken in the United States) After arriving in the United States, the non-native speaker of English is faced with a unfamiliar American accent and the frustration of having to learn a new way of speaking and listening.
Native American speakers articulate using schwa (reduced vowel sound), contractions (combining two words to form a [can’t, don’t, etc]) and reduced sentences ([gonna, want to, etc.]Vowel Dimensions, Howard B. Woods). Now imagine the confusion when the non-native speaker hears, “Jeetjet?” when they expected to hear “Have you eaten yet?” Hence, the rhetorical question, “Why don’t they go somewhere and learn English?” From the non-native speaker’s perspective it can also apply to the native English speaker.
Responsibility for communication rests squarely on the shoulders of the non-native English speaker. If there is to be an environment that works for all employees, “then half of the responsibility for communicating falls on the shoulders of the American. In fairness and common sense, some well-placed listening and sensitivity workshops should be a mandatory part of everyone. Americans training employees.
In reality, diversity is the future, and growth and success depend on the ability to communicate with customers around the world. Qualified personnel are no longer white men, only American; therefore, training non-native speakers to sound more like American will not be enough. The future American will have to tolerate, assimilate, and relearn how to communicate.