During one of my lecture breaks a few weeks ago, I met one of my closest friends for lunch at the Frontier. We talked about our modules for this semester and his plans for the student exchange programme. One of the modules he is currently taking is the same one I took in the previous semester. He mentioned that the lecturer’s accent made the lesson difficult to understand. Upon learning the lecturer’s name, I told him that I understood his difficulty, as he was previously a tutor in my freshman year. The lecturer is an expert in algebraic geometry, which means he definitely knows what he’s teaching in that module. His comment reminded me of one of my experiences with foreign nationals in university.During my first few days of my freshman year, I befriended a student from China. We talked while waiting for the A2 bus opposite LT27. It was her first year, when she spoke to me, I noticed her English accent was ... different (No offense intended). During our conversation, I would sometimes ask her to repeat her sentence, as her heavily accented English was difficult to understand. She guessed that I had trouble understanding her, she asked "Is my English hard to understand?" I was tempted to give the politically right answer, but I decided to be honest and at the same time, didn't want to offend her. I told her that her English was difficult to understand, because this was the first time I heard her accent. I continued that to her my Mandarin would be weird to her because of my accent. My first language isn't Mandarin, nor it is my second. When I spoke Mandarin, she laughed at me, saying my Mandarin was horrible. I took it lightly as I knew I needed to polish my Mandarin, which I have postponed for over a decade now.
Foreigners whose first language isn't English may have different accents, but to them I may sound different. Rather than avoid foreign nationals, a better solution for me is to be patient when having conversations with people of different nationalities.
$W?h0w$
Hi Wyhow,
ReplyDeleteIt is true that speaking with a strong accent makes one difficult to be understood.
However, I don't think having an accent is necessarily a bad thing. It is perfectly ok to have some unique accents. Everyone has some degree of accent. Americans, British, French all have different accents. The bottom line is that as long as the right messages are brought across, accent is not that a serious problem. Sometimes, it adds a unique dimension to one's personality and make him/her easier to be remembered.:P
In this case, I believe it is crucial that we do not discriminate against or look down on people who have strange accents. Mutual respect and humility are important to ensure good intercultural communications.Also, never never laugh at them in front of them. How hurt it could!
This is an interesting post, Wyhow. You are focusing, of course, not really on a specific observation but instead are making a general observation: differences in accents can impede communication. Accents are often a reflection of the dialact of a language a person speaks. My home dialect, a sort of Midwestern American English, is currently fairly standard in the US. Do you have a problem understanding me, ever? Another tangential issue you have raised though (without mentioning it) is not so much about dialect but about language proficiency. I wonder how many cases of muscommunication related to it occur in classrooms and lecture halls at NUS.
ReplyDeleteHi Wyhow,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post. One that I'm sure many of us had similar encounters with. So much so that 1 group in our class are working on it for their proposal :)
You're absolutely right in saying that patience is key. Others may have difficulty in understanding us as much as we do while desperately trying to make out what they're trying to say. I believe that with accents, you get used to them over the course of time. Take for instance inter cultural marriages which are very common in Singapore nowadays. People do tend to adjust to accents over time and learn to look past them even when all else fails.
I just wonder though, in the context of lecturers how can we better handle the situation? Does patience apply here when grades are first and foremost on your mind? I can honestly hold my hands up and admit that having encountered some lecturers I couldn't understand at all, I just skipped them altogether after that. I did try my hardest though to give a chance by sitting as close as possible for 4-5 weeks.
Hi Xi Xi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment:) I believe accents can be both good and bad. It's good if a person has a unique accent, which makes him or her easy to remember. Unfortunately, accents can also affect communication. For example, I have a friend who speaks English with a heavy Indian accent, and to me, he was difficult to understand on the phone. I met him personally one day and I told him that I understand that his first language isn't English, and his accent made it difficult to understand over the phone. Luckily, he was quite open to my comment. Since then, we minimised phone calls and spoke either face to face or via electronic media.
Hi Brad,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. I have no problem understanding American accents, nor with British accents. Occasionally I do have difficulties with Australian accents.
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ReplyDeleteHi Vinod,
ReplyDeleteI think with lecturers, one may have to bear with it. One of my friends has a German lecturer for chemistry, she beared with it for one semester. I had a Japanese tutor before, but fortunately for mathematics, explanations are via equations:) And I always have the option of unofficially switching tutorial classes.
Although I have no difficulty understanding lecturers so far, but I too wonder what I would do in the case of lecturers. (
Hi wyhow,
ReplyDeleteI think the issue in your post is really a very common one, especially here in Singapore with some many people from different countries. Besides, this situation is really close to me because English is not my first language. When I first came to Singapore, I really did not have the confidence to communicate in English. Although things are better today, I still feel language proficiency is a problem or obstacle for me to achieve better.
For the accents, I think it is really a hard one, especially the lecturers. But I think we can understand more and more as we continuing listening to their accents.
Hi Wyhow,
ReplyDeleteI still remember that in one of our earlier lessons for this module that we were discussing the different factors of effective communications. One of them was accent, in which you have shared your personal experience.
It can be a barrier sometime, especially when we are not used to hearing with such an accent. It can be quite irritating at times when we can't understand, especially if we are supposed to during lectures. Haha
Hi Guo Chen,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. English may be a problem to you, but my lack of proficiency in Mandarin has been hunting me for a decade now:)
Wyhow
Hi Elgin,
ReplyDeleteI can't remember what was the experience I shared:(
YES, it's irritating during lectures, when we hav to decode and digest new facts in lectures...
Wyhow