1

Anecdote. A friend of mine works at the Chemistry department of a university in the Netherlands. My friend went to a scientific conference in continental Europe. The participants from continental Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Scandinavia...) all communicated in simple but clear BBC English. The British participants spoke with a strong accent (dialect). As a result, everybody understood each other, but nobody understood the British.

In my opinion a funny anecdote. But then I thought: Okay, you are a native English speaker; from the north of England or from Scotland, Ireland or Wales; and you have a strong accent. Surely you must be aware that some people have difficulty understanding what you say. In particular foreigners, for whom English is their second language and who are only accustomed to BBC English.

So why would such a person insist on speaking with this accent at an international scientific conference?

Improve this question
13
  • 7
    I’m voting to close this question because it asks (i) for judgement on what the OP sees as a “privilege” but no privilege has been established. (ii) Its second part is flawed as ignores the obvious, i.e. the British scientist must have passed through his career and education with that accent, and finally (iii) that all languages have commonly used accents.
    – Greybeard
    Commented Feb 18 at 10:03
  • 3
    I've known a lot of non native English speaking academics and few spoke with a perfect RP accent (although often those with strong accents were still understandable). Also, you should listen to the accents the BBC lets on these days. There might be a question you could ask on Academia SE but currently this reads like a rant.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Feb 18 at 10:18
  • 2
    Were the British scientists ("participants") from different parts of the country or from one region/country? You said they spoke with a thick accent, so that would mean they came from the same area. If they were from Scotland, Northern Ireland, or the West Midlands take comfort in knowing there are British native speakers who sometimes find their accents tricky to understand.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Feb 18 at 11:39
  • 1
    Scientists believe in accurate research, interpretation, recommendations, dissemination of knowledge .... They must subscribe to Gricean maxims. One of these is 'communicate clearly' (which surely any person would wish to do anyway). If one's idiolect / accent regularly leads to confusion, one needs to get an interpreter and/or standardise more. // But who decides when 'regularly' is the case?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 18 at 16:05
  • 1
    @jsw29 How would native speakers know what non-natives are taught to understand, or how to imitate a dialect and accent not their own? Who aside from professional voice actors are taught how to do that? I'm sure I myself couldn't manage to convincingly imitate Received Pronunciation, or Scots English, or West Country English, or Northern English, or Irish English, or West Virginia English, or California English, or Texas English, or New Zealand English, or South Africa English, etc.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Feb 19 at 1:10

0

Reset to default