My boyfriend was telling me that he recently spoke to a cab driver of Pakistani descent, and he was impressed that the driver had no accent.
He asked, “How long have you been here?”
Cab driver says, “Why? Is it because I don’t have an accent huh?”
When boyfriend relates this story to me later on, I said, “What is it with Australians and being so particular about accents?”
He misinterpreted my question, and said, “That’s because we can actually tell the difference. Unlike for you, it all sounds the same.”
That really, really drove me mad.
Obviously, everyone can tell how different accents are, but it’s rudely obvious to point it out, like many situations I’ve been in. It’s like pointing out to a person that they have a lisp, or lack an eye.
Assuming and considering that we’re talking about first impressions and meeting for the first time; you don’t ask that person “How long have you had your lisp for”, or worse, “Why don’t you have your eye?”
Seriously, I am used to being asked where I am from, which is fair enough. But I do get quite irritated when they stereotype your accent, and pointing it out, which they then proceed to weigh whether or not you sound like what they think you’re supposed to sound like.
Don't get me wrong, for every ignorant Australian I've met, there's another wonderfully understanding one around the corner. It's just, sometimes it can get quite weary when you're stuck in another situation with the ignorant one, where you can tell how the story is going to play out. Again.
Australians have one of the most distinctive accents in the world. During my college years in Malaysia, we had listening tests with Australian native speakers. For some of us who had have a sufficient dose of Crocodile Hunter, it wasn’t that hard. But for most, it definitely was a trippy experience.
So you can see how I didn’t like the way my boyfriend labeled other unAustralian accents as ‘accents’, forgetting how much his stuck out like a sore thumb when he was holidaying in Malaysia.
Maybe it’s a cultural or polite personal preference that some people, like me, do not like to point out a person’s accent when it sounds different. Most times, I think it has a lot to do with the tone that comes across, instead of the phrasing.
I’ve met a sensational lady once at a multicultural radio conference. Her show was an award-winning one, despite her European background. Now, in an Australian context where most media outlets favour broadcasters with a really thick Australian accent, her story was most inspiring for us. She told me of her annoyance at some Australians whom she had spoke to for her radio interviews, and how patronizing they acted to her accent, when they couldn’t understand it.
She recounted how one man retorted arrogantly, “Oh!! Is that what you said?!”
Another thing I can’t comprehend, is when people go ‘Oh. You speak very good English.’
You can’t expect most people to feel flattered by that, because that’s practically saying, “Oh. You box very well. For a girl.”
Seriously, people can be so painfully ignorant sometimes, they don’t even know it.
Which is why it always escapes them—that little pause in my facial expression (while I clench my teeth or suppress a sigh), before I politely say “Thank you. [I wish I could say the same about your Mandarin.]”
A friend’s mother was very unhappy to hear that ‘compliment’, having been a permanent resident in the country. She fired out, “Why of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was better than yours!”
My housemate was in a tram once, and an Asian tourist came on and obviously looked lost. My housemate kindly directed her to her destination, but language and culture barriers were in place, so the tourist got off confused still (mostly due to tourist’s own stubbornness in following given directions) and without a word of thanks.
All the while, there was a white woman with a baby in the tram, next to my housemate, who observed the entire procession of things. Her baby was behaving extremely friendly and googly-eyed towards my housemate (she has a pretty face). After the tourist left, my house mate sighed, ‘She [tourist] is so lost.’
To which lady with the baby replied dismissively, "Oh. Your people."
Housemate goes, ‘I’m sorry?”
Lady with baby looked slightly embarrassed and muttered “Nothing”.
My housemate was shocked. She told me later that it was more because “the baby obviously was blind to ‘colour differences’ in people, wanting to play with me, while the mother was less than that.”
