What is accent bias and why does it matter to our careers?

It’s a bias against (or a preference for) a certain accent, dialect, vocabulary, slang, or patterning in how we speak. Most of us have some level of accent bias- informed by Disney movies in our youth and the news we listen to, social systems, and colonial pasts. The dominance of English in global affairs is rooted in imperialism.

Heather Hansen is a leader in the field of global English communication and she is an outspoken advocate for diverse voices in our multinational world. She helps companies build a culture of communication where every voice is heard. Heather wrote a book called Unmuted because she’s learned that when people feel their accent is not respected in their place of work, they just stop talking. Listen to our interview:

What are the roots of accent bias?

Global business generally prizes two types of English, Hansen explains. In the U.S, it's the General American dialect. Based on a midwestern accent, it’s considered educated and neutral. In the U.K., Europe, and much of the rest of the world it’s an upper class English accent-  based on Received Pronunciation (RP) or “the Queen’s English.” Hansen wants us to know there is no such thing as a neutral variety of any language. Even though only about 25% of the world speaks English, just being born an English speaker is a boost.

“Language is an incredible weapon," she says. "When you take over a country and say, now you're going to speak this language, the people who speak it earn immediate status and prestige, and that's where the money will be and where they'll gain respect. Language is very political. It's wrapped up in power and hierarchy, prestige and status. And when we put that into an organization and the interactions we're having within it, that creates a whole set of challenges.”

Hansen lives in Singapore, was raised in California, and speaks Danish fluently. She laughs, “In Singapore, I can hold a dinner party and invite 12 people, and they're from 12 different countries and we speak 25 languages between us. It is fantastic. But then why do we still see certain varieties of English rising to the top? Singaporeans right now prefer an American English accent over their own Singapore accent.”

In Hansen’s work, “Usually HR will call because there is someone they want to promote to the C-Suite. They’ll say, “‘We know that this person is 100% the right person for the job. They've been with us for 20 years. They know the company inside and out, but we just feel the person doesn't have enough presence.’" What do they really mean when they say "presence?"

"They’ll say, ‘Well, we just don't think this person is… global enough.’ Okay, what does that mean? What do you want me to do with this person? And this could be a 15 minute long conversation of me digging, digging, digging, because I'm not going to say it. I'm going to make them say it. And by the end of it, they will finally say, 'well, we just think this person sounds a bit too Singaporean. Can you make them sound a little more like you?’”

“And it's like, that's interesting, why do you feel that this person needs to sound like me? You're a Singapore company. The person is Singaporean. You have a Singaporean board of directors. Why is it important?”

Accent bias creates a mental load for people perceived to “have accents.” Hansen notes, “Sometimes people come to me and say, I want to sound like you. I want to sound like a native speaker. Well, first of all, most Singaporeans are native speakers. They're born and raised in English. They're fully educated in English. Most of them are speaking English at home now. That's part of the bias as well, because they know having English is going to get them further locally and globally. But they'll come to me saying, ‘I want to sound like a native speaker.’ And I'll say, “You are one, but what does that mean to you? What is it about the way that I speak that you like?’”

For example, Hansen has coached a C-Suite French executive told by midwestern colleagues and Wall St. analysts that they were unintelligible — even though the executive is fluent in English. She notes we Americans tend to have “lazy ears.” “The minute it's hard, we kind of turn off.” And that's where bias can come in.

Research shows that based on your accent, people might think you’re less intelligent or educated or even competent than you are. In the U.S bias against Southern accents has been well documented. An article in the Wall St. Journal states, “People often make these judgments subconsciously and based on accent alone, not on the content of what is being said. A 2010 University of Chicago study found that people are perceived to be less credible when it is more difficult to understand what they say. Accents can often stand in for other discriminating factors like race or ethnicity, according to Rosina Lippi Green, a linguistic scholar and author of “English with an Accent: Language, Ideology and Discrimination in the United States.”

Hansen notes, “In the international workplace, you are very likely not the minority. You're actually the majority who does not have English as your first language. And yet you're being forced to perform in a way that is impossible. There is no perfect English. It is all created. It's a social construct that gives certain amounts of status. And so it is very emotional. It is very hard. And I've lived both sides, living and working in a foreign language. And then I've been on the absolute opposite end of the spectrum here in Singapore where my style of speech is put on the pedestal and I'm given unearned status.”

Keep Talking!

How to manage the psychological load? Hansen says this: “If you’re a person who feels like they have an accent that's different, and you’re being othered quite a bit because of that accent, it's really important to keep talking.”

Hansen uses her experience as an example: “I'm not the same person when I speak Danish. I don't raise my hand as quickly to ask a question. I don't volunteer to speak. Whereas in English, it's like, yeah, bring it. I'm ready for anything.”

But when our way of talking is judged, we tend to become quiet. “That's the worst thing you can do because the other person needs to hear you more. They need to hear the way that you speak. They need to attune their ear to the sounds that you make that are different from theirs so that they can start to understand you better. If you remain quiet, they'll never understand you.”

And for those of us with lazy and biased ears? “Start getting really serious about understanding what your biases are. We all have accents. What is your accent? How does it differ from others? What do you need to do to better understand others’ accents? Increase the different varieties of English you hear on a regular basis. Get to know your reactions and what you believe about people based on the way they sound.”

I would love to hear your experiences with accent bias at work!

Morra

PS: I’m going to be in the U.K the week of May 15 and would love to come speak at your company or organization- message me for details.