Growing up in the heart of Los Angeles, Spanish was the language that I was mainly surrounded by. It was the language I said my first words in, and it was the only language my parents knew when they migrated from El Salvador to California in the late 80’s. Learning English was an obstacle I overcame when I started going to preschool. My mom and dad tell me that when I started, I refused to speak English. My teachers would ask me questions in English and I would do nothing but nod my head or reply in Spanish. Slowly and a bit forcefully, I became accustomed to the thought of speaking English and picked up on it by the time I started grade school.
I never really noticed that whenever I did speak English, I had a slight accent. It wasn’t until I started attending SSU and was surrounding by a majority of people whose first and only language was English that I noticed I actually had an accent. At first, I found myself getting more and more nervous to speak in classes or meetings because I was scared I wasn’t going to pronounce a word correctly or use a word in the wrong context. Eventually, I learned how to love my accent because c’mon, how many people do you know that speak two languages fluently? Here are a few reasons why you should LOVE your accent too!
1) You are one of the few people who know two or more languages fluently.
The majority of people only know one language, how cool is it that you know two? VERY!
2) Certain jobs pay more to those who know two languages.
Depending on your job, your salary can increase by being bilingual. Especially if you work with customer service, because you can cater to people who speak your first and second language. So don’t forget to put it on your resume!
3) You can talk to people who only speak (in my situation) Spanish, people who only speak English, and people who speak both!
Being able to communicate with people in the language they feel most comfortable in is great and helps build a trusting relationships with others.
4) Your accent has a story, and odds are the story is one to tell.
I LOVE telling people the story of how my family migrated to the California. It’s something I’m proud of, and it’s something that will always be a part of me.
5) It’s a part of where you’re from, it’s a part of your heritage, it’s part of your family, and it’s a part of who you are!
A few weeks back someone told me my accent made them feel like home, and to be honest that helped me realize that having an accent is actually awesome. So embrace it, love it, and be proud of where you come from!