People shouldn't have told you if you don't have an accent

Recently, people here got a little bit obsessed with accent. I would like to express my humble opinion.

If one does not have any foreign or regional accent, other people should not have told you so. It is because the word "accent" should not have come to their minds in the first place. They should not be concerned about the accent whether the accent is good or bad.

For example, being a native Cantonese speaker all my life, I have never been told that my Cantonese is good or my Cantonese has no accent. But sometimes Mandarin speakers tell me that my Mandarin is good; native English speakers tell me that my English is very good; even native Japanese speakers tell me that my broken Japanese is excellent.

There is only one reason, namely, difference between the expectation of a native speaker and a learner.

When a native speaker of whatever language does not sense any foreign or regional accent at all, chances are he will regard you as a native speaker too and will NOT comment on the accent. I am not sure about the culture elsewhere. But in Hong Kong, it is quite offensive if you comment on the accent of another native Cantonese speaker, because you imply that he does not belong here.

However, if a native speaker senses 1% to 5% foreign element in a conversation, he can easily conclude that the person is a learner. And such a 95% to 99% achievement is so wonderful that the native speaker can't help complimenting the learner, because he knows that this comment will not hurt the feeling of the learner. He may indirectly ask where you are from or whether you "study" here for a long time. All these questions imply that the native speaker has sensed something.

If one asks a native speaker whether his accent is good, one actually is telling the native speaker that he is a learner and asking the native speaker a question very difficult to answer politically correctly. Most of the time, if one's accent is very bad, the native speaker could not have understood the question and of course cannot even answer it. If one's accent is bad, the native speaker would politely tell him that it is understandable or good, because maybe the native speaker cannot speak any foreign language at all. If one's accent is better than average, chances are he would be told that his accent is very good. If one's accent is 100% percent native-like, he would be asked, "Are you kidding?"

Also, one's racial characteristic has everything to do with expectation.

I once talked to a Japanese in Tokyo to practise my Japanese. After one minute or two, my meagre vocabulary made me unable to continue the conversation and I told him that I am not a Japanese. He was surprised because I looked exactly like the Japanese and he thought that I was from the countryside or anywhere outside Tokyo.

Most Japanese prostitutes are for the Japanese only. A lot of procurers asked me to buy a service because they could not tell that I am foreigner. I replied them to practise my Japanese. And then they continued to persuade me. Later, I told them that I am not Japanese and they politely stopped soliciting. It was because even though they sensed an accent in my speech but they expected me to be a Japanese born outside Tokyo.

On the other hand, some American born Chinese native English speakers have been told that they speak very good English when they are talking in person, because native speakers, especially white people, think that they are learners.

<<On the other hand, some American born Chinese native English speakers have been told that they speak very good English when they are talking in person, because native speakers, especially white people, think that they are learners.>>

Yeah, I've heard stories of that happening in places in the US where there aren't a lot of Asian-Americans.

I agree with the Samson, and I should like to emphasize that most people will dramatically overstate your proficiency in a language out of politeness. If you want to know how you really sound, ask a young child, as they will often tell you the truth ("you talk funny"); they may even say this spontaneously in a few cases, especially if they don't often hear foreign accents.

If someone spontaneously compliments you on your speech, chances are that you make substantial mistakes and have quite an accent, otherwise, as Samson indicates, how would they know you aren't a native speaker to begin with? And if you sound just like a native, you won't get any comments on your speech at all, since native speakers don't go around telling each other that they sound like natives.

If someone notices your accent only _after_ you say that you're not a native speaker, your accent is so light that the other person took it for a regional variation (from a region he doesn't recognize), or your pronunication is accent-free but very standard, whereas his is not. In these cases, be wary of "corrections" offered for your pronunciation, as not all native speakers have standard pronunciations, and you may be led astray. Trust, but verify.

These days, if someone corrects my pronunciation or grammar when I'm speaking a language other than my native language, I thank him, and then I look it all up when I get home. I learned the hard way not to take everything I'm told as gospel.

The exceptions would be regional accents or native accents from other countries speaking your same language. In Britain, I'm often asked: are you from Australia, New Zealand or even South Africa. It's always got to be somewhere in the Southern Hemisfere. There are days when nobody asks at all and I wonder if I've become a true Londoner.

Americans will often think I'm British unless they're familiar with an Australian accent. I tend to speak quite conservative English due to family and schooling although the Australian accent is definitely there. I don't tend to use any slang at all.

After living in Britain a couple of years I went home on holiday and was asked if I was British! It took me a fortnight to get rid of any comment.

I agree with Mxsmanic.