Michigan State prof: Telling someone you can’t understand their accent is ‘linguistic racism’
- Thread starter The Oracle
- Start date
That poster has some major cognitive dissonance going on.....The article literally "it’s 'racist' to ask a person to repeat what he said because you don’t understand". I'm not sure what part the OP is misunderstanding.
Not understanding someone's accent isn't "racist", but telling a person you can't understand their accent makes you look like a classless oik.
Pretending you understand can be a problem (aka "but I don't want to wear a puffy shirt")
Usually I am accompanying someone that can understand so I just slightly nod, give an occasional neutral' hmm-mm' and look to my friend for tells. After a few moments, I request the location of the bathroom and escape.
I do it all the time, although I usually put in a pro forma apology. I have a lot of phone conversations with people who I don't know where they're emotional and talking rapidly in a heavy foreign accent. I say "Sorry, I can't understand you. You have an accent. Can you repeat what you just said and speak more slowly."
What else am I going to do? Pretend I understand when it's important for me to get details to give a legal opinion?
Used to have a boss, that had a somewhat thick EI accent, and would talk fast, at the end instructional meetings with staff, he would say "Okay?".
We would all nod our heads in agreement, then when he left the area, we would say, to each other, "What did we just agree to??" LOL!
We would all nod our heads in agreement, then when he left the area, we would say, to each other, "What did we just agree to??" LOL!
I'm understanding all of it except the word that sounds like "mallards"? Mothers?
It would be weird if the mallards were telling them to go to school.
Last edited:
You got some great ears.I'm understanding all of it except the word that sounds like "mallards"? Mothers?
The folks who developed the language envisioned the it would become internationally used, much like English. However, Esperanto would be developed from the ground up, without the weight of history.
It's an idiotic assertion; what else can be said? As an aside, and someone who knows about accents- a thing or two since I have one when I use English, I have to say that understanding accented speech(for those with an average hearing) must be somehow connected to intelligence. I have noticed, every single time, that "sharp" individuals have no trouble with my accent, whatsoever. The individuals that are a bit slower, on the other hand, well, I'd rather send them a text. It's a pretty convenient way for me to sift and catalogue people I meet. It has happened a couple times that I have actually left a professional lady after the customary pre fuck chat because of her inability to follow my speech pattern. I have also cut appointments short for the same reason as an encounter with limited communication is a mood killer for me and 100% no repeat.
