Are you aware of something called “accent bias?” Basically, this is a sort of psychological bias against people who have a foreign accent when they speak your language.

It IS discrimination, but it’s also something that is beyond anyone’s control. This is because holding a negative bias against someone with a foreign accent is really hard-wired into everyone’s brains.

It’s just the way our minds work as human beings.

Why Does This Happen?

According to Scientific American, a lot of it has to do with how quickly the brain can process a foreign accent. Simply put, a phrase spoken in the listener’s native accent is much easier for that person’s brain to process than the same phrase said with a foreign accent. This is known as “cognitive fluency.”

The brain always prefers to do things the easy way, and this is true for all aspects of life. For example, some market studies show that stocks which are easier to pronounce are more likely to sell better than stocks with names which are hard to pronounce. This is also true of reading material – people tend to have a favorable opinion of text printed in clear, legible letters rather than fancy, hard-to-read fonts.

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It’s Not All Bad news

It’s not all bad news. First of all, as long as you speak clearly and know how to choose your words wisely to get your meaning across, then people are less likely to misunderstand you when you speak with a foreign accent. The extra bit of stimuli from your foreign accent actually forces your listener’s brain to be more critical and careful in processing your words. This means that they will not be as careless in listening to you as they would with a native speaker.

Furthermore, it’s really all about results and expectations. Having a foreign accent simply means that you should set the bar higher than anyone else in any task that you do. If you are a customer service representative for example, as long as you provide good, consistent results, no one will think ill off you despite having some bias against your accent at the beginning. When you deliver results and defy the negative expectations that people might have of you, you CAN get over accent bias.

Finally, Scientific American notes that there is really not a lot of evidence to support the assumption that accent can get in the way of you doing your job well.

Author Bio: Sheri Summers is a long-time English and accent trainer.  She works with individuals around the world through private coaching programs and her online American Accent Course, to help them feel comfortable living, working and speaking in American English.  She can be reached at sheri@accentonspeaking.com.