Do people take you seriously if you speak with an accent? Studies say NO

I've often found that the primary reason people reduce their accents is to increase their credibility. This study confirms that Americans view people with accents as less credible. What do you think?

Do you have stories about being viewed as less credible because your accent? I do, in France, people thought I was stupid when I spoke French, and I'm a very educated woman. So I worked with a speech coach to lose my American accent for speeches I had to make in French. I couldn't believe the difference in how people treated me. Please share your story on our Accent Reduction Miami® Group on LinkedIn!

Here's an article about a study done in Chicago that was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and USA TODAY.

Study: Americans with accents judged less credible than native speakers  

By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY  July 20, 2010

For the 24.5 million Americans who told the Census Bureau in 2007 that they spoke English less than "very well," it may not be their imagination that people don't take what they say quite as seriously as they do native English speakers. Researchers in Chicago have shown that people with a noticeable accent are considered less credible than those with no accent.

The stronger the accent, the less credible the speaker.

The researchers asked Americans to listen to native and non-native speakers of English making simple statements such as "A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can," and then judge how truthful they were. To guard against simple prejudice, the listeners were told the information came from a prepared script and wasn't based on the speaker's own knowledge. Even so, on a scale where 10 was most truthful, native English speakers got a score of 7.5, people with mild accents a score of 6.95 and people with heavy accents a score of 6.84.  The paper is in the current issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

"The accent makes it harder for people to understand what the non-native speaker is saying," Boaz Keysar, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and lead author on the paper, said in a statement.
"They misattribute the difficulty of understanding the speech to the truthfulness of the statements."

While research has clearly shown accent affects how a person is perceived, how much having an accent affected a person's credibility hadn't been known, he said. Even when the participants were told that the test was to determine whether accents influence how truthful people sound, the effect didn't go away. In that case, speakers with mild accents were considered as truthful as native speakers but those with heavy accents were judged less truthful.

"Lisa-isms"



If I say that with a heavy accent do you still believe me?
--Lisa
 

Find a New Friend and Practice English Together

Happy Holidays from Accent Reduction Miami.  Accent Reduction Miami offers group classes and private coaching at the Speech and Accent Academy.  Our free group on meetup.com meets once a month for networking events; tips on how to improve your English and presentation skills; and we go on adventures to restaurants, free concerts, movies, cultural events, book fair, lectures, and more. 
This month, we had our Christmas party in North Miami featuring a special guest speaker, syndicated radio talk show host and author Alberto Sardinas.  He spoke about his heartwarming radio show, his new book, and how he reduced is accent for radio working with his coach, me!  Alberto, as a radio broadcaster, needed to have that clear, articulate English that radio announcers need.  He was able to correct the typical 'Spanish speaker' habits, and dazzled us all with his voice.  His stories from his new book "The Power of Your Story" touched our hearts, and were so moving that I had tears in my eyes a few times.  His book not only inspires you with his stories, but each story has a "Takeaway" lesson, and a worksheet to help you find the power of YOUR story.  I think his book is changing my life, and I'm so proud of him in the progress he has made in articulating like a native speaker in English!

Accent Reduction Miami's 2012 Holiday Party

Radio Talk Show Host Alberto Sardinas talks about his new book.

Speech Coach Lisa Jeffery and Radio Celebrity Alberto Sardinas

Accent Reduction Miami's Holiday Party

Accent Reduction Miami Speech Coaches Alicia Harris and Lisa Jeffery

Accent Reduction Miami Meetup Organizer, Speech Coach Lisa Jeffery