Should You Change Your Accent to Get Ahead?
This is usually code for: “Should I try to sound posh?”
I got asked this recently by someone who genuinely thought they were losing clients because of the way they speak. Not because they were unclear or inarticulate and not even because they mumbled or had no vocabulary. Simply because they had a Brummie accent.
And it’s not the first time I’ve heard it. Foreign accents, regional accents, second-language English speakers, again and again, people ask if they should take elocution lessons to “sound more professional.”
Which is usually code for: “Should I try to sound posh?”
Now, if the goal is to speak more clearly, with better diction, I’m all for it. That’s just good communication.
But if the goal is to sound less like ‘you’, to erase your background, your story, the rhythm and tone of where you come from, then no. Absolutely not.
I get where they’re coming from, because a lot of the time we don’t just hear an accent. We hear a shortcut, we hear competence, status, warmth, arrogance, trust, intellect, friendliness, and almost none of it is accurate.
But that doesn’t stop us using these heuristic shortcuts. We’re deeply classist about how people speak in this country. You move a team from Birmingham to London and suddenly the same voices are heard differently. The accent didn’t change but the context did.
We’ve all sat through meetings where someone with a regional or foreign accent says something brilliant and gets ignored, while someone else says something meaningless in RP and gets a round of applause. I get it, it happens, and it’s deeply frustrating.
But trying to change your accent to compensate for other people’s biases doesn’t work. Because the moment you get emotional or animated or, heaven forbid, tipsy, the real accent comes roaring back.
And now people don’t just judge your accent. They judge your “authenticity”. I hate this word with an almost feral intensity.
The real issue isn’t the accent. It’s the voice in your head that says, “I need to sound like someone else to be taken seriously.”
The reality though? People will judge you either way. That’s not something you fix with vowels. You fix it by deciding that clarity matters more than conformity, and by stopping yourself from starting every sentence with “Sorry for my accent…”
Especially if you speak three languages and the other person can’t even order lunch in one of them.
See you next week
Paul
PS. My skincare company that I mention is called Piotis Naturals
I agree that trying to sound like someone you're not is risky and foolish, but I suspect that many, at least here in the States, code shift and have better jobs/more sales to thank for it. It's tricky, but yes, be yourself. But if you were raised in the Deep South or the hills of Appalachia or (if you're a Brit) have a Brummie, Scouse, Cockney, or even Geordie accent, you have my sympathies. Oy.
Another amazing episode from Dr Paul and Helen! Loved it! And, I guess, the world will see more of me now, and my thick Greek-Cypriot accent! Thank you, Dr Paul, for the shoutout! I am stoked you are loving the skincare I make for you and the olive oil from my late paternal grandad's olive groves!