I came to America from Thailand about 7 years ago. Despite the fact that I tried really hard to learn how to speak the language correctly, I still have Thai accent on some English pronunciations. I remember someone said to me, "Go back to your country and learn to speak English right." That exact phrase continues to echo in my ears until today. People do not make fun of the way I talk as much as they used to. But they do anyway whenever the accent comes out.
How can a person judge other people by their accents? How can you tell which is the correct English accent? Just because some of us do not pronounce certain words soundly, that doesn't mean we're stupid. For some reason, many Americans thought I was deaf or mentally ill. I hardly had any friends the first few months I was in school due to the fact that I could not communicate with other kids. Thank God for my athletic abilities, I was able to play with the boys in my class during lunch breaks.
Having an accent was very frustrating because no one understood me. They never corrected me either. Thus, I closed myself and became a really shy student. I was always quiet in classrooms and never participated in any of the class discussions. Trust me, that alone can change you mentally and physically. I began having new personalities and hated myself for who I was. For the first time, I comprehended the feeling of isolation.
I've seen many ESL students stick together in a group. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hispanics, etc. were all attached to each other according to their native languages. This became a problem when they spoke only in their mother tongue outside the classrooms, which reduced their chances of gaining fluent English speaker as friends. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why many immigrants are not as articulate in English even if they have been living in America for more than 5 years.
Now, I speak somewhat like a regular American teenager. Half of me is happy for what I've accomplished. Another half of me is disappointed that I am losing my accent, which used to be what set me apart from other English or non-English speakers. My parents' distinctive accent, on the other hands, lingers. Every time they speak, I can feel the other party who is fluent in English looking down on them. Sometimes I get the feelings that we are not wanted in America just because we cannot speak perfect English.
I'm tired of people insulting "immigrants" for our accents. I'd like to see you try going to another country and learn a new language without the help of English. Maybe then, you will understand how we feel.
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