Hi there. I come from a mixed-racial background and grew up hearing both my mother’s Ghanaian accent and my father’s Welsh accent while living in Wales. Additionally, I have many relatives living in the USA. Due to this, my accent has become a unique blend that often confuses people, they often ask about it and some accuse me of faking it. I feel very insecure about this and would like to develop a more standard accent without feeling like I’m pretending or putting on an act. I don’t want to stand out too much, and I believe that having a similar accent to my Welsh peers would make fitting in a lot easier.
2 comments
you dont have to feel badly about peoples opinions on the way you speak
its not necessary (or healthy imo) to work that hard to change yourself just because people are judgemental, simply explain your mixed parentage and any reasonable person would accept you.
however, being more easily understood is a good reason to practice the enunciation of the local pronunciation of certain words that have caused misunderstandings in the past…but dont feel pressed to replace your natural accent! you can simply clarify things when/if people get confused. you *will* naturally blend or replace the enunciation over time of using it, even sporadically.
PS
i have accidentally learned incorrect pronunciations of various words by saying them on purpose in ironic/joking context……..much to my dismay and even more ironic anguish i say those words in those incorrect ways in polite/professional company (and then have to explain myself and the original joke and the media reference that makes that joke funny, thus making the joke not funny)
I’m a linguist and I would say… take pride in being multilingual. Your unique accent is probably lovely.
You can choose a welsh actor or someone in the public sphere to emulate. Find a you-tube of them and listen to them speak. Record yourself saying the same script, and compare your words to theirs.
It might also help to ask a friend (someone who is actually respectful towards you) if there are particular sounds / words that are difficult to understand when you speak in your normal accent.
There are language teachers who work on “accent reduction” so you could pursue that if you really wanted to.
But honestly, I’m willing to bet that your accent is fine and the people you are around just haven’t had enough experience listening to people from around the world speaking English. There are sooooooooooooooooo many dialects and accents, once you get used to hearing a wide variety of English it becomes easier to understand individual accents.