Adopting an American accent: It's like wearing a suit

In my previous post, I shared why I feel terms like "accent reduction" and "accent modification" reveal a negative approach to accent acquisition. Now let's consider a more positive perspective. 

I encourage my clients to take on the mindset of adopting a new accent... and I often use the example of putting on a suit. Consider the following situation:

You've been looking for a new job, and you're finally contacted by the HR Manager of a company you'd really like to work for; she'd like you to come in for an interview! When the morning of the interview arrives, and you're looking through your closet considering what to wear. You want to feel relaxed and comfortable during the interview... so you reach for your comfy jeans and a T-shirt, right???

Of course not... you're going for your sharp-looking business suit! You won't feel as comfortable wearing it as you would feel in your well-worn jeans. But your goal is to impress your interviewer as much as possible, and you don't want your choice of clothing to be a distraction, or even worse, to disqualify you from getting that job you want so badly.

You can think of your accent in the same way. Just as you can put on certain clothes to be appropriate to the situation, you can also "put on" a different accent. When you're relaxing at home with your family and friends, you can speak with your comfortable "foreign" accent. But when you go work in the States (or enter a situation where you are interacting with native American English speakers), you can choose to put on a new American-sounding accent! Like putting on your interview suit, this will help to keep your foreign accent from distracting from your communication, and help you to better achieve your goals.

Changing clothes isn't a permanent or irreversible thing... and neither is changing your accent. With regard to the psychological conflict I discussed in my previous post, it's not changing who you are; it's something you can choose to do, and can be simply a transient means to achieving a goal. At the end of the day when you come home from the office, do you continue to wear your suit while lounging around in front of the TV? Of course not! As soon as you get home, you change into something more comfortable. You can also leave your American accent "in the closet" until the next time you need it... and fit right back into your native cultural context by speaking English with your non-American accent.

What do you think about "putting on" or "changing" your accent as you would your clothes? Please share your comments below! (You can also click here to find out more about how I help my clients learn to put on an American accent and minimize distractions in their speech.)