Accents and beyond: Mixing cultures and languages

Yes, I do have an accent — and yes, I am proud of it. However, it has not always been that way. When I came to Los Angeles back in August, I felt out of place with my accent. I was at a new university, in a new city and a new country and did not know anyone. Whenever I started talking to somebody, the magic question was always asked, “Oh, so where are you from?” I could see that “you have an accent” look in their eyes.

I do not mean to say that locals are rude .Most of them are very nice in fact. However, being foreign, you always have the feeling of being some kind of black sheep. No matter how much USC gear you wear, or how many football games you attend to, you will always be slightly “different.”

But being different is not the actual problem. Thinking that being different is a problem is the real issue. That is why I am now proud of my accent. The reason why I have it is that I come from Spain, and English is not my mother tongue. There are loads of things that are different between Spain and the United States: food, timetables, parties. Language is only one difference, and definitely not the most important.

What is important is that having an accent means that I can speak in a language that is not my mother tongue. Having an accent means that I am able to explain my thoughts in a way native English speakers can understand them, even if we come from different countries. Perhaps others do not care about my thoughts — It’s true I might not have the most exciting things to say in slightly broken English — but at least they have the chance to hear them.

We cannot ignore that languages do set barriers. Some of them might be irrelevant, like missing a couple of jokes while watching a movie, or having to use Google Translator many times in order to understand an article. However, what about personal relationships? They are clearly not the same when you are not a native speaker. You may have a short talk and make a couple of jokes with anybody, but it is much more difficult to reach an intimate point. You are hardly going to captivate that cute girl from your class if she has to repeat every word she says, or if you are the one to repeat everything because of your weird pronunciation.

Nevertheless, a language is one of the most powerful things you can learn. If you are visiting a new country, for example, knowing the local tongue will make your experience totally different. That is precisely the biggest advantage of being able to speak another language: it is the best way to facilitate cultural exchange.

Mixing cultures is very significant, even if we are not very aware of it. Getting people from around the world to speak, think and work together has impressive results. You may have heard about globalization. Well, that is just a high-scale cultural mix.

I know, that foreign guy looks strange at first.

“Look at his clothes, food, hair!” you might think.

However, there might be a very interesting and enriching explanation behind that things you find “strange.”

There are still people who think that having an accent means someone is stupid (hello, Mr. Trump). However, my advice is to look at (or hear) every accent you notice as an opportunity to learn something new. I have already been putting this into practice since my exchange program at USC began. So far, it is has been great.