Imagine that you invite a friend, a non-native speaker of your own language, round for dinner. While cooking, you get distracted and the food ends up burnt to a crisp. Once the smoke detector stops shrieking, your friend might crack a joke to puncture the tension, something along the lines of “Wow! I didn’t know you were such an good cook!”
Among native speakers, the irony of the comment would be obvious, as is the intended response – ideally you say “Yes, I’m the best!”, then everybody laughs and you order takeaway. However, with a non-native speaker the irony of such a comment might get lost. Your friend’s lighthearted joke might come off as mean, and it could cause awkwardness or even offence.
This scenario illustrates a deep cognitive and social truth: foreign accents can have a big impact on the way we interpret meaning. In our increasingly globalised world, foreign accents are an inevitable part of communication, but studies suggest they can create barriers, not just in comprehension but also in perception of the speaker and social interaction.
Speech habits develop in early childhood, so when the sounds of a foreign language (intonation, melody, rhythm, and tone) differ even slightly from the speaker’s native language, they can be difficult to accurately reproduce. This is especially true if a language is learned late in life. In general, the later someone learns a language, the stronger their accent tends to be.
Even among native speakers, a person’s voice can reveal a lot about where they are from, as well as their social class and ethnic background. Listeners subconsciously pick up on specific speech patterns to infer traits such as gender, age, or social status, and process these cues within just a few hundred milliseconds of hearing a voice. Such quick judgements about a speaker’s identity can directly influence how their language is understood.
Foreign accents: lost in interpretation
Although a foreign accent does not usually impair communication, it requires more cognitive effort to process than a native accent. Our brains find it easier to process a familiar accent, and as a result we tend to feel more positive about ourselves when listening to native speech. Also, listeners tend to assume foreign-accented speakers have lower linguistic competence, even when their grammar and vocabulary are impeccable.
One of our recent studies explored how comments from foreign speakers affect the perception of irony, leading to potential misinterpretations and social consequences. In our experiment, native Spanish speakers were presented with written dialogues featuring either a native or foreign-accented protagonist. The accents were either from Madrid or from Romania.
Participants had to rate the irony and friendliness of comments in certain situations, such as our earlier example of “You are such an excellent cook!” after someone burns a meal. They also rated the appropriateness of responses to the comment: “Yes, I am an excellent cook” or “Not at all, I am a terrible cook”.
The results confirmed that irony is perceived as weaker when spoken by a foreign individual. In other words, foreign speakers’ comments are taken more literally. In addition, the study showed that the responses to these comments were rated as less appropriate, suggesting a disruption in social interaction.
One possible reason for this disconnect could be that processing foreign accents demands more mental effort than processing a familiar native one, which reduces our ability to detect subtle cues like irony. However, in this study, the speakers’ comments were intentionally written to get rid of this issue – the irony of each response was not particularly subtle.
Another explanation for the reduced level of irony may be the listeners’ expectation about the speaker’s linguistic abilities. Indeed, if we assume a speaker has limited linguistic skills, we may not expect them to use complex, subtle language like irony, and we may treat their comments more literally.
Yet another possibility (not exclusive from the previous one) is that people unconsciously categorise foreign-accented speakers as out-group social members, leading to biases. This social categorisation triggers stereotypes associated with the nationality of the speaker, which can colour, either positively or negatively, the perception a listener has of the speaker.
It is worth noting that not all accents are equal. Some are afforded more prestige or a higher status, leading to a more positive view of the speaker. However, foreign-accented speakers are usually perceived more negatively than native speakers, and their speech is processed in less detail.
Social consequences
The fact that we do not process foreign-accented speech like native-accented speech has consequences in various contexts. At work, for instance, employees with foreign accents are often seen as less competent than their native-speaking counterparts, which can limit their career opportunities.
In educational and academic contexts, professors with foreign accents receive lower teaching evaluations, even when their content is clear. Students are also more likely to misinterpret complex or abstract ideas when spoken by a non-native instructor. This bias works both ways, as educators may hold prejudices against students who speak with non-standard accents.
In legal contexts, foreign-accented individuals face disadvantages as well. They are more likely to be perceived as guilty and receive harsher punishments for comparable offenses. Additionally, their credibility as eyewitnesses is often questioned, making them seem less trustworthy.
Accents can also present a challenge in marketing. For example, when customers have to make more effort to understand a salesperson with a foreign accent, they retain less information about the brand and its message compared to when the speaker has a native accent.
Read more:
Nationality shapes who we view as workplace leaders
Overcoming accent bias
Research has shown that exposure to foreign accents improves comprehension and helps reduce biases. With simple exposure, the brain can “tune in” to different accents, gradually reducing the extra cognitive effort initially required. Watching films and listening to podcasts, as well as engaging with foreign speakers, are effective ways to improve understanding and make processing easier.
Moreover, policies that promote linguistic inclusivity can help combat discrimination and create more equitable opportunities. The media should also portray foreign-accented speakers in a non-stereotypical way, encouraging acceptance and understanding.
Education plays a crucial role in reshaping these perceptions. The fundamental goal is to recognise that foreign accents are a part of a speaker’s identity, not a flaw, and are a natural consequence of our globalised world, where speaking only one language is increasingly not the norm.
However, change does not have to come from institutions. As members of society we can make it happen in our daily lives by following one very simple rule: focus on what someone is actually saying, instead of the way they sound. Läs mer…
