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Accent and Identity Search the Internet for accent reduction, and you'll get about 1,180,000 hits offering software programs, personal tutoring, and online and telephone classes. With so much help available for people who want to improve, modify, neutralize, reduce, or even eliminate their accents, is anyone interested in keeping one? Preying on insecurities of nonnative speakers and their need to fit in, the accent-elimination business promises that you can increase intelligibility, gain confidence, eliminate career barriers, and even improve professional image through accent reduction therapy and speech pathology. The message is clear: having an accent is undesirable. But to whom is it undesirable: the bearer of the accent, the listener, speech pathologists, or society as a whole? With these questions in mind, I, as a nonnative speaker of English, interviewed other nonnative speakers. […] Based on my observations and interviews, whether you keep or lose your accent seems to go beyond established theories of brain and speech development. Second Language, Second Identity The idea that "second language learning involves the acquisition of a second identity" (Brown 2000, 182) sounds like second language learners may have a personality disorder, but I believe the idea to be true. Some of my interviewees agreed that they often feel as if they are different people when speaking English. […]. One of my interviewees said she felt that speaking without an accent would be like not telling the truth about herself. If people don't hear the accent, she continued, they assume different things about you in terms of cultural and behavioral expectations. Therefore, a nonnative speaker’s unaccented speech may cause confusion about the speaker’s identity and interfere with communication. On the other hand, having an accent may keep you from being taken seriously. One of my interview subjects used the term accentism in reference to biases, challenges, and even lost opportunities that nonnative speakers may face in a society. Sadly, people with accents are not always perceived as competent, educated, or even trustworthy. […]. Do You Want to Lose Your Accent? Interestingly enough, when asked if they would like to lose their accents completely, most of my interviewees said no, noting that accent is a big part of their identity and makes them feel special and original. Speaking with an accent in the United States has fewer negative consequences than, say, in Germany. According to my interviewees, although it's not always easy, most of the time they are able to accomplish their goals. Americans, being influenced by diverse and democratic history, seem to be more tolerant of accents than citizens in other nations in the world. In the United States, I believe, you can complain, demand, persuade, comment, and pursue and be heard even if you speak with an "atrocious" accent.