There is no correlation between accents and accomplishments or education. Why then are you judged on how you speak? We consciously or unconsciously judge people based on speech patterns, accents and word usage.
The Sender-Receiver model of communication is overly simplistic. In this model there is a speaker (sending the message) and the receiver (hearing the message). It’s widely accepted that a variety of factors influence the message including the environment and body language to name a few.
Take an increasingly complicated communication situation in the model described above and add an ACCENT to the sender’s speech.
Now add in a lifetime of experiences the listener brings to this exchange. This causes him/her to make assumptions about the speaker. The message becomes less clear and is subject to errors, misunderstanding and the speaker is judged based on how they speak.
Studies have shown that people with certain accents are regarded as being more intelligent and educated whereas other accents are associated with being less educated.
Morally, we were taught not to judge a book by its cover yet we do it all the time. We at Be Understood help our clients overcome the barriers hindering them based on accented speech. We find that actively working on speech intonation will make you speak clearly, lead confidently and be understood.
We are however, confronted with a lager question:
IF YOUR ACCENT CAN REGULATE HOW YOU ARE PERCEIVED IN BUSINESS, WHAT ELSE IS BEING UNCONSCIOUSLY OVERLOOKED?