[Natalie.]

Do you think if people have strong accents they are at a disadvantage for things? jobs etc
Do you have stereotypes about certain accents?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...y-dialect.html

[Niamh.]

Depends on the job I guess, if you're going for a job that requires you to deal with the public then I think it could be a disadvantage because the employer will want someone who's easily understandable

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Depends on the job I guess, if you're going for a job that requires you to tell with the public then I think it could be a disadvantage because the employer will want someone who's easily understandable

People with strong accents, geordies, scousers etc. do very well in service type jobs, because they come across as approachable and friendly. Your average Joe will feel much more at home sharing a joke with someone that sounds like they've just stepped out of Brookside than someone who has just stepped off the set of Made in Chelsea.

Of course, if you're going to be serving champagne and tea cakes in first class thats a different matter.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Verbal

People with strong accents, geordies, scousers etc. do very well in service type jobs, because they come across as approachable and friendly. Your average Joe will feel much more at home sharing a joke with someone that sounds like they've just stepped out of Brookside than someone who has just stepped off the set of Made in Chelsea.

Of course, if you're going to be serving champagne and tea cakes in first class thats a different matter.

Where in my post did I say any of that? I said people who are easily understandable, you can be from Liverpool and still be easy to understand

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Where in my post did I say any of that? I said people who are easily understandable, you can be from Liverpool and still be easy to understand

The thread is about strong accents, you said they could be a disadvantage. I disagreed.

Give me strength.

[AnnieK]

Before my brother was a Pilot he worked as an Air Traffic Controller and they made his have eloqution lessons to get rid of his accent as foriegn pilots wouldn't understand him. He now sounds like Prince William! If you met him you wouldn't know he was a Manc...

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Verbal

The thread is about strong accents, you said they could be a disadvantage. I disagreed.

Give me strength.

I didn't however say that anyone from the North of England shouldn't have a job in customer service like your post in reply to mine implied

[Kizzy]

Worra load of ald s***!

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

I didn't however say that anyone from the North of England shouldn't have a job in customer service like your post in reply to mine implied

Stop trying to point score for God sake. That's not what I was 'implying' and you know it..hence my use of etc.

I could have just as well have used people from Bristol, South Wales or Norfolk as examples.

My point, was that people with broad accents do very well in service jobs. That was it.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Verbal

Stop trying to point score for God sake. That's not what I was 'implying' and you know it..hence my use of etc.

I could have just as well have used people from Bristol, South Wales or Norfolk as examples.

My point, was that people with broad accents do very well in service jobs. That was it.

Point score? what on earth are you talking about now?

[Verbal]

Oh nothing, forget it

[Kizzy]

Call centers are used in some towns specifically as the accents there are considered calming, I think it's geordies.
So I would say employers prefer colloquial accents to a degree.

[arista]

This makes sense
as its not liked

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Depends on the job I guess, if you're going for a job that requires you to deal with the public then I think it could be a disadvantage because the employer will want someone who's easily understandable

I agree. If you're going to employ someone to speak to people from all over, they need to be quite easy to understand. I've struggled with people on the phone sometimes. I like regional accents, they're colourful and interesting... but sometimes they're hard to understand and in a professional enviroment I'd say it could be a disadvantage.

[Kizzy]

oo sez? nowt wrong wi an accent, dunt mean yer fick!

Most organisations customer service base is in India... that might be why most struggle, nothing to do with any issue with black country accents.

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Livia

I agree. If you're going to employ someone to speak to people from all over, they need to be quite easy to understand. I've struggled with people on the phone sometimes. I like regional accents, they're colourful and interesting... but sometimes they're hard to understand and in a professional enviroment I'd say it could be a disadvantage.

Yeah, I'm not saying the accents are bad, you can still speak in your accent but be understandable. I remember when I was working in Boston years ago, I had to slow my voice down by around 5 times to save having to repeat every sentence 74 times I didn't lose my accent while doing that though

Originally Posted by anniek76

Before my brother was a Pilot he worked as an Air Traffic Controller and they made his have eloqution lessons to get rid of his accent as foriegn pilots wouldn't understand him. He now sounds like Prince William! If you met him you wouldn't know he was a Manc...

Sounds like something the government should implement nationwide.

[Natalie.]

It's always Scots and Geordies when I phone my phone company. I can understand them but the Scots sometimes can't understand me

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Yeah, I'm not saying the accents are bad, you can still speak in your accent but be understandable. I remember when I was working in Boston years ago, I had to slow my voice down by around 5 times to save having to repeat every sentence 74 times I didn't lose my accent while doing that though

Oh you bloody Irish with your lilting accents... you can get away with anything with you speak with an Irish accent, that's my take on it.

Accents are good. A poor vocabulary and a slack jaw, they're the things that annoy me, and you don't have to have a particular accent to sound common and a bit thick.

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Jesus.

Sounds like something the government should implement nationwide.

I don't think so....

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Jesus.

Sounds like something the government should implement nationwide.

I'd probably feel the same if I lived in Birmingham.

Originally Posted by Livia

I'd probably feel the same if I lived in Birmingham.

I meant nationwide to eradicate manc from the island. Although if they wish to take Brummie from us as well, there wouldn't be many tears.

[Kyle]

I find people who have regional accents down to earth and approachable. That's how it is really in South Yorkshire. Accents to me is one piece of an identity and there's nowt better than being somewhere and instantly knowing where people are from when you speak to them. It helps build a rapport I feel.

[Kizzy]

This just perpetuates the myth that people who have trained their accent away to be left with some souless middle england twang are more employable,
I don't think that's true.

[Livia]

Originally Posted by Simple Minds

I find people who have regional accents down to earth and approachable. That's how it is really in South Yorkshire. Accents to me is one piece of an identity and there's nowt better than being somewhere and instantly knowing where people are from when you speak to them. It helps build a rapport I feel.

I think that people are people, no matter where they come from or what accent they have. Some are good, some are bad... having a particular accent doesn't make you more or less of a person

Judging people on how they speak and assuming their accent says everything about them, whatever that accent is, seems a rather provincial viewpoint to me.