By Robin Lee
I
lived in Britain, commonly known as the island of posh people, for slightly
more than six years. Having been surrounded by these people, it was natural for
me to adopt their accent throughout my years in Britain, but it never occurred
to me once that I had an accent; how was I supposed to know when my accent is
the same when compared to all my friends and teachers? Over there, I was not
teased by my friends for having a British accent but rather for having an Asian
one. However, this does not mean that I was not aware of my accent and Korea’s
general perception towards it.
Before
I moved to Korea to go to Daewon, I had various tastes on non-British people’s
perception towards my accent. First off, I noticed that many people found the
fact that a kid, who looked completely and utterly Asian, not only spoke good
English but also spoke in an outrageous British accent; this is when I noticed
that my ethnicity was of an extreme minority. When I once went on holiday to
Thailand, an group of American tourists were intrigued by my British accent.
Also when I visited Korea on holidays and went to English hagwons, the teachers
and the pupils were pleasantly surprised.
However,
these experiences were not enough for me to be ready for the adventures to come
in Daewon due to my British accent.
On
my first day at school, I had to give a short introduction about myself to my
class. When I talked about what I liked and how I was and all that, they seemed
indifferent and bored. However, as soon as I told them about my long stay in
Britain, their reaction was formidable. Girls uttered cries of jubilation that
rivalled the ecstasy the Jews expressed when Jesus was resurrected. Boys roared
as thunderously as the crowd of 5000 people who were fed by Jesus with
bottomless baskets of bread and fish. The ground shook as the students jostled
around to get near me to hear my teachings, making noise that not only brought
attention from the neighbouring classes but from the entire school building. In
seconds, a large crowd had gathered outside my classroom. Then, I placed my
right hand’s index finger on my lips as a gesture of silence and when all was
finally quiet, I gave my introduction to the crowd. The crowd listened well,
but there were whispers; some said that I was a prophet others even claimed
that I was the son of god, that I was the messiah.
Ok…
perhaps, this is not the most honest recollection of my first day at Daewon and
this is my point: my British accent is just another accent. Yes, it is true
that each accent has its own characteristics; I have heard friends say that the
British accent is distinctive and somewhat influential; even Mr. Dranginis
talked about the unfairness of the British accent sounding so official and how
it makes him want to believe that everything I say is right. However, I think
the real misery of having a British accent is not that friends tease me and try
(but fail miserably thus creating a weird and stupid sounding accent) and
imitate me but the fact that people think more about my accent and care less
about the real and the meaningful side of me. When I want to talk about things
that interest me, people are more often commenting about how great my accent
is; I did not even ask for this godliness! It is frustrating when these things
happen over and over again and it really does grind my gears.
So,
now that you know, can you please stop telling me how marvellous my accent is?
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