Is your accent important in the workplace?
It is sometimes surprising how some of us consider that we do not have a regional accent, when we really do.
Accent is part of us, our roots, our heritage and our history – it’s what makes us, well … us.
However, accents can also be closely linked to global, national and regional stereotypes, which can form barriers to communication and à priori, even though we do nothing, apart from opening our mouths and uttering words.
Originally, BBC television and radio presenters and news-readers spoke with standard received pronunciation (RP), with not a trace of a regional accent – which made the ‘B’, of British Broadcasting Corporation, slightly redundant.
RP, is difficult to place geographically, although some considered that it was somewhere within the home counties, around London.
Indeed, the majority of English Language teachers; working in language schools, up until a few years ago, spoke with an accent resembling RP, which the students were able to understand quite easily. The only problem, was that subsequently, the people the students encountered in ‘real life’ didn’t speak with RP, but had regional accents that then proved difficult for them to understand.
Thankfully, today the variety of different accents that teachers have is both accepted and welcomed.
The thing with accent, is that it impacts on people’s emotions and can affect the perception of the person’s effectiveness, competence, credibility, honesty, trustworthiness and friendliness.
What, all this just through accent?
Well, yes, just think about it for a moment …
I am originally from Somerset, in the south west of England – you know where the farmers are from … I have never farmed, but go tell that to the marines. Over the years I have lost the majority of my accent, with only the very faintest hint remaining – in fact when I hear people from back home speaking, I often think that they are putting it on, just a tad… I never spoke like that, did I?
Last night on tv, there was a documentary about social workers in Bristol – in the south west of England. The subjects were very harrowing, but there were many comments about the accents on Twitter – one or two insinuated that the people were ‘thick’ or stupid, because of the way they spoke, others couldn’t believe that a social worker could have an accent like ‘that’ … #WTF, as it the young and trendies say on Twitter …
We have seen examples in the media of east London or Liverpool accents being linked with ‘Jack-the-lads’, a little on the dishonest side; Geordie, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne as salt-of-the-Earth, Manchester as stroppy people, Glasgow as violent, Scottish Highland accents as being naïve etc, etc.
The media feeds, and feeds-off of these stereotypes – mainly as being an easy way of compartmentalising people or hanging labels on them, which serve as a first impression, which can then be negated or confirmed through experience.
So can an accent mar one’s presentation and standing in the workplace?
Most answers to this will probably be, that it shouldn’t do.
There are always comments from Tweeters about Raymond Blanc, the French tv chef, and surprisingly many about his accent, as if him having a strong French accent detracts from his cooking and linguistic skills – he is very eloquent, to say nothing of his cooking skills. This apparently isn’t the first thing that impacts on some people, whilst others hand out a lable of the smooth, sexy Frenchman … oh well.
I work in France, I have a pretty good command of the language, but I have quite a strong English accent, which I use in my job to my advantage. For example in my job, I am able to say things slightly more direct than a French person would – although we may use the same words and sentences, which often gets results, although this needs to be handled with care.
It is perhaps more important to pronounce words clearly, use slang sparingly in some situations and decrease glottal stops, rather than the importance of accents, although there will always be that first impression that we all need to get over.
Personally, I feel that accent is less important than the quality of the discourse and ultimately depends on where the listener is from – if a person from Somerset listens to another speaker from Somerset, they will most likely feel more at ease with them and maybe even trust them more. This has actually been proved through studies of accent (not just Somerset accents…).
The jury may still be out on the question in the title of this post, Is your accent important in the workplace? but I’d be interested in your thoughts on this – vote in the poll or leave a comment.
Are you a visual thinker?
If the bulk of your thoughts come in the form images or shapes, then you might be a visual thinker.
There are many types of ways people process their thought patterns such as kinesthetic, thinking through physical movements, and aural which is thinking through hearing and rhythmic patterns.
Visual thinking, which is recognized as the most common form of thinking, is when you think through pictures and images. We don’t always remember the things we hear like aural thinkers, but the things we see.
If you’ve questioned your thinking skills, here are some indications you depend more on visuals than anything else
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJiMjSscgk4
Guy Fawkes Night
5 November is Guy Fawkes night, also known as Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain.
People meet around a bonfire usually with an effigy of Guy Fawkes being burnt, either privately or at organised events to watch fireworks displays, eat baked potatoes, soups, sausages etc. with family and friends.
The religious connotations of the celebration are not really thought about, it is just a family fun evening to enjoy together.
This is what Wikipedia says about it:
Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords.
Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and months later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot’s failure.
Within a few decades Gunpowder Treason Day, as it was known, became the predominant English state commemoration, but as it carried strong religious overtones it also became a focus for anti-Catholic sentiment.
Puritans delivered sermons regarding the perceived dangers of popery, while during increasingly raucous celebrations common folk burnt effigies of popular hate-figures, such as the pope.
Towards the end of the 18th century reports appear of children begging for money with effigies of Guy Fawkes and 5 November gradually became known as Guy Fawkes Day.
Towns such as Lewes and Guildford were in the 19th century scenes of increasingly violent class-based confrontations, fostering traditions those towns celebrate still, albeit peaceably.
In the 1850s changing attitudes resulted in the toning down of much of the day’s anti-Catholic rhetoric, and the Observance of 5th November Act was repealed in 1859.
Eventually the violence was dealt with, and by the 20th century Guy Fawkes Day had become an enjoyable social commemoration, although lacking much of its original focus.
The present-day Guy Fawkes Night is usually celebrated at large organised events, centred on a bonfire and extravagant firework displays.
Settlers exported Guy Fawkes Night to overseas colonies, including some in North America, where it was known as Pope Day. Those festivities died out with the onset of the American Revolution.
Claims that Guy Fawkes Night was a Protestant replacement for older customs like Samhain are disputed, although another old celebration, Halloween, has lately increased in popularity, and according to some writers, may threaten the continued observance of 5 November.
Guy Fawkes Night originates from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a failed conspiracy by a group of provincial English Catholics to assassinate the ProtestantKing James I of England and replace him with a Catholic head of state.
In the immediate aftermath of the 5 November arrest of Guy Fawkes, caught guarding a cache of explosives placed beneath the House of Lords, James’s Council allowed the public to celebrate the king’s survival with bonfires, so long as they were “without any danger or disorder”.
This made 1605 the first year the plot’s failure was celebrated.
The following January, days before the surviving conspirators were executed, Parliament passed the Observance of 5th November Act, commonly known as the “Thanksgiving Act”.
It was proposed by a Puritan Member of Parliament, Edward Montagu, who suggested that the king’s apparent deliverance by divine intervention deserved some measure of official recognition, and kept 5 November free as a day of thanksgiving while in theory making attendance at Church mandatory.
A new form of service was also added to the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer, for use on that date.
Little is known about the earliest celebrations.
In settlements such as Carlisle, Norwich and Nottingham, corporations provided music and artillery salutes.
Canterbury celebrated 5 November 1607 with 106 pounds of gunpowder and 14 pounds of match, and three years later food and drink was provided for local dignitaries, as well as music, explosions and a parade by the local militia.
Even less is known of how the occasion was first commemorated by the general public, although records indicate that in Protestant Dorchester a sermon was read, the church bells rung, and bonfires and fireworks lit.
Songs are still sang by children, here is one from 1903 :
Don’t you Remember,
The Fifth of November,
‘Twas Gunpowder Treason Day,
I let off my gun,
And made’em all run.
And Stole all their Bonfire away. (1742)
| The fifth of November, since I can remember,
Was Guy Faux, Poke him in the eye,
Shove him up the chimney-pot, and there let him die.
A stick and a stake, for King George’s sake,
If you don’t give me one, I’ll take two,
The better for me, and the worse for you,
Ricket-a-racket your hedges shall go. (1903)
|
The image of the Guy Fawkes mask has been adopted by the Occupy movement and by Anonymous, and Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has also been seen wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.
It has become a regular feature of many protests.
To this day the Yeomen of the Guard (Beefeaters), the English monarch’s bodyguards since 1485, still search the cellars below the Palace of Westminster before each state opening of Parliament.
The spirit of Fawkes, in many regards, lives on.
Management decisions
A sketch from The Big Train comedy show, in which a boss is confronted by his staff on some sticky issues.
The boss tries to avoid the issues at all costs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8ofz1OnlNI
The History of Halloween
Halloween, or Hallowe’en a contraction of All Hallows’ Evening), is a celebration observed in a number of countries on 31 October, the eve of All Hallows’ Day.
It begins the three-day observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.
All Hallows’ Eve is a Christianized feast influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain.
Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending Halloween costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, games, playing pranks, visiting haunted attractions, telling scary stories and watching horror films. In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of All Hallows’ Eve, including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, remain popular, although elsewhere it is a more commercial and secular celebration. Some Christians abstain from meat on All Hallows’ Eve, eating instead apples, colcannon, potato pancakes and soul cakes.
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
In ancient Britain and Ireland, the Celtic Festival of Samhain was observed on October 31, at the end of summer.
The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day and the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, goblins, black cats, fairies and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about.
It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature.
In addition, Halloween was thought to be the most favorable time for divinations concerning marriage, luck, health, and death.
It was the only day on which the help of the devil was invoked for such purposes.
Halloween symbols, customs, and practices have had a variety of influences upon Western culture throughout history.
However, in early American history, Halloween was not celebrated due to America’s strong Christian heritage. It was not widely observed until the twentieth century. Initially, it was practiced only in small Irish Catholic settlements, until thousands of Irish migrated to America during the great potato famine and brought their customs with them.
To some degree, the modern American origin of Halloween is an Irish holiday with early origins in the Celtic winter festival.
Ireland is the only place in the world where Halloween is actually a national holiday.
