The couple of articles on Junot Diaz and shunning "Dominican-ness" made think about the issue of speech. One comment in the batch suggested there is no case where shunning your heritage is positive. I immediately thought of the counter-example of speech. I'm no social scientist but I've seen enough to believe firmly that how you speak can often play a big part in landing good jobs, and increasing your odds of better compensation. Whether it is a regional accent, class mannerism, or in our case coming to English as a second language my opinion is it literally pays to get it under control....and some of us have some out of control thick accents!

Personally I don't consider myself to have more than a slight accent, which I can control for when I think it may matter. Only a couple of very discerning ppl have ever noted it. Anyway just curious about the experience of others here around accents at work, school, funny incidents, etc.

Well, all that is depending on the accent and the nature of the job and what it is marketing, also how the person who owns the accent actually feel about having the accent in the first place...

Some establishments, as long as the accent is not imposing or thick to the point where it could be viewed as a speech impairment, often find people with accents interesting and a nice way to show or diversify their workforce environment.

Having an accent does not necessarily mean it is a disadvantage; often it is the total opposite and within itself place some individual as intriguing characters. It is often considered a unique trait to some.

Hey Afro I agree there are some industries or situations where it works for you, life is funny that way. Do you have an accent and has it worked for you or against you?

Mine has worked for me as far as I have been told, of course there are times some people who tend to be impatient and lack proper manners and education may be rude and try to rush you or bully you. For the most part in my opinion, most people who do have accents often are better proper speakers and writers than most without accents.

The only time I had a problem with my accent was when I was in middle school & high school when it was the most heavier and I sued to be a bit self conscious about it. However, even then I sued to have girls saying how much they loved my accent and how much it turned them on and it has been the crusade with mostly all women I have encountered today as well saying the very same thing. Also, it all depends on how you use that accent to your advantage in some situation by being confident, self assured with it.

To me it is the most fun when people always seem to take an interest in wanting to know where you are from and curious about which kind of accent of your accent is of. To me, I think am accent makes someone more of a distinctive original, distinguished unique person. People with accents can be a plus depends on how you are looking at it.

amol, motol, senol, comu tu ta ....e.t.c

There's a difference between having an accent and not being able to speak properly. It's a shame when a Dominican who lives in the US can be better understood by other Hispanics than one who lives on the island. I'm all for colloquialisms and all that jazz but there really needs to be an education effort in DR to improve the way people talk, and write. I cringe every time I see "serbesa vien fria".

Interesting Reading this post today as I was once again asked by a Jewish lady about my origins. She couldn't pin down my accent she only stated it was interesting. I asked her where she thought I was from she stated she didn't know. I asked her where do I sound I am from? She stated " I hear a little New York, but I cant tell the rest". She added, "it sound a little from New England, California, New orleans, but it doesn't sound Hispanic". I laughed, and so did she. She then asked why I laughed, and I responded, that I have been told the same by many people. She stated that when she heard my voice on the phone she would have never guessed my ethnicity. She imagined that I was an average white guy from somewhere in Podunk U.S.A.

I guess I learned at a very young age to assimilate to my environment. It is why perhaps that my accent is more neutral than most Hispanics.

One of my biggest pet Peeves is when I hear people like my sister who I believe is quite intelligent pronouncing MATH MOUTH or MONTH with an F e.g. MAF, MOUF or MONF

DannyVc spelling is attributed to education and not colloquialism or vernacular.

I think having an accent can be charming. But exchanging one letter for another like the L and the R or the I is not an accent, it is illiteracy! And sometimes it feels to me like it is considered a sin in Dominican Republic, especially for men, to pronounce the S at the end of a syllable. In fact, the letter S at the end of a syllable has been completely banned from our vocabulary.

It is seen as "talking fino" and generally is not appreciated by the rest of the folks. That is such a shame, because there is actually not one single good reason why a person should be obliged to speak their native language that badly! It is backward and besides, it puts us Dominicans in a disadvantaged position when speaking with people from other Spanish speaking nations.

History lesson people.

The spanish language that we know today has it's roots on vulgar latin... someday our vulgar spanish will become our own unique Dominican language....


Only of course If the Haitian Barbarians have not invaded us again by that time and destroy our beloved side of the island like they have destroyed theirs

Hooked on Phonics and learn your ABC's. I have interviewed, tested hundreds of Dominicans for customer service positions. We screened our applicants by first giving a phone number that went to voicemail if the accent wasn't to thick they would be called back for a live interview,

In the workplace we only allowed English even in the lunchroom, it didn't take long for the accents to fade away. For technicians and web designers the accent wasn't that big of a deal but when dealing with an angry redneck customer the last thing you want is to piss them off with a bad accent.

If you went by resumes 9 out of 10 said they were at level 5 or higher at Dominico Americano http://www.icda.edu.do/english/unicda/

I am pretty sure this is the worst place you could ever go to learn English but to be fair I haven't dealt with that part of the business for several years.

We had our best luck with Domincans that either lived abroad or went to private school.

I have to laugh becasue most people here (not all) cut the words short, cut in line , and cut you off driving. I guess everyone is in a hurry /.