Apologetic for accent in English?! (was: Hello to you all!)

> BP Jonsson wrote :
> What really annoys me is when I meet British people
> and they get annoyed by my Americanoid English
> accent.  It's like I feel obliged to apologize for
> the fact that my grandmother had actually lived in
> Chicago and that I picked up my accent from her!
> And Jonathan Knibb replied :
> Oh dear ... it would be dishonest of me not to admit
> that I am one such Brit, although not usually
> openly ... but it would be churlish to mention it
> after such a sympathetic response from someone I'd
> indirectly insulted .... <scratches head>
>
> Perhaps the best thing would be for me to stop
> getting annoyed by it :)
I second your motion, Jonathan!

Before coming to Tokyo, I too was biased in this
respect.  As I am [Midwest] American, though, it was
the reverse scenario -- ie, a bit contemptuous towards
Brit/Oz accents for no apparent reason that I can
recall even!

Now that I've expanded myself by meeting loads of
people throughout the world (including UK/OZ/NZ etc)
and matured, I no longer worry about such a childish
triviality.  After all, "everyone else" around the
world is kind enough to speak some sort of English to
us [predominantly monolingual] native English
speakers!  I think this also registers quickly if
native E-speaking you attempt to speak in some depth
in another language (especially, non-Romantic /
non-Germanic!).

Perhaps I am trailing off the topic, but I always
applaud any non-native E speaker for communicating in
my L1.  Whenever a friend of mine writes to the effect
that "I'm sorry for my poor English," I hit the reply
key and say "No worries! Thank you for even writing in
English [because I might not understand at all if in
your L1]."

The point I intended on making, perhaps not so
successfully however, is:  Why should there be any
such feelings of animosity between UK and US [etc]
speakers over such trivialities as regional
dialects/accents?  It's silly, and I wonder if the
same feelings exist between nations of other
common/shared languages (eg, French, Spanish,
Portuguese, etc) on such a seemingly wide-scale.

Ok, I'm shut up now.  But before that, let me just say
that one of the best ways to break the ice between UK
& US speakers -- in regard to language, at least -- is
to point of the difference in meaning between the word
=fanny=!  (No offense intended to any Brits by using
this word, BTW!)

M.E.S.

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