Despite coming from an English-speaking country colonized by Britain, I struggle to be understood. Coming to Canada, I was confident everyone would understand me quite easily without explaining myself repeatedly. Unfortunately, the reverse is the case.

As an immigrant, navigating barriers such as different terms for the same things was a struggle — in the country I come from, cars have a “boot” and people wear “trousers,” not pants. But it gets even more complicated as I have to work on my “accent.”

I guess all of us have an own-accent bias or an implicit preference to interact with people who sound like us. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in a multicultural country like Canada. An accent is difficult to change because our brain blocks us from hearing what we don’t understand, and nothing changes until someone learns to form the new sounds. Back home, no one commented on my accent.

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