Few days ago, a job recruiter called me up for a chat. She was the person who helped me get my current job. So, the call was to ask how am I doing in this new job. Here’s part of our conversation.

………

Recruiter :  Hey, so you’re traveling to Sydney this coming weekend?

Me :  Yeap.

Recruiter :  Whoa, good opportunity for you to work with people from other countries.

Me :  Hmm, nothing special. I was based in UK for 7 months before this. So I’ve worked with people from various countries.

Recruiter :  Oh…but…how come your English is like this?

Me :  Erm, what do you mean by this?

Recruiter :  You know…accent. Your English seems very Malaysian to me, and there’s no accent.

Me :  Honestly, I don’t see a need to learn other people’s accents. As long as I can speak clearly, I don’t see any harm.

Recruiter :  But it’s actually better to speak in their accent so that you can impress people during interview.

Me :  Well, it also depends on who am I talking to, no?

………

Ok, the last line probably pissed her off a little.

The thing is, people should not assume that everyone thinks alike. To them, accent can be used to impress people but to us, it can mean nothing. What we want to do is just to use our English to deliver our messages CLEARLY and EFFECTIVELY. Simple right? Surprisingly, a lot of people failed to see this and end up using accent….which they really shouldn’t. You know…those people who talk in alien language that nobody can understand them at all? I bet some of them are trying to speak with accent.

I know this post does sound a bit like a ranting post, but really, my advice to everyone out there – stop assuming that people will do what you think they will do. Or, stop thinking that people will do whatever you think YOU would do. For this case, the recruiter thinks English should be used with accent in order to impress people, and she thinks other people should do the same too. But the truth is, most people prefer to use English without any accent, as long as the messages can be delivered properly.

So, stop assuming.

p/s…. by the way, I wanted to ask her which accent does she think is appropriate. British? Scottish? Aussies? American? But I was quite pissed that I ended up answering 1 word reply to her – yes/no/okay

p/s…. and yes, I must admit I can’t really speak with accent and I don’t have any intention of learning it.