I have always loved foreign accents. When I was little and watched Disney cartoons, I tried to speak the way Ariel from the little mermaid spoke because I thought it was so cool. I went to live in France as a kid and although my school was British, we had so many foreign nationals there that it was always fascinating to me how different native tongues affected their spoken English. I swear you have not lived until you have heard a French guy speak English. You can feel the sensation in your toes. I have always been great at putting on accents. Always comes in handy when you have to speak publicly, especially when I’m nervous but of course my normal speaking accent is my Nigerian accent.

So recently, I have set about to igborize my kids. I mean, they are growing up in Nigeria but I really didn’t grow up speaking Igbo like my husband and if not for him, my Igbo would still be intermediate at best. I am however making an effort to speak Igbo to my kids and it doesn’t come easy because it’s not really my first language. So unfortunately, I only remember to speak Igbo when I want to threaten them.

My kids are great though and they are picking up Igbo really fast but recently I noticed that my mom always corrects them when they speak English. Not because they are wrong but because they are not speaking ‘fone’. My kids are very intelligent and use ‘very big words’ but somehow it is still not enough because they do not have foreign accents. Now, my kids know me. If you pronounce anything inappropriately, you will repeat the correct one till you get it right. I am starting to feel like I’m terrorizing my eldest daughter because she usually tries to speak with the utmost care around me so she doesn’t get corrected.

Foreign accents are a factor of environment not of affluence. It is unreasonable to expect a child that grew up in Nigeria to develop an American accent. And why should they? An accent is an expression of where you live and not of who you are. Having a foreign accent doesn’t make you superior or inferior. It just tells people where you’re from or where you have lived. The annoying thing is that some people do not do it well and you can hear the errors and the overemphasized ‘r’. It drives me nuts. My kids are Nigerian growing up in Nigeria. If at some point we move abroad, then another accent will develop naturally. It does not have to be forced.

I have decided to focus on teaching my kids to speak English and Igbo well rather than forcing them to speak with an accent that they have not been exposed to. Perhaps, if we all did this, there will be fewer on air personalities trying to force foreign accents and sounding like they are choking on cold water. My two cents.

Ciao

Dr Fab

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Dr Fab is a trained medical doctor who has decided to make a career of managing other doctors. She has two daughters, speaks English fluently, Igbo courageously and likes to think she can still speak French. She loves to read, dance and at some point thought she could design a clothing line! Her husband has to say she’s an amazing cook or risk starvation…