Month: September 2017

How does language include/exclude; represent/misrepresent?

Through the video I found that language can misrepresent someone in terms of their reputation and image. This is seen through the clip where Stephen visits a call centre and finds that many of the employees have a Geordie accent and are successful in calls with customers.A survey had concluded that the Geordie accent gave a “feel good” factor to most customers.

However it was later found out that places like call centres are at a bit of a crossroads because trying to satisfy the customer can be difficult since they have no other aspect of the employee besides their voice on the telephone- hence why the accent can be an important factor.

There was also the surprising fact that when a customer wants to complain they redirect them to someone with a traditional English accent as it generally seen (well, heard) as a voice of authority compared to those with Geordie accents.

It is seemed to be wired into our brains to have this perspective – according to the man Stephen was talking to in that segment.

Through the article I could tell that growing up, the journalist thought it was important to assimilate into the American culture and was embarrassed of her true Latino roots. But as she grew up she realised the strength that she held with looking up to her abuelita- who had learnt minimal English but was still able to go about her daily life in modern America.

In the end, what I gathered from the article was that to the journalist, as long as you are proud and confident in the uniqueness of your accent and your cultural identity. You have the ultimate power and I definitely agree with such a statement.

I noticed that the journalist used to find her language “ghetto” or less superior. While I do not agree with her views, I do understand where she is coming from. In some cases in the past, (and unfortunately, nowadays) social media and popular culture would portray Hispanics and Latinos as less superior to “the white man” and were usually shown in television programmes and films as less fortunate and unsuccessful. If I were the journalist, seeing all these negative things associated with being Latino, I would honestly be kind of ashamed too.

To end off this blog post, I would just like to share how much I stand for being in a country full of different cultures, language, accents and what have we. It is so important to be proud of culture and to share with generations to come. We cannot let people like Donald Trump tell us to let go of our history and fall prey into forced assimilation. Like the journalist said, Donald Trump knows the power we hold in our languages and it scares him. If people like him want to force non-english speaking cultures into assimilation so be it, but they are not going down without a fight.