Caitlin F.,
NH
My Dad and his family are all from Canada, with thicker Canadian accents. Over time, his accent has become less noticeable, but growing up I did seem to also have somewhat of a Canadian accent. My accent became more mixed after living in the Midwest US and Southeast Asia. I never noticed it until I moved to the East Coast, to a predominantly white area where there wasn’t a lot of movement in and out of the community. I was constantly made fun of for how I speak. People (adults and kids!) would ask me to repeat a word and then say it back in a mocking way. It frustrated me and really embarrassed me, and made me not want to talk much in school. I was so taken aback that people went out of their way to interrupt a conversation to point this out. English is my first language, so I can’t imagine how horrible it makes people who are learning English or English as a secondary language.
