Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
All my life, I have heard people comment on my mom’s accent.
“Where are you from?” They would ask.
She’s from Argentina…
But as for me? I couldn’t hear her accent at all!
To me, she sounded completely normal.
And that made me realize something powerful about how we perceive accents. The more you are exposed to an accent, the more “normal” it sounds to you… because it’s familiar.
For example, I’ve noticed that people often say I don’t “have an accent”. But let’s be real, I definitely do! It’s just that, thanks to Hollywood movies, TV shows, and global media, the California/West Coast sound is so widespread that it feels neutral, natural, and normal to most ears.
Meanwhile, when someone speaks with an accent that’s less familiar, like Southern U.S., or from another country, our ears pick up on the difference immediately.
Anyhow, it honestly doesn’t matter what accent you have in English… as long as you feel comfortable when you speak and people understand you… that’s what counts!
All my life, I have heard people comment on my mom’s accent.
“Where are you from?” They would ask.
She’s from Argentina…
But as for me? I couldn’t hear her accent at all!
To me, she sounded completely normal.
And that made me realize something powerful about how we perceive accents. The more you are exposed to an accent, the more “normal” it sounds to you… because it’s familiar.
For example, I’ve noticed that people often say I don’t “have an accent”. But let’s be real, I definitely do! It’s just that, thanks to Hollywood movies, TV shows, and global media, the California/West Coast sound is so widespread that it feels neutral, natural, and normal to most ears.
Meanwhile, when someone speaks with an accent that’s less familiar, like Southern U.S., or from another country, our ears pick up on the difference immediately.
Anyhow, it honestly doesn’t matter what accent you have in English… as long as you feel comfortable when you speak and people understand you… that’s what counts!
