Love the Accent! Sofia Vergara

The other day I was watching ABC’s sitcom “Modern Family”, and I was immediately captivated by “Gloria” who is played by a Colombian actress Sofia Vergara. I love her character and I just love her accent!

People Magazine said,

That accent is real!

Sure, it may seem specific to her character Gloria’s outsized personality but Vergara says her accent is the real deal. “I go out to a mall or restaurant and when somebody hears me they’ll go, ‘Oh my God, it’s your real accent,'” she says. “I tell them, ‘Yeah, I guess I’m not that good an actress!'” Still, she admits, her comedic instincts may, at times, cause her to emphasize certain pronunciations. “I do make the accent a little stronger,” she says. “I understand English; I read and write English perfectly, but the accent won’t go away.”

I was born and raised in Taiwan. I didn’t speak fluent English until I moved to US in 1999. And yes, I speak with an accent in English. I used to secretly wish one day I would be able to speak without a foreign accent. I worked so hard to learn the language. I cannot stop beating myself up over mistakes in grammar and pronunciation. I was so upset, “the accent won’t go away”, no matter how hard I worked!

Then I realized, “the accent won’t go away”, because it is part of who I am.

I mixed my Chinese accent with the Thai accent from my best friend in graduate school, the German accents from my dear roommates, and an Alabama accent from a co-worker of mine. I love it when I recognize the different accents when they pop up as I speak. They remind me about my dear friends, the precious moments I had with them, and how the interactions with them have shaped my life.

Instead of spending endless time and energy to fix something that’s not required fixing, I’d rather spend time to embrace and celebrate who I am.

“I know I have an accent, but people understand me just fine!”

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