Have you ever been at a dinner, a party, or any social gathering with Canadians where the topic of being a newcomer comes up? Since moving to Vancouver, I’ve noticed that people will often say something that leaves me feeling uncomfortable.
Here’s an example of a conversation I had with a stranger at a a dinner gathering. We exchanged small talk—I was Egyptian Bahraini, she was Canadian. Then, the inevitable.
Stranger: “No way! Seriously? You must have studied in the States before though?”
Me: “Nope, this is actually my first time in North America or even outside the Middle East really.”
Stranger: “Are you kidding me? But you speak English so well! Are you sure?”
Me: “Uh, yes. I’m sure.”
Stranger: “But you don’t have an accent!”
Me: “Oh really? Well I guess I don’t.”
Stranger: “I mean, like, how did you learn to speak like this?”
Me: “Well, uh, school, I guess. I’m educated?”
Stranger: “But like, you have no accent! Wow, you must have studied in an American school?”
Me: “Well, I did have some American and British teachers yes.”
Stranger: “Wow, that’s crazy! I can’t believe you haven’t been here before and you have no accent. Do other people there also speak English so well?”
I don’t know how to respond to the statement, “But you speak English so well!” I don’t really know, I just do. My accent just happened. It took me a while to get to where I’m at, for sure.
In Bahrain I was in an Indian school until grade four, then I moved to another school with an American curriculum school for a year, followed by a British school and then another American school (all in Bahrain).
Believe me, at one point my accent was a hodgepodge of all the above and it was not pretty.
But I never actively tried to perfect my English. Just ask me to say the word ‘Wednesday’ or a word with multiple ‘T’s in it, like ‘tattletale’. Apparently, these words give me away. I am also definitely not an anomaly; most of my friends back home speak English like me, and some speak it even better.
So when people say, “But you speak English so well!” and expect me to justify my speaking ability, I don’t really know what to say other than, “Yes, I know. I learned it at school.”
This answer usually doesn’t satisfy the person asking. Perhaps they were hoping that I had a cool story, like I was part of a C.I.A ‘Arab de-accenting’ experiment. That might explain why I don’t fit their stereotype of Arabs speaking English, with rolling ‘R’s and guttural sounds. Unfortunately, the truth is I just paid more attention in English class because I was saving my zoning-out energy for math.
Has someone ever said “But you speak English so well!” to you? How did it make you feel?