✨ Your Integration Bestie ✨

Q: “I feel that people treat me differently when they notice my accent. How do I deal with this?”
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Ahhh, I get it! This was something I tiptoed around for years too. Having lived in Australia for 15+ years, you’ll hear Aussie in my accent, but it definitely still carries little echoes of my roots.
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I won’t tell you to “just be confident” or “ignore them” because I know it’s not that simple. Feeling like people judge you for your accent is frustrating, and unfortunately, bias does exist.
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🔍 The BAD news: You CAN’T control how others react.
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🔍 The GOOD news: you CAN control how you respond.
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🔍 Here’s what’s within your power:
Instead of seeing your accent as a barrier, see it for what it really is: a reflection of your experiences, your culture, and the fact that you’ve mastered more than one language. That’s something many people will never achieve.
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🔍 Practical mindset shifts that help –
– If someone struggles to understand you, it doesn’t mean your English is bad. It means they aren’t used to hearing different accents.
– If someone is rude about it, that’s their issue, not yours. You don’t owe anyone ‘perfect’ pronunciation to be worth listening to. The right people care about what you say, not how you say it.
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🔍 Last word of advice? Keep speaking. Keep improving – not to please others, but to express yourself the way you want to! The more you own your voice, the less space there is for insecurity.
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Your accent is proof of the effort you’ve put in. Let it be something you carry with pride, not apology 💓
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We’re in this together ✨

Anita xx
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➡️ Did this resonate with you? Tap ❤️ so I know 🙂
➡️ Got a question about navigating life as an expat or immigrant, learning English, or building confidence? Submit your question here – I’d love to help xx