Accents.

Everyone has an accent. You can tell where people are from by their accents. However this is not always the case. Although I was born and brought up in Liverpool I don't have a Liverpudlian accent. It was made clearer to me when I was at uni and I was asked where I was from. When I answered them they would ask "How come you don't have the accent?" "I don't know," I would reply. Another fact about me that few people believe is my age as I am told that I look younger. I always take it as a compliment and besides you know the phrase!

I would describe my accent as Received Pronunciation with a hint of Ghanaian. When I was in Liverpool my family would speak English to me and Twi to everyone else. Moreover I didn't go out that much and I didn't hang around with my fellow Scousers. I wasn't the mingling type. It was no wonder I didn't pick up the scouse accent. I do pronounce words like a Northerner though and on rare occasions I would sound like a Scouser, especially if I get excited. I am happy with my accent because it is a mixture of three different accents which reflect my hometown, my family's country of origin and my upbringing. There are some people who have more than one accent and can switch between them. There are also some people who can change accents as they move from one place to another. Take my cousin for example. When she was little her accent was Ghanaian. She moved to the USA several years ago and now her accent is American.

If I had to pick my favourite Anglophone accent it would be the Irish accent from the Republic of Ireland. I think it sounds warm, friendly and welcoming. As I said before we all have accents. We should all be proud of our accents and not be made to feel ashamed of them. No one should judge other people by their accents because no accent is superior to another. Now that I am based in London whenever I hear a scouse accent my heart warms up as it reminds me of home. If my Liverpudlian accent were strong I would gladly speak it as I'm proud of my hometown.

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