Cheryl Cole and the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections On Englands Attitude Towards Accents By Ahmed Sule, CFA

In the last couple of days, the British press has given much coverage to Cheryl Coles removal from the American version of the X Factor. According to the reports, the executives of the programme feared that the American viewers would not be able to understand Cheryl Coles Geordie accent, which has been described as too thick. Cheryls exit from the US show has come as a shock not only to Cheryl but also to many people in England. Some have wondered why one of Englands most talented, beautiful and glamorous personalities should be subjected to such humiliation in the US. People find it hard to believe that of all the excuses to use to remove Cheryl from the show, the Americans have decided to use her accent as the reason. The responses from a number of people are varied, but all have a similar message i.e. Cheryl has not been treated fairly and the Americans are wrong. Some have stated that if the rest of the English speaking world can understand and cope with Cheryls accent, then the Americans should also be able to cope with it. Others argue that the Americans have shown themselves to be rather insular. Some have mentioned that removing a person because of her accent is a form of prejudice. Other interesting comments are detailed below: Just listen more, just listen very intently Cheryl speaks English, as do Americans. Yes, she has an accent, but so do the Americans. Some people are so cruel. Why can't the lazy Americans use their ears and brains, listen carefully and understand regional English accent?

Though I am not a follower of the X Factor show, I have followed the outcry resulting from Cheryls removal. Upon further reflections, I asked myself the following question: Could Cheryls removal from the US show due to her accent be a case of the chicken coming home to roost? One factor that led me to ask this question is because relative to the English people, Americans tend to be more tolerant of other peoples accents and if they are now showing such intolerance to a regional English accent then England may just be getting a taste of its own medicine. In England there appears to be a very low tolerance for African and Asian accents; this is in contrast to the higher tolerance given to American, Australian, Canadian and South African accents. In the next paragraph, I will address some of these biases against African and Asian and other non-English accents.

At the height of the British Empire, Britain colonised a number of countries in Africa and Asia. As a consequence, many people from these two continents now come over to England for various reasons including holidays, to earn a living or to study. Sometimes many talented and qualified Africans and Asians have been denied access to good jobs not due to their inability to perform the task at hand, but because of their accent. Some reasons given for the denial include not being able to communicate effectively; not being able to engage with the audience; lacking communication skills; not being able to express themselves. Those that are fortunate to get into jobs are sometimes given poor performance grades due to these same reasons. Another instance where the prejudice against accents is manifested is in the press. Very often when TV reporters are interviewing some English speaking Africans and Asians, one sees on the TV screen an English subtitle of what the interviewee is saying even though a) he is speaking in English and b) what she is saying is clear and can be easily understood. Sometimes correlation is inferred between competence and the ability to speak the English language fluently. When Fabio Capello was appointed manager of England there were a number of reports in the press stating that he may not be a successful England manager due to his lack of fluency in English. Capellos accomplishment as a five time winning Serie A manager and a one time Champion League winning manager was disregarded while his Italian accent and lack of English fluency was emphasized. Likewise in the current race for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief, the press has attributed Christine Largardes (the French foreign Minister) fluency in English as a strong point for her assuming the role. There are also several comedy shows, which mock the accents of non-English speaking people. Now that the chicken has come home to roost, where do we go from here? There needs to be a realization in England that accent does not equate to ability. According to the dictionary, accent is defined as the degree of prominence of a syllable within a word and sometimes of a word within a phrase. If a person pronounces a word differently from an English person, that should not count against that person. Furthermore, people need to realize that accent is relative. An English person who grew up in England but also speaks Mandarin would likely be regarded as having an accent if he converses with a Chinese person; An English person who grew up in England but also speaks Twi would likely be regarded as having an accent if he converses with a Ghanaian person. With the Cheryl Cole saga now settling down, hopefully there will be a reassessment of the English attitude towards non-English accents. For those that still have issues with African and Asian accents, I say JUST LISTEN MORE, JUST LISTEN VERY INTENTLY May 2011.

Ahmed Sule