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Have you ever changed your accent to fit in?

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Have you ever modified your accent to fit into your surroundings? Maybe you've moved to a different region or got a different job and feel that people judge you based on your accent?

Researchers from the Universities of Bath and Manchester have looked into social mobility and how our accents can affect us. They found that people in some professions were asked to soften their accents.

suggested that employers need to be made more aware that they could be discriminating if hiring new employees based on their accent.

大象传媒 Radio 5 Live listeners have been telling Emma Barnett about their experiences of changing their accenting to fit in...

Steve from Merseyside

“I'm an airline pilot with a strong scouse accent, but I stick a plumb in my mouth when I do the PA to the passengers.

“They all think they are being flown by some silver haired gent from the home counties - not a lad from Fazakerley with a pair of lips tattooed on his bum.”

Catherine from Huddersfield

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“I was brought up in Huddersfield and spoke differently from all the other kids and was labelled posh gob.

“My parents were middle class so it was really important that I spoke a certain way.

“I tried to speak like the local accent and my Dad would get really angry."

Gary from Surrey

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“I have what you might call a posh Surrey accent, but a lot of the people I deal with in my business are of a working class background.

“My wife has pointed out that whenever I am speaking to clients on the phone, I tend to slip into a more 'common' way of speaking, just to sound more familiar to the person.”

Dan from Yorkshire

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“I was born in Salford and grew up in Wakefield and later studied and worked in Bournemouth.

“There was, and still is a constant feeling of classism due to my accent.

“I'm embarrassed to say that I tweaked my speaking to align with my peers and colleagues.

“It's held me back in life and it requires further education amongst Southern English natives.

“I'm a proud Lancastrian-cum-Yorkshireman and I encourage anyone to hold onto their distinct dialects.”

Listen to from 10:00 - 13:00 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on 大象传媒 Radio 5 Live.

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