The first time i walked into Aljazeera's newroom, my editor took me around to meet the rest of the team. She introduced me by name and then went on to say: "isn't she great, an Italian speaking with a cockney accent?" I guess that came as a bit of a shock to me. I had never felt nervous about how I might sound to an english speaker... but suddenly that remark made me feel extremely self-sound- conscious! Forget the Italian, it was the COCKNEY word that got me. Ever since, I make sure I pronunce T for T and F for F ...and most of all ...that, if anything, i sound more Italian than Cockney :)
Thanks, Barbara, for writing this article! It's a great read, and I've enjoyed reading it. You raised very pertinent issues. When I worked for AlJazeera (was web editor), I was approached by African journalists who had worked in Africa as TV presenters, and they wanted to know if they could work as presenters for AJE English. I would help them send their resumes to newsroom managers, but I was only trying to be polite because I knew perfectly well that the English they spoke, though very good by the standards of their countries, was never going to be accepted by hiring managers. I was the only web editor from Africa, and in my time at Al Jazeera, I saw only one woman from my country hired as a producer. She grew up in the UK and studied there―and speaks English with a British accent.
Barbara, thank you for making me think, once again, as you so often do.
I think you distinguished two separate questions here, about what it is to be a native speaker of English, then deliberately conflated them again. And you yourself are the best example I can think of, of why this question means less than it seems to mean.
Your proficiency in English exceeds that of 99% of people who call themselves native speakers, but as you've admitted in this article, you can't pass for someone who grew up in the British Isles, in North America, in Australasia, or in the Anglophone parts of Africa. Or to put it another way, you are obviously not from a place of native English speakers.
And yet, if I didn't recognise the distinctive Italian undertones that contribute to making your voice so beautiful - the handful of letters that betray your heritage - I would absolutely believe that you are a native speaker, just one with a different accent from other native speakers. It's not that you're fooling the non-native speakers who think you are native. It's simply that there isn't such a thing as "correct English speech". Your English is just as valid as mine, just as valid as that of King Charles himself, and just as valid as that of the finest Hollywood actor. You're simply versatile enough to be just as convincing in a slew of other languages.
And that leads me to disagree with your conclusion. I don't think trust needs to be tribal. You are not of my tribe, but I always trusted you and believed you when I heard you on Al Jazeera. Just as I trust and believe other news presenters on that channel, who are also not of my tribe. I would like to think we live in a world where people will focus on the message, on the content of a news article; more than on the speech patterns of the person delivering it. Perhaps I'm being naïve or idealistic. There's certainly a level at which a foreigner becomes difficult to understand; but frankly, there are people who grew up in England, Ireland and South Africa whom I find difficult to understand. Likewise, I'm sure there are people in North America who would struggle to understand my accent. Give me an articulate, intelligent second-language English speaker over an inarticulate mumbler, any day of the week.
Thanks so much Barbara for writing this - every foreign journo in the UK realises where their main challenge lies from day one, though it remains completely unacknowledged by colleagues, fellow students and potential employers. I lost years trying to catch up with the language having received zero support - imagine the difference a targeted training scheme would have made to me and so many others. Even more sinister is the hidden 'accent' discrimination. In my first year in the UK I made a point of trying to copy the local accent at least as much as of learning the language itself, and it paid off because I ended up sounding 'less different' compared to my peers. People complimented me for my English - which wasn't good, just sounded a little more British. I was able to find a job, others from my same cohort never did, and there's no doubt whatsoever that their accent massively penalised them.
Thanks for your insight and reflection on this topic, Barbara - which may obviously translate to any country in the world. From my experience, a fellow Italian who has worked as a medical consultant in the NHS for over 10 years, this does not just apply to journalism though.
Well,I haven't actually thought of this,I never thought of you as a foreigner, could joke about it but not really, that's because we are on the same Planet Earth.But can see how it affects journalism and other difficulties in the world,namely prejudice of different appearances and beliefs.I don't speak fluent Moari,but not a handicap.Can explain why but not now,later.Thanksfor the post.Enjoyed it as always.💋🌹🌹🌹
I recall reading years ago that if you don't learn a second language before the age of 6, you will always have an accent. My spouse, who has spoken English as a second language since a child and tells me she "mostly thinks in English", would seem to validate that rule. So I was astonished the other day when chatting with our 30'ish Fedex driver I've talked to for years and I had always assumed he was born in Canada. He mentioned, that like my spouse, he grew up in SE Asia and moved to Canada in his late teens. I then related what I said in the first sentence to him. He just smiled at me and said, "see what working in a call center can do for you"! This individual seems to have invalidated a belief I previously held to be axiomatic.
I think that the fact that, as reported by The Guardian of all papers, a few years' back, AJ's owners were partners with Hamas in a Doha-based Real Estate company that washed Hamas' tax revenues, might be more of a factor, along with its historic support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
I would also blame Wadah Khanfar, obviously, as do many of AJ's journalists, who resigned because of him.
Funny how nobody at AJ ever blames Iran for owning Hamas: must be because of the gas pipeline it owns jointly with Qatar!
Israel captured all of Palestine - but from Egypt and Jordan - in 1967 - and retains just 10%. It voted in the current hoodlum government, purely because of the massive increase in Arab terrorism, so that backfired for the Palestinians.
Funny how nobody at AJ ever says, well that was a big mistake by Palestinians to reject the UN Partition plan, as that would have given them more land than any deal since or in the future, and Palestine would now be celebrating 75 years of prosperity, with a decent government and no corrupt Hamas or PLO terrorists running the show!
Actions have consequences, and the losers of the wars they started don't get to decide the terms of any peace deal.
I'm really really disappointed that you didn't sing, Barbara! You might think I'm joking. But I bet you sing beautifully.
I don't think it takes that much to be a TV presenter. You talked about the skill of writing about images, but that conceivably could easily done by someone else.
For me this is the main reason why I find it difficult to care that much whether foreign accent diversity is respected or not in this field: to become an "instant celeb" by being a presenter of any kind on UK TV, with a commensurate pay package, should be regarded as an unexpected privilege, like winning the lottery. This is a branch of showbiz. And yet, dare I say it, with the hypocrisy of claiming to be more serious than showbiz! In all other areas of journalism having a slight foreign accent would hardly matter.
Can you accept that your beauty will have been a factor in the decisions of others? Other presenters get chosen for various other reasons, which we all ponder as we watch them. I.e. why did the managers choose that particular person? Often diversity does clearly seem to come into it. But it's never terribly serious. To have an ambition at any age to be "a TV presenter" is a rather sad ambition: it means you are seeking to become, and then trade off being, a "familiar face" beloved of the non-binary-person-in-the-street up and down the land. But such love is always unearned and therefore unmerited.
But this article also makes me wonder, again, something I've often wondered as I've watched you presenting on Al-Jazeera: are we permitted to ask/know *why* precisely you chose to study journalism and make a journalistic career in the UK? What made you leave Italy?
I have some familiarity with Italy. It seems that meritocratic advancement is generally held to be a biggish issue there, favouritism, nepotism, cronyism, « figli e figliastri » ... Or more of an issue than in the UK, although many "native" English like myself would reject completely the notion that the UK has anything to be particularly proud of in this regard. Maybe it was nothing to do with this...
She did one presenting shift on Sky News back in the 1990s, and that was the end of it.
On a side issue, why is Al Jazeera completely anti-Israeli? Is it because its owners want to access the natural gas offshore of Israel, or are they just totally antisemitic? Or both!
The first time i walked into Aljazeera's newroom, my editor took me around to meet the rest of the team. She introduced me by name and then went on to say: "isn't she great, an Italian speaking with a cockney accent?" I guess that came as a bit of a shock to me. I had never felt nervous about how I might sound to an english speaker... but suddenly that remark made me feel extremely self-sound- conscious! Forget the Italian, it was the COCKNEY word that got me. Ever since, I make sure I pronunce T for T and F for F ...and most of all ...that, if anything, i sound more Italian than Cockney :)
Thanks, Barbara, for writing this article! It's a great read, and I've enjoyed reading it. You raised very pertinent issues. When I worked for AlJazeera (was web editor), I was approached by African journalists who had worked in Africa as TV presenters, and they wanted to know if they could work as presenters for AJE English. I would help them send their resumes to newsroom managers, but I was only trying to be polite because I knew perfectly well that the English they spoke, though very good by the standards of their countries, was never going to be accepted by hiring managers. I was the only web editor from Africa, and in my time at Al Jazeera, I saw only one woman from my country hired as a producer. She grew up in the UK and studied there―and speaks English with a British accent.
Barbara, thank you for making me think, once again, as you so often do.
I think you distinguished two separate questions here, about what it is to be a native speaker of English, then deliberately conflated them again. And you yourself are the best example I can think of, of why this question means less than it seems to mean.
Your proficiency in English exceeds that of 99% of people who call themselves native speakers, but as you've admitted in this article, you can't pass for someone who grew up in the British Isles, in North America, in Australasia, or in the Anglophone parts of Africa. Or to put it another way, you are obviously not from a place of native English speakers.
And yet, if I didn't recognise the distinctive Italian undertones that contribute to making your voice so beautiful - the handful of letters that betray your heritage - I would absolutely believe that you are a native speaker, just one with a different accent from other native speakers. It's not that you're fooling the non-native speakers who think you are native. It's simply that there isn't such a thing as "correct English speech". Your English is just as valid as mine, just as valid as that of King Charles himself, and just as valid as that of the finest Hollywood actor. You're simply versatile enough to be just as convincing in a slew of other languages.
And that leads me to disagree with your conclusion. I don't think trust needs to be tribal. You are not of my tribe, but I always trusted you and believed you when I heard you on Al Jazeera. Just as I trust and believe other news presenters on that channel, who are also not of my tribe. I would like to think we live in a world where people will focus on the message, on the content of a news article; more than on the speech patterns of the person delivering it. Perhaps I'm being naïve or idealistic. There's certainly a level at which a foreigner becomes difficult to understand; but frankly, there are people who grew up in England, Ireland and South Africa whom I find difficult to understand. Likewise, I'm sure there are people in North America who would struggle to understand my accent. Give me an articulate, intelligent second-language English speaker over an inarticulate mumbler, any day of the week.
Thanks so much Barbara for writing this - every foreign journo in the UK realises where their main challenge lies from day one, though it remains completely unacknowledged by colleagues, fellow students and potential employers. I lost years trying to catch up with the language having received zero support - imagine the difference a targeted training scheme would have made to me and so many others. Even more sinister is the hidden 'accent' discrimination. In my first year in the UK I made a point of trying to copy the local accent at least as much as of learning the language itself, and it paid off because I ended up sounding 'less different' compared to my peers. People complimented me for my English - which wasn't good, just sounded a little more British. I was able to find a job, others from my same cohort never did, and there's no doubt whatsoever that their accent massively penalised them.
Thought of this article just now when I was having a conversation about English v French and Spanish in my bilingual Canadian office in DC.
Thanks for your insight and reflection on this topic, Barbara - which may obviously translate to any country in the world. From my experience, a fellow Italian who has worked as a medical consultant in the NHS for over 10 years, this does not just apply to journalism though.
Well,I haven't actually thought of this,I never thought of you as a foreigner, could joke about it but not really, that's because we are on the same Planet Earth.But can see how it affects journalism and other difficulties in the world,namely prejudice of different appearances and beliefs.I don't speak fluent Moari,but not a handicap.Can explain why but not now,later.Thanksfor the post.Enjoyed it as always.💋🌹🌹🌹
Sad you had to delete my reply
Your voice is nice Barbara! You speak English like an Italian! But it's good! Grazie!
You knowing Dutch?
Your voice is nice Barbara! You speak English like an Italian! But it's good! Grazie!
I recall reading years ago that if you don't learn a second language before the age of 6, you will always have an accent. My spouse, who has spoken English as a second language since a child and tells me she "mostly thinks in English", would seem to validate that rule. So I was astonished the other day when chatting with our 30'ish Fedex driver I've talked to for years and I had always assumed he was born in Canada. He mentioned, that like my spouse, he grew up in SE Asia and moved to Canada in his late teens. I then related what I said in the first sentence to him. He just smiled at me and said, "see what working in a call center can do for you"! This individual seems to have invalidated a belief I previously held to be axiomatic.
I think that the fact that, as reported by The Guardian of all papers, a few years' back, AJ's owners were partners with Hamas in a Doha-based Real Estate company that washed Hamas' tax revenues, might be more of a factor, along with its historic support for the Muslim Brotherhood.
I would also blame Wadah Khanfar, obviously, as do many of AJ's journalists, who resigned because of him.
Funny how nobody at AJ ever blames Iran for owning Hamas: must be because of the gas pipeline it owns jointly with Qatar!
Israel captured all of Palestine - but from Egypt and Jordan - in 1967 - and retains just 10%. It voted in the current hoodlum government, purely because of the massive increase in Arab terrorism, so that backfired for the Palestinians.
Funny how nobody at AJ ever says, well that was a big mistake by Palestinians to reject the UN Partition plan, as that would have given them more land than any deal since or in the future, and Palestine would now be celebrating 75 years of prosperity, with a decent government and no corrupt Hamas or PLO terrorists running the show!
Actions have consequences, and the losers of the wars they started don't get to decide the terms of any peace deal.
I'm really really disappointed that you didn't sing, Barbara! You might think I'm joking. But I bet you sing beautifully.
I don't think it takes that much to be a TV presenter. You talked about the skill of writing about images, but that conceivably could easily done by someone else.
For me this is the main reason why I find it difficult to care that much whether foreign accent diversity is respected or not in this field: to become an "instant celeb" by being a presenter of any kind on UK TV, with a commensurate pay package, should be regarded as an unexpected privilege, like winning the lottery. This is a branch of showbiz. And yet, dare I say it, with the hypocrisy of claiming to be more serious than showbiz! In all other areas of journalism having a slight foreign accent would hardly matter.
Can you accept that your beauty will have been a factor in the decisions of others? Other presenters get chosen for various other reasons, which we all ponder as we watch them. I.e. why did the managers choose that particular person? Often diversity does clearly seem to come into it. But it's never terribly serious. To have an ambition at any age to be "a TV presenter" is a rather sad ambition: it means you are seeking to become, and then trade off being, a "familiar face" beloved of the non-binary-person-in-the-street up and down the land. But such love is always unearned and therefore unmerited.
But this article also makes me wonder, again, something I've often wondered as I've watched you presenting on Al-Jazeera: are we permitted to ask/know *why* precisely you chose to study journalism and make a journalistic career in the UK? What made you leave Italy?
I have some familiarity with Italy. It seems that meritocratic advancement is generally held to be a biggish issue there, favouritism, nepotism, cronyism, « figli e figliastri » ... Or more of an issue than in the UK, although many "native" English like myself would reject completely the notion that the UK has anything to be particularly proud of in this regard. Maybe it was nothing to do with this...
I had a friend who was from Northern Ireland.
She did one presenting shift on Sky News back in the 1990s, and that was the end of it.
On a side issue, why is Al Jazeera completely anti-Israeli? Is it because its owners want to access the natural gas offshore of Israel, or are they just totally antisemitic? Or both!