Study Shows Accents Affect Perceptions in Business

In the 1916 preface to “Pygmalion” (“My Fair Lady” without the music), George Bernard Shaw wrote “It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.” Almost a century later, a study of British business people has found that some accents in British business are preferable to others, and oddly, American is on the preferred list.

Khalid Aziz, Chairman of the Aziz Corporation, released the study as the year ended, and the upshot is, “If you want to get ahead in business and don't speak the Queen's English, it is better to sound as if you are from America, Europe, India or indeed Scotland than from any English region.”

Not surprisingly, the Home Counties accent (Home Counties are those just around London for non-Brits) is favored by 77% of respondents as a “sign of success in business.” Strangely, American came second with 73%, and it would have been interesting for Mr. Aziz to explain just what “American,” sounds like to British ears: the corn fed purity of Johnny Carson’s Nebraska, the band-saw-on-steel vowels of Chicago and Wisconsin, or God help us everyone, Brooklynese or Texan. After Yank, came Scottish at 63%, continental European at 52% (again, what is this?), and 25% believed Indian or Asian accents came in handy.

The “bad list” leader is a Liverpudlian accent (beloved Scouse as spoken by John, Paul, George and Ringo) with 64% of business people believing it carries the odor of failure, closely followed by a Birmingham (Brummie) or West Midlands accent at 63%, Cockney (which every American thinks they can do, and can't) at 52%, and Geordie and West Country (love those pronounced “Rs”) tied at 48%.

Digging into it, there appears to be some racism (here used in its most “neutral” sense, meaning a belief that certain ethnic groups share certain behavioral traits based on inadequate information). “Businessmen who speak with an Indian or Asian accent were considered to be hardworking and reliable by 69% of their peers, a higher rating than any other accent. Those with US accents were considered to be diligent by 66% of their peers, followed by 61% favoring a Scottish accent and 50% preferring a Home Counties accent,” the report said. Ah yes, those hard working colonials and of course, the chaps who run the empire. “Only 24% of executives consider those with a Scouse accent to be hardworking;” lazy sods lounging about on the dole, playing guitars and watching football.

“Accents can speak louder than words. Even if you think like Albert Einstein, the reality is that if you sound like Vera Duckworth [a character from the working-class soap “Coronation Street] you will face prejudices in the business world,” Mr. Aziz concluded. Apparently, business people believe that what a man says is not as important as how he says it. That would explain much of modern advertising.


© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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