Final Draft

There were many meaningful moments in my life, but one of the most impactful moments was when I was interested in the English language, especially. I grew up in a cultural society where English was not spoken much and the people who spoke were low. Well, my school was an English language school where all the teachers constantly told us to speak English all the time, and the teachers also talked to each other in English.

But soon after, I finally reached the USA and realized that the people spoke different English from what I learned. When I say different, I mean in different styles, by which I mean accents. Talking fast in English with different accents made it extremely hard to understand what they were saying. For most of the conversation I had, I had to ask the person to repeat what he or she was saying and struggled. As for speaking, it was extremely hard, especially with a different accent. People usually call that an Indian accent.

But in friend groups or outside, we always speak my country’s language because it’s easier to express ourselves to each other. Soon we got the date for our passport, and we were going to travel to the USA, which was our first-ever trip outside our country. After that, our parents told us to study hard in school in English because the country we traveled to was based on English. And soon after, I started to watch English movies, listen to songs, talk, and read in English. I was fascinated by English because it was easy to read and write and also talk to others, and for that, I felt special. I started to watch more movies and read more books to better understand it. But I hated the grammar part of English, which made it so complicated at that time, and I eventually figured that people in our country don’t use grammar in English.

Soon after, I started to feel more shy and embarrassed with my accent and the way I speak. And I was struggling with my conversations with my friends and other people. But the language was so beautiful, like the way they speak English. But I always wanted to get rid of my accent. I always wanted to speak like an American and try to fit in. At that time, I wanted to mix with the people and see how they spoke, liked, and disliked. I wanted to be like them, but I also knew at the same time that I wanted to be me. I have mixed emotions about being me and being like them. I was always thinking about what I could do to change my accent by watching more movies and shows, listening to music, talking, or reading books in English. But I was still struggling a lot.

There was lots of group work and presentations in school where I had to plan out things in order and do presentations, which is what I hated the most. But I did it with all my fears of what people might think if I stuttered or mispronounced a word or my accent came out. But I also knew that I could do it, and I did it by doing something that I loved doing: talking to my friends and family in English. I did it by talking; it helped me the most other than reading books and watching movies. I slowly figured out that it’s not only about speaking but also about mentality. I have the confidence to speak even when communicating with others, and my English is improving day by day. I started to feel more confident and better, and I knew that my English was improving, but I also knew that I was still struggling with the accent.

Eventually, one of my English teachers helped me out and told me that you do not have to be perfect in your English but be yourself with the way you speak, and the accent is your pride because having your language makes you unique. I think that was the turning point for me because I never knew that I was unique, and no one told me in my entire life that I was unique. I was always told that my English was not good, which meant I had to work on it more. But now I say it the way I want and do not think about what other people think about me because of my accent. And people now don’t mind the accent because it sounds unique, and I can be myself to others fully. And for the first time in my life, I feel like I am understood and am not being judged by others. It goes to my English teacher, and I thank her so much for helping me to be who I am and accept who I was and am.