Do you know your accent comfort zone? Have you ever found yourself in this situation?  You’re waiting in line to buy something, or waiting in line to get on the bus, but there is a person in front of you asking for something and the clerk or the bus driver can’t understand what that person is saying because of his or her accent.  Then you step in to clarify and say, “He wants to know if you go to Burrard Station.”   Afterward, both people look at you with eyes that seem to say “How did you understand?”

I grew up in the Ottawa Valley, which is known for having a distinct accent.  In my youth, I had a lot of part-time jobs that forced me to understand some of the heaviest accents.  I recall one customer at the gas station.  He’d always ask for ten dollars worth of gas but would just pull up to the pump and say “Ten.” When I finished he would pass me a ten dollar bill and say “Thanks.”  But to be honest, his ten and his thanks sounded the same to me.  At the grocery store, one of my co-workers loved referring customers to me that no one could understand.  “Oh, ask Jeff that is in his department.”  Then I would find out that the customer was wondering what time the delivery truck was leaving.

Later on when I went to university, I had a Chinese landlady.  She used to give me small renovation jobs on some of her 16 properties.  I couldn’t understand her very well at first, but after working for her I picked up what she was saying too.  Whenever she called our house, my roommates would make me talk to her because I was the only one who understood her.

Now that I’ve been working with people from all over the world for the last 10 years, my comfort zone for understanding others has gotten quite broad.  This is not the case for everyone.  There are still people who hang up on those annoying telemarketing calls with the added insult of “Call me back when you learn to speak English.”