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My lecturer's accent makes it very hard to listen to her

This is politically incorrect to say but I really need to get it off my chest. I have a lecturer from Greece that has a very irritating accent and voice tone. I've never been a fan of the Greek accent, to be brutally honest, but hers is particularly bad. I've been trying my best to overlook the way she speaks and just focus on what she says but I have to exert so much extra brainpower to do this I'm mentally exhaused after every lecture by her!

At this point I've given up; I keep attending her lectures because attendance is mandatory at my uni but I half listen to what she is saying.

Does anyone else struggle with this?
(edited 6 years ago)

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Original post by A Rose for Epona
This is politically incorrect to say but I really need to get it off my chest. I have a lecturer from Greece that has a very irritating accent and voice tone. I've never been a fan of the Greek accent, to be brutally honest, but hers is particularly bad. I've been trying my best to overlook the way she speaks and just focus on what she says but I have to exert so much extra brainpower to do this I'm mentally exhaused after every lecture by her!

At this point I've given up; I keep attending her lectures because attendance is mandatory at my uni but I half listen to what she is saying. I'm foreign myself so it's not like I'm racist, in fact some of the best lecturers I've had were foreign.

Does anyone else struggle with this?


Yes. I've had similar problems in a module last semester.

Are your lectures recorded? Can you listen to it at a slower pace?
Reply 2
There's some flawed logic in claiming being foreign makes you not racist...
Everyone is basically foreign to other countries. Saying you are foreign does not make you immune to being racist.
Original post by TomW624
There's some flawed logic in claiming being foreign makes you not racist...


Original post by monkeyman0121
Everyone is basically foreign to other countries. Saying you are foreign does not make you immune to being racist.


It doesn't make me automatically immune but it does mean that I am less likely to have a negative opinion against someone based on their race or nationality. I am not concerned with the fact that she is Greek. I've had Greek lecturers before whose accents I could disregard easily because they didn't interfere with my comprehension. I also have many Greek friends, I just happen to think the accent doesn't sound good in the English language but there is much more to a person than their accent. However, when it comes to a lecturer, the way they speak is an integral part of their job.

I can't help the fact that it feels like a breath of fresh air whenever our lecturer brings someone else (native or non-native speaker) as a guest lecturer.
(edited 6 years ago)
Others have picked up on your foreign racist remark so I won’t go into that.

There’s nothing wrong or bigoted about not being able to understand an accent. Maybe ask her to slow down or something?
Original post by A Rose for Epona
It doesn't make me automatically immune but it does mean that I am less likely to have a negative opinion against someone based on their race or nationality. I am not concerned with the fact that she is Greek. I've had Greek lecturers before whose accents I could disregard easily because they didn't interfere with my comprehension. I also have many Greek friends, I just happen to think the accent doesn't sound good in the English language but there is much more to a person than their accent. However, when it comes to a lecturer, the way they speak is an integral part of their job.

I can't help the fact that it feels like a breath of fresh air whenever our lecturer brings someone else (native or non-native speaker) as a guest lecturer.


How does it make you less likely? Unless you are greek yourself it should not make a difference. And even then you are only slightly less likely to be racist towards Greek.

As for the actual reason for the thread. Why don't you ask the lecturer for some extra help or some other lecturer?
Reply 7
Ask for lecture recordings so you can go over your notes at a pace that suits you afterwards. Or just confront the situation and ask her to speak up/slow down etc, they have to try and cater to the students needs
Reply 8
Original post by A Rose for Epona
It doesn't make me automatically immune but it does mean that I am less likely to have a negative opinion against someone based on their race or nationality. I am not concerned with the fact that she is Greek. I've had Greek lecturers before whose accents I could disregard easily because they didn't interfere with my comprehension. I also have many Greek friends, I just happen to think the accent doesn't sound good in the English language but there is much more to a person than their accent. However, when it comes to a lecturer, the way they speak is an integral part of their job.

I can't help the fact that it feels like a breath of fresh air whenever our lecturer brings someone else (native or non-native speaker) as a guest lecturer.



First it in no way makes it "less likely".

Second I feel like if you hadn't mentioned the not racist thing nobody would've even cared or said it. You could've phrased it as you understand the problems with not talking in ones native tongue.

But yeah what others have said, just explain to the lecturer you have problems understanding, maybe find out if anyone else does too then politely approach them with the subject. Lecturers usually do in fact want you to learn and help you. As long as your not an arse about it they should be perfectly reasonable in kind.
Reply 9
I think OPs racist comment is basically calling out all British people as racists and therefore if you are a foreigner in regards to the UK then you are inherently going to be less racist than the UK natives
Original post by A Rose for Epona
This is politically incorrect to say but I really need to get it off my chest. I have a lecturer from Greece that has a very irritating accent and voice tone. I've never been a fan of the Greek accent, to be brutally honest, but hers is particularly bad. I've been trying my best to overlook the way she speaks and just focus on what she says but I have to exert so much extra brainpower to do this I'm mentally exhaused after every lecture by her!

At this point I've given up; I keep attending her lectures because attendance is mandatory at my uni but I half listen to what she is saying. I'm foreign myself so it's not like I'm racist, in fact some of the best lecturers I've had were foreign.

Does anyone else struggle with this?


My advice is to persevere. Maybe take a recording device in to a couple of lectures and then listen to them over a few times. Repeated exposure will make you much better and if you have ambitions to work in an international context it's a skill worth developing.
If I were you OP I would edit the OP to get rid of the comment people have issue with, as people will focus on this rather than helping you.
Original post by Blue_Cow
Are your lectures recorded? Can you listen to it at a slower pace?


No, she is the only lecturer in my course who refuses to record lectures.

Original post by Andrew97
There’s nothing wrong or bigoted about not being able to understand an accent. Maybe ask her to slow down or something?


She is already speaking as slowly as she can, at the expense of taking breaks (again, unlike other lecturers).

Original post by monkeyman0121
How does it make you less likely? Unless you are greek yourself it should not make a difference. And even then you are only slightly less likely to be racist towards Greek.

As for the actual reason for the thread. Why don't you ask the lecturer for some extra help or some other lecturer?


I'm not Greek but I have a positive opinion about Greek people overall except their accent in English. Like I said I don't really care about accents when it comes to whom I befriend but lecturers are a different story.

Original post by TomW624
First it in no way makes it "less likely".

Second I feel like if you hadn't mentioned the not racist thing nobody would've even cared or said it. You could've phrased it as you understand the problems with not talking in ones native tongue.

But yeah what others have said, just explain to the lecturer you have problems understanding, maybe find out if anyone else does too then politely approach them with the subject. Lecturers usually do in fact want you to learn and help you. As long as your not an arse about it they should be perfectly reasonable in kind.


Original post by TomW624
I think OPs racist comment is basically calling out all British people as racists and therefore if you are a foreigner in regards to the UK then you are inherently going to be less racist than the UK natives


Okay I can see that I've been misunderstood about my 'not racist' disclaimer. I'm removing it from my original post so that people stop diverting the discussion from what I actually wanted to talk about.

The reason I said that is not because I believe being foreign gives me the right to be an ********, or that British people are inherently racist. As a matter of fact, I think people from my home country are more likely than British people to believe in stereotypes and treat people different based on their race or nationality. When I say these things, please understand that I'm generalising and that there will always be exceptions. I merely wanted to convey that I understand what it feels like to have an accent. I was frequently asked to repeat myself when I came to Britain; it was obviously upsetting but I could understand from the native speakers' perspective that they didn't like talking to someone who required more effort to understand.

My solution: I worked on my speech. I played my lecture recordings just to analyse my lecturers' speech and asked my native speaking friends whether I was pronuncing a word correctly when I was unsure. My efforts actually paid off because people don't ask me to repeat myself anymore. They even say that they wouldn't be able to tell I'm foreign from the way I speak. It bemuses me that a person whose job depends heavily on public speaking (i.e. a lecturer) makes no effort to make herself easier to listen to even after living in the UK for many years. It took me less than 3 years to attain much better results.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by A Rose for Epona
No, she is the only lecturer in my course who refuses to record lectures.


Have you tried persuading her to? Perhaps you and your fellow students could e-mail?

Failing that, purchase a dictaphone and record the audio yourself?
Original post by Blue_Cow
Have you tried persuading her to? Perhaps you and your fellow students could e-mail?

Failing that, purchase a dictaphone and record the audio yourself?


She said in the beginning that she will not record lectures because she doesn't want students to use it as a reason to skip lectures - which is stupid, considering that lecture attendance is mandatory and closely monitored anyway.

A classmate of mine is recording the lectures so I might ask her to pass these onto me.
Original post by A Rose for Epona
No, she is the only lecturer in my course who refuses to record lectures.



She is already speaking as slowly as she can, at the expense of taking breaks (which, again, all the other lecturers do).



I'm not Greek but I have a positive opinion about Greek people overall except their accent in English. Like I said I don't really care about accents when it comes to whom I befriend but lecturers are a different story.





Okay I can see that I've been misunderstood about my 'not racist' disclaimer. I'm removing it from my original post so that people stop diverting the discussion from what I actually wanted to talk about.

The reason I said that is not because I believe being foreign gives me the right to be an ********, or that British people are inherently racist. As a matter of fact, I think people from my home country are more likely than British people to believe in stereotypes and treat people different based on their race or nationality. When I say these things, please understand that I'm generalising and that there will always be exceptions. I merely wanted to convey that I understand what it feels like to have an accent. I was frequently asked to repeat myself when I came to Britain; it was obviously upsetting but I could understand from the native speakers' perspective that they didn't like talking to someone who required more effort to understand.

My solution: I worked on my speech. I played my lecture recordings just to analyse my lecturers' speech and asked my native speaking friends whether I was pronuncing a word correctly when I was unsure. My efforts actually paid off because people don't ask me to repeat myself anymore. They even say that they wouldn't be able to tell I'm foreign from the way I speak. It bemuses me that a person whose job depends heavily on public speaking (i.e. a lecturer) makes no effort to make herself easier to listen to even after living in the UK for many years. It took me less than 3 years to attain much better results.


This may shock you but maybe this is the best she can handle, some peoples tongues just cant get around their base programming no matter how hard they try. You are gonna be so lost if you travel somewhere in the UK with strong accents for example the west country or Scotland. Some of those people are unintelligible and do not give a flying monkeys if you understand or not and most shocking of all its English that they have spoken their whole lives.
Original post by TomW624
This may shock you but maybe this is the best she can handle, some peoples tongues just cant get around their base programming no matter how hard they try. You are gonna be so lost if you travel somewhere in the UK with strong accents for example the west country or Scotland. Some of those people are unintelligible and do not give a flying monkeys if you understand or not and most shocking of all its English that they have spoken their whole lives.


Fair enough. Some people are just better with accents than others. I still believe anyone is capable of changing the way they speak if they put in the effort, but for most people this would require too much of a commitment. I also stand by saying that for a lecturer this is an important part of their job so she needs to seriously consider making improvements in this regard, especially if so many students in her class are complaining about it (not to her face ofc).
(edited 6 years ago)
It’s easier for somebody who is young to adjust their speech than somebody is older.
Original post by A Rose for Epona
Fair enough. Some people are just better with accents than others. I still believe anyone is capable of changing the way they speak if they put in the effort, but for most people this would require too much of a commitment. I also stand by saying that for a lecturer this is an important part of their job so she needs to seriously consider making improvements in this regard, especially if so many students in her class are complaining about it (not to her face ofc).



I know how much effort goes into changing the way you speak, got a lisp myself and reduced it through speech therapy, and my partner is Romanian so she had to learn how to speak English well to come to uni here. I guess it also depends on how long she's been here, when she needed to start using English as a main language because obviously if she's older and never really had to before it would be much more challenging for her, young people are way more adaptable.

As said before get together and bring it up as a class, or alternatively speak to your personal tutor or your course leader and see if they will help, she may be more receptive if it comes from her peers.
Why is everyone saying the OP is racist, where exactly is the racism in her post?

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