Why is it so important for Hispanic Americans to acquire what is called a 'white' accent? Why is it not enough to merely speak the language right, without sounding foolish by struggling with an accent you will never be comfortable with?
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Name : Tarone, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Atheist, Age : 23, City : Los Angeles, State : CA Country : United States, Social class : Middle class, Didn't it ever occur to you that maybe they just have high expectation for themselves and want to speak well (what you call 'white')?? If you learned to speak Chinese, would you want an American accent, or would you want to learn to speak it well like the Chinese? Maybe its YOU who has a problem with speaking corectly. Maybe it makes YOU uncomfortable to sound like an educated (white) person.
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Name : Jay20846, City : New York, State : NY Country : United States, Maybe Latinos want to speak with a 'white accent' because, well, they want to! There's nothing wrong with that, is there? I don't speak English with an 'Asian accent..
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Name : Cynthia31755, Gender : F, Race : Asian, Age : 24, City : Toronto, Ontario, State : NA Country : Canada, Occupation : Graduate Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, You make it seem like all of the Hispanics in America are immigrants. There are plenty of Hispanics who have had generations of ancestors living here. If you were learning a new language wouldn't you want to sound like everyone else around you too? At least they are trying to learn English, some people here aren't.
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Name : Pena, City : Herndon, State : VA Country : United States, I don't think it's that they want to speak withh a 'white' accent. I think they want to speak like a native-born American.
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Name : Jennifer30869, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 29, City : San Jose, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, It really cracks me up how some people who have asked their 'Y' question on this site assume that because they see (or hear, or experience) something done by a person of a given race that they can safely assume that ALL people of that race MUST be or do or act the same way. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!! While there is no shame in just simply now knowing the truth about something, I find it astounding that someone old enough to know, or who has x-amount of years of college (for example) or practices a religion can honestly believe some of the things that they believe!!! Unless you know for a fact that EVERY Hispanic American finds it important to acquire an American accent, you should be asking yourself.....is it really all of them or just this or that person that I know!!! Come on!!!
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Name : Marie, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Buddhist, Age : 47, City : Sydney, State : NA Country : Australia, Education level : 2 Years of College, I am 15, hispanic and was born and raised in this great country. Even though I am hispanic I have a vast vocabulary, I even speak better than most adults. I have family that always teases me about this. My cousins acusse me of being a 'want-to-be-white person'. When speaking the english language the one must ununciate the words accordingly to the english language. What is so wrong in using the english language correctly? Why do you say Hispanics want to acquire a 'white' accent? Since when was trying to speak the english language correctly a 'white' attribute?
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Name : Kevin, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Atheist, Age : 17, City : Los Angeles, State : CA Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, Those accents are probably not 'fake'. I imagine you are referring to the BROWN stereotype downtown L.A. 'mexican', right? To you, he should speak like a recently arrived MEXICAN even though he is AMERICAN and his family has been in California two centuries before yours(when it was Mexico). Should the Americans of Irish origin speak with an Irish accent, or the American of distant German origin sound like Frits and Franz? I shouldn't have to remind you that there are MANY hispanics that are white-caucasian and black also. You probably consider that it's OK for a WHITE hispanic to speak 'white' or a BLACK-Hispanic to speak 'black', but if he is BROWN he has to speak like Cheech Marin. Sorry chum, you're stereotyping Hispanics. Hispanic is not a RACE. So, if a BROWN stereotype MEXICAN girl looks silly to you speaking like American movie icon Rita Hayworth (Surprise, she was hispanic!!!) or a MEXICAN looking dude acting like a suave black pro player, say Sammy Sosa (ummm..hispanic also), he's off the mark right? Wrong! By the way, 'hispanics' did not exist in the US before the 1970s, they were either black or white depending on their skin color, and they learned to speak like the people they were grouped with (my case - white). So, let them brown hispanics just be, chill out dude.
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Name : Nelson-A20175, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 34, City : Caracas, State : NA Country : Venezuela, Occupation : educator/lawyer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, You said it yourself, Hispanic Americans. The way the English language is taught in this country just happens to be of the 'white' Accent. Therefore unless the Hispanic American has been heavily influenced by his native land, he will continue to speek the English language as is taught and represented in this country.
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Name : Bruce, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 27, City : Sterling, State : VA Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, First, what's a 'white accent' ? Are you refering to a boston accent, southern accent, valley girl accent, minnesota/wisconsin 'ya' accent ? There's many different 'white' accents! But forgive me for making the assumption and guessing that what you really mean is how dare a hispanic aspire to speak standard american english in a crisp, polished,grammatical, and articulate manner ?! To do so in your opinion is to betray an 'authentic hispanicness' as if to be authentically hispanic one has to remain a first generation immigrant or forever in the ghetto. I'm a hispanic immigrant from Colombia, and Colombians have always been sticklers for speaking a beautiful, polished, mellifluous Spanish, outside of Spain I don't think there exists a more beautiful Spanish. In Colombia, a person that refuses to learn to speak well and articulately would be frowned upon if not ridiculed ouright, I've brought that same sensibility to my English and I hope to pass it on to my children.
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Name : Arturo, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Secular Humanist, Age : 35, City : Corona, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : janitor, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, Many of us who came to the US, came to succeed. A part of success is the ability to speak "properly" and that includes good/standard English. I don't think it has anything to do with "fakeness". I speak proper, educated Spanish so why shouldn't I speak proper English; I have a slight Boston accent, because I went to college there, although I have lived in the South for 13 yrs now. I am not sure about your expectations...What do you consider White Accent? Shall we speak Ebonics or with a deep South twang? Maybe we should try a nice Irish brogue...that would be just lovely. Ha-ha.
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Name : Big Al, Gender : M, Race : White/Hispanic, Age : 40, City : Atlanta, State : GA Country : United States, Occupation : Comp. Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, What is a 'White accent'? How is it that you think Hispanics should or do speak? Very curious.
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Name : Angela24958, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 28, City : Mesa, State : AZ Country : United States, Occupation : student / homemaker, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, Why wouldn't they be comfortable with this so-called white accent? I think everyone talks the way they want to talk. Can you honestly only point out Hispanics for this claim? I think not.
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Name : Desmond25714, Gender : M, City : Alexandria, State : VA Country : United States, What is a 'white' accent? Americans have different accents according to region and upbringing, not because of race.
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Name : Cathy32446, City : Richmond, State : VA Country : United States, The reason why Hispanic people and other immigrants feel that it is important to speak standard American English (not 'white English'- that's a stereotype) is because this is America and they want to speak the language correctly. They are not trying to act white because there IS no 'white accent' and I seriously doubt that they are imitating a 'hick' or 'valley girl' accent.
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Name : Tali24825, Gender : F, Race : Asian, Age : 18, City : NYC, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Factory Worker, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Lower class, 
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