One of my biggest pet peeves is when people, okay, namely Americans, speak another language without even attempting an accent. French with an American accent sounds dumb and Spanish in an American accent is just lazy. I’m calling out my fellow gringas and gringos— we have to step it up.

As a native English speaker, perhaps it’s not my place (and surely people will disagree, hence, personal pet peeve), but I find the blatant American accent a bit insolent. I’ve spent years listening to classmates butcher French and Spanish, and there’s definitely a difference between those who are trying but don’t quite get it (A for effort though) and those who just don’t even bother. If I hear “Por fave-vor” in an American accent one more time I might smack someone.

Yes, languages are hard (some are definitely harder than others), your friend told you that tongue rolling thing is genetic (it’s not), and putting effort into things is so passé. But at least try. The worst possible outcome of attempting an accent would be that you pronounce something wrong and get slightly embarrassed for sounding like a foreigner. So back to square one.

It’s not like these sounds are, dare I say, foreign. Pick any syllable out of a hat and chances are it exists in the English language too. Could, enough, butter; those are all kind of throaty French sounding noises. Considering the amount of effort we put into ridiculing Indian, Chinese, or (insert country) accents, we should be able to figure out how to roll a few r’s.

Here’s the secret: learn the vowel sounds.

Take Brazilian Portuguese. It’s rather nasally, but when you deconstruct each individual sound, it’s as easy as um, dois, nevermind.

tudo bem | tude-oo b-aim

tude: as in “I never have an attitude”

oo: as in “There is no such thing as too many sprinkles”

b: as in “Better call your bank and let them know you’re leaving the country”

aim: as in “I wholeheartedly aim to shed my tourist shell”

“Tudo bem?” is the equivalent of saying, “How’s it going?” to a friend, colleague, professor, family member, random person, shopkeeper, etc. To respond you can repeat it, “Tudo bem”. In Brazilian Portuguese it kind of sounds like a drum call and answer, which is pretty cool. “Tudo bom” also works as does “Tudo beleza”, “Tudo joia” or even just “Tudo”.