Where Are You From? My Strange Love Story About My Accent

Born in Armenia to Iranian immigrant parents, I grew up with the traditions and culture of Armenia, Iran, and Russia beautifully woven into one. After migrating into the United States at the age of 14, I added an American thread into the braid of identity.

From my siblings, I was the last one to migrate to the U.S. and my accent is heavier than my brother’s and sister’s.

Broken Begining: Since moving to the U.S. and having English be my third language, I struggled with my accent. I wanted to get rid of it. High School was not kind to my accent, and neither was adulthood. I cringed every time someone asked me, “Where are you from?” and, “Where is your accent from?”. It appeared that the way I delivered my message was more important than the message itself. I crumbled every time a man sexualized my accent while correcting my dialogue. Can I just say “little” without being laughed at or corrected?

In the Midst of Self-discovery: I moved from Southern California to the Bay Area after getting a job there and became one of the busy commuters working in San Francisco’s Financial District. I soon realized this is not Los Angeles anymore. I missed hearing Armenian. I missed being one of the many.

My Iranian-Mexican supervisor at work was the smallest bit of home I could hang on to. Being around her, I felt myself. Her pride in her heritage was my pride in my Middle Eastern roots. Her curls, her strong, defined eyebrows, her olive skin tone reminded me of me and the strength and pride I possess.

My Accent, My Speech, My Story: I remember the walk to work in the busy Financial District, the morning my perspective on my accent changed. From my bus stop to work is a 15-minute walk, which sometimes provides me the opportunity to think. I was thinking about how long it has been since I heard Armenian and spoke Armenian, something that I was not custom to coming from Los Angeles County, where the Armenian language is common. At that moment, I thought how uncommon my accent was in San Francisco Financial District, which led me to realize that my accent is created from everything I was and I am. It is my native Armenian language, my Russian fluency, my grandparents’ Iranian words occasionally weaved into regular speech. That moment I felt pride. I was my family’s history and their future.

I later watched videos, read articles, listened to podcasts about how speech is formed and where accents come from. We all have our own unique accents. Our accents get thicker with our native language when we are nervous or try to speak faster, and our mind switches to autopilot. Sometimes it is thicker when we are around that other language for a bit.

I cannot stop people from asking about my accent. There will be those who will fetishize my accent or treat me as “exotic” and there will be those who genuinely want to get to know me. But what is important to me is that now I love my accent, whether I speak Armenian, Russian, English, or Spanish. In every language I speak, my accent changes, but it is unique to me, and that is now something I have come to celebrate.

Have you heard someone with an accent today and thought about the unique and beautiful story behind that accent?