It's okay if your English isn't perfect
I was standing in line at the bank with my little sister when the man behind us started a conversation.
He said something that stuck with me.
He said he was learning English, but he was afraid to speak it because he was scared people would make fun of him.
I was able to relate to his fear. I grew up in a bilingual home and a multilingual community.
English wasn't my first language. My parents were Vietnamese refugees and were naturally more comfortable speaking Vietnamese. I took English as a Second Language classes in elementary school and was afraid to talk at school for the first two years.
I grew up around diverse accents and different languages, and I think they are truly amazing.
They represent diversity and a connection to different cultures.
But I remember being scared to talk, just as this man was.
That fear of saying something the wrong way, of having your pronunciation corrected, or of sounding different is real.
People often treat an accent, a misplaced word, or a slight mispronunciation like an error.
I wish we could all choose tolerance and kindness when it comes to accents. We don't need to be the grammar police or pedantic in everyday life.
Languages are fluid and imperfect, and we are all going to say things a little differently.
Even today, after years of speaking English better than my first language, words can still trip me up. "Sail," "sell," and "sale" still sound weird sometimes. Pronouncing "salmon" sometimes feels like a small internal battle.
Just because someone says something with a different accent, or a little off, doesn't mean they're saying it wrong.
Instead of policing minor errors, let's value the effort and the message.