My parents thought if we perfected our English and could sound as non-regional as possible, we would be better off. In England, if you have a very strong regional accent, people sometimes assume you’re not well educated. I saw value in sounding non-regional from a very young age, because your accent does hold some weight, especially in the UK job market. Now, the one question I get from English people more than any other is, “Where are you from?” because they can’t figure it out based on my accent. Whenever I hear this, I’m like, Well done, Tan.
