Well, I just watched one of RD’s videos, which was how he felt about some critical comments on his English accent or ability, and apparently he kinda felt down about those unfriendly words.
For more about the video, please visit his YouTube channel.
I DO have something to say about what so called the standard accent is. To be honest, there is no such thing as a standard accent. Sorry, that's the way it is. When we speak to English native speakers like Americans, the accent of people from New York is different from that of people from LA or other parts of America. Even when we speak to British, the accent is totally different from that of Americans. Each English-speaking country has its unique and recognizable accent, which makes it so special. I know some English learners may be addicted to some charming accent, but it doesn’t mean we should define certain accent as a standard one to follow.
Just out of curiosity. When we speak Chinese, would you define certain accent as a standard one?
Here is the thing. As long as we can pronounce the words right, trying not to cause any misunderstanding, or better yet, we can fluently express what we wanna say, the accent shouldn’t be considered as the priority to judge whether someone is really master at certain language or not. When we take English classes or select an English-related channel on YouTube to watch, enjoying the time & content is way more important among others, isn’t it?
Haters gonna hate. We don’t need to spew hatred back. Maybe those comments can be a way to reflect and improve us better. Who knows?
I'm quite willing to give RD a thumbs-up cuz he has been devoting himself in English for a long time & influenced & encouraged lots of learners, young and old, on YouTube. He's an idol not only for learners but for lots of English teachers as well. Good to see lots of Taiwanese teachers with endless passion, like RD, try hard to insire learners struggling with learning English, and yeah, as an English teacher, I'm inspired by RD & won't stop improve myself for sure.
Stay positive & cheers.
