Everyone Has an Accent
This is definitely useful to keep in mind, but I think one point that might not be represented adequately is the utility of a standard. I understand that there are difficulties for people speaking in a nonnative accent, but there is also actual value in being close to standard and having less accents considered standard. When many people are specializing in many things, having a standard way of speaking allows us to more quickly understand one another and skip the basics. The judgement that I personally make when I hear a non-standard accent is not that they are lower in status; it&#x27;s simply that it will take more work on my end to understand them, and thus I&#x27;m less inclined to deal with them in particular because of the language barrier and my being lazy.