Do accents/race hinder your grouth?

CrazFrank

CrazFrank

Loving YTtalk
Hello guys Frank here again!

As i was reading the forum posts today i remembered that i have been wanting to ask this question here and is..Do accents bother you? Can they hinder or help your channel? Can your skin color/race effect how fast you grow?

Now of course this is a delicate subject that hopefully non of us will take to places it does not have to do, but it is still a valid interesting question so i will start with me.

Race: Taino/Puertorican (sorry but im Puertorican and we are (originally) Native Indians not Hispanics)
Lenguage: Spanish(main) English (secondary)
color: Caramel
Accent: Hispanic/Spanish

My experience so far has been that in the world of the internet everything is fair play, but there are some things that make me wonder if they effect how i grow in youtube. One of this examples is the common mistake of thinking i am Hawaiian (this one is almost the same as puertorican as we both live in torpical islands) and the other one is indian from india. The way i see it is that i find myself in limbo, i am not from india so i do not attract that demography but western civilization considers me anything other than western and so people cant relate to me. Part of being in youtube is creating a relationship with your audience and i have always gotten this feeling that i cant seem to identify myself with any part of the world. Puertorican themselves don't look like i do as i have a rare native indian gene somewere in there that makes me look more native indian than the average Puerto rico citizen and so "my own people" think i am from india.

So what are your thoughts? Have you experience anything like this? is it all in my mind? i will say i have received PLENTY of Bollywood comments/nasty comments ect. from my comment section but then again is the internet...what's new?
 
This is a fantastic discussion.

I'd like to focus on accent though, as I don't really believe that race is that vital in determining the potential success for any given channel. The sole reason I'm ot subscribed to JackSepticEye is because of his accent; I love his videos, choice of games, even his sense of comedy, but I can't be receptive to his accent for long periods of time - straight up proof that accent can be a defining factor for me when deciding whether to subscribe to someone.

If your videos focus on vocal audio (commentaries), then yeah, accent DEFINITELY helps.
 
Personally, as long as i find the person funny or entertaining, accents don't matter to me. The only reason an accent would stop me from watching someone was if it was so thick i could not understand them, which i think is reasonable. I wouldn't be able to enjoy the content if i couldn't understand it ya know?
 
Since becoming a new youtuber, I've come across a lot more youtube channels as been more focused on trying to watch other people in the same boat as me! To be honest - I have actually found that I enjoy more channels with people who have accents (easy to understand/ not too irritating however) as I find they are intriguing particularly if they have a interesting upbringing/life and from different cultures that they share with youtube. You'll find as I did today that "whats my accent" videos are actually very popular. As for whether it affects your views - I highly doubt it as youtube is one of the biggest accepting communities out there. Just keep doing what your doing! :)
 
Wow, what an interesting question. I've never left a video because of poor English or the persons accent, but I have found myself thinking whether the accent plays a part in the viewers perception of the content creator.

Let me explain, we see a lot of TV shows, movies, etc all made in the US and basically that became the standard video version of English, and I am using the term loosely. Too other English speaking countries the creators from the US also have an accent but its almost not noticed anymore. So when watching a video created by someone from the US it almost sounds more natural and dare I say it more "professional" than someone for instance from the UK because of the perceived standard.
 
as long as its understandable, people like what is out of the norm to them.

in the UK, accents are often linked to wealth or the lack of, so used to be looked down upon especially in job interviews. I don't think it's as prevalent now though.
 
I have to admit that I have a peculiar accent and voice. I have received both positive and negative comments about it on my channel. So I do believe it affects growth to some level.
 
It's something that really bothers me. I'm not a native speaker and this creates three hurdles: the language barrier when writing scripts, the tendence to botch some words while reading from it (although I favor fuency over perfect grammar) and finally the fear of not being understood. People I know say they still understand most of what I say and they enjoy my accent, but I am very annoyed by it while listening to myself. It's also true that an accent helps developing a "character" and you end up being more recognizable. In the end I don't really think it hinders the growth that much, but a strategical use of it can make the difference.
 
wow, awesome reply's people. Gave me a lot to think about over night and after reading it all i have to admit i can relate to Conso1727 as i always have the fear of not being understood. Most times when i am done editing my videos i find myself constantly judging the pronunciation of words i say thinking to myself "someone ill make fun of it" or "i know i can do/say this better" and you know what they say...there is no worst critic than yourself.

I think it does effect, language wise as some people find Irish accent sexy (as an example) while others might find my Hispanic accent a turn off and completely just quit a video 5 seconds in no matter how fluent your English is. Markaplier always reminds me how jealous i am of his English, i know i have a thick good voice like he does but sadly my accent kills the flow of it and it only sounds good when speaking Spanish so that's a hurdle i have to overcome overtime.
 
I subscribe to channels that I enjoy the content of regardless of its hosts Colour/Religion/Sex/Age etc.
Of course for me it needs to be in English but in any accent that I can understand.
 
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