How to deal with my Dutch accent?

brainsApplied

brainsApplied

Member
Hi guys,

I've been YouTubing for some time now. Yesterday, I've got a question from a girl asking me why I wouldn't make my videos in Dutch.
She said the accent might kinda distract people from my content.

I'm a Belgian guy and I've always been making them in English. I never considered my accent to really be an issue, but off course I don't know how it would be for other people.
If you look at this:
Would you consider my accent to be a distraction?

And if yes, what would be the best solution?
I can make only Dutch videos, which would be rather hard to promote (but might be a niche target group).
Another option would be to make fully animated videos. If I don't have to focus on knowing text by heart and my camera appearance, I might focus more on my pronunciation.

What do you guys think? The question bothers me quite a lot, so I would love to have your feedback.
Thanks!

Willem
 
I'm a native English speaker. - Yes, you have quite a strong accent but your level of English is very very good. However I can see why a few people would find it distracting. Maybe you could find a few native English speakers where you live and practise a bit with them?

Another suggestion would be to create content that explains the culture of where you live. I mean create content that only someone with knowledge of Belgium could make. By doing that, being Belgian and explaining in English is a clear advantage and people won't care at all about the accent. On the contrary, it will be big bonus - it shows that you a real Belgian guy who knows what he's talking about and making the effort to explain it to others in English.
 
Dutchie here :) I personally have a strong hatred for the Dutch accent when people speak English, which is why I have tried to rid myself of it. I pick up accents quite easily and living in England and Australia has helped me a lot. Non-dutch speakers often have no idea where I'm originally from.

Anyway, so I'm not really the best person to give feedback on this. Your accent is very strong and I'd suggest you work on your pronunciation (I only watched about 30 secs -sorry- and could hear you struggle with the word 'castle'). Making videos in your native language (funny you call it Dutch and not Flemish, since you're Belgium) is a personal choice. Yes, it would be a smaller niche that you will have to find different platforms for to promote, but it probably will be a lot less saturated. I'd say do whatever you are most comfortable with.
 
Dutchie Abroad said:
Dutchie here :) I personally have a strong hatred for the Dutch accent when people speak English, which is why I have tried to rid myself of it. I pick up accents quite easily and living in England and Australia has helped me a lot. Non-dutch speakers often have no idea where I'm originally from.

Anyway, so I'm not really the best person to give feedback on this. Your accent is very strong and I'd suggest you work on your pronunciation (I only watched about 30 secs -sorry- and could hear you struggle with the word 'castle'). Making videos in your native language (funny you call it Dutch and not Flemish, since you're Belgium) is a personal choice. Yes, it would be a smaller niche that you will have to find different platforms for to promote, but it probably will be a lot less saturated. I'd say do whatever you are most comfortable with.
Click to expand...
Ah well, if I have to explain what Flemish is, it's going to take a while...
But okay, I'll work on the pronunciation :) Thanks for the advice :)
 
I watch heaps and heaps of youtube channels and there are accents from all over the place. Honestly, I don't think you need to change a thing, you are very easy to understand and your accent is what makes you you! Has nobody ever detected an accent with Pewdiepie??? Keep doing what your doing, I think it's great and your always going to get some negative criticism so don't take it to heart. I got it as I'm an older gamer and obviously someone didn't appreciate that and commented on my wrinkles, lol. Anyway I just changed my name to granny gamer now there's no shock factor for anyone.

Something I have see other people do really well but it would require more work is to do the same video in 2 languages, you can write your description in 2 languages so to keep with your local market but English is the best universal language and not everyone that speaks english has an English accent. One of my favourite youtubers streams and speaks fluently to his audience which seems to be made up of at least 3 languages, it's actually incredible to watch all this foreign font coming on the screen from his views and the english, he greets each one in their language and I just sat there with my mouth wide open at the way he was able to do that. He usually does most of his gaming videos in English and has the description in both languages.

I agree with Dutchie, do what your comfortable with :)
 
Simple answer, I don't think the accent is a distraction, I think it adds personality and flair to your videos. But at the end of the day, You do you.

Longer answer, If you don't like the accent in your videos you can work on it, I personally love when youtubers don't have the "Normal" American accent. It's probably since I've lived here my whole life that I'm used to it lol. You could work on the enunciation on some words that you feel are a problem but overall you do what you think is best for your channel and your personality. People nitpick everything, I talk too fast for some people but others love it, others talk too monotone and people love that or they don't. My favorite thing about youtube is that theres literally content for EVERYBODY, you just gotta find your people.
 
"There's only two things I hate in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures.... and the Dutch." - Nigel Powers.
In all seriousness, there are plenty of successful Youtubers that have accents. Don't try to change yourself too much. People will like you for being you.
 
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