Press releases

Parents Discourage Children to Speak with a Local Accent (13/12/2007)

One in two British parents (51%) discourage their children to speak with their regional accent because they fear it will go against them in later life according to new research from Combined Insurance.

In fact, one in three British parents (33%) are actually encouraging their children to speak the Queen’s English in favour of their local dialect.

At a time when people are questioning what it means to be British, Combined Insurance conducted research into the perceived importance of keeping local accents and how it impacts the community.

Combined Insurance asked a representative sample of over 2,300 adults whether they would encourage their children to speak with their region’s local accent and what impact they thought this would have on their child’s future as well as asking which accent they would most like their child to speak with.

Key Findings

• Over a third of British parents (34%) do not encourage their children to speak with their region’s local accent since they think their children may face prejudices in adult life as a result.

• One in five (20%) parents are worried their children might find it harder to get a well paid job if they spoke in their local accent and over one in six (17%) think their child would be perceived to have a lower level of intelligence if they spoke with their local accent. Parents also thought their kids might be teased and bullied in their future workplace (8%) and almost one in ten (8%) feared local accents would mean they wouldn’t be taken seriously in life.

• After the Queen’s English accent (33%), around one in ten parents (9%) would encourage their child to speak with a Scottish accent closely followed by a Yorkshire accent (7%). Despite this, one in two (50%) Scottish parents are worried their child will find it harder to get a well paid job if they continue to speak in their regional accent and almost one in three (31%) parents living in Yorkshire are concerned that their child will find it more difficult to get a well paid job speaking with their local dialect.

• Over one in four (27%) parents living in the West Country are worried that their child might be teased and bullied in their future job for having a local accent. They also thought that by having a local accent their child may be considered to be not very bright (26%).

• Around one in seven (14%) parents living in the Midlands believe their child might not be taken seriously in life because of their accent, and of all the accents, a Birmingham accent was the least favourite accent they would like their child to use. No other regions would prefer their child to have a Birmingham accent and only 8% of Birmingham parents would choose for their child to have this accent.

• Parents living in the North East worry the most about their children not getting into a university of their choice due to their accent (15%).

• In contrast, only 3% of people living in Lancashire think their child might be bullied or teased by workmates due to their accent, and only one in 20 (5%) of East Anglian parents think their child would be viewed as not very bright because of their local accent.

 Nigel Brittle, Marketing Director at Combined Insurance commented: “Our research shows how people’s attitudes are reflecting fears of prejudices in local communities, and how people feel that they must adapt accordingly to get rid of these prejudices. People are questioning more than ever what it means to live in a community and what is perceived to be acceptable.

Past research from Combined Insurance reveals that more than one in ten people in the UK are concerned about serious threats to the fabric of their community life – the very fact that this research indicates that people are tending to conform because of these threats is concerning. As a community insurer committed to doing business face to face in our local communities, we believe in positively encouraging local identity and community spirit.”

For more information please contact:
Andrew Cummine / Lindsay Wienand FD Consumer Dynamics 020 7269 7205 / 7236
andrew.cummine@fd.com

Notes to editors;

Research was carried out amongst a GB representative sample of more than 2,000 people in June 2007. Additional research is available on request.

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  1. In 2007 Combined Insurance is investing in local communities in the UK and Ireland through two community investment programmes – the Combined Insurance Community Awards focused on voluntary consumer groups, charities and clubs and the Combined Insurance Enterprise Awards recognising local small businesses.
  2. Since 1919, Combined Insurance (www.combinedinsurance.co.uk) has specialised in bringing affordable, quality insurance products to individuals and families - and currently provides supplemental disability, accident, health and life cover to over 3.5 million policyholders. Combined Insurance has never forgotten its roots and today operates face to face in local communities – just as it has done for the last 90 years.