Just ranting this out or maybe get some advice since I feel extremely dumb at my workplace right now.
Australia’s been my dream country and I was lucky to get a job there with only a year of professional experience after graduation. I thought that I’m a really competent worker, smart, and I feel like I stand out among my peers back in my home country. I prided myself not out of boast but a genuine appreciation of how I worked hard to get where I am now. But, four days in, I just feel really dumb and stupid. I thought my english was at least good enough but I can’t understand simple conversations ‘cause most have deep accents. I’m trying but it feels a bit degrading asking someone to repeat themselves twice or more. I feel like people are judging me and that maybe I do not deserve the opportunity I’ve been given. It’s too intimidating being the youngest and the shortest guy in the room and the only one who can’t keep up with everyone’s humor.
I’m supposed to be the smart one since I’m the engineer but it doesn’t seem so. I do know that this is just a case of imposter syndrome though and I hope everything will get better 🥹
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It’s just a case of becoming used to everything, it’s all still new to you but if you give it time, you’ll be able to pick it up. Just remember that they hired you over everyone else for a reason, you have value to them.
The first week is always intense, new environment, new people, new job. I’ve also always been the youngest in every job I’ve held which does impact how you feel too!
I cry almost every time I change job cause I’m easily overwhelmed 😅
Hang in there! Australian accents can be really really thick, you’ll pick it up with time! Maybe watch local news and listen to local radio stations to try familiarise yourself with the way people speak there, if you’re still struggling after awhile, you can ask people to slow down a bit I’m sure nobody would mind. Australians speak fast!
Yes, listen to TV and Radio and repeat after them! Not too copy them but to get it to sink in to your brain.
Just thank god they weren’t speaking Dutch.
Dutch is a cake walk - what about asian and southeast asian countries where a single inflection on a vower or dipthong changes the enitre meaning of the word.
Thankfully, those are languages I don’t have to think about. Ducth was bumpiest one so far.
Hoezo?
I’m used to hearing differences accents because of my previous job, I seldom had trouble understanding what people’s talking about even though English isn’t my first language, until these few years I had interviews on the phone and I really struggled to understand what’s the person’s talking about on the other side. One is British and one is Australian.
The long distance call quality definitely didn’t help but seriously I’ve never been struggling like this in a long time.
Yeah as they said it gets better. I moved to Germany like ago and started taking intermediate language courses. Since not everyone speaks English, the teacher almost entirely speaks German, but on a level we should understand. I couldn’t make out like a word for a couple weeks, but magically it changed and I realized the other day that I followed the last lesson pretty comfortably. Just give it some time, nothing about the effects of a new culture should be counted in days.
Simple answer: Don’t worry about it too much. Easier said then done, i know. Language (even accents) will come with time. If you never heard it / used it / were around it before obviously you will likely not understand a lot at the beginning. It will come with time and practice though. It will.
On the plus side if the language is your highest concern after moving to another country things don’t seem to be going too bad.
Give it a month tops, and you will understand even phone conversations and the local radio. Remember you are training your ear at least 8hs a day every day.
It happens to everyone. Hope this helps, as i felt the same the first days after starting to work overseas.
It will come, humour is also very cultural. Lots of people struggle for example when moving to the UK because humour can be very punny, contextual, dry and sarcastic, to the point many thinks it’s mean and nonsensical.
I travelled with my ex to America. He is an Australian. The locals couldn’t understand him. I had to translate everything from Australian English to American English. you’ll eventually get used to the accent. Give it a few weeks
I’m an Aussie in the US, it was hard work to begin with despite my familiarity with American accents. You gradually learn to understand people and figure out the unspoken cultural stuff. You’ll get there!
Try watching Aussie tv, even with subtitles on, so you learn more of the patterns and pronunciations.
If you get on with your manager or make a decent mate at work, I’d talk to them about it (not ‘OMG IM OVERWHELMED’ but ‘haha it’s really something getting used to Aussie accents!’). Aussies absolutely love talking about themselves/their culture so you can always ask people friendly stuff ‘hey what do you reckon are the top 3 things I should know, what’re your favourite Aussie sayings to use’ etc and you’ll pick things up.
What industry btw? I feel like I picked the wrong one for immigration purposes.
Don’t let them make you feel dumb. This is a thing that native speakers (in all languages) do and may not always realize it: the bias that people who don’t speak well are dumb. Which is completely untrue if it’s a language barrier issue. Give it some time, your will adjust to the accent.
You’ll be fine myte.
First week is too early to draw any conclusions! And it’s perfectly normal not to understand Australian English, it’s a really different accent. Give yourself a bit of time!
The Australian accent is really difficult, especially as most people don’t get access to it through media like they do with the American accent. Don’t be ashamed to ask people to say something again. Reasonable people will understand the problem. Watch some Australian tv without the subtitles on to train your ear. The ABC has a lot of good series that you can watch such as The Newsreader, Jack Irish, and Seachange. All these series have people with strong accents and will help train your ear. Good luck!