Angie Thomas Quotes

In the South we experienced, you know, some black kids who gave us a hard time because - cause 'you talk white.' We didn't talk white. We talked fairly proper. Plus, we had a Midwestern accent, so we didn't have a Southern accent, either. So it wasn't really talking white; it was talking different.

The one thing that no Anglo-Saxon can stand is to be ruled by someone who 'talks fancy' by using Latinate words too often.

So many Indian novels, quite unfairly, do not get the prominence they should because they have been written in a language other than English.

It's the idea that when you say 'actress', people think of an airy, floaty, no-brain person, which of course you can't be if you are an actor. It is an unfortunate word, which is why, for a time, I hung on to 'actor', because it just seemed more workmanlike, you know, like you say 'woman doctor' not 'doctoress'.

Trouble is, some accents lend themselves to comedy.

Children, and sometimes those of larger growth, will not read dialect.

There is the fear, common to all English-only speakers, that the chief purpose of foreign languages is to make fun of us. Otherwise, you know, why not just come out and say it?

You know, even growing up going to school, I had teachers that were against bilingual teaching. I never understood that. My parents always had me speak Spanish first knowing I was going to speak English in school.

I always wonder whether I'll get treated differently with a different accent.

I used to say that whenever people heard my Southern accent, they always wanted to deduct 100 IQ points.

People are always saying, English, English, English rose, and I just feel so completely different.

I'd like to talk in my own accent, but then there's that thing about getting typecast as, 'The British guy.' The role that makes you, that's normally what you're cast as forever more. Like, if I did a huge film with my British accent, that would be that.

I was raised to think cursing makes you look unintelligent.

Speaking Spanish isn't a benefit in Hollywood.

When I was a girl, there wasn't anything in Spanish in the movies until you saw it on DVD.

On my best day, I cannot do Scottish people. I don't even believe that's a real accent, to be honest with you. I think they probably sound like us when they're in the house. It's how they keep people away from them.

Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence.

My mum made a conscious decision not to teach me any Indian languages so I wouldn't talk with an accent.

When I was a kid, I resented my grandparents not speaking the perfect English I wanted to speak.

They made me use an accent, which I wasn't thrilled about because a lot of us, obviously, don't have them.

At various points, I've had a massive chip on me shoulder. I had fights about me accent with loads of those fellers you get from third-class public schools. They used to think I was speaking German.

Being a Southern person and a blonde, it's not a good combination. Immediately, when people meet you, they think of you as not being smart.

My mum won't speak to me unless I speak properly on the phone. I have to speak 'American' for work, so often the accent comes through when I'm not at work.

People are amazed that I'm Canadian and I don't have this crazy accent.

Bilingualism used to have an undeservedly bad reputation; then it got an undeservedly exalted one.