An aunt is encouraging her toddler niece to embrace her strong "Italian American" accent - despite trolls saying "it's a shame she sounds unintelligent".
Elaina Christina, 24, speaks with an Italian-American twang and was sent to elocution lessons as a child - where she was told to drop her "thick New Jersey accent".
When her niece, Giavanna, two, started showing off her accent, she felt "proud" and has started giving her daily affirmations so she'll never lose it.
Elaina, a credit processor, from Monmouth County, New Jersey, US, said: "I feel so proud that Giavanna is embracing her natural accent - she has such a sense of confidence.
"Her favourite word to say by far is 'coffee' - we always make her a baby coffee, using decaf tea and hot milk, and she's constantly asking for a baby coffee in a strong, New Jersey accent.
"It's obvious she's being raised by Italian Americans living in New Jersey - she's not going to shy away from that."
Elaina first noticed Giavanna’s accent three months ago, when she asked for a piece of chocolate.
She excitedly told her mum, Phyllis, 58, an insurance case manager, and sister, Carissa, 30, a developmental psychologist - and neither registered the tot even had an accent.
“I told my mum,” Elaina said.
“And she was like - accent? What accent?
“We’re so used to the way we all speak - it’s understandable they hadn’t noticed.”
Elaina says it's important the family keep encouraging Giavanna’s accent - after she lost her own following elocution lessons at the age of nine.
As an aspiring child actor, she claims she was told by "countless" producers she'd never make it in showbiz if she didn’t drop her accent.
She says people also assumed she was unintelligent due to her accent - so she was taught to speak in standardised American English - similar to received pronunciation in the UK.
She said: “When I first went to acting school at nine years old, they put me into dialect classes because I had such a thick New Jersey accent.
“They taught me to permanently speak in a traditional American dialect - I completely lost my accent.”
After discovering Giavanna’s accent, Elaina decided to post a TikTok testing the tot with different words.
While most people encouraged her to be proud of her accent, trolls also said the two-year-old seemed "dumb".
Elaina added: “We got a lot of positive feedback, and it encouraged a sense of pride in other people’s accents - not just ours.
“But a lot of comments said things like ‘it’s such a shame she’s going to be looked at as unintelligent when she’s older'.
“Such shocking things to say about a baby, but we ignore it, because you’ve got to take pride in where you’re from.”
Elaina, Phyllis and Carissa each make sure they never miss Giavanna’s daily affirmation - so she’ll grow up embracing her heritage.
“We teach her to say - ‘I’m so gorgeous'," Elaina said.
“Enunciating gorgeous as much as she can.”
Elaina Christina, 24, speaks with an Italian-American twang and was sent to elocution lessons as a child - where she was told to drop her "thick New Jersey accent".
When her niece, Giavanna, two, started showing off her accent, she felt "proud" and has started giving her daily affirmations so she'll never lose it.
Elaina, a credit processor, from Monmouth County, New Jersey, US, said: "I feel so proud that Giavanna is embracing her natural accent - she has such a sense of confidence.
"Her favourite word to say by far is 'coffee' - we always make her a baby coffee, using decaf tea and hot milk, and she's constantly asking for a baby coffee in a strong, New Jersey accent.
"It's obvious she's being raised by Italian Americans living in New Jersey - she's not going to shy away from that."
Elaina first noticed Giavanna’s accent three months ago, when she asked for a piece of chocolate.
She excitedly told her mum, Phyllis, 58, an insurance case manager, and sister, Carissa, 30, a developmental psychologist - and neither registered the tot even had an accent.
“I told my mum,” Elaina said.
“And she was like - accent? What accent?
“We’re so used to the way we all speak - it’s understandable they hadn’t noticed.”
Elaina says it's important the family keep encouraging Giavanna’s accent - after she lost her own following elocution lessons at the age of nine.
As an aspiring child actor, she claims she was told by "countless" producers she'd never make it in showbiz if she didn’t drop her accent.
She says people also assumed she was unintelligent due to her accent - so she was taught to speak in standardised American English - similar to received pronunciation in the UK.
She said: “When I first went to acting school at nine years old, they put me into dialect classes because I had such a thick New Jersey accent.
“They taught me to permanently speak in a traditional American dialect - I completely lost my accent.”
After discovering Giavanna’s accent, Elaina decided to post a TikTok testing the tot with different words.
While most people encouraged her to be proud of her accent, trolls also said the two-year-old seemed "dumb".
Elaina added: “We got a lot of positive feedback, and it encouraged a sense of pride in other people’s accents - not just ours.
“But a lot of comments said things like ‘it’s such a shame she’s going to be looked at as unintelligent when she’s older'.
“Such shocking things to say about a baby, but we ignore it, because you’ve got to take pride in where you’re from.”
Elaina, Phyllis and Carissa each make sure they never miss Giavanna’s daily affirmation - so she’ll grow up embracing her heritage.
“We teach her to say - ‘I’m so gorgeous'," Elaina said.
“Enunciating gorgeous as much as she can.”
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