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Yes, there sure is.! But nowadays I´d say that if you speak in a too sophisticated way you may sound a little silly and outdated. There are different regions here and people have a certain accent depending on where they come from. I particularly pay attention to the way a speak spanish because I love doing it correctly but that doesn´t mean I sound like a lecturer in Oxford. I try to apply that to my english.
I have never been discriminated because of my accent but I remember that my phonetics teacher made us read in a certain way. Making a far too “English” and artificial pronunciation and every time it was my turn to read she would nag at me because I burst into laughter. Still, I didn´t get very good marks but I must say that phonetics helped me a lot in improving my pronunciation.
I agree with you Kerin a 100 % speaking with an accent is somehow attractive but come on! you´re in Italy. Italians are so cute speaking english.
Now more seriously, I think that some people find it easier to pronounce a language than others. I´ve had pupils whose pronunciation wasn´t good but they really tried and couldn´t. So I tell them that speaking correctly is what counts rather than quickly. For instance, I speak well english but my french is awful. So , when one of my pupils misprounounces a word, I correct it but if it doesn´t prevent me from understanding I think it´s ok. By the way, I love you “rrrr” sound and after so many years learning english it ´s great to find you , Kerin, from UK who gives me the go-ahead when pronouncing my “rrrs”
