Solulo:

erinja:
To me it indicates a scorn for the people of the country. Someone who wishes to emphasize "I am not like you" is excluding himself or herself from "us". Therefore, to me, this person will never be "one of us", because this person sees himself or herself as superior to "us".

Superior? Not necesarily. Superior or not but never inferior.
You know, we, East Europeans ar very touchy about our nationalities.

Sorry Solulo, you make your own opinion an general one. It could be completly different.

Solulo:
When we (Poles and Hungarians) had our dinasties of kings and queens, you were not existant.

Doesn't matter todays that hard. Its 2011 and members of EU decided to tie Europe together. Means it could need some discussion about, if national state borderlines are still have much value to be kept present. I don't think so. It should go the same way like LETS idea.

Solulo:
I am writing this on purpose because during my 8 months stay behind the Big Water I was somehow indirectly given to understand that I was "inferior". Perhaps I met the wrong people.
Anyway, this problem does not exist in our beloved Esperantujo.

Maybe they simply were more individualism-minded than you?

(Sorry, Chainy, to mention that again.)

Could you describe more in detail, what let you made thinking that way?

erinja:
I do not know what "behind the big water" means.

Its a joke name for the Atlantic Ocean. In German its "über den großen Teich": across the (huge) pond. Its not intended to be a affront against America. Its more about ignoring the hugeness of the Atlantic Ocean and fast hopping accross big distances with help of airplanes. Europe is much more compact/tight. So its fascinating to experience that hugeness of landscape i.e. of North-America, Australia, Atlantic Ocean etc.

erinja:
But when I am abroad, I feel no need to brag about where I came from, or speak with an exaggerated foreign accent. It is obvious that I am foreign as soon as I open my mouth, just as I'm sure it's obvious when you are outside of your country.

I see it the same way.

erinja:
If you are so anxious for people to know that you're proud of where you came from, and you wish to make it clear that you aren't a local, aren't you worried that the people will look at you and think that you might be a local person?

Yes, I would be afraid that locals think that I want to chum up with the locals. So, I am, who I am. I try to go with healthy trust to foreign locals. Sometimes I notice that some folks wants to keep strong distance to strangers. Sometimes I feel that foreign folks accept healthy closeness to strangers instantly. I.e. Irish folks. That's cool.

erinja:
Maybe when you travel abroad, you should have a t-shirt made with the text "Proud to be Polish" in the local language?

Fortunately for you, you don't have to get one custom-made to visit English-speaking countries; you can easily ...

Oh, oh, that could be received sarkastic(?).

erinja:
When I was standing at a booth at the Universala Kongreso, I was repeatedly asked if I was Polish, and if I was Danish. Good thing I am not Solulo, or else I might have been offended by that, and forced to put on a heavy national accent, so that everyone would know where I came from.

I think it goes that way that someones don't like want to be related to some area because of some episodes happened at this area which are completly contrary to mentality of someones origin area.

Excample: Some years ago I did work in North-Western Germany and people once confused me being origin from Bavaria. They could not distinct between the accents of North-Bavaria and West-Thuringia (I origin come from) which could sound similar sing sang. BUT, the biggest political party in Bavaria CSU has some very, very populist styled politicans who would never(!) get any chance outside Bavaria. But they were/are well accepted in Bavaria. In detail Stoiber and Seehofer. Stoiber made lot of very dilettantish public speeches. So at this time I really hard refused, to be confused being orign from Bavaria instead of Thuringia because simply of that CSU folks. But I would not feel sickish, if somebody puts me origin i.e. into England.

qwertz:Oh, oh, that could be received sarkastic(?)

It was sarcastic.

I do not care whether people think I'm local or not. Anyway, why would I worry about such a thing? The worst that can happen is that someone talks to me and I don't understand. It has happened many times in Northern Europe, where I blend in easily.

erinja:

The phrase was introduced when Solulo mentioned his accent in speaking English. He seems to believe that his English is so perfect that he would be mistaken for a native speaker if he spoke in his "best" accent. It seems to me...

Missed. Oh my dear Erinja. Fortunately, you only seem to seem to know what I seem to believe.If you really knew what I seem to believe... and how I seem to view the world...
Let's leave it. Let me be. Forget it.
(No offence meant)

I see it somewhat strange, if somebody adds an topic at "discussion agenda" and let it be nebulous mystery by the end.

erinja:Unfortunately for Solulo, English speakers are unlikely to be able to distinguish between a Polish accent and any other Slavic accent, so when they hear him talk, they probably think he's Russian.

I dunno, I think it's more like "slavic" and then "russian" - Russian accents seem to (in popular culture) have a bit more of an indescribably "twang" to them (I can't describe it since I can't think of one off of the top of my head, but think of the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie and Star Trek and their "Russians"

Polish accents almost seem a bit more Germanic to me at least.

------

As for accents, I say do what you can to speak the language at a level that's comfortable for you - e.g. you feel like you're actually speaking the language properly, people understand you, and you're satisfied your accent is not too heavy. Perhaps you might want an accent or not, I don't know.

In every bout I've had with Afrikaan's I've strived to nail the way Afrikaaner vowels are produced, and while I can't report on how well I am doing it, often I reach a point where I go "well, I think this is as good as it's gonna get without immersing myself".

So for me, it's "try my best to predict what it should sound like" (find sound examples, know what the IPA values of the language's phonology are, listen to words pronounced say on Forvo, and then imitate them and try and predict the pronunciation before hearing it), then "find a makeshift rhythm" (that way I can at least stumble around in conversation with an accent, or prepare myself for that stage if I ever stick through with the language long enough in one sitting), and then finally "compare with native speaker" (where in conversation or constant contact with a native I'll try and imitate the way they speak, even if it might be guessing critical things like gender differences, social context, formality etc, or I'll try and deconstruct why they speak XYZ way and I don't do it the same way).

At the end of the day though, the best I can go with is a "you speak XYZ very well!" in their language, and hope that they're not just being polite - and this is probably where a language teacher (like at a university, but with a lot of experience) is a critical asset, since they CAN tell you if you suck at the language or not, not having to obey the laws of manners etc as teachers haha.

If I'm stuck with an accent at the end, bugger it, it's who I am. I'll still occasionally try and smooth out things I reckon I can still manage or try and look for a magical epiphany that will make me speak super-fluently, but no point stressing...