Culture Perception; from Jordan to Essex
A cultural piece played on BBC upload on Thursday, 4 June 2026.
It does not take long for someone to figure out I am not British by my accent, -which sounds more ‘American’.
Then the famous question follows, “Where are you from?” taking in consideration my country’s size and geographical importance I know there are at least 3 more follow up questions.
With an accent hard to pinpoint where it came from, they always mishear the country and assume I am from ‘Georgia’.
I then slowly repeat the word ‘Jordan’ only to be met with scrunched eyebrows and a blank stare.
Some instantly ask where that is, others start pitying me for the ‘temperature’ and a minority of them recognise it due to the biblical river.
What frustrates me the most is when they tell me I speak well for an Arab; to me that is a backhanded compliment.
People who know nothing about my country assume I wasn’t taught English in my school and are even more shocked when I tell them I did my GCSEs and A levels, they are unaware of their own country’s influence and power it has over the education sector globally.
As for the temperature question it is just a nicer way to ask if we live in a desert, though not entirely wrong. Jordan is a desert country, but we experience low temperature, it even snows there, it embodies a Mediterranean climate.
While some remain confused, I start listing neighbouring countries, I once got asked if I am ‘African’, even though Jordan is closer to Cyprus than Egypt.
Personally, these questions are harmless, and I am not offended, but when someone starts asking me why as a Muslim, I don’t wear the ‘headscarf’, or someone starts throwing cliché Arabic words at me or try and mimic a broken English accent it just becomes overwhelming.
To them any Arab country is an extremist Muslim country, and they think I ‘escaped’ from that, which is not my case. They assume I do not dress the same way back home, they also correct me when I say ‘Eid’ in my accent, even though the word is Arabic.
I’m told ‘You’re in the UK now’ as if that encourages me to leave my culture behind just to fit in. Everyone I have met was mostly welcoming, but they just generalise the middle east.
