One of the most damaging beliefs in English learning is that you need to 'sound like a native speaker' to be taken seriously. Linguistics research consistently shows this is false — and chasing it can actively harm your progress.
English today is a global language spoken by over 1.5 billion people, fewer than 400 million of whom are native speakers. The majority of international English communication happens between non-native speakers. In that context, clarity and intelligibility matter far more than accent.
What actually affects comprehension:
Word stress: English is a stress-timed language. Placing stress on the wrong syllable ('reCORD' vs 'REcord') causes more confusion than any accent ever could.
Connected speech: Words blend together in natural speech. 'Want to' becomes 'wanna', 'going to' becomes 'gonna'. Understanding and producing these patterns makes you vastly more comprehensible.
Intonation: Rising and falling pitch signals questions, lists, and emphasis. Flat intonation makes speech harder to follow, regardless of accent.
Your Arabic, French, or Korean accent is part of who you are. The goal is not to erase it — it's to speak with enough clarity and rhythm that your ideas land exactly as you intend them.