I had one of those "stupid" experiences 24 years ago in Haan bei Düsseldorf. At the doctor's office with a severe sinus infection, the nurse was giving me instructions on the medication I was to use, and she used an unfamiliar word. I asked in my flawless local accent what that was, and each time she dismissed the question with "you know". When I persisted, she screamed back at me Every child knows what that is!" I screamed in reply as loud as I could (in a rather crowded waiting room), "I'm a stupid foreigner; I never had a childhood in Germany!", whereupon she relented and told me what it was.
The biggest problem with "perfect" pronunciation for me was that people in NRW tended to start telling me how much they hated foreigners and how Jews control everything, and even showing a US passport couldn't convince them I was German. That assumption I was "one of them" and would participate in their hate made me suicidal after six months.
I had one of those "stupid" experiences 24 years ago in Haan bei Düsseldorf. At the doctor's office with a severe sinus infection, the nurse was giving me instructions on the medication I was to use, and she used an unfamiliar word. I asked in my flawless local accent what that was, and each time she dismissed the question with "you know". When I persisted, she screamed back at me Every child knows what that is!" I screamed in reply as loud as I could (in a rather crowded waiting room), "I'm a stupid foreigner; I never had a childhood in Germany!", whereupon she relented and told me what it was.
The biggest problem with "perfect" pronunciation for me was that people in NRW tended to start telling me how much they hated foreigners and how Jews control everything, and even showing a US passport couldn't convince them I was German. That assumption I was "one of them" and would participate in their hate made me suicidal after six months.