Difficulties in learning multiple languages and being misunderstood in different countries

Both Gussenhoven and Kenstowicz thoroughly explain the phonetic variations in humans and how they differ in languages across the world. 

Guessenhoven's detailed explanation of our anatomical functions were very interesting to think about.  What stood out to me the most was the section on pitch. Growing up learning/speaking three languages, the change in pitch meant nothing to me. I spoke how I wanted to, unknowingly saying the wrong word due to my pitch. The two words I struggled with in Cantonese was always Sunday and Monday. If you look at the English phonetics of the two, they both say "sing kay yut," but if you were a foreigner trying to learn Cantonese, you wouldn't understand why Sunday and Monday are the same word. The difference is in the pitch. Sunday has a higher pitch on the "yut" while Monday has a drop in pitch when saying "yut." I've had to learn how to control my pitch in each language and go through a slight humiliation every time I said the "wrong" word.  I've spoke Cantonese since birth and trying to transition into Mandarin was difficult. Then, when transitioning into Mandarin, I sounded like a foreigner due to the lack of knowledge on the tones. I always knew that the way I said words determined the meaning, but I also just hoped that words would come out of my mouth perfectly without me thinking about them.

Kenstowicz touches more on involuntary native speaking habits. Growing up Canadian, I never felt that I sounded different or talked differently; however, when I arrived in America, people were asking me, "Are you Canadian?" or "You sound Canadian." I knew that there were stereotypes such as "eh" but I was never called out on these things because everyone in Canada spoke the same way. The most popular words I get called on are about and "zed" for the letter z. I stand out because I say "out and aboot," which sounds phonetically accurate to me, but not to Americans. Whenever I say "zed" and not "zee" people have no idea what I am trying to say, even though it is the same letter in both countries. It is interesting to see the little differences that set me apart in all my languages. Gussenhoven and Kenstowicz effectively outline the specifics of phonetic variations and explain the rules that apply to many languages.