A data point from me: people in Chicago had real trouble understanding my English accent. Then I realised that when they had trouble understanding I reflexively

A data point from me: people in Chicago had real trouble understanding my English accent. Then I realised that when they had trouble understanding I reflexively said it again closer to Received Pronunciation i.e. even more English. Then i started imitating the Chicago accent and people understood me. They still thought I had an English accent, just not so thick they couldn’t understand me. English people who knew me found the way i talked to Chicagoans absolutely hilarious.