[jacquesm]

I know quite a few foreigners here in NL that have worked very hard at getting rid of their accents and in spite of all that hard work they've reached a plateau.

We're not talking 'English' or 'Australian' wants to get rid of their accent when living in the US. PG specifically states that the accent of the person speaking is so thick you'd have to interrupt them several times for clarification just because of that. Such a thing does not fade away in a short time. That takes many years, if you work hard at it.

Take into account here that those that apply to YC will often do so from abroad, without significant practice in speaking English.