LOL!

Conservatism does not equal racism.

To answer your question:

1. New York City is the most racist city I've ever lived in.

2. That racism does not necessarily boil over into the work place, especially with architects as most of the ones I've met are fairly open-minded.

thanks. I hate using the word "racist" or have a "victim mindset" . but
some people don't judge you by your work, how fast and how hard you work, they come with a preset image that they just won't want to change.

How do you know your language skills are the reason the project manager thinks you're not good?

I worked with a Muslim woman once. She was convinced that the reason everyone had difficulty working with her was because she was "Muslim" and "a woman." But it had nothing to do with either of those things: her drawings were disorganized, she couldn't prioritize, and she couldn't accomplish the simple tasks she was given. Even though her job performance was bad, she endlessly complained about "prejudice in this country."

You should take a hard look at yourself and decide whether it was your accent, or your abilities that were being criticized. (Barring a few individuals, I'd be hard pressed to believe that an entire firm was prejudiced against you because of your accent.)

People have a tendency to not want to believe they're bad at something. Even when we screw up, we rarely admit it, and post-rationalize our mistakes as other peoples' failures.

How do I know? the project manage told me directly. and he gave an example how hard it is for him to explain to me how to do a dwg.

I told him I did that dwg in two days, that's not slow at all. the truth is no one else in our team who had the same experience as I do and whose first language is English can do it as quick and good as I did.

I never complain about prejudice before, I just want to compete with my skills and abilities. language is not my strength, but I made it up by my hard working. isn't it true that a good employee is the one who did the best work in the quickest collaborated way? how can he judge me by my language not as first language?

NY will be a good place to work. But before you start or move here, you must rid yourself of all negative ideas and thoughts.
i've realized that working with young interns can get a bit nasty at times, but the people who matter, the experienced ones, people from good schools never indulge in racial prejudice. so avoid being in excessive company of "immature" interns, thats my personal advice.
NYC has a very high % of foreigners in the design field. i worked at 2 arch firms and both had almost 40% internationals, so you might be more comfortable here in that sense.

but again i do agree w/ farwest to a certain point, i feel one must be positive, most of the time these ideas are a creation of our own imagination or consciousness.

and...don't care of what people think or say. just put your head down and DO YOUR WORK. sooner or later you will be appreciated.

You should move to London, there it's widely accepted that the better your english is, the worse your work.

If your manager is really biased against you, you need to change firms or at least speak to your boss.

I don't think that, by and large, people in architecture offices are prejudiced and certainly not racist. It may be slightly better in NY, and slightly worse in small-town America. But don't let this one encounter condition your feelings for the entire profession, and definitely not for the US in general.

are you playing the race card?

Seriously though, is there a partner or a director that you could address you concerns too? Maybe you could be put on a different project or you could work with a different PM?

thanks for the replies!
certainly I'm very cautious using any word related to "race" esp. when I talk to people in my office, I don't want people think I'm "playing race card,as I said, I only want to compete with my abilities and skills, which, no doubt, I'm way better than some English speaking people in my firm.

thanks, allStar, I'll stay positive. thanks for the good advices!

as hell....simple answer but my response is related to work. you talk about politics

I think there is a tendency for bullies (and there are many in this field, unfortunately) to pick on people who have "language issues," because they know the victim will have trouble defending themselves.

It sounds like your boss is the one who is having trouble communicating, not you. I'll bet even the native English speakers have trouble understanding this particular project manager.

feel confident and always gave yourself a positive attitude. do not trust the next environment where your feeling could get better, just read your mind and do your job.