Accents: how do you feel about Western accents in an Indian-looking person

TheFoolOnTheHill

Prompted by watching an attractive Indian lady anchor with a distictly American accent

When you hear a genuine Western accent in a person of Indian origin:

1.Does it put you off?
2. Turn you on?
3. Make you glad that you are dating someone who you can understand (her accent, not her! Men are not meant to understand any woman!)

Me: I get put off when I hear a Western accent in a person of desi origin who looks Indian. Perhaps politically incorrect but that’s how I feel.

( I speak of a true Western accent, not the awful sell-out call-centre fake 'accent').

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edwardseco

The last thing I am looking at or should I phrase that as looking for..

PeakXV

There are so many western accents and, these days, probably a person of Indian origin that can speak with any one of these varied 'ways with words'.

Some of the accents are endearing, engaging and pleasent ... others are a bit on-your-nerves twangy, grating, and possibly a little unsuiting.

But IMO it really is a preference based on an individual and/or jurisdictional basis .... and a thumbs up or thumbs down answer in an as generalized manner as the thread title & OP implies - might well be over simplified.

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Victoria

Take a trip to Bradford and you'll hear many LOCAL, broad Yorkshire accents from very physically looking indian. If you were given a blind test you wouldn't tell the person with indian origins from any other local regardless of their origins.

I think it's great. Wherever you live, especially if you grow up there, you get the accent, or expressions and quoloquims. It's the beauty of language.

Nick-H

There's a kind of a fake western accent which some presenters/public speakers have, which puts me off totally --- any speach with a lot of mannerisms is offputting, because the listeners quickly start spotting them, rather than listening to what is being said; something they forget to teach on a lot of marketing courses!

Otherwise, everybody's accent is an amalgam of the influences around them. Mrs. N's daughter teaches and supervises "Amercan English" in call centres; she doesn't talk 'american' in 'real' life. She sounds like a modern, somewhat cosmopolitan Tamil girl talking English.

Bottom line with accents: if you feel it's genuine, it works. If you feel it's an affectation, it doesn't. Which probably means it has more to do with the speaker than the speech.

I used to know a very traditional Brahmin in the Mylapore area who had a passion for the English Language; His accent was perfect BBC. It didn't make him any-the-less Indian

So my answer is --- none of the above.

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Victoria

Actually it makes me think of a wonderful gentleman I had the pleasure of meeting last year.
He had moved from Karchi at partition to set up a new life in Kanpur. He had been the only person in Karachi who had a car at that time, and not only grew up with and among the British but worked alongside them in his early life.
When i met him he was very ill and bedridden. He had trouble with his eyes and wasn't able to see me fully. We only had a few conversations, but he told me some superb tales and spoke so elequently I was mesmerised.

He used an English which you don't hear often in England today. Not forcably an old english, but a highly educated one, and was very expressive.
His accent was that of the old style BBC too, and had I not known he was an Indian I would have been convinced I was listenning to an old recording from the forties.
Sadly Mr Saigal passed away last summer. I felt priviledged to have met him and heard his stories.

He was genuine and everything about his accent was and it wasn't at all offputting, but humbling.

dzibead

Well, gosh, better not come to the U.S., then, where all the Americans who just happen to be of Indian origin sound like the rest of the Yanks here. Does Russell Peters offend you? Does it offend you that he (Canadian of Anglo-Indian orgin) doesn't have a desi name???? Anyway, how do you know whether a particular individual is "Indian" or Nepali, or Pakistani, or Afghani, or ...???? Maybe an "Indian" accent wouldn't even be "appropriate" for that particular person. And do you have the same reaction when you see a "Chinese-looking" person, or a "German-looking" person, or ... whatever? (There's actually a Korean-American comedian from Georgia who has a funny riff on all this.) I admit that when I went into an Indian restaurant in Glasgow and the guy who took my order sounded like any other "Jock" I was taken aback for a second - then I realized how idiotic my reaction was. If I'd gone into an Indian restaurant in the U.S. and the guy had sounded like an American, I wouldn't have given it a second thought, so I don't know why it surprised me that a guy in an Indian restaurant in Scotland sounded Scottish. To the OP I would say that based on this thread and some of your other posts, maybe you are trying too hard to be "more Indian than the Indians" - ?

camelgirl

I'm not sure about this post. Is the OP only referring fake western accents? Like Madonna with her new fake English accent (married to English guy and living some of the time in London). That makes me laugh and I think it's dumb.

I think it's normal to pick up phrases if you live in a different country, but not a completely new accent.

Here in the USA with immigrants from all over the world, you find the parents speak English with the accent of their country of origin and their kids speak perfect American English and even with strong southern accents if they happen to live in the southern states.

So, if you are raised to speak English, it's totally natural no matter what you look like.

And what is a "western accent" anyway? UK? Aussie? USA? NZ? Canada?

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capt_mahajan

The only thing which gets me is when Indians living in the US who have two accents, the Indian one for home and amongst some Indians, and a American one for work and socialising with non Indians.

I understand some of the reasons for this, but my primary thought is- make up your mind.

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freenote

It always brings a lift to my heart ,the lady in a sari at wagga (Pakistani border)with a wonderful Wolverhampton accent ,the black guy in a shop in Archway London speaking broad cockney ,an Asian feller who lived up the road from me speaking with a wonderful Cornish accent the list goes on ....love it , sign of a good genetic mix .

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Sama

agree with dzi....yeah, Russell Peters -- who does not even have an "Indian" name, the nerve of him! -- sounds as american to me as apple pie....the swine.....

me too

and yes...what IS a "genuine western accent"?

it seems to me that "expecting" an Indian accent in an "Indian-looking" person is stereotyping, just like expecting all Indians who come to the US to own 7-11s -- now THAT'S a stereotype!

does the OP expect all Mexican-Americans to have a Mexican accent? my ex -- who is a very non-"typical" looking Mexican -- would find that attitude offensive, to say the least.

like camelgirl said, you'll find as many accents in the US as there are immigrants.

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karuna

OP- what if you met a non-Indian person speaking in heavily Indian-accented English*? The idea makes me giggle a bit, but that's just from novelty. I wouldn't be put off by it. I agree with above comments, you have quite a strange view I think.


*or heavily English-accented <insert Indian language of choice here>

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chAos

I don't really have a reaction like those offered (put off, etc.)

I guess it's possible to use that information to make different assumptions about the person talking, their background, experiences, etc.

Random Example:
an Indian-looking guy with a Californian accent: willing to pay higher prices for organic vegetables, attends a yoga class, might have a tattoo.
a similar-looking guy with a Telegu accent: probably doesn't.

OK, yes, a silly example, but essentially an accent is just a clue as to where someone's spent time, and the culture/mix-of-cultures therein.

Although... when I'm around people speaking what I'll broadly refer to as English As Spoken In India, I inadvertantly and easily slip into, not heavily-accented, but a similar rhythm, accent and vocabulary. I don't know if it makes me sound funny or fake; trying not to do so would be harder. What's more, thinking about how I might come across to someone else who is going to judge me for it is a little sad and adds just too much complication to my life. I've already got enough to worry about.

TheFoolOnTheHill

Ooooh errr – disclaimer dept.

My post was submitted, intended, as a quick poll (as in answer ,b or c). That’s why I attempted to phrase the post briefly and with the word ‘genuine’ in it.
I guess the mods decided to make it a regular post.

I rotfl at Goodness Gracious Me, and The Kumar @ and Jim Carrey too…Steve Martin’s Fronk is rotflmaf ( Father of the Bride). The “Western accent” was a generic term, I acknl. That it doesn’t include the, for eg. ,NZ / Oz accents.

Like Victoria above, I love the clear genuine accents of the older generation Pakistanis/Indians: erudite, polished and thoughtful. I’m all for diversity; Vive la difference should be my new sig line…

The post was inspired by the slightly exaggerated American accent of the TV presenter on an Indian TV channel. When I switched channels, there was another Indian person with a UK accent pushing her program with a “You think my accent is sexy?” wind-up. Now that was a bit off-putting! ( no YouTube I guess, but it’s some foodie program that’s coming up on NDTV Good Times).

Whew. Hoping now that the non-poll responses will swing in a different direction!

capt_mahajan

Mod note

You did not choose the poll option, I think.