Hello Readers,
Have you had the pleasure of having the
roasted corn which is done on the coal stove??? The desi way of roasting the
corn by the street vendors in a cold monsoon season is the best. Love this
season for enjoying this corn!!! If you never tried,....just rush out when it pours
down, get a rain shower n grab a corn bite..you will know what I mean :)
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I got an Accent, so what?? How does that
matter to you?? and Why does it bother you? coz you did not have one??? I am so
fed up with all those comments that I get to see or hear about foreign accents.
I can't figure out why people assume that those foreign accents are all fake.
On what basis could anyone determine what a real or fake accent is like? For that
matter even the English accent that you learn at school should be fake coz it’s
learnt.
When you stay away from your native place
and make a living out in a different country. It’s quite normal that you pick
up that area's accent. Some people might be quick to adopt and some may take
some time or some might completely restrain themselves. It varies from person
to person. "Accents seem to remain relatively malleable until a person's early
twenties, after which a person's accent seems to become more entrenched" (Courtesy: Wiki) Moreover, an accent will give a better access to the regional people; also
sometimes will get you acquainted very quickly. So I personally do not see
any damage catching up the local accents. How come people make nasty comments to
those who have a foreign accent? And it gets worse if you bring back the
accent to your native country? Hmm,… people start fussing about your
new accent, more often when its American or British.
Recently I stumbled upon a blog post where
the author asked on an opinion poll on why people bring back fake accents...the
comments poured down giving out a zillion reasons...some said coz they were
insecure, some said coz they wanted to show off that they have been to a foreign country, some said coz they think fake accents attracts attention, some
said coz they don’t want to be recognized as desi anymore....ufff it went on n
on n on. Well, I say that they themselves should pose the question “what if I am put up in
an alien country for a while and how would it effect my communication”.
A recent example that pops up in my
mind is that of an actress in south Indian films, Lakshmi Manchu. She has had the American
accent from the beginning for which she was badly criticized. Recently she gave
an affirmative answer about her accent, that she picked up the accent
as she has been acting in Hollywood, where she doesn’t want to be chosen for
just another Indian chic role but grab proper characters…which would be possible
if she had a proper American accent so that she wouldn't be classified as an outsider.
And she learnt it over the years to shape her career. What’s wrong if she brings
back that accent, would it damage your eardrums? When we can bear with drastic
vocabulary/grammatical mistakes and getaway giving an excuse that English need
not be perfect as it’s not our mother tongue, why can’t we tolerate a foreign accent.
I do have an example of my own experience of what is the advantage
of picking up the accent. My
communication used to be very precise to the point in the beginning when I started working in America. Initially I was sceptical about my skills, the confidence levels were also wavering. As I started picking up the accent following conversations, indulging, understanding
and localizing…I could foray quickly into their zone. (PS: I didn’t
work in IT sector where you see a lot of desi crowd, my work place hardly had desis) I could see the boost up in my confidence levels and later, my boss always chose me to accompany him for all the meetings
& project discussions. As personally developing a liking for learning different accents, I continued this habit of trying to localize
whenever I move to a new place. When I moved to London, I
tried learning British accent, which kinda helped me communicate better. Now I
still have a lot of influence from those accents I learnt. That even happens with my mother tongue, I like to speak other regional accents with friends from other regions.
So, I would conclude saying that all
foreign accents are not fake, over the years one just tend to localize and that
might continue if one develops a liking or might fade away in some time when lost touch.
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