Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
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How do you not have an Indian accent? I would be very surprised if someone who grew up in the US and spent their entire life there didn’t have an American accent. The only cases I’m aware of would be some sub-sects of Ultra-Orthodox Jews that still have Yiddish-inflected American accents (although these are still more American than not, the same is true for their British equivalents) or some Mexican-Americans who grew up in largely Hispanic border communities and almost never interact with non-Spanish-speaking Americans.
I know some very rich Indians who have British or American accents but in the former case they went to boarding school in Britain and in the latter case they typically either go to boarding school in the US or to international schools in Singapore, Switzerland etc from 11 or 13. I looked up Rahul Gandhi on YouTube and even he (very high status Indian) seems to have a strong Indian accent, which is almost funny coming from him because he looks (for obvious reasons) like a swarthy European.
How would you describe your accent? More American, or just international enough that it sounds ‘not Indian’?
My parents were too busy to have a honeymoon. My dad was in the OR operating when I was born.
To be fair, he and my grandpa were doing the C-sec on my mom, so I can't claim he wasn't involved lol.
But when I was a little older and they had money saved up, they decided to spend about 8 months traveling the globe, seeing quite a few countries but mostly spending time with friends and family in the UK and the States. I was still barely a toddler, but started off knowing only my mother tongue, but came back fluent in English with an American accent. And an addiction to Teletubbies, which probably explains why my mom had to lug a suitcase full of VHS tapes back and why my writing mixes styles and idioms from both sides of the pond. But at any rate, while it did dwindle with time, I was always great at English, to the point where it far outpaces even Bengali, let alone my lacklustre Hindi. And I consumed mostly English-language entertainment from an early age, and spoke English almost exclusively with my friends, my mom and my brother.
So I have an extremely neutral accent, one that sounds vaguely Nordic to western ears. I get asked literally every day at the hospital if I'm from around these parts, and I have to assure them that I am. Well, not for much longer at least.
I guess @cjet79 and @TheDag have heard me over voice comms on discord, so you can ask them what I sound like. My opsec is so compromised, but I'd still not rather make my voice public, especially when it's trivially easy to clone these days. It's not an affectation, though I abhorr Indian accents and wouldn't want to sound like that in the first place. Not that I'm very fond of British accents either, they've got some stinkers, and even Received Pronunciation sounds uppity and unnecessarily trying too hard to be posh to my ears. But who am I to judge? I just hope I don't acquire a Scottish one, Indians find me hard enough to understand as it is. I prefer American accents in general.
I'm terrible with differentiating accents.
Neutral is a pretty good description of yours, but I'm American so maybe that is your accent. You have a very deep voice so that throws me off a little.
I'm not sure if I'm remembering any Indian affectations or I just assumed they were there cuz I knew you were Indian. It might have just been that you correctly pronounced Indian words, which most people with non-indian accents can't do. I think it was a food item curry/Tikka/biryani etc.
Ah, well, if you were speaking to me, biryani almost certainly came up somewhere. It's a near and dear topic, and I'll miss it in the UK, where decent biryani in the style I like was nigh impossible to find. Some of the flavoring and spices are too, and my ex planned ahead and brought her own.
Unfortunately in this one regard her ambitions exceeded her culinary talents, and while she did make a tasty rice dish, I'd struggle to call it biryani. Closest I found to what I like was from a Pakistani restaurant.
I asked my friends who know how to cook if it's possible for me to learn how to make it properly while I'm taking a crash course in Single Survival 101, and the consensus is an unanimous no. It takes time, rather specific utensils and spices, and is easy to fuck up if you don't know what you're doing. Which I don't.
Guess that clears up what I'm eating for the next few weeks eh?
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Nordic looking dark skinned Indian from India without an accent is probably just a joke.
Re: Rahul Gandhi - many Indians who grew up abroad and speak with e.g. an American accent code switch and talk with an Indian accent to Indian Indians. It's possible he just does that all the time for the cameras to seem more Indian.
You didn't get what I said. I look Indian. I sound Nordic. Or at least that's the most common ethnicity I've been accused of being, by people who haven't actually seen my face.
I have buddies who know I'm Indian, and they enjoy taking the piss with other acquaintances who don't me but have heard my voice by asking them where they think I'm from. I play a game called Arma 3 which uses TeamSpeak for voice comms, and it shows your nationality in a small box. Cue the surprise when they see mine is from India, and accusations of using a VPN.
Claims include Nordic, American, German, Dutch, but primarily the first.
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I mean there's Indian accent and then there's Indian Accent. Think someone born in India but educated in western university vs stereotypical Indian tech support. I have a couple of friends who fit the first. Like yeah, you can hear they're probably from India but it's not a thing that strikes you the first moment you talk with them.
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