Quote:
It is funny to see that we in India always spoke of "American accent" and how great it is when you can speak with that peculian accent.
However, when you come to North America, you come to know that accent actally means that you are not speaking English in the manner that Americans speak - which means you do have an accent. So, to have an accent is actually not desireable - and Americans do not have an accent - they simply speak English the way they do.
They do have accents and quite a few between theme.g: Texan vs New England etc.
So do Canadians...e.g: newfies vs ontarians
http://guerson.wordpress.com/2006/09/08/newfie-accent/
As part of his gig a British comedian had this line... and I para phrase
"Americans often tell me my accent is cute, I tell them I dont have an accent, I'm from Britain I speak English!"
Bush has an accent and Bill Clinton has an accent. Hillary has a changing accent
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/may/02/hillaryclinton.uselections2008
Closer home our former PM and liberal party leader Jean Chretien had a heavy french accent when he spoke english. His confidence was however unmistakeable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V39405ajIU
Accents are ok unless illegible as has been pointed out by many. Its equally possible to be unable to understand English when spoken by someone from rural Arkansa as from rural Bihar.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Recommended Services- Servicedomino.com
http://www.servicedomino.com
Accents are there and a neutralization is needed for better acceptance and understanding in business / peers .
I have found that how we pronounce some words as different - 'coupon' ~
ku-pawn and 'record' ~ray-kard ... . It would not be uncommon to hear an oft repeated phrase from the listeners ---- ' Whats that ?? '
In order to neutralize this gap , please unlearn your english speaking speed that you might have gathered in India - speak slowly and clearly with a 1 finger spacing as my dad used to say . As long as you are speaking correct english you will notice comprehension will be better .
Try and pick up new pronounications as you come across them ... 2 of which I ve mentioned above ... assimilate them in your usage .
Be confident and clear in your ideas - if you are speaking somehting that others find benefit in ..... accent and pronounciation take a back seat .... Try by offering a $10/- bill to anyone in the strongest Indian accent . 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fido.
Location: carl sagan's universe
Posted on: 08-04-08 16:50:51
Aarey, the Bambaiya accent is the bestest yaar!
I know one of friend had this ACCENT problem
It happen when he relocated from GTA to Alberta
Most of people in Alberta used heavy ACCENT
So after joining one company, he was told to go for English Accent course
My friend has more than 12 years of exp in India, MiddleEast & GTA
Also his complete education was in english
Still when he used to speak, many particularly Canadians used to say what, can u repeat etc. etc
He still wonders it was one way of harrassing
Anyway he wanted to continue that job, so went for this Course
So if u need any information I can send you list of Institutes which have English Accent Improvment program.
But its mostly in Calgary
Having been in US for the past 4 years and having worked for many Fortune 500 companies, I’ve noticed unique communication problems among desi speakers. Most desi folks are incoherent in communicating with Americans and they just throw words everywhere. Though the poor American is able to comprehend what our folks are trying to convey, it just doesn't seem right. The problem is that we don't use the right words or sentences to convey the intended meaning and whenever a desi opens his mouth many American’s go "Could you please repeat that?”. This problem is prevalent even among desi's who had spent a great deal of time in North America and among desi's who hold senior positions with the company.
The key to clear communication is "Tone" and "Sentence formation"
Tone - Most desi's tend to speak fast with a monotonous tone while communicating in English and in the process they eat up some words. This becomes more apparent during telephonic conversations and Americans do have a tough time understanding us. A person's confidence is reflected in his/her tone and most of the times we desi's aren't confident about what we speak and hence we tend to chew or murmur some words in spite of our capability to utter clearly. I went for some accent classes with an American teacher and she said "You people gotta open your mouths WIDE while communicating". How true can it be?
Sentence formation – Let’s face it folks. Most desi's suck on this front. We royally mix up irrelevant words, tenses and parts of speech resulting in convoluted sentences.
Here's are some live examples.
"I was thinking like that" instead of "I thought so"
"Your birthday is on the 24th, right no?" instead of "Is your birthday on the 24th?"
"I went to the doctor two weeks back." instead of "I went to the doctor two weeks ago."
"Advanced birthday wishes" instead of "Birthday wishes, in advance".
"There's a store opposite to my apartment" instead of "There's a store in front of my apartment"
Such mistakes can be corrected by strengthening the English grammar, reading books/articles written by North American writers, listening sharply to how North Americans speak and by replacing words used in Indian dialect with equivalent North American words (ex. Lift-Elevator, Cell-Battery, Canteen-Cafeteria etc...). According to me, speaking clearly, correctly and slowly with a neutral accent is more than sufficient to survive in North America.
Location: carl sagan's universe
Posted on: 04-12-08 08:42:54
is this what u r referring to?
Hi guys:
Any news regarding new rules..
I just sent my application 2 months before under skilled category and I heard that applications will be considered filed before 28 Feb 2008...
as in" I just sent my application 2 months before..'' instead of "I sent my application 2 months ago..."?
from the link
http://www.canadiandesi.ca/read.php?TID=22701
or how about "That's what she told." instead of "that's what she said."
it's not "that's what she told me", but "that's what she told, period."
Guess, with standup comedians like Russell Peters always taking jabs at the Indian accent and our way of doing things, it only adds to our woes.
