Speaking a language with an accent

A friend (yes, I actually have a couple of 'em, left!) regularly wonders why I have a strong accent despite a good command of the language, despite learning it from the time I was in kindergarten, and despite being in the US for more than two decades.  I suppose I am not good at unlearning my old ways, and nor am I good in mimicking sounds.  There are times that I do wonder whether students make fun of my accent when they are in a safe company of like-minded people.

But, more than anything else, I told this friend that one of the advantages in coming to the US when I did--as opposed to the earlier decades--was that immigrants did not have to change their names and accents and everything else to make sure they conformed to the stereotypical "White American" way.  An Indian-American, who was (yes, he is dead now) old enough to be my dad's age had quite some nasty experiences both within and outside the country because his features and accents was unlike that of the "American".  So much so that once when he was in some European country (his wife was Danish) apparently the immigration officials held him for questioning--they were convinced that his American passport was a fake because, after all, he did not look "American."

I, on the other hand, have had no such pressure at all.  Well, other than the occasional heckler, sometimes within the family too :-)


Back in India, I remember most of us always getting thrilled if a foreigner spoke even a couple of words of Tamil.  The fact that they spent the time and effort to learn that much meant a lot.  I am willing to bet it is still the same way.  Heck, it was the case even with Indians who were from other parts of India.  I recall once two families came over for coffee--this was back in Neyveli.  These were wives/children of two contract folks who were colleagues of dad's and they were from Bengal.  It was an interesting evening, as I recall--the men folk conversing in English, the women struggling with a scattering of English and Hindi words.  We didn't know Bengali, other than saying "rasagollah" and all they could say was "idli" :-)  well, something to that effect.  And the couple of months later in life when I worked in Calcutta, I did learn a few Bengali words and expressions, and whenever I used them the locals were delighted.

But, apparently it is not not quite that way all over.  Hmmm .... I know what you are thinking--that I am stereotyping here.  Well, read this; a few excerpts:

The American attitude towards English is: everyone should get with the program, there are a million variants and accents of the language, all that really matters is that you can somehow get your meaning across.

So, what is a different attitude?

in France and Japan, the deep-down assumption is that the language is pure and difficult, that foreigners can't really learn it, and that one's attitude toward their attempts is either French hauteur or the elaborately over-polite and therefore inevitably patronizing Japanese response to even a word or two in their language. "Nihongo jouzu! Your Japanese is so good!"

or how about this one:

My mother, an Austrian, always used to watch as my dad, an American, inevitably got mocked in her homeland for his imperfect German accent, and, indeed, imperfect German (which was still pretty good). She notes this would never happen in America -- it is rare for Americans to actively mock a foreigner's accent. When they do, it's usually in a way that somehow includes the foreign speaker.