Mindy Kaling, who writes for and acts on the NBC show The Office, recently revealed to David Letterman a secret that many Indian Americans guard very closely. Not all of us are good at imitating an Indian accent just because our parents are Indian [via Defamer]:
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That’s right, we may not do Indian accents well…but no other ethnic group should be able to point that out without an indignant tongue-lashing back 
If you want to skip the rest of the interview then start at 1:30 min mark. I can really sympathize with Mindy. When I try to do an Indian accent I sound slightly Scottish. Its just sad.
I always think doing a Scottish accent is extremely hard. Very impressed you can pull that off, go with it. If you get it right, no one will understand you. 😉
I always think speaking a desi language at home will always help, my Ba used to bribe us, if we stop speaking in English until dinner then we get to have a sugar wari rotli.
You know she’s telling the truth when she can’t even pronounce “Apu” (Aah-pooh)correctly.
Mindy Kaling is on my top 3* list of girls that I would LOVE to have a beer with.
*this is a total arbitrary number, I don’t know who the other two are.
I once tried out for a play in college that called for an Indian accent, and butchered it terribly (my version came out sounding, for some reason, Russian).
I think many ABDs, as teenagers, don’t pay any attention to their parents’ Indian accents — because they want to identify as “American.” They don’t realize that being able to speak with a convincing Indian English accent might actually come in quite handy later in life.
I could actually do a much better job of the accent now, after being married to a DBD for five years.
I went to a mostly-white, Catholic (read: racially insensitive) high school. One of the teachers asked me to read aloud in an Indian accent. Rather than complain, I did my best (an awful that rivals Kaling’s) version of Apu. When I finished and sat down to bury my head for the rest of class, the person sitting next to me turned and exclaimed “Wow, I thought you were born here. How’d you do the accent so well?”
I have to say that my Indian accent is pretty damn good. The consonents are always crispy and I’m the only one at the office who can understand the phone solicitors from India. In India you don’t really need to know any desi language so well. Just speak English with the local accent and they get you.
Even I am surprised at how that vorks but I am telling you Madam it vorks like a charm – wonly!
This is the 2nd person I saw talking about anything India related on Letterman. Ashwarya being the first.
Cant be a whiner but did anyone else notice excessive gesticulation? Very desi that.
Cheers.
i’ve been perfecting my hindi-english accents by watching indian mtv lately 😉
re english – it only gets you so far. in urban areas, it’s most def. more useable, but even then, only with a certain segment of the population. outside of large cities, the usefulness of english, albeit it with a desi accent, decreases drastically….
I can do one, well– literally. As in, just one specific accent,i.e. my Dad’s, according to certain haters (Hi, Mom!). I can’t do hers at all.
I had an older “VIP” (read: bishop) family member on my Mom’s side visit us once, who ostensibly spoke English but when he attempted to converse with me, he looked up helplessly and shot a somewhat irritated look at my Mom, because he couldn’t understand what I was saying. My mom poked me surrpetitiously and murmured through clenched teeth:
“Stop. Speaking. With. That. Stoopid. Valley. Girl. Accent.”
“What are you talking about??”
“He can’t understand you!”
“What would you have me do, woman?”
“Talk like an Indian!”
“Are you kidding me? You mean, talk how I usually get punished for, b/c it shows ‘disrespect’ for my elders?? Oh, this is RICH.”
“SHUTUP and DO IT”
All of this was muttered furiously in a matter of seconds, mind you. She was right, as soon as I commenced transposing “V”s and “W”s, and imitating my DBD cousins, the man immediately had this “Eureka”-like moment, nodded with approval and vigorously started asking me what type of Doctor I planned on becoming. [more on HERstory]
Vunderrfull. And I can vouch foir ANNA’s good accent 😉 I really like thick Malayali accents, more so than any other south Indian accent – I had this great TA in college for a WWII history class and his recitations were always entertaining not only because of their content but because of their Malayalam-accent-tainted presentation (e.g. ‘knowLedge in the coLLege’). BTW Vikram Seth’s A Suitable Boy has a great passage to highlight the very pronounced South Indian accent.
5 · AR said
Back in junior high we’d often be forced to read a chapter from the textbook out loud on days that we had subs. You know, we’d take turns reading one paragraph or section each. Being the class clown, I’d always do mine with my fake Indian accent, which would have everybody but the sub in stitches. The sub would then chide the class for being “mean” to the poor foreigner (me), which would only make people laugh even harder. Good times.
My fake Indian accent seems to have gotten worse with the passage of time. Or maybe I just remember it being better than it really was. Shrug.
You haterz!, Dont make phun of Indyann accent..Its sooo kule OK! 🙂
Speaking about Indian “accents” we used to live in San Jose from late 70’s thru early 90s. My dad (that’s Abhi’s Grand dad) a retired gazetted Indian Government Officer was very proud of his “British” English. I took him to local San Jose Government Office for some routine official business, where he started conversing in his thick ‘British’ English. The entire conversation went straight over the head. The guy behind the counter looked at me – puzzeled and asked me what my dad was saying. Obviously my Dad felt hurt, looked at me and commented: “It seems like Americans are dumb. I thought they understand English here in America.” I had to calm down my dad by buying him a triple scoop of his favorite ice cream. I am not kidding a bit. Honestly, although being a DBD myself, since I went to “Catholic” missionary school (St. Xaviers) in India, I picked up the American accent very fast. I have lots of DBD friends who did not go to such institutions back home, and they still have not been able to shake off the “deshi” accent.
Whoa, thats a good story, I didn’t know that. It makes sense though because ice cream calms me down too. Also, my Indian accent probably sucks because Yo Dad doesn’t have much of one (neither does mom).
wunly accent i have is 2003 hyundaai accent.
rudie_c: By the way Sugar Wari Rotli” is called “Puranpori” or “Vedhmi” in Gujarat.
Love Mindy, and love tbat she’s not only a “tertiary” character on The Office, but she’s also a writer, and sometimes a producer for the show….You Go Girl!
Interestingly, she seemed far more uncomfortable being in the guest seat (notice how she never sat back on the sofa), though she was born in the US and presumably was familiar with Dave (and the format) than Aishwarya (who did a terrible interview a few years back).
Hmmm….
Anyway, she ROCKS (who can forget her saying on camera…this s**t is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S)!
And so does JKras (my middle age crush)! Sigh!
16 · Yo Dad said
puranpori, is that not stuffed with Goor?? Sugar wari rotli or sugar wali rotli is what i known since i was a wee lad. whats Vedhmi??
So Malayalis do that as well as North Indians? Interesting, being that Hindi and other North Indian languages are “indo-european” and Malayali is not, or is it? Thought it was “dravidian”.
I would imagine that the more difference between desi languages, the more different the accents would be….???
Whenever I visit India I notice a weird transmission of accents from myself and locals. I begin speaking English with inverted grammar and sentence structure, “Sheila Aunty, wait for me only” and the locals especially the younger ones try to mimic an American accent right back at me. The guy at the local “barrista” after asking me what I wanted in heavily accented English switched to a pure southern American accent after I had answered him.
North Indians (Hindi/Urdu native speakers) cannot pronounce the ‘th‘ in ‘the’ or ‘that’.
The fake Indian accent that annoys me the most is Ajay Naidu’s in Office Space. What the hell kind of accent is that?
OK, I’m sorry. I thought we were talking about Mindy, not about how all of us can imitate/fake/work our way around all the Indian accents. Truly, my bad.
JSYK – there are so may “Indian” accents, I suggest we give it a rest. I’m a US raised Malayali with a very strong Midwestern-American accent and having friends from all over the Desh, I find that it’s kind of sad when we stereotype each other with the accent BS.
If we have a language (whatever it may be – sign, hand waving, Hinglish, flirting, or any permutation) that gets our point across and helps us connect with each other, I think we’re good.
Is an Indian accent really that much fodder for talk? Our parents have “the accent”….do we see them as a punchline? As comedic relief on a sitcom? I don’t.
Back to Mindy – she ROCKS!
23 · Meenu said
Wow, I hope you’re not on twitter, I dread your reply to SM’s last tweet.
Abhi discussed his inability to do the accent in the post, opening the door for all of us to share our experiences. I hope people continue to feel comfortable doing so, with your strong opposition to it duly noted.
seriously, you don’t think us making fun of our own accents is embarrasing?
why are our accents worthy of so much discussion when the WHOLE WORLD has accents? i never understood that. especially on this thread when we’re discussing the differences between north and south indian accents. are they really that funny? do you burst out when you hear your parents talk? or relatives?
i’m obviously not articulate right now, but i do think it’s sad…
again, my bad. and i speak southside chicago ghetto.
25 · meenu said
I don’t think anyone is trying to be malicious. Seriously.
25 · meenu said
The fact that everybody farts does not make farts any less funny. Not. One. Bit.
Sorry Anna, don’t mean to offend, but if it’s not your accent, you shouldn’t have to do it.
I understand for actors who are stereotyped into doing an Indian accent, how irritating it may be, but the rest of us shouldn’t have to do an accent, should we?
So, if Abhi (whose posts are mosts of my favourites on SM) doesn’t have an “Indian” accent, then what’s the problem?
Again, it’s 2:15am for me…so, will think about why this post made me comment, but love SM and did not mean to come across how I did (to some of you).
The Sumerians would certainly agree
28 · meenu said
po ozhengedi, penne 🙂
duly noted, anna mol. you make me laugh!
it’s been a rough day and living in india for the last year, i live for that evening call from mom and dad in chicago and their mallu/english accents and i think it just took the wrong turn today.
sorry y’all!
i suddenly have a hankering for sugar wali roti and pistachio ice cream. not together of course. puranpori is a paratha stuffed with a sweet filling. sugar wali roti is a roti with sugar sprinkled on top sometimes with some ghee placed on the roti.
Do you think FZ of GPS is working the centrist accent well enough?
One of my uncle’s who move to Utah about ten years back from Kenya now sounds like Apu in the Simpsons episode where he gets his citizenship.
“sugar wali roti is a roti with sugar sprinkled on top sometimes with some ghee placed on the roti”.
YES!! YES!! YES!!! freshly made rotli. arahhhhhhh!!
“I don’t think anyone is trying to be malicious. Seriously.” Why not Anna, just because its not about your much publicized, refined/nuanced feelings of loss and hurt? I am DBD and I feel a lot of ridicule out heer…maybe ppl here think that those of us without American twangs aren’t sophisticated enough to sense ridicule!
Talking about acccents – most Americans cant understand Australian accents which I find very strange.
some americans i’ve met think that the aussie accent is british.
Right on, Melbourne desi!
As a “DBD” i would like to make this clear: I do not like ABDs making condescending/malicious comments about aspects of Indian culture that are not shared between us- including accents. Some of the people who use such accents may be your parents, but there is a much larger community of us here (on Sepia and in the US) who do not have anything in common with the family chain migrating generation that came here earlier and their offspring .
Btw I say DBD because it is the identifier popular here; as a Malayali, I do not identify with the terms Desh or Desi, terms whose existence I became aware of only in the US. Also if any of you feel that I am unduly offended, plese re-read the comments above being aware that most of us are also sentient human beings with real feelings!
Talking of accents, When I cam to the US 8 years ago, I spoke english with the BBC influenced english accent as that was what was taught as the “Proper” way to speak english. No one understood me in Kentucky, which is where I landed. Now, after 7 years in California, my accent has changed over the years, so much so that when I was in India on vacation recently and gave a talk to my peer group, they stopped me to request that I speak in a desi accent or a british accent if I could…..
..what is probably worse than ABDs ridiculing the Indian accent are the couple of Indians here saying that theirs is an almost BBC/”catholic” missionary etc. accent, i.e. not like the masses being ridiculed about. Face it guys- all of us have accents. I myself have been here 8 years but do not speak an iota differently than how I did in India (excepts when some annoyed redneck in a dead end call center job and a semi-literate diction does not understand me on the phone). Otherwise, everybody at work understands me prefectly. The south asians I have seen pick up “american accents” fastest here are those that never spoke it previously.
love her! she is soo hillarious!!
Yes, Malayali is a Dravidian language to the poster who asked earlier. The funny is, it gets made fun of in India too. Weird, because I don’t think it’s any funnier than a Swedish/Scottish/Aussie/Southern Ohio accent, but there you have it. My own accent is Bangalore convent school, which sounds nothing like Apu. I’m proud to say that I can do an amazing Apu though. To all you ABDs, you MUST watch the Brit desi show ‘Goodness Gracious Me’. The deliberately garish clothes, the tawdry, sarcastic humour and the uncanny realism of the show make me proud I belong to a race that can make fun of themselves so freely. The following link is an absolute must-see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjNmXkzuYrg
I’m in love. She is hilarious.
39 · hurt said
Since when is merely pointing out a difference considered condescending and malicious? Don’t blame me for your own inferiority complex. I think the best comment on this thread so far has been Sunil’s which acknowledges a fluidity and imparts a certain graciousness to the Indian barrista. Lighten up, “hurt.”
Why would you hear those terms there? Those are relative terms which only have meaning in the diaspora.
I understand your pain, but you’re not helping your case by throwing around terms like “redneck” and “semi-literate”.
I second a moderate version of what Hurt@39 said. I don’t believe that there is any malice in this thread: the discussion has largely been what second-gen ABDs grew up with, making the humor at least partly self-deprecating, not malicious. That said, accent differences can be one of the most divisive forces among Indian* Americans: most people who make fun of “ABCD”s target, imitate and parody the accent first, since it is one of the most readily apparent signifiers. Extra care & sensitivity are always good when discussing accents.
*Use desi or South Asian as preferred: I don’t intend a difference in the scope of this comment.
Hurt, I do see your point, but any accent sounds funny when taken to its ridiculous extreme. Apu has one of those accents, as I’ve never heard any DBD speak like that. Certainly not the masses. By the way, I object to DBD. It should just be D, because Desi Born is the default. 😉
I really dislike accents. Much prefer the umlaut myself.
35 · Hurt! said
Uh…I’m not the one who is carrying on about being hurt on this thread, but thanks for the dick comment. Personal attacks are always productive, thanks.
Newsflash: this is a second-generation blog written by and initially intended for people who were born and raised here. Yes, we have DBDs (and everyone, for that matter) reading our blog but we write what we know. And what we know is the second gen experience. You’re the one who is insisting that we are SO DIFFERENT. Why expect us to know or represent your views, then?
Those are relative terms which only have meaning in the diaspora.
Absolutely not.
Desh in Hindi (and some other North Indian languages) means “Home“, and Desi means “Home Boy“.
They are very frequently used in north India/ Pakistan/ maybe parts of Nepal in spoken language from time immemorial, but not so much in other parts of India, and other neighboring countries.
What he is trying to say, and rightfully so, Desh & Desi are not universal terms in Indian subcontinent. You are not going to hear it in South India (except Hyderabad) or eastern part of India.
Lost in Translation…….Lost in Translation.
Personal attacks (especially those with no basis in reality) are an excellent way to get banned.