'Accents' speak louder than words

Ashutosh Giri was eighteen when he first stepped out of his home in Kathmandu to study engineering in New York City. It was a dream come true but Giri encountered his first hurdle when he asked for directions to Pittsburgh downtown. He had to repeat his question while speaking to a native Pittsburgh fellow. He realised that the American people had a problem understanding his accent.

What should have been a peek inside his individuality, the history of his people, his culture, and his soul turned into an obstacle, which separated him instantly as an 'outsider'. "Pittsburgh accent was definitely different from the rest of the country and I experienced linguistic xenophobia while pursuing my masters," Giri added.

"People had a tough time understanding me and asked me to repeat a sentence couple of times," he said. Giri did what any nervous student in his position would do. He tried to adopt an American accent - a common example of ingrained inferiority, as though he were inconveniencing others by being unique. As time passed, he perfected it. Now, as a senior scientist working at the University of Virginia, he looks back at those days fondly. His new accent has served him well.

Giri isn't alone. Many students go abroad each year, seeking better opportunities. Several, like Giri, find that they are making conscious decisions that aid in the erosion of their own unique way of speaking. Instead of being ambassadors of their country, they are forced to imitate the majority in the land of opportunities.

It is understandable why Nepalis do this. Dubi Nanda Dhakal, head of linguistics at Tribhuvan University, said that it is not necessarily the accent that is making it difficult. “Linguistic xenophobia is more of a social thing related to persons' behaviour rather than purely a linguistic phenomenon, associated not only with the language, but with other social behaviours viz dressing, preferred foods, among others, and the speaker may think about the prestige in “purity” of an accent, said Dhakal.

Accents are unique and always injected with one's mother tongue. “When I joke with my Nepali colleagues in English, they might consider it to be impolite. I don't use 'thank you' every time they say something favourable to me and a simple smile is just fine,” added Professor Dhakal.

Raised in Gulmi, Dhakal can instantly recognise his hometown accent. “Accents vary within the country, vary in every region and depend on the geographical area. Every generation speaks a little different from a generation before. It is always evolving,” he added.

“People who move abroad seeking a better life spend their initial period there trying to make people pronounce their names correctly," said Karan Dhungana, who went to Iowa in the United States in 2006, when he was just 19. Like Giri, he struggled to fit in and altered his accent. Dhungana feels what also makes a difference is whom one interacts with. One feels the need to make such changes only when one is made to feel unwelcome, if they feel out of place, or if their manner of speaking is in some way incorrect.

“They said I had Indian features,” said Dhungana. People were very quick to judge him based on his accent and features. He said they were prejudiced.

Similarly, Shraddha Gautam, a Nepali student, initially had a problem when she went to Delhi University to study. English is one of the widely spoken languages of India. The Indian accent is perhaps one of the most common in the world, albeit with variations. Soon Gautam realised that accents were a way of life.

Gautam lived in India for over three years. She spoke Hindi but it was infused with a Nepali accent. She also didn’t “typically look” like how a Nepali was perceived in India. Therefore, people always asked her the same question – “How come you don’t look like a Nepali but sound like one?”

Friends always expected her to have ‘certain’ features considered Nepali and her accent amused them even more. These incidents changed the way Gautam presented herself in front of others. These changes helped her cope with her identity crisis. But it also changed the way she spoke and looked.

Now, back in Nepal, she is asked the same question but the circumstance has reversed. To the Nepali ears, Gautam has an Indian tone when she speaks her mother tongue. She is asked, “How come you don’t sound like us?” She is always alert about her tone and filters the way she speaks because of the fear of being judged unnecessarily. Gautam is now leaving for the UK to pursue her master’s degree and believes will always have more ‘accent’ stories to tell.

Many others like Giri, Dhungana, and Gautam will continue to have their original accents initially and probably will continue making efforts to modify them in order to “blend in”.