Insights from India (for Hindi first Language Speakers wishing to Acquire an American Accent)

[McBKboy]

2:44 lolol look at her face

[faramarzsafadeh]

Thank so much you dear Rebecca.

[galho96]

I find that the pronunciation issues Indians seem to have are of the same nature as those the Germans seems to have. For instance, Germans will often say "wary" instead of "very", not because they don't have the "v" sound in German, but because "w" is pronounced as a "v" in German. So the thinking goes like this: v-sound equals German w-sound, but since I'm speaking English, must say "oouh". So it's more like a generalized dyslexia of sorts, not an inability to make the sounds.

[galho96]

(cont'd) What happens in the case of Hindi, is that they have TWO "d" sounds/letters and TWO "t" sounds/letters. The native Hindi words use d's and t's identical in pronunciation to the American d's and t's. Ironically, all foreign words, such as "India", "ticket", etc. are written using the OTHER d and t. Therefore, it is when they speak English that their pronunciation strays the farthest from an American pronunciation.

[holikarang]

@galho96 this is completely wrong, none of the two t's and d's in Hindi are like the American t/d, the American ones are pronounced with a completely tongue position (in between the two Hindi sounds). In order to teach a correct American pronounciation to Hindi speakers this lady should know the perfect Hindi pronouciation.

[galho96]

A similar confusion exists with the v/w in Hindi, since they have BOTH sounds, but only use a single letter (you just have to know which sound to use in which case).

[made4fashion]

thanks 4 the video ...it helps a lot ....i am an Indian so thanks 4 uploading this video 4 indians

[leoguy2280]

insightful, thanks

[bongmanding]

Hey Rebecca. Do you guys have any plans of having a satellite branch here in LA where you could do one-to-one session too, and not online? Would really want to take advantage of it if ever. Keep up the good work. You guys are very helpful.

[raktsambandh]

i m indian n i would say

brilliant piece of work.

done a lot o research i think so.

cake i m feeling hungry

[gemphu1234]

U r a sweet lady.

[vplibin]

very interested and very useful for indian speakers

libinvp

[vplibin]

very interested and very useful for indian speakers

[alaivani]

I am seeing this again. Another addition is clarifying for Hindi or speakers of Indian languages the difference in V and W in American English. The sound that comes out is between a v or w, so 'west' could be heard as 'vest' or visa versa by an American English speaker.

[elaine31347]

I work closely with a doctor from Mumbai...On the phone I can not understand him 90% of the time, and this becomes difficult when getting med orders from him...It's like he talking through a sock...Now I understand why from watching this video.

[murphy9238481]

im gonna KICK! you.

[hfakhar]

Please make a video for people with persian accent.

[rebeccalinquist]

@hfakhar There is one! Check my channel :-)

[xXBlackxRebelXx]

Cool, Id be going back to USA soon and I lost much of my American accent. I need to start practicing now LOL.

[ketan9728]

every accent is okay in its own place... the only thing is the way in which it is perceived and understood.... but i feel that American & British people speak much within their mouth making minimum lip movements, which sometimes makes it difficult to understand... and because Indians speak more "clearly", American & British dont get it...

[itsdeepesh]

Very Nice information.

[mrchocolate4eva]

Some non-native speakers mispronounce:

Dint to mean didnt

Some non-native speakers excessively use the words: only and actually. A common misusage.

eg: Actually I went to buy coffee only.

What theyre implying is convincing someone that they went to buy coffee and not anything else.

[luvgjb4evr]

Great work Rebecca!

[Gangga17]

let me ask you some thing! Why do India shake their head when they are Talking? it's getting really annoying, make me want to laugh

[rebeccalinquist]

Great question! You know, I saw a lot of that on my first visit 12 years ago and less on this last visit. I also think it has something to do with the region the person comes from, but I know many Indians mean "yes" not "no" when going from side to side!

[sumo73]

@Gangga17 >

Some Indians shake their head like a head bobble because it's part of their culture. Why does everyone have to be the same? I suggest that if you find it annoying and funny don't go to Bulgaria either because you'll get confused as well.

[zkas19]

All Indians don't bobble their heads, only those from the Southern part of India from a particular state.. and if you watch closely the japanese also do that unconciously too. It's variety that makes everything interesting, otherwise if everyone had the same expressions and behaved and talked similarly, it would be boring...

[impCaesarAvg]

@Gangga17 The sideways head rocking doesn't mean "yes" or "no". It means, "I respect you and I'm listening to you." It looks silly to us Americans, and they need to stop it if they want to live and work here. (Of course, they can still do it among their Indian friends.)

[RodneyAr]

"Why do India shake their head when they are Talking?"

@Gangga17 I've been studying with an Indian recently, and it took me a long time to get used to her shaking her head. When she would shake her head and say, "huh", she would actually mean, "yes, I understand, go on." It took me a long time to get used to that.

[fatalityhawk]

@Gangga17 it's our version of the nod. it can be exaggerated to place emphasis on whats being said or even to create the effect of hyperbole. it's a versatile communication tool that conveys multiple things in a short time. guess it can be annoying for someone who isn't used to it, bit like poor grammar eg. "why do india shake their head when they are talking?" "make me want to laugh" etc.

[urasay2]

is that thing u are wearing supposed to be indian?

[rebeccalinquist]

It's a shirt by a designer in India that I bought while I was there, but it's just a shirt ... I'll look to see who is the Indian designer is and let you know if you are interested ... definitely not a Sari! (lol)

[urasay2]

i apologize if my earlier post sounded rude, it did not sound so in my head. well it is just that this shirt reminded me of arundhati roy from one of her movies. yeah, the writer. she has done a couple of movies.

is the designer manish arora?

[rebeccalinquist]

Not rude at all ... it's actually a Ritu Kumar.

[urasay2]

thanks. watching this video got me thinking- i never really cared for my accent and my pronunciation leans more towards the british than american but because of my career choice i think i will have to pick up the american way. can you point me towards someone who can help me with it? preferably someone in bangalore or pune.

[urasay2]

i got the name DeeKay. will look him up on your site. thanks again.

[alwynemark]

Hi Rebeca you are doing a great job teaching about American accent. Apprecate all that your are doing. Keep up the good work. I am from India and am getting to learn a lot from your videos. They are awesome useful..bye

[Sweetmurry]

also great tips for reverse... english speakers trying to speak hindi LOL

[139vikky]

Extremely useful

[rebeccalinquist]

No, I just breathe when I exhale, but thanks for the compliment :-)

[mamatalu]

Awesome insights!! Great Vid.

[netcruizer]

Good vid. u're concentrating too much on tongue positions which can be easy to forget. i think u should throw in at least 3-4 words with scenario that actually distinguishes the uses of Indians VS Americans. Thanks for the good tips.

[albenis29]

hey thanks, i hope you could upload more stuff about indian language

[ksingerkelly]

that help a little bit!!! but i like it!!

[Mickorec]

How about Jamaican an Haitian accent

[oenofakkind]

Great insights if someone's really interested in acquiring American Accent. Great Job.