Respect for culture begins with us to respecting ourselves and the accents around us. Respect is a huge part of Indian culture. One aspect of respect that I believe needs to be voiced more especially for Indian Americans is the concept of accent. I’ve been there done that as a kid where we laugh at our parents accent because it sounds different from ours. And that comes because most of our friends do the same thing and it may be out of fear we try to fit in, and as usual try to be as American as possible and forget our Indian culture because it’s weird. But what if we could accept our parents accents for what it is, because if we think about it they only have accents because we live in America, but when we go to India we are the ones with the weird accent and anywhere else that we go in this world.
Why Indian People shouldn’t change their accent when talking to Americans
I’ll be honest this is the one thing that always drives me crazy is when people change their accent to sound more American. End it all comes down to the judgment that we get that forces us to change we are and slowly not except the Indian side of us and start to hate it, or if you’re ashamed of it. I don’t think anyone culture is better than the other we are all unique in our own world and in our own selves and we should all be able to except each other-especially those of us from the same country/community. The first thing I see changing is accents, and slowly I feel people put on a façade of who they want others to see them as and they’re scared to be themselves.
People don’t choose their accents and there’s nothing wrong with any accent. Just because we are used to one way or here in one way of speaking doesn’t mean that another way is wrong. I know it definitely takes a certain level of understanding to accept this fact. But I think that people who come here especially immigrants will definitely feel better about themselves and the way that they speak when they see other Indians also in bracing themselves.
Creating a change in our culture and empowering people to embrace their Indian culture here in a western world starts with us as Indian Americans first embracing who we are that includes our accents. That includes us accepting immigrants who come here-I know we all have termed the word FOB. Because we find it funny when people are lost in America. But how about when we go there how lost are we? Why do we look down on our own people who come here when it was just a few years ago that we came here? When Americans go to India most local Indians will willingly help them and most local Americans will willingly help an immigrant so why is it that as immigrants look down on our own people?
I think a lot of it boils down to us accepting ourselves, because we we might’ve faced drama when we first came here(or grew up here in school) and some sort of identity crisis. So instead of making it better for the people coming we make it worse and start judging.
By us choosing to respect and love one another, we can really empower people to be confident in who they are and be confident in being Indian. Empower people with true freedom, allowing another to be who they are, dress how they want do whatever they want because they feel like they are accepted for who they are by their own people. When they feel confident in who they are, they’ll probably be able to share their culture with the world as well and help with all respect one another and in the long run. This goes for kids as well, as we raise kids & impact them, it’s important to accept & empower them!
Sincerely,
“The Indian Girl”
Connect with me on Instagram: Meri Sanskriti, would love to hear from you and your experience!
