Why do all Indians have accents?

Tracy   Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:57 pm GMT
@Duane - I actually think the use of "Indian" in America simply means both Native American (in a slightly non-politically correct way :-P) and those from India. Since I don't know many Native American's with strong accents (actually, I can't even think of what a Native American "accent" would be :-D), I could pretty easily determine he meant those from India.

@Original Poster: From my experience, many with a strong Indian accent have it simply because they learned English either in India, where their teachers had a strong accent, or only recently learned English and only use it for business/education purposes.

And also, you likely wouldn't remember someone who didn't have a strong accent simply because even native Americans have all sorts of cultural backgrounds and people without accents are simply assumed to have been born in America and therefore not Indian.

And it is one of the harder accents for American ears to understand (I can't speak for British or other English ears). This may help it seem like "everyone" has the strong accent (in the "EVERYONE says that" or "EVERYONE does it" sense of the term like a 3rd grader would use) since it's such a strain to listen when someone does.
Duane   Mon Oct 27, 2008 5:46 am GMT
My comment was intended to add a little humor as well as pointing out that it is not race but location and culture that cause differences.

I grew up in an area surrounded by an Indian reservation and went to school with many of them. They do have their own dialect, more than accent, when communicating with each other. Many leave the reservation and receive higher education. Some return to help manage the affairs of the tribe.