Hi
This has become the most popular discussion and I thought of adding some more to it. I recently developed a PPT for spoken English class and conducted a crash course also. Most of the people in India wish to speak english fluently.People always believe they are right and will find fault with the others.A person from north India will say south Indian accent is bad. English is English. If learned properly one will have a international accent. If we require it or not, depends on our personal interest. But never learn accent from a person but get it from spoken dictionary.
I chose to learn English properly and I do have an international accent. This helped me to get noticed in international and national forums. Language is imitation. Birds and animals communicate and they learn it by imitating. Human beings also learns in that way. Thats why we say our own languge as mother tongue. We learned it from our mother.
The more proficiant we are the more successfull we would be. One can set their own standard. This is truely personal and I respect all the views shared by all the memebers. In Asia Indians has a strong command in English compared to the rest of Asians. Our English helped us to compete with China in many areas. Hollywood movies aired through various channel are influencing us if we see it regulerly. I feel that is good.
English was a barbarious language when our ancestors spoke Sanskrit. But English is well developed over centuries. Interntionaly people aspire to speak this languge. There are economic factors also in this. What I believe is the globe has become very small becasue of technologies, and ease of access to different countries. So one has a increased scope to explore opportunites internationally.
When we can get a talking advanced learners dictionary on your mobile phone, and if we use it as a time pass even, it works wonders. English is the language people fall in love with. Then learning it becomes a liking not a burden.
There are more than 50,000 idioms and phrases in English, and knowing those idioms popularly used will sharpen our langauge. And lot many proverbs which can finish even a everlasting conflict. I believe languge is not just to communicate, its also to impress the other person and influence him. How ever each person is different and they will have their own view. Nothing is wrong or right. Its all about our own response to anything.
From India, Mumbai
9This has become the most popular discussion and I thought of adding some more to it. I recently developed a PPT for spoken English class and conducted a crash course also. Most of the people in India wish to speak english fluently.People always believe they are right and will find fault with the others.A person from north India will say south Indian accent is bad. English is English. If learned properly one will have a international accent. If we require it or not, depends on our personal interest. But never learn accent from a person but get it from spoken dictionary.
I chose to learn English properly and I do have an international accent. This helped me to get noticed in international and national forums. Language is imitation. Birds and animals communicate and they learn it by imitating. Human beings also learns in that way. Thats why we say our own languge as mother tongue. We learned it from our mother.
The more proficiant we are the more successfull we would be. One can set their own standard. This is truely personal and I respect all the views shared by all the memebers. In Asia Indians has a strong command in English compared to the rest of Asians. Our English helped us to compete with China in many areas. Hollywood movies aired through various channel are influencing us if we see it regulerly. I feel that is good.
English was a barbarious language when our ancestors spoke Sanskrit. But English is well developed over centuries. Interntionaly people aspire to speak this languge. There are economic factors also in this. What I believe is the globe has become very small becasue of technologies, and ease of access to different countries. So one has a increased scope to explore opportunites internationally.
When we can get a talking advanced learners dictionary on your mobile phone, and if we use it as a time pass even, it works wonders. English is the language people fall in love with. Then learning it becomes a liking not a burden.
There are more than 50,000 idioms and phrases in English, and knowing those idioms popularly used will sharpen our langauge. And lot many proverbs which can finish even a everlasting conflict. I believe languge is not just to communicate, its also to impress the other person and influence him. How ever each person is different and they will have their own view. Nothing is wrong or right. Its all about our own response to anything.
From India, Mumbai
MTI can be diluted to a large extent with proper training & practise.As far as I know , "Global Accent" can be gradually acquired after reducing the MTI effects, very few Asian people "have" this....
From India, Bangalore
From India, Bangalore
MTI can certainly be reduced by the above mentioned thoughts. There are distinct variants as mentioned in the way a person from North India communicates versus a person from South India. Again, the people from the Eastern parts of India, tend to elongate their vowel sounds, and tend to use intonation more. This can be seen in stark contrast to the flatter tones of say someone from the South.
When we train Corporates, we first work on their existing MTI, to make them more comprehensible to us, then take them to the next level, for want of a better term, 'Global English.'
Imitation is certainly one way to learn as mentioned by the above user. I'd like to point out though that unless someone is raised in a particular country or has resided there for many years, or is especially gifted with languages, it's possible to distinguish that the particular person is not a native speaker. I've heard this often times from many people, 'His/her English is so good. He sounds almost British but isn't.' The same can be applied to American accents. The simple reason is this ...No matter how much we learn and imitate and reduce our MTI, there are certain nuances which will distinguish a native speaker from a person who learns it out of passion or requirement.
This is not to disappoint anyone, but rather to own it. One can reduce MTI, one can sound different, global, international. (insert any adjective) However, one cannot sound completely like a pure Brit or American. Unless again we belong to the above mentioned categories.
From India, Mysore
When we train Corporates, we first work on their existing MTI, to make them more comprehensible to us, then take them to the next level, for want of a better term, 'Global English.'
Imitation is certainly one way to learn as mentioned by the above user. I'd like to point out though that unless someone is raised in a particular country or has resided there for many years, or is especially gifted with languages, it's possible to distinguish that the particular person is not a native speaker. I've heard this often times from many people, 'His/her English is so good. He sounds almost British but isn't.' The same can be applied to American accents. The simple reason is this ...No matter how much we learn and imitate and reduce our MTI, there are certain nuances which will distinguish a native speaker from a person who learns it out of passion or requirement.
This is not to disappoint anyone, but rather to own it. One can reduce MTI, one can sound different, global, international. (insert any adjective) However, one cannot sound completely like a pure Brit or American. Unless again we belong to the above mentioned categories.
From India, Mysore
The purpose of reducing MTI or acquiring an accent is not to sound Brit or American. It is a process to acquire a stage where others can understand us without much effort and we can also comprehend others.
Having said that, I would also like to say from my own experience (working as a Trainer in BPO) that there are some people I know who reached a stage where even native Americans were not able make out that those people were from India. I remember, I was handling an escalated call once and the moment I greeted the customer (an American lady), she said," Thank God, I am talking to someone from my country."
Accent is like a number line. The negative side depicts the MTI and the positive side depicts the degree of acquired accent. The zero denotes the Global Accent.
Communication has various aspects and accent is just one of them. We shall focus on speaking clearly and fluently. Acquiring an accent is a personal choice and also depends upon our professional requirements.
From India, Delhi
Having said that, I would also like to say from my own experience (working as a Trainer in BPO) that there are some people I know who reached a stage where even native Americans were not able make out that those people were from India. I remember, I was handling an escalated call once and the moment I greeted the customer (an American lady), she said," Thank God, I am talking to someone from my country."
Accent is like a number line. The negative side depicts the MTI and the positive side depicts the degree of acquired accent. The zero denotes the Global Accent.
Communication has various aspects and accent is just one of them. We shall focus on speaking clearly and fluently. Acquiring an accent is a personal choice and also depends upon our professional requirements.
From India, Delhi
First of all I want to express that this has become a slightly contentious issue. It's not that I'm particularly argumentative by nature, but I certainly like to get to the root of things.
[QUOTE=learningnovo] The purpose of reducing MTI or acquiring an accent is not to sound Brit or American. It is a process to acquire a stage where others can understand us without much effort and we can also comprehend others.
Thank you for bringing this out. In effect we reduce MTI, acquire an accent so that others can comprehend us. Who are the others that are being mentioned here?? We're not trying to sound Brit or American but hey, we want to be understood by them. This is exactly my point!
When one deals with MNC's we know we have to sound comprehensible to our Clients. It makes perfect business sense. However, when you're trying to teach a person to communicate effectively in English, which are the parameters highlighted??
[QUOTE=learningnovo] Accent is like a number line. The negative side depicts the MTI and the positive side depicts the degree of acquired accent. The zero denotes the Global Accent.
I like your utilization of math as symbolization here. I have a question though. Why is the negative side of 'accent' (number line) the MTI? I know from experience that certain idiosyncrasies with natural MTI, are actually found to be quite adorable among corporate clients and non-natives. By nullifying our natural individual accents, does anyone think they're losing anything?
I personally subscribe to your closing comments. Thank you so much.
Kudos on being appreciated and mistaken to be a native speaker. Being a Trainer is no joke and it's indeed rewarding to know where you stand. When I indulge in Corporate Training, I try to be inclusive of the trainee's natural styles of communication. Let's just say it adds more flavor or flavour? :)
From India, Mysore
[QUOTE=learningnovo] The purpose of reducing MTI or acquiring an accent is not to sound Brit or American. It is a process to acquire a stage where others can understand us without much effort and we can also comprehend others.
Thank you for bringing this out. In effect we reduce MTI, acquire an accent so that others can comprehend us. Who are the others that are being mentioned here?? We're not trying to sound Brit or American but hey, we want to be understood by them. This is exactly my point!
When one deals with MNC's we know we have to sound comprehensible to our Clients. It makes perfect business sense. However, when you're trying to teach a person to communicate effectively in English, which are the parameters highlighted??
[QUOTE=learningnovo] Accent is like a number line. The negative side depicts the MTI and the positive side depicts the degree of acquired accent. The zero denotes the Global Accent.
I like your utilization of math as symbolization here. I have a question though. Why is the negative side of 'accent' (number line) the MTI? I know from experience that certain idiosyncrasies with natural MTI, are actually found to be quite adorable among corporate clients and non-natives. By nullifying our natural individual accents, does anyone think they're losing anything?
I personally subscribe to your closing comments. Thank you so much.
Kudos on being appreciated and mistaken to be a native speaker. Being a Trainer is no joke and it's indeed rewarding to know where you stand. When I indulge in Corporate Training, I try to be inclusive of the trainee's natural styles of communication. Let's just say it adds more flavor or flavour? :)
From India, Mysore
Dear Friends,
Very interesting topic;
One who born and brought up in their respective country or places, usually they can speak their language. In the world their are several countries and several languages and also several civilizations. But the English is the Universal Language of-course. But if we speaking with our born language with your opposite person we can easily express our feelings instead of other language. In India there are several languages and several State provinces. Each state is linguistic back ground. But one language will make them unit is Hindi (National Language) even though several languages. But while expressing the feelings with your opposite person if he knows your mother language you will be very free to express other than in other language. So MTI - Mother Tongue Influence is always be in front row while expressing your views...
My own experience - when I work in ROLLS-ROYCE project one of the England person (Name forgotten may be Mr. Dodson) he can little bit speaking Hindi and our local Language Telugu, he can move any where and he can speak with Taxi drivers and Auto drivers including Rikshapullars easel y. Every one is astonished about his speedy learning the local languages, - its only example how the MTI is working in our life.
Regards,
PBS KUMAR
From India, Kakinada
Very interesting topic;
One who born and brought up in their respective country or places, usually they can speak their language. In the world their are several countries and several languages and also several civilizations. But the English is the Universal Language of-course. But if we speaking with our born language with your opposite person we can easily express our feelings instead of other language. In India there are several languages and several State provinces. Each state is linguistic back ground. But one language will make them unit is Hindi (National Language) even though several languages. But while expressing the feelings with your opposite person if he knows your mother language you will be very free to express other than in other language. So MTI - Mother Tongue Influence is always be in front row while expressing your views...
My own experience - when I work in ROLLS-ROYCE project one of the England person (Name forgotten may be Mr. Dodson) he can little bit speaking Hindi and our local Language Telugu, he can move any where and he can speak with Taxi drivers and Auto drivers including Rikshapullars easel y. Every one is astonished about his speedy learning the local languages, - its only example how the MTI is working in our life.
Regards,
PBS KUMAR
From India, Kakinada
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