Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
my name gives it away 
plus I can never pronounce Quote right 
my “qu” sound is always screwed!
but whenever I tell ppl my location, they always say I don’t sound like I’m from the South 
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
so whats wrong with having an accent? People all around the world have their distinct accent. I dont know why only desi's have complex though.Always trying to convince others how non desi they look and sound.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
"Is That You John Wayne?
....
Is This Me?"
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
[quote]
Miss Mohabbat, I think it's a British paki thing, when I worked for BT I could always tell when it was an asian guy speaking, I** cannit** tell much with the lasses though, I think its the yardy, rude boy lingo which makes it easier to tell. However, I have a very posh phone voice, I sound like a bloody cockney! It's awful, but I cannit help it.
[/quote]
And since when have they started considering cockney as posh?
P.S Do not take it personally, I have issues with correcting Grammar.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
DD did not open this thread to ridicule people with an accent and frankly no one in this thread has mocked accents either. No one should be getting defensive.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
When i speak to my cuzzins on fone in UK, i cannot tell they are desi from their accent, but ofcourse i know they are desi since they are my cuzzins. And when the fone gets handed over to another cuzz, i usually have to ask who am i speaking to cos 8/10 times i cant tell who it is.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
No one is getting defensive here. Just observation and opinion as iam sure DD opened the thread based on his too.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
P.S Do not take it personally, I have issues with correcting Grammar.
Hahhaha, I love it. For me 'cannit' is grammatically correct as it is part of a dialect/accent and I have not used the word incorrectly, it is the right context.
Cockney for me is posh, I am much too common for that.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
My accent is very Pakistani
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
it's noticeable amongst UK pakistani kids
but not applicable to their American counterparts. "ABCD" kids sound like white people through and through. the only exceptions are those that came over when they were already 8 or 10 or whatever.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
I also have a bit of a Pakistani tinge to go with my accent. I do try to mask it a bit when talking over the phone, but a fellow desi might figure me out.
When having a joke with my mates our Yorkshire accent does get exagerated a bit, for comedy value of course, with lots of "thees" and "thous" thrown in.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
but not applicable to their American counterparts. "ABCD" kids sound like white people through and through. the only exceptions are those that came over when they were already 8 or 10 or whatever.
I know exactly what you mean. Its really freaky being from England and seeing desis in the US talking like white middle class america.
Its somewhat similar to desis with Scottish accents.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
I think it also has a lot to do with British Asians switching from English to Punjabi/Urdu half way between a sentence. I do it alot, sometimes even with non- Asians, I forget that they don't understand punjabi. I add Punjabi words in English sentences and vice versa. I havn't actually heard any American Asians do that, but then I havn't really spoken to many in order to compare.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
I agree. The Pakistani Desis who come to the west and learn english love to criticize the ones that don't know "perfect" english. and you will be damned if u made a mistake...... lol
Other ppl don't really care or at least they don't show they care.
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I can only pick up the desiness in those that came here later on.
Its because you ar eone of them. All FOBs look fine to me.
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
Lol nice post...
I dont only think its Pakis...Bengalis have a really distinct voice...and its not just Asians...Black people have quite distinctive voices aswell...As to why it happens its a mystery...Im not sure about my voice to be honest but have noticed it on others...
I suspect its cos of families that dont have english accents and therefore the mix...Those from the US could probably help...how do the american born Mexicans and Ricans speak?...
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
^ i dunno how but blacks (african americans) have accents too, as in you know ur talkin to a black person. Go figure
someone said that when I speak urdu/punjabi, i sound VERRRRRRRRRRYYYYYY paindu 
And when I speak engilsh I sound total New yorker.. and then just recently someone told me i have a bit of british accent, like i may have moved to US frm UK when I was a teenager.. 
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
so true!
Re: Desis and Distinct Accents
i have noticed people tend to have different voices associated to their physical appearances, like mediterranean women have lower voices than northern european ladies, and they also tend to sing with a more powerfull voice, blacks have even more powerfull voices usually…and yellow asian far softer voices…
must something to do with throat anatomy 
but languages also influence your voice, for example spanish makes people very low tone, while english makes people speak higher tone…
my voice doesn’t really sound same in english and french, i’ve been told.
I guess accent tend to modify voice also, but accent are not only depending on you mother tongue, or country, region…accent is depending on your social class, i mean upper classes do not have same accent than lower class…and ghetto people speak even differently…
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if i have been speaking in urdu for a while, or have been around pple with a desi accent i pick that up and i will talk like that for a while, it happened to me when i was talking to an old friend on the fone, she said my accent had changed, i was like huh? for 3 weeks b4 tht call i had been working with a girl who had a mild desi accent, and we would end up talking in urdu at work too, so that affects me
also i am from bham and stil i dont have a very strong brummie accent, just on certain words, my friends from uni say i dont really have an accent at all even though i have spent most of my life here :)