You say potato and I say potahto… : The Tribune India

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You say potato and I say potahto…

What’s wrong with tongues twirling in non-Indian ways? On the face of it, nothing really.

You say potato and I say potahto…

 The poster of the television series



Manpriya Singh

What’s wrong with tongues twirling in non-Indian ways? On the face of it, nothing really. Certain degree of twang has always been discounted for when a plane takes off from Mumbai and touches base at LA. But how do you explain when ‘water’ goes whoosh for ‘whatherr’, in another interview? Priyanka Chopra’s latest outing Quantico takes us back to the debating room; how appropriate it is for B-town actors to put on fake intonations. What is fake by the way? Gosh! What’s with the accent, dude! We take a look.

Bitter brew

Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra

Perhaps one of the most popular controversies on accent in Bollywood, when Kareena Kapoor proudly admitted her curiosity on a national television show (Koffee with Karan at that) as to where did Priyanka get her accent from? At the next given opportunity, PeeCee was quick to retort, “From where her boyfriend got his.’ The viewers, the actors and for some time, the people of India were all consumed, rather all amused, by the war of words.

Quite a Variety

Mallika Sherawat

Unfortunately, she’s been the only one to invite unparalleled ridicule for hitting the accent faux paus (if there is such a thing!). The lady literally blew everyone’s imagination while giving interview to Variety magazine where she shuttled between Indian accent, to some version of American twang and back to Indian way of speaking English again. We don’t even know if Biopiickh (biopic), Indehpehdent (independent) and Pohlitichiahn (politician) sounded a little too suave for our Jalebi Bai.

Over a cup of chai

Anil Kapoor

He may have said chaiwalla a certain way in Slumdog Millionaire, made a clown of himself in Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol, but he made it all up in 24. If there were jokes on his accent, there were also supporters for his character, as the leader of a Middle-Eastern country who could actually speak very good English.

Cannes malfunction

Aishwarya Rai

The lady has been criticized as much as eulogized—commented upon for being plastic and complimented upon for being beautiful, sized up for her wardrobe and even accent with reference to some of the Cannes interviews. Hubby Abhishek Bachchan has also been a standing joke for trailing his ladylove on not just the red carpets but also interviews.

Meanwhile, what’s marching ahead is Priyanka Chopra. After an international singing career, there’s no stopping the lady whom the West has just begun to discover. That is soh Exohtic!

Blurred vision

If only there were a few ground rules to nail; given the technicalities of pronunciation, phonetics and accent might be too complex to consider in each case. While we all know it does exist, nevertheless, “Fake accent is a very problematic term to define and consider,” shares Mridula Sharma, assistant professor, Department of English, MCM DAV College. “We must understand that Priyanka Chopra is an actress, playing an American-Indian, so she has to cultivate a certain way of speaking.”

It’s a liberty she’s all game for extending off the screen too. Even though only in some of the cases. “As a student of linguistics and as a teacher of language, I can say that there is nothing permanent with the language. These days we are so exposed to several different ways of speaking, cultures, people, media that defining fake and proper or not normal is a little difficult.”

Having said that, she adds, “There is a need inside all of us to measure up to the international standards.” Way of speaking, all the more!

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English Vinglish 

As many dialects and ways of speaking, those many takes on the subject! “There is no such thing as ‘Indian English’ or Indian way of speaking English since nothing has been formalized. In India our regional dialects interfere with the way we speak English, so you’ll find hundreds of accents. We don’t have even a single dictionary of pronunciation. The only one that is available talks of British pronunciation,” shares Professor Rana Nayar, Department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University. 

“An accent is not considered good. Most well travelled Indians, in fact, speak English that is free of any accent. The problem with Britishers on the other hand is that they are not ab le to shed their accent…The only way Indians acquire an accent is when they think English should be spoken a certain way.”   He adds, “Language is for communication and it should spoken in a manner comprehensible to everyone. Any type of accent interferes with that.” Need we even debate that? 

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