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well i'm white, but having grown up in California with lots of Azn friends & classmates (including at UCLA), it's undeniable that many Asian-Americans have a distinct inflection in their tone & cadence to their speaking that stands apart from their Caucasian or Hispanic or Black peers. To say they don't is being naive & unappreciative of the differences in our various cultures.
My ex-gf who's Chinese American said she could easily tell she was talking with another Azn on the phone, and many times she or the other party would say at the end of the convo "I thought you were Asian by the sound of your voice."
And as for regional accents, I've got a Cambodian/Laotian coworker who speaks with a hybrid Azn/Southern accent. And working in Manhattan, i've met many Azn ppl who've had thick Long Island, New Yaaawk and New Jersey accents. Everyone-whether you're White, Azn, Black, Hispanic-is a product of their culture & their surroundings, and it's the way it is.
He's talking about regional accents within the US. He is saying Asians tend to speak perfect or standrad English as opposed to having certain accents. Why is that insulting? His question isn't dumb, your reaction to it is.
the op is not necessarily talking about regional accents. he is talking about why asian americans dont have a certain way of talking that characterizes them as asian american. and no, my reaction to this question is legit because the op is almost implying that asian americans SHOULD have an accent. he almost seems to be saying, wow, asian americans sound just like white americans, i cant believe it! well, no shyt, we were born here and have interacted with white people our entire lives, and we are assimilated in white culture (most of us). what else to expect? and you know, it's an insult to the other minorities too. it's like asking them, why the hell cant you talk like white americans if the asian americans can? and really, most of the other non-asian minorities who were born here sound white too, for that matter.
perhaps im being hot-headed, but i cant help it. these kinds of questions really **** off a good number of asian americans because of the implication that it's freakin' amazing how american they are. yes, just because we have smaller eyes and black hair and yellowish skin, it doesnt mean we dont live and talk the exact same way that white people do. we were born here too. get over it.
and for that matter, some asian americans who were born here DO have a way of talking that is not completely "white". there's a certain cadence to their words that other asian-americans can recognize immediately as AzN. but obviously most of us do not talk like that. there ya go.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yankinscotland
If anyone lives in the US their entire life, what accent do you think they'd have? Doesn't matter what accent your parents have, it's school and your social life where you learn your accent.
When I was growing up in California, I had a slight southern accent because my mom was from the South.
What about half-Asians? Do they speak with half of an accent?
That's funny! But you made me remember something. I used to know a woman from work--didn't work directly with her so I didn't see her everyday, friend of a friend. I did not know for a long time that she was half-Chinese. It wasn't immediately apparent when you looked at her, and she had her father's Irish last name. There was always something about the way she spoke, however, that made me curious. It wasn't an accent, but the way she spoke reminded me of something I couldn't quite put my finger on.
Once I learned that her mom was from China, I realized that her speech and the tone of her voice were influenced by her mother's first language and that had been what I was hearing and couldn't figure out.
All these people posting borderline racist comments are sheltered fools with little brain capacity and an inability to think outside of the box and actually see things for what they are.
The reason is simple.
Immigrant communities are usually poor.
Asians are the wealthiest group in America (even moreso than Whites)
So they live in non immigrant neighborhoods. They live around mostly white people and a few wealthy latinos and blacks (who also don't have accents for the most part).
Most Latinos keep an accent because they live and work and go to church in almost all Latino communities which are poor, some live in neighborhoods that a mix of black, and latino, but the 2 groups don't hang out as much as would be nice.
I have noticed that throughout the United States, many Asians that have lived in this country their whole lives, have perfect American accents. Many other groups still have a little something you can pick up on when they talk, but not Japenese, Koreans, Chinese, etc. The ones that have lived and grown up in the US have nice, just about perfect speaking voices when compared to other groups. Why?
Do you have anything that supports this besides "I have noticed"?
I guess it could be the tones in the English language. More often than not, American-born Asians who speak English as their second language, were taught to speak their cultural language first.
As you may or may not know, Asian languages have a tendency to have more tones in their language compared to English (which is considered a non-tonal language). Which is why Asian-Americans are able to mask their accent well due to their ability to adapt to the lack of tones in the English language, as they already have enough practice speaking their own Asian language.
Being Chinese who speaks Cantonese, which has 6-9 tones (depending who you are asking), it is quite easy for me to switch from 6-9 tones to no tones as you don't need to fluctuate the sounds to say an English word. I do quite well with Latin-based languages, but for some strange reason, I can't say words that require you to roll your tongue.
Not all Asian Americans are foreign-born. There are Americans of Asian descent that have ancestry that dates back to the 1800's and 1900's, so their ancestors have been Americanized throughout those years, and therefore the descendants have American accents.
Not all Asian Americans are foreign-born. There are Americans of Asian descent that have ancestry that dates back to the 1800's and 1900's, so their ancestors have been Americanized throughout those years, and therefore the descendants have American accents.
I hope this is the correct answer.
Absolutely. Just like Mexican American and other cultures. They've been Americanized and lived in this country their whole lives. The older generation of their family might have an accent depending on when they came to this country but the young generation is Americanized.
My grandmother didn't learn English until 28 y.o. and she had an American accent.
I'm Asian and I certainly don't have the perfect American accent. It annoys me when people point that out because it sounds like I'm not good enough to them.
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