There is no denying the fact that in our society, a person who knows English language and who can speak in English in a proper manner is given more respect than the person who is not is not so good or fluent in English. Our education system also lays a lot of importance on learning English and we have developed a mindset as per which only those who are proficient in English will achieve success in life which is definitely not true.
Nowadays, the inclination of people has increased towards speaking English in foreign accent as they want to present themselves as a sophisticated individual. The mother tongue influence is pretty common in the speaking style of the Indians depending on the state to which they belong and it sometimes affect our accent a lot while speaking in English. This is why nowadays a lot of emphasis is being laid on the pronunciation of words by the English teachers but still many of us find it difficult to get rid of our mother tongue influence and it is clearly visible in our speaking style.
Recently, a journalist was trolled by an online user on the micro-blogging site Twitter as the user asked the journo to work on her pronunciation. Well, the reporter mostly talked in Hindi in the video but she did use some English words and we are not sure whether the online user was asking her to improve her pronunciation regarding Hindi or English.
It all started when Jyoti Yadav, the correspondent of ThePrintIndia, answered questions of subscribers and gave them an insight of the process of making a ground report. The information regarding the video was given on Twitter and there a person praised Jyoti for her work but asked her to improve her pronunciation.
The online user wrote, “You have done a tremendous work by covering these two big states, however please work on your pronunciation if you can because it’s needed.”
https://twitter.com/lordrocky121/status/1401519840033136640
Soon the tweet was noticed by the reporter and she responded by saying that this was not the first time she had been asked to improve her pronunciation but as she had been brought up in village, she was not able to attend convent or English medium schools. Though she apologised for her accent, she also made it clear that her accent had nothing to do with the ground reporting that she did during the coronavirus pandemic.
This is not the first time that someone has asked me to 'work on my pronunciation'.
Having spent the initial years of my life in a village, I did not have an access to a 'convent' or 'English' medium school. In fact, we were taught English in a Haryanvi accent. https://t.co/fQLMDV3F9Z
— Jyoti Yadav (@jyotiyadaav) June 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/jyotiyadaav/status/1401523103608414215
Netizens were also not happy with the online user and here is how they reacted:
#1
कितनी ख़ूबसूरत है तुम्हारी इंग्लिश!
That’s the beauty of a region specific English accent. You should be celebrating it just as you have proudly worn your identity on your sleeves.
— Marya Shakil (@maryashakil) June 7, 2021
#2
You owe no one an explanation. It is disgusting that someone thinks they can say that to you.
It reflects more on the person saying this. Shine on.— Vidya (@VidyaKrishnan) June 6, 2021
#3
आवाज़ सबसे महत्वपूर्ण है और वो आपकी बुलंद है। more power to you.
There are lots of so called polished journalists who do nothing but lick the boots of government. They all might have the desired pronunciation, but that doesn’t mean anything 🙂
— Sir Kazam {blu tik} (@SirKazamJeevi) June 6, 2021
#4
You have nothing to apologise for; the work speaks for itself. More power to you.
— Ruchira Chaturvedi (@RuchiraC) June 6, 2021
#5
https://twitter.com/MrSamratX/status/1401571460758396928
#6
https://twitter.com/anshul_tewari/status/1401764572432723976
#7
There is nothing to be sorry about it. Accent doesn't matter, what matters is the way we communicate. What's the benefit of speaking like a british when our people can't even understand that.
— Indian (@ashiesinha) June 6, 2021
#8
कुछ तो लोग कहेंगे, लोगों का काम है कहना!!
आप अपनी हरियाणवी बोली में ही "English" बोलते रहिए!!
Good work doesn't need the language or it's pronounciation, it just requires intent, that you surely have…👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/cKghUkjBw8— Vaibhav Sharma (@Vaibhav29Sharma) June 6, 2021
#9
https://twitter.com/tweeting_syd/status/1401597991933251587
#10
Pronunciation is not that important, communication certainly is. Polish often camouflages the reality and originality. Great work.
— Arun Kumar (@ArunkrHt) June 6, 2021
#11
You do great work, you are bringing stories to life in a way that makes the presence or absence of 'polished' English inconsequential. And guess what – you keep going like this, and I bet you will have @BBCIndia or @cnni knocking at your door. All the best.
— Amit Narayan (@narayanisms) June 6, 2021
#12
Indians have this inferiority complex that makes them obsessed with English/English accent. For me anyone speaking another lang besides his/her mother tongue is very commendable. How many Englishmen can speak Hindi? At the end of the day what matters is the great work ur doing.
— Farhan Khan (@Farhan222) June 6, 2021
#13
Hi Jyoti, nothing to feel sorry about English accent or pronunciation, ppl look at benchmark or standard for Western accent or pronunciations, I feel due to this fact many of our hindi speaking states ppl don't attempt and even shy of speaking in English, though they are bright!
— Sunil Singh (@sunilsagarin) June 6, 2021
#14
You are amazing ! Please keep up the good work & please ignore pinpricks.
Hats off to you pic.twitter.com/YqcMkEPvCV— Satbir Ahluwalia (@satbirahluwalia) June 6, 2021
#15
Language is just a medium. His accent might not work in US or UK. Does that mean he need work on his pronunciation. In India there is a lot of difference in pronunciation. In scientific confereces we hear people from all over the world but the focus is on science not pronunctn.
— Deepankar Pratap Singh, MSc, PhD (@SinghDeepankar) June 6, 2021
What is your take in this regard? Let us know.
