The sun never set over the British empire which, meant that the people of that small island spread far and wide. Their accents influenced the locals and as they put down roots in distant lands, their own accents changed. They were a very fertile people too; imagine populating new continents, first with prisoners and then with economic migrants. America itself is home to tens of different accents which demonstrate the variety of regional accents in Britain. This map is by Robert Delaney of Long Island University.
People of Indian, and part-Indian origin have also traveled far and wide; some by choice, some by forced indentured servitude and slavery during colonial times and others due their desire to improve their economic lot, or find avenues to progress in their chosen line of profession. Indians within India also have a variety of accents that betray the imprints of native languages.
I thought that it would be fun to watch videos of people of Indian-origin, mostly famous, from various countries, speaking English. I’ve chosen these videos based on my (limited) understanding of the local dialect.
While I’ve included some famous people of part-Indian origin (Leo Varadkar), I’ve excluded some others (Vivien Leigh) because their accents are not specific enough.
Heads of government typically end up having neutral accents and therefore, I’ve tried to find speeches in less formal settings where they are more natural. Where I could not find a specific accent while a political leader spoke, I chose an alternative personality. This compilation does not feature first generation Indian migrants (e.g. Satya Nadella, Indra Nooyi et al) since they do not have the accents of the various regions of their adopted countries. I have included various US regional dialects (Nikki Haley, Norah Jones, Kamala Harris ) whose inflections show up during conversations.
This also does not feature Indians speaking other languages such as Dutch in Surinam, or French in Mauritius. I’ve deliberately not organized this by region so that you can hear the differences quite clearly.
Enjoy!
Riad Moosa, Doctor and stand-up comedian, Cape Town, South Africa. He has a very specific regional accent. By the way, he speaks Afrikaans as well. Watch more of his comedy here.
Danny Bhoy, stand up comedian, Scotland. This is in Toronto. He does 4 other accents. Wait for the punchline at the end.
Leo Varadkar, former and future Taoiseach (prime minister) and current Tánaiste, Republic of Ireland.
Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara), musician, England. Check out his sister Kashmira’s interview here.
Kamla Persad-Bissesar, first woman Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
Frene Ginwala, Speaker of Parliament, South Africa.
Nikki Haley, former Governor of South Carolina (USA), US ambassador to the United Nations.
Sir Ben Kingsley (Krishna Bhanji), actor, England.
Chandrikapersad Santokhi, President of Surinam.
Kim Thayil, musician (Soundgarden), Seattle, USA.
Pravind Jugnauth, Prime Minister, Mauritius.
Kumar, standup comedian and television host, actor, and drag queen, Singapore.
Lisa Singh, Senator, Tasmania, Australia.
Mahendra Chaudhry, Prime Minister, Fiji.
Moses Nagamootoo, Prime Minister, Guyana.
Smriti Vidyarthi, TV news anchor, Kenya.
Liora Itzhak, singer, Israel.
Norah Jones (Geethali Norah Jones Shankar), musician, Texas/New York.
Ish Sodhi, cricketer, New Zealand.
Tanja Jadnanansing, member of parliament, Holland. It is not easy to find videos of her speaking English since most of her interviews are in Dutch.
Mohini Bhardwaj, gymnast (US Olympics), Philadelphia, USA.
Antonio Costa, Prime Minister, Portugal.
Wavel Ramkalawan, President, Seychelles.
Neel Jani, race car driver, Le Mans/Porsche, Switzerland.
Nalini Ananthraman, Professor of Mathematics, Henri Poincare prize winner, France.
Sheela Maini Søgaard, Architect, Denmark.
Mohammad Dewji, billionaire/politician, Tanzania.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul, cricketer, Guyana.
Ashok Alexander Shridharan, politician, Germany,
Anita Anand, Defense Minister, Canada
Vashi Dominguez, Entrepreneur, Spain.
Kamala Harris, US Vice-President (California) & Mindy Kaling, actress/writer/director, (Massachusetts). Ms. Harris code-switches quite a bit depending on her audience, as most people of mixed-race/ethnicity tend to do. So, it is quite interesting to hear her speaking with a distinct Indian lilt here. Try to view videos of President Obama and Vice-President Harris speaking to predominantly African-American audiences and notice the slight change in accents.
Hassan Minhaj, anchor of news show/stand up comedian, (California), USA. Now compare Hassan Minhaj’s accent to that of Vice-President Harris. The difference is so interesting since they grew up an hour’s drive from each other.
Ryan Fernandez, Buffalo-NY based-restauranteur, (from Texas), USA.
Eduardo Bhatia, former president of the senate, Puerto Rico.
Professor Avinash Persaud, Economist, Britain by way of Barbados.
Kavin Jay (Jayaram), Stand up comedian, Malaysia
Finally, Foodie Nation, Trinidad. I love this accent.
There are so many accents that I’ve not covered. Videos in English spoken by non-native English speakers of Indian origin (e.g. Western and Eastern Europe) are hard to find. I found quite a few videos of people speaking their native tongues (e.g. French, German etc). At any rate, this compilation is just the beginning. I hope to see recommendations from readers in the comments below.
Thank you for patiently scrolling down this far!