It is not easy for an immigrant to settle in a new country. The cultural and social differences don’t allow the perceived ‘outsider’ to blend in with the native people. Indians kids have suffered this for a long time when their families moved to the western countries. The subtle racism that exists within the institutions like school forces the child to be more and more like the native people.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak shared his experience as how his parents wanted him to speak without an accent. They even sent him to extra drama lessons for it. Indians and other immigrants are expected to speak just the same as the natives for them to be not seen with an alien lens.
Accents play a huge role in the early social life of children and anyone with an accent finds it difficult to blend in easily with other native kids. This forces them to adapt the local speech habits and ignore the tone of their mother tongue.
Indians who return from the western countries are often criticized for their Western accents. However, it has been found that adopting a new accent is not merely a cultural change but a survival instinct.
