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Asians and Their Wannabe Accents
What’s the deal with Asians and their funky western accents? Don’t they know that it’s a major turnoff, because it reeks “phoneyness”? What’s wrong with these people? Low on self esteem, so they “accentize” themselves to give them that high and mighty status feeling? Please…
It’s a huge backfire, and one that would make humans distance themselves from. I’ve met my share of nincompoops, they’re so Asians that even a blind man can see, with a sham of all accents. And the best part is, they think it’s cool. Leave the blinking accent to the people from that country, don’t be a talking joke!
I know what you mean about people who develop weird ‘put-on’ accents. It’s stupid when some people try so hard to develop a particular accent. But actually, whilst I am in the UK here, it’s quite hard to speak plain Malaysian style because they then won’t understand a word you say. Though after being here for 6 years, I haven’t lost a little bit of my Malaysian accent + style, and I’m proud of that because speaking this way with fellow Malaysians makes everyone warm up right away. Gotta say though, sometimes hearing someone speak in public without the Malaysian accent + style, but trying to speak properly (proper grammar, and lessen the sing song tone), not particularly with any specific accent (which usually turns out quite American anyway probably because of all the TV we watch), is quite pleasant to the ears.
What’s the hang-up with Asians speaking with accents? Asians are everywhere now. If they spent a few years in a country, mixing it with the natives of that land, isnt it natural they come to speak like them? What more of Asians who are born in these countries and grew up there, then maybe getting a job in places like Singapore and KL? What is wrong with them speaking with the accents of the country they grew up in or spent formative years in? If you spend 10-12 hours working amongst orang putih, chances are you’d end up speaking like them after a little while. Nothing wrong with that, and it is certainly not a “put-on”. If you are uncomfortable, it speaks more about you than the “accented” one.
hahaha…i share the same experience…i dunno wtf these people think they’re trying to pull off. i have friends who’s lived overseas for years and even they don’t come back to malaysia with an accent. those who’s never been overseas and picked up the accent probably through the media has no backbone. they are so infested with the idea of westernization. just listen to our radio deejays. not only they talk nonsense on air but they also say it with a fake accent. i remember distinctly when we use to have quality deejays like patrickteoh and janet ambrose (i think)
I agree lah, a sister in law and an aunt have migrated to Canada for decades and they still speak Asian English to us, and yet there are folks here who has never even lived overseas and yet has “cool” accent.
miss tan Being away for years shouldn’t mean that they cannot acclimatize themselves back to the culture.
Ian Teh It is, but your mother tongue is always your mother tongue. After a while it SHOULD revert. It comes off as egotist after some time. You have a dodgy accent, don’t you? Come on, admit it! Hahahahaha!
tihtahpah Indeed! My best friend’s a perfect example of adaptable acclimatization. She’s been living in the US for years, but whenever she speaks to me, it’s return to “normality”. I wonder if “Ian Teh” could be kind enough to explain.
Jewell Yes, that’s the main point that I am trying to drive.
when i was overseas, i never lost my accent, onli if i have to so that the gwailos understand me, i try to adapt to them, but then again, i could never do a proper accent anyway, so i decided to stick to my own accent and let the gwailos pulak try to adapt to the asian accent. they are more than happy to do it anyway. it doesnt always have to be the asian adapting, they do it too. but when you’re back in malaysia, especially if you’ve practically lived all your life in malaysia and only spent 3 years or so in overseas, pls revert to the kind of accent we are all familiar with. dont u wanna revert so that malaysian asians understand u? how come u can revert to adapt the gwailo accent to accomodate to them but you cannot revert back to malaysian accent to accomodate to your fellow countrymen?
tihtahpah Nice one. Those who based their stance on remaining with foreign accents (in Malaysia) with an excuse that they have lived in overseas for so long, should look at themselves in the mirror.
hah! wait till u encounter some ppl who talk to you like normal malaysians do, then turn around and talk to the mat sallehs in a pitchy, fake accented voice. what’s funny, the mat sallehs talk to us almost like malaysians
it’s altogether fine if one is exposed to a lot of foreigners who do not speak the way we do. it is another thing when we can spot your put on accent-wannabe from a mile away.
I bet they cannot even pronounce the “th” part of a word properly, yet they wanna sound like Brits.
BTW bro, why don’t I receive comments by email even though I have subscribed by clicking on the check box?
Another thing is why am I off your blog listing? Was it something I said?
yup yip yup i there’s a guy at my office who’s like that he studied in sydney for a year thats whats written in his cv LOL his accent is real funny to listen to, and you know he’s fakin it LOL
it’s kinda difficult to understand people fake the accent…it sounds like their eating their words 
ps: ive been in Malaysia 2 over yrs now and now am stuck with the “lah” thing is that considered Malaysian accent?
damn is it diff to rid off
suanie Agreed, and I’m sure we both had our fair-share of dodgy accent wannabes in our lifetime.
Wombat LOL. The subscription thingy doesn’t work? Hmmm, I’ll ask my friend Hong Kiat tomorrow. Oops, it must’ve happened when I switched to this new theme, cause by some ingenious way, I deleted the whole blogroll, and had to add one by one again. I’ll put you in.
To anyone else, if you were on my list previously, let me know. Thanks.
Lucifer Exactly, thanks for driving home my point. Say “Tak Nak to Loghat Ciplak!” To only way to get rid of “la” is by moving to Sabah. It’ll be “bah” in no time.
i don think moving to sabah will make lah to bah… i’m still using lah, esp, pak lah~!
clement LOL. It’s just a friendly banter. For the record, I LOVE SABAHANS!
UgHh yes..it’s so turning off! x(
erm, if avoid using “lah” and “one” such as come on “lah”, don’t want “lah”, cannot like that “one” consider as losing the asian accent?
Good thing that u mentioned that u love us Sabahans; otherwise you’d surely get a bashing when you do come here in May! LOL.
you’re coming to sabah? hmmm, too bad, ha ha, i won’t be around then
LOL nice post. And lots of nice responses. The one that I really cannot tahan is the one you said la, Daniel. People who’ve never even been overseas that put on really unconvincing accent? LOL and I don’t necessarily agree on people going overseas losing their local accent totally either. A lot of my Brit friends found the “lah” endearing (sometimes it slips when I’m talking) and even adapted it into our conversations once in a while, which I find totally amusing.
Not everyone who goes overseas will automatically adapt the accent (seriously, you should listen to the Lord Mayor of Melbourne speak). But then again, some people really do tend to get overboard with adapting foreign accents.. you just have to tune into Mix FM everyday at 5 pm to know what I mean. LOL.
huei Wonder if Ian Teh knows…hehehe!
yipguseng “Lah” is Malaysian la! No matter how many linguists try to discourage the use of it, we will still use it la!
JACQ Well, I’ve got good news for the both of us, I’m not going to Sabah in May.
I have my exams in June and mock exams in May. 
clement That was the initial plan, but not anymore. Instead, my Sabahan friends are meeting me in Cambodia in October, if all goes to plan.
Izad Exactly Izad. Some only been overseas for a couple of days or week, and come back with dodgy accents. It’s disgusting. As for the radio, no way, I stopped listening to radio for 10 years now. Blech.
Galliventer : Glad to know you love me.
lets talk the chinnamen way.
good post, man!
fake accents suck – it’s amazing how thick-skinned people can be when they use it. it cracks me up whenever i hang out with a friend who’s an expat from Australia, and the fellas will automatically revert to a thick accent with a lot of “hau-tch tchyoo like Malay-schia” (how do you like malaysia).
the worst ones are on radio… adoi!!
Wombat Glad you can feel the love on this blog.
endroo G Errr…okay?
the drowmage Tell me about it! It’s time the Govt pass a law on this! Boo to radio stations!
Yes..there’s this newsreader on RTM that really really gets on my nerve
Moses Francis Errr…what’s RTM? LOL!