Whose accent should we adopt?

[Darshana]

I think this question goes here: for someone learning to speak Hindi, or learning to pretend to speak it -- whose accent would you tell him or her to adopt?  who should we copy?  and whose way of speaking is an "Avoid!"?

I like how Shah Rukh sounds.  Is it okay if I imitated him?  does it matter if I am a woman -- as to accent only, I mean, I know women's grammar is different.  (I did study Hindi for a couple of years.)

Does any woman sound nice?  Shabana?  Madhuri?

[James]

I sort of hesitate to answer this question just because there are so many dialects, any one of which is legitimate to try to emulate.

A good indicator, if looking at film stars, would be whether Hindi is their mother tongue or not.  Madhuri Dixit, for example, speaks Marathi as a mother tongue, as a Maharashtrian.  Her accent in Hindi never sounded off to me, though, for whatever that's worth.  Urmila Matondkar, by contrast, always has a bit of a Marathi accent in Hindi.  I always noticed she sounded different, but didn't realise exactly why till my friends who speak the language as a mother tongue were mocking her accent one day.    So don't try her.

Shabana would probably be an excellent model as urdu would be her mother tongue, and considering poetry is a part of her familial heritage, I'm guessing proper pronunciation and elocution would have been, as well.  I find her accent and manner of speaking quite refined.  Javed Akhtar, of course, also speaks very well.

I like how Shahrukh sounds, too.  I like how he speaks from the diaphragm, often, instead of being more throaty (barring his filmi laughter).  Often people who speak Hindi are sort of throaty and nasal, and he's not like that.  Hindi/Urdu are his mother tongue, so he's representative of a good speaker, I'd think.

You might also consider Amitabh Bachchan, of course.  His family is originally from U.P., which is in the cow belt/home of Hindi, and he speaks very well, I'm sure in part because of his familial background (his father being a very famous and accomplished poet).  When he speaks in Hindi, I find he uses a richness of vocabulary that puts Hinglish to shame, just in my opinion.

Generally speaking, I would think the U.P. accent would be a good one to aspire to, as it's the traditional home of Hindi and Urdu, anyway.  It's good to know Bambaiyya/tapori Hindi, and fun to speak, but it's not often considered 'reputable', whereas U.P. Hindi and Urdu are sort of the high tradition, with the 'tameez'/politeness, etc.

Usually speakers of a second-language develop a sort of neutral, standard accent, like what you'd hear on the news, unless you live in an area where a regional dialect is spoken, of course.  I would wager that if you allowed yourself to interact with native speakers of different backgrounds and dialects, that would occur quite naturally on its own.  Since you watch Hindi films, I'm guessing your vocabulary and accent would reflect more on the Urdu side, which is what's often quite easily understood by the masses even if not always 100% representative of their manner of speaking.  I suppose I'm saying I'm not sure a model is 100% necessary, though I understand the need for a starting point.

[latishya]

I know women's grammar is different. 

Really? How? I thought this sort of thing was very unusual in languages - I know Garifuna has vocabulary differences between male and female speakers, but what are the differences in grammar between male and female Hindi speakers, and why does Snell hide this?

[James]

I assumed Darshana was referring to how verbs inflect according to the gender of the speaker?

male :    main bol raha hon
female : main bol rahi hoon

There are cases where there are words or expressions that are usually used by women and not men.  This seems more conventional than grammatical.  I recall reading how a fellow moderator would say 'tauba' sometimes and he divined from the smirks he received when doing so that usually only women use this word, as an example.  Hindi movies are confusing there, because it's often used by both men and women on screen, in song, though.

[latishya]

I assumed Darshana was referring to how verbs inflect according to the gender of the speaker?

Aah, if that's all, that makes sense  and means the grammar is the same for both genders then. yWhew! 
Vocabulary differences are easier to grasp, even if the usage distinctions are tricky.

[Darshana]

I assumed Darshana was referring to how verbs inflect according to the gender of the speaker?

male :    main bol raha hon
female : main bol rahi hoon

There are cases where there are words or expressions that are usually used by women and not men.  This seems more conventional than grammatical.  I recall reading how a fellow moderator would say 'tauba' sometimes and he divined from the smirks he received when doing so that usually only women use this word, as an example.  Hindi movies are confusing there, because it's often used by both men and women on screen, in song, though.

Yes, 100% right, I mean verbs.

[Darshana]

I think I like a good Urdu-touched accent - it has a "dry" sound to me.

[atomicfunk07]

my parents speak Hindi as a 1.5th language? It's not their mother tongue but they've lived in NI before.  So some of the words with j/z divergence (which i understand is a dialect thing) i'm never really sure how to pronounce them.
like my mom will say "majaa" and "jaroor" not "mazaa" and "zaroor" (the preferred bollywood pronounciation).  also she'll talk about the "jari" on a sari while others will say "zari" (for the border bit).
so, having heard her talk, i have a hard time pronouncing words with "z" and keep saying "j" instead! like in this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhkVnMIByAA) I always sing "har Jabaan par" instead of what the singers sing, which is "har zabaan par"
also for a long time i never understood it when characters would say "main mazaa karthi huun" until i watched a movie with subtitles "I'm just kidding" and went "OH! you mean majaa!" LOL

[LinKarish]

I watched the sit down with SRK and Anuskha Sharma (in Conversation for RNBJ) recently, and there was a point where SRK recites a poetic dialogue.  I just love the way he says it.  I've listened that part so many times. I think if I were ever to learn the language, I would want to speak like that. It just sounds so sweet to the ears. Though I realize it's totally non-casual speech. But still, I would want to speak like that all the time.

Also, this is probably just all in my head.  But I had been watching Turkish films the past year, and I swear, as a person who doesn't know either language, I find his recitation strangly similar to the way some Turkish was spoken.  I mean, I know Urdu is very much influenced by Turkish, even though we always just say Perso-Arabic; but it's not just the vocab, it's the way he says those two or three lines which I really never expected especially since Turkish belongs to a different language family than Persian and Urdu.

ETA: The time stamp on the YT vid seems not to work if an ad comes up.  Just refresh, and usually there would be no ad and the video will play according to the time stamp.

[AfgJasmine16]

Also, this is probably just all in my head.  But I had been watching Turkish films the past year, and I swear, as a person who doesn't know either language, I find his recitation strangly similar to the way some Turkish was spoken.  I mean, I know Urdu is very much influenced by Turkish, even though we always just say Perso-Arabic; but it's not just the vocab, it's the way he says those two or three lines which I really never expected especially since Turkish belongs to a different language family than Persian and Urdu.

I've studdied Turkish in school and I must say, I have found many similarities to Hindi/Urdu. But I cant put my finger on what it is. I've studdied Farsi and Arabic, but I liked Turkish and Hindi so much better.  They have extreamly different grammar but for some reason they are similair. Mayeb its the way the language is used? And no what else is funny, my freind thought Turkish sounded a lot like Hindi.

[leaf]

Minai has put together a video of different kinds of Indian accents. It's really well done and you get a general picture of the diversity of accents among the educated.
http://cinemanrityagharana.blogspot.com/2011/06/indian-english-accent-extravaganza_27.html

[LinKarish]

I've studdied Turkish in school and I must say, I have found many similarities to Hindi/Urdu. But I cant put my finger on what it is. I've studdied Farsi and Arabic, but I liked Turkish and Hindi so much better.  They have extreamly different grammar but for some reason they are similair. Mayeb its the way the language is used? And no what else is funny, my freind thought Turkish sounded a lot like Hindi.

So it's not just me.  Good to know.  But yeah, there are times when I hear the similarities as well. 

Minai has put together a video of different kinds of Indian accents. It's really well done and you get a general picture of the diversity of accents among the educated.
http://cinemanrityagharana.blogspot.com/2011/06/indian-english-accent-extravaganza_27.html

Thanks for the link, it was a pleasure to read, watch and listen.

[Dil Bert]

Minai has put together a video of different kinds of Indian accents. It's really well done and you get a general picture of the diversity of accents among the educated.
http://cinemanrityagharana.blogspot.com/2011/06/indian-english-accent-extravaganza_27.html

Eh, it's just clips from different interviews of Priyanka. 

Seriously, good work.