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In Mumbai, learning English the `Amarican` way: The Indian Express
Mumbai, Oct 03: It doesn`t matter if your grammar or pronounciation (sic) is incorrect. Your fluency should be good. You should be able to speak continuously for 10 minutes - that is good fluency.``
Mumbai, Oct 03: It doesn't matter if your grammar or pronounciation (sic) is incorrect. Your fluency should be good. You should be able to speak continuously for 10 minutes — that is good fluency.’’
Don’t open that dictionary to recheck the meaning of ‘‘fluent.’’ It won’t match Raj Vohra’s questionable interpretation of the word — not that it’s stopping him from preaching it to kids who come to learn ‘‘American accent’’ at his Just Talk Institute.
In a small room in a dilapidated building on Charni Road, three students attend Vohra’s class. Sitting under Vohra’s photograph signed — ‘‘I will be a hero in the film industry by May 2005’’ — they learn to ‘‘talk’’ in American accent. ‘‘We ask them to see Amarican (sic) movies, and take them to five-star hotels where they can go up to Amaricans and talk to them,’’ says the edgy, 20-something Vohra, who refuses to give his age.
For these classes, Vohra charges Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000. His school is just one in a rash of small-time — and often oddly named — institutes across the city trying to cash in on the craze to talk like an American. There’s also Karox Institute in Ghatkopar and the Hero Mindmind in Andheri.
It’s driven by the high demand and high turnover in the call centre industry, which employs over 60,000 people nationwide. Some demand also comes from new brides, and parents who go to the US to live with their children.
At the Indo-American Society (IAS) in XXX, which started teaching American accent from last month, the first batch had a newly-wed bride, a motivational speaker and software professionals. All want to go West. ‘‘I want my US-born grandson to understand me,’’ says Suhasini Suklikar (54).
The only qualification needed for teaching American accent seems to be that you should have been abroad — not necessarily to America. ‘‘I’ve lived in Canada for some years,’’ says Gautam (Gary) Gupta of The British Institutes at Fort. Gupta, who trains students for call centres, claims he’s had this course since 1998 ‘‘but its begun picking up since 2000.’’
But can someone brought up in Ghatkopar really speak like they do in Georgia?
‘‘We aim to neutralise our students’ Indian accent so that they can be understood better,’’ says Sucharita Narayanan of IAS. Their American teacher Nina Woodward believes it’s the best approach. ‘‘No matter how hard you try,’’ says Woodward, ‘‘an Indian can never speak like an American.’’
In a small room in a dilapidated building on Charni Road, three students attend Vohra’s class. Sitting under Vohra’s photograph signed — ‘‘I will be a hero in the film industry by May 2005’’ — they learn to ‘‘talk’’ in American accent. ‘‘We ask them to see Amarican (sic) movies, and take them to five-star hotels where they can go up to Amaricans and talk to them,’’ says the edgy, 20-something Vohra, who refuses to give his age.
For these classes, Vohra charges Rs 5,000 to Rs 8,000. His school is just one in a rash of small-time — and often oddly named — institutes across the city trying to cash in on the craze to talk like an American. There’s also Karox Institute in Ghatkopar and the Hero Mindmind in Andheri.
It’s driven by the high demand and high turnover in the call centre industry, which employs over 60,000 people nationwide. Some demand also comes from new brides, and parents who go to the US to live with their children.
At the Indo-American Society (IAS) in XXX, which started teaching American accent from last month, the first batch had a newly-wed bride, a motivational speaker and software professionals. All want to go West. ‘‘I want my US-born grandson to understand me,’’ says Suhasini Suklikar (54).
The only qualification needed for teaching American accent seems to be that you should have been abroad — not necessarily to America. ‘‘I’ve lived in Canada for some years,’’ says Gautam (Gary) Gupta of The British Institutes at Fort. Gupta, who trains students for call centres, claims he’s had this course since 1998 ‘‘but its begun picking up since 2000.’’
But can someone brought up in Ghatkopar really speak like they do in Georgia?
‘‘We aim to neutralise our students’ Indian accent so that they can be understood better,’’ says Sucharita Narayanan of IAS. Their American teacher Nina Woodward believes it’s the best approach. ‘‘No matter how hard you try,’’ says Woodward, ‘‘an Indian can never speak like an American.’’