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Both of which have accents, one heavier than the other. Is that fair?
by danyim 10y ago
Both of which have accents, one heavier than the other. Is that fair?
- zjaffee 10y agoamong those with Asian origins that I have worked with, I'd say at least half are foreign born, so I don't think its entirely unfair.
- walrus01 10y agoThere is no proper English accent, to a New Zealander, people born in California sound weird.
- dimal 10y agoJin Yiang isn't Chinese-American. He's Chinese. Chinese people who were born in China have accents when speaking English. It would be ridiculous if he was Chinese and didn't have an accent. I haven't noticed Dinesh as having any accent, but if he does have one, it's the actor's actual accent. He's from Pakistan, so maybe he has a trace. Which is completely realistic and completely fair.
- _delirium 10y agoI think the point is that the show doesn't seem to feature Asian-Americans, even though there are a lot of Asian-Americans in the real Silicon Valley.
- Chinjut 10y agoEven in a restrictive sense of "Asian-American" as meaning those of Asian descent who grew up in America, there are a few presumably Asian-American minor characters on the show, perhaps most notably the Indian "brogrammer" (played by Aly Mawji; imdb is oddly inconsistent as to the character's name, switching between Aly Dutta and Naveen Dutt). But yes, more Asian-American representation would be good (in particular on a show reflecting the demographics of Silicon Valley, but also on TV in general).
- walrus01 10y agoHaving spent some time in India and Pakistan, the actor's accent (Kumail Nanjiani) is upper class/elite Pakistani English, most likely influenced by going to a good quality private school. His pronunciation of certain words is similar to the English spoken by, for example, senior Pakistani journalists on their domestic television channels or politicians in Islamabad.
- tamana 10y agoMany Chinese-Americans were born in China.
- Chinjut 10y agoYes, Kumail Nanjiani (who plays Dinesh) grew up in Pakistan and moved to the U.S. for college. I believe Dinesh is also supposed to have grown up in Pakistan (albeit with a Hindu first name? Well, of course, even if rare, that can happen), and then immigrated to the U.S. as an adult. Hence, the accent.