# Asian-American speech, Did I just make this up? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2007, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410 "2007-11-22T06:51:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/1 "2007-11-22T06:51:59Z")
Having had many friends who were Asian, there is a sort of specific vocal pattern I have associated with Asian dudes of a specific age range; who are now about 45-70. It is a sort of an unusual over-enunciation and deliberateness of speaking in terms of cadence and pronunciation. Kind of an unexpected exactness. I had always just assumed it was generally known, and that it had come from WWII containment camps and teachers beating knuckles with rulers to try to make it unequivitable that there was no doubt that they were American. Or something similar to that. George Takai, is the primary example I have, and that Ronald dude from the Amazing Race(which is actually how this subject came up in the first place). And in _King of the Hill_, Ted Whats-is-face, the dude who runs the Asain-only country club. I thought it was obvious he was a comical exageration of the speaking voice I’m takiing about. But people I was talking with tonight had no clue what I was taking about. Does anybody know what thinking of? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/2 "2007-11-22T22:38:12Z")
What I hear from some of my wife’s relatives (and Mr. Takei) is what I describe as a “sing-song” cadence or lilt in their voice. Maybe it comes from the camps, but I think it’s more of a California-type accent. I know a number of white Californians who speak roughly the same way. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/3 "2007-11-23T00:00:29Z")
I think I know what you mean. I don’t know how to explain it though. I was actually thinking something along the same lines yesterday; in a TV news report about new national parks being created in the Yukon and NWT, several Native Americans (I have no idea what groups, but seeing as it was up North, probably Inuit) has comments to make on that, and I wondered at how their voices (they were all male BTW) were all very low. Just low, resonant tones, and it seemed like a “typical” native voice. My incredibly limited knowledge of their own languages is that they tend to be low as well, so perhaps it’s just a carry-over from that. I find the interpretation of languages and voice by non-speakers of that language to be an interesting thing. Basically, what does another language sound/feel like? Personally, since I don’t understand a word, I think Chinese sounds very hurried and stressful (an excited Chinese speaker might sound anxious to me if I can’t see the speaker’s body language), and I remember a Croatian friend would speak to his brother and everyone thought they were always mad at each other. Despite being bilingual myself (and often not noticing what language I’m thinking in) I find it fascinating to think about being able to think/understand another language. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/4 "2007-11-23T00:02:30Z")
Most of the Vietnamese and Chinese folks I know tend to speak English a little “flat”, if anything. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/5 "2007-11-23T06:00:40Z")
Wouldn’t it matter, a great deal, what their first language was? I’d think a Mandarin (and now English) speaker would have quite a different accent from a Korean or Japanese speaker. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/6 "2007-11-23T07:21:38Z")
Thinking about this further: I know Mexican-American English-speakers who have quite different accents depending on what area of Mexico they’re from, and I’d guess what level of society they lived in in some cases. Contrast this to American English speakers from areas as diverse as New England, Georgia, Illinois – there’s obvious regional accents. I’m sure there must be some variation across a country as large as China, as well as other Asian countries, of people speaking the same language or a close dialect that sound quite different from each other. Now, teach each of these folks English, and I’d guess they’d still sound somewhat different from each other, because their English pronunciation will be somewhat based on the regional accent from where they learned their first language. On the other hand [George Takai](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Takei) was born in L.A., so maybe maybe that blows my theory all to heck. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/7 "2007-11-23T07:24:17Z")
Robert Kiyosaki is like that. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/8 "2007-11-23T14:04:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Wouldn’t it matter, a great deal, what their first language was? I’d think a Mandarin (and now English) speaker would have quite a different accent from a Korean or Japanese speaker. The people I know who have the voice are all born in America(as near as I can tell, I don’t actually take a survey seeing who was born where) and seem to have English as their only, primary, or at the very least equal language their whole lives. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/9 "2007-11-23T14:13:35Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] Wouldn’t it matter, a great deal, what their first language was? I’d think a Mandarin (and now English) speaker would have quite a different accent from a Korean or Japanese speaker. [/QUOTE] I don’t know, but I’ve noticed the exact same accent in Japan as well, in women (never heard it from men) who have near-perfect English fluency. The best example I know is the woman who does the English announcements inside the Tokyo Metro. I always thought it was just a California accent. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/10 "2007-11-23T14:14:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Robert Kiyosaki is like that. I just you-tubed him. He doesn’t really have the voice. Thinking about it some more I guess one thing is a strongly projected voice, even when in casual conversation. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/11 "2007-11-23T14:31:36Z")
Did they lock up ALL Asian people in the US during WW2? ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/12 "2007-11-23T15:30:39Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Did they lock up ALL Asian people in the US during WW2? [/QUOTE] No, just those of Japanese descent. Not that that mitigates the policy of course. And hey, we did apologize for it just a few decades later. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/13 "2007-11-23T15:35:35Z")
It was those “suspicious” Japanese on the West Coast. Never mind the third-generation American children, they were Japs, dontcha know, and not to be trusted. Or something like that. A truly horrible thing. I’ve noticed the accent/manner of speaking thing too. I can’t explain it. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/14 "2007-11-24T07:12:00Z")
I was just taking issue with how the OP conflates Asian and Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/15 "2007-11-24T07:33:21Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] I was just taking issue with how the OP conflates Asian and Japanese. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I was trying to gently push in that direction as well, but did a poor job of it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/16 "2007-11-24T15:24:11Z")
I’m didn’t conflate Asian and Japanese. I was talking about all Asians. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/17 "2007-11-25T02:43:01Z")
[QUOTE=wolfman] I’m didn’t conflate Asian and Japanese. I was talking about all Asians. [/QUOTE] Really? Indians and Khazaks as well? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2007, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/18 "2007-11-25T23:52:00Z")
I have yet to run into any Kazakhs who are first or second generation Americans. Most of the ones I have met have Russian accents when they speak English. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2007, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/19 "2007-11-26T01:02:18Z")
[QUOTE=Bytegeist] No, just those of Japanese descent. Not that that mitigates the policy of course. And hey, we did apologize for it just a few decades later. [/QUOTE] And the US government let the Japanese in Hawaii go about their business as if nothing had happened even though Hawaii is much closer to Japan and Pearl Harbor was still a very important part of the war effort even though it had been damaged. (WTF???) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2007, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410/20 "2007-11-29T05:32:47Z")
[QUOTE=wolfman] I’m didn’t conflate Asian and Japanese. I was talking about all Asians. [/QUOTE] Well in your OP you say, "Having had many friends who were **Asian** , there is a sort of specific vocal pattern I have associated with **Asian** dudes of a specific age range; who are now about 45-70. It is a sort of an unusual over-enunciation and deliberateness of speaking in terms of cadence and pronunciation. Kind of an unexpected exactness. I had always just assumed it was generally known, and that it had come from **WWII containment camps** and teachers beating knuckles with rulers to try to make it unequivitable that there was no doubt that they were American. Or something similar to that." You didn’t mention the Japanese in your OP, granted you did cite the example of George Takai but you don’t explicitly differentiate. Not all Asians in America were contained in containment camps during WW2 (to the best of my knowledge). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-speech-did-i-just-make-this-up/427410.md?page=2)