In 2005, I could believe this complaint because offshoring was still pretty new. But 2025, still... really? I find it hard to believe. This sounds like very low effort on your part. India is the size of a continent, and AI tells me: "India is roughly the same size as Europe (excluding Russia)." Can you imagine someone from India saying the reverse? <<"European" accents (whatever the hell that means because there are 50 countries in Europe!) are very difficult for me...>>
What is your native language, and what makes your struggle unique?
Do you also struggle to understand the myriad of other strong English accents, such as: Oz/Kiwi English, or Singlish (Singaporean/Malaysian English) or South African English, or Hongkonger English, or (Los Angeles) Valley Girl English (I jest here)... or French English, or whatever else? Plus, there are so many incredible YouTube content creators speaking English as a second (or third!) language these days... hell, it is like language accent training watching YouTube these days (hats of to them for publishing in a non-native language!).
I don't think it's unreasonable to find accents from places you don't live hard to understand. A lot of accents completely shift the vowel sounds. It can take a lot of familiarisation to start to understand what each sound means. Some people find this easier than others.
India is a huge country with a strong local tradition of speaking English. That means Indian English has a lot of local quirks that someone from outside the country wouldn't know.
I imagine everyone who speaks English struggles to understand strong accents that have significant shifts from their local one. I work with lots of French people speaking English, and even after years of daily conversations it can still be a struggle to understand them. I've got better over time, but it's not nearly as straightforward as listening to a native speaker.
You're essentially saying you don't believe the OP actually struggles to understand some accents. Is that really an outlandish claim?
> That means Indian English has a lot of local quirks that someone from outside the country wouldn't know.
Every accent is different. Every accent needs effort to understand. The point is that Indian English isn't uniquely difficult. It doesn't have very many unique words, other than obvious ones (prepone) or quirks that are easy to understand (kindly do the needful). And yet, racist white people from around the world, even ESL speakers, will take delight in shitting on Indian English while putting in zero effort to understand it.
But if the same white people heard a fellow white person say "I'm going to pick up my ute in the arvo while eating a jaffle" they'll happily look that up and expand their vocabulary.
> You're essentially saying you don't believe the OP actually struggles to understand some accents.
I'm saying people who have a problem with Indian English in particular are racist pricks.
Fuck these racist double standards and fuck anyone who defends it.
What is your native language, and what makes your struggle unique?
Do you also struggle to understand the myriad of other strong English accents, such as: Oz/Kiwi English, or Singlish (Singaporean/Malaysian English) or South African English, or Hongkonger English, or (Los Angeles) Valley Girl English (I jest here)... or French English, or whatever else? Plus, there are so many incredible YouTube content creators speaking English as a second (or third!) language these days... hell, it is like language accent training watching YouTube these days (hats of to them for publishing in a non-native language!).