Reading to children - accents or no accents?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Chatting with my sister this morning about which books our kids are into / swaps we could do when we've finished etc, and I mentioned that DH always tries (and usually fails) to do the accents if it's mentioned where the character comes from.

So he does a hideous attempt at the West Country when he does Hagrids voice (obvs from the movie rather than the book), and if there's a monster he will do the growls etc.

But sister was shocked when I said he attempted to do an accent for a character who was Indian - she said this was totally unacceptable of him.

Is this right? I mean, we don't want to do the wrong thing with our kids, but he clearly attempts all voices/accents etc where he can - if nothing else just to make bedtime stories a bit more interesting. Is there a line? Are some accents OK and others not?

When I read them The Day The Crayons Quit I attempted a different voice for each crayon. I don't think I went too wild, a few regional UK accents and a poor attempt at Australian, but is this a no no?

Is your sister always so easily shocked?

As long as he's not taking the piss/being unkind about the accent it's fine and as you say, it's just one of many.

Yeah she's a bit of a snowflake generally - he is never unkind - he basically reads the words on the page in the voice that he thinks best suits that character

It’s a tricky one, I wouldn’t personally do an Indian accent because there are so many to choose from and I don’t really see the need to! Plus it always comes out a bit Welsh and so that puts me off my Welsh blue crayon. I do use various regional accents though, as well as a good Jamaican one for a book we have on mermaids from Jamaica and don’t feel that’s appropriation? An accent is just an accent unless it’s being used to show how silly or stupid something is. For example always using an Irish accent to play a less clever character would be unfair IMO

Your sister is being ridiculous. If it’s unacceptable to do an accent from a different country then I presume she would be equally upset if he did a German or French accent?

Always accents, and different types of voice for different characters.

It’s a tricky one, I wouldn’t personally do an Indian accent because there are so many to choose from and I don’t really see the need to

But in this instance it was a character that was commented on as being Indian.

Or always using any accent, not necessarily Irish obviously, that doesn’t read quite right. I mean constantly using the same accent to convey a meaning would be wrong, using various accents to spice up your bedtime reading would be fine!

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

It’s a tricky one, I wouldn’t personally do an Indian accent because there are so many to choose from and I don’t really see the need to

But in this instance it was a character that was commented on as being Indian.

I don’t have any books with Indian people in actually! I meant in the crayon example, I don’t have an Indian crayon, they are most variants on Scottish, Irish and west country

@Obira

Your sister is being ridiculous. If it’s unacceptable to do an accent from a different country then I presume she would be equally upset if he did a German or French accent?

Well this is my point. I was worried that I was doing something wrong but when I do the voice for Madame Maxime I try French and apparently that's fine.

Surely specifically avoiding certain accents just to "be safe" is offensive?

Yeah I don't do Indian accents for Crayons as by the time I've worked through my UK repertoire my throats gone.

My favourite is Night Monkey Day Monkey in as Yorkshire as I can muster

Only one of my monkeys is actually from Yorkshire, the day monkey has a soft high voice, but no accent.

My smartest giant is very northern, south of Scotland I’d say, but the gruffalo is Scot’s through and through

My monkey in monkey puzzle is West Country

Unless he’s doing it via Zoom, I wouldn’t worry.

We are currently reading The Stolen Lake, in which Romans and Welsh descendants have settled in a fantasy South America with an Arthurian twist - doing their accents, alongside Cockney Dido Twite, is proving challenging. I can never work out whether Joan Aitken expects them to sound Welsh, Spanish or Italian.

It is tricky. CBeebies magazine used to (maybe still does) have Rastamouse stories and even if I could do the accent, which I can't, I don't know if I would have done. I suppose unless you are an actor or gifted at impressions, "doing" an accent is inevitably going to lean on stereotypes. I tend to give servants rural or Cockney accents for example - often because this is indicated by the text but not always - but is this class stereotyping?

Does it really matter? Especially if a character is clearly from a place. I don't really get the above point about stereotypes. I mean, it's an accent not a caricature.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Yeah I don't do Indian accents for Crayons as by the time I've worked through my UK repertoire my throats gone.

My favourite is Night Monkey Day Monkey in as Yorkshire as I can muster

I remember once my MIL saying with a snooty satisfaction "Oh good she really doesn't have a Yorkshire accent does she?"

At which point, right on cue, my toddler pointed at the book she was looking at and shouted "MUNKEH!"

I don't think I'd use any of the accents that are/have been routinely used to mock in a racist way (Chinese, Indian, Caribbean etc). It would just seem wrong in a way that doing French/German/regional U.K. accents don't.

I think I’m uncomfortable with a white person (no idea if that’s the case for you and your dh) doing the accent of a non-white person as these accents have been/are used to mock in a racist way as SoupDragon pointed out. I don’t feel the same about European/US/Australian accents.

It's an accent is all. Ligthen up people

I'm a bookaholic but have always hated reading out loud, I get a dry mouth and throat and the words start to stick to my tongue somehow.

When my youngest was turning 2, my parents gave us my brother's old postman pat books, which I utterly detest. DD loved them.

So I gave different characters different accents. Mostly regional, I'm crap at it.

Because she loved it. And it got me through.

Thankfully the books stopped being a favourite and I passed them on, internally having a leaving party for them.