Cultural Misunderstandings of Indians Among the American Community Although East Indians are an immense component of America?s population, little is known about the culture to the general public. While the interaction between Indians and Americans transpire on a daily basis, the typical individual comprehends little or nothing about the community and its practices. The East Indian community is culturally and linguistically as diverse as multicultural America is as a whole (Hartman).
There are cultural misunderstandings and stereotypes that all East Indians are "Hindus? or "Sikhs". There are varied sub-ethnic groups of different religions with varied languages in the community. They do not just speak the stereotype "Hindu" or "Hindi". Many languages are spoken (Cornish 8). There are increasing numbers in the new generation who are multilingual and officially bilingual which provides additional advantages to East Indian job-seekers in the growing need for an effective workforce in Northern America. The first generation East Indians tend to have particular accents when speaking the official language, English.
English: Looking south from Top of the Rock, New Y...
American cultural icons, apple pie, baseball, and ...
English: Vivek Kundra - United States Chief Inform...This often sets them aside when job-seeking or engaging in public transactions such as, sales (Hoefler 23). In a similar manner, the majority anilingual English persons are gradually being accommodated as they learn and accent the second language. The same respect and understanding should apply to first generation East Indians adapting to a second language in their new homeland (Savill).
Like the other visible minority communities in the United States, the East Indians suffer the negative impact of racial discrimination towards them as a community and on an individual basis. Starting at an early age, parents and children in the mainstream can pass on misinformation and negative stereotypes on minorities which can do immediate and long-term damage in multicultural North America. For example, there have been many incidents in schools where the minority East Indian students...