“I felt dismissed and insulted.”
An Indian man working in the United States has claimed he was asked to stop speaking in meetings because his accent was “hard to understand”.
The 32-year-old, who shared his story on Reddit, said he felt “dismissed and insulted” by the incident, which he described as workplace discrimination.
He is currently based in the US and works on a team where everyone else is American.
He wrote: “Today, during a meeting, I asked a team member (about 55 years old) for a project update as part of my regular responsibilities.
“He told me to stop speaking in meetings because he couldn’t understand my accent.”
The man said his request had been routine: “My original request was simply for a progress update and accompanying pictures.
“Perhaps my question caught him off guard, given my position as a contractor and my relative age.”
The incident has since triggered a broader conversation online about language barriers, office dynamics, and cultural differences in international workplaces.
The man added: “I felt dismissed and insulted.”
He also pointed out that he had made an effort to speak clearly.
“I’ve always made an effort to communicate clearly and professionally.
“No one else has said anything like this before. I have been with the same client for over a year now.”
In the Reddit thread, the Indian man added that his manager advised him to stop communicating directly with the team member involved.
Stakeholder told me to stop talking in meetings because of my accent-is this normal?
byu/OkSpecial9640 inIndianWorkplace
The post quickly gained traction, with many users sharing similar experiences and thoughts on how to navigate language-related misunderstandings at work.
Some users suggested the situation may not have been malicious but rather a result of genuine difficulty in understanding accents.
One commenter said: “I had a meeting once where an Indian lady gave an update regarding the integration of what she was working on, with my team’s product.
“There were a large number of upper management on the call, and I swear I couldn’t understand a word she said.
“When the update ended, I was unable to continue because I had no idea how to respond.”
“I actually liked working with her, but we almost always communicated through Slack, so the meeting caught me off guard and there was fallout.”
Another user wrote: “I have been in meetings with Russians, Vietnamese etc. where I could not understand a single word they said and had to ask for clarification again and again.
“So when an American says he cannot understand what I said, I would assume he is having the same problem with me that I had with the Russian and other Indian speakers.”
However, others said the team member’s behaviour was “rude”.
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