: Re: Is it okay to mention a person's nationality and accent only once or twice in a story? For example, if you have a guy who is an Indian (from India), and you say something like, Sukant

@YK4692630

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Don't make it too heavy unless you're aiming at comical effect. It's better to keep it as a part of the story (show) than tell it like you did.
Personally, I have no clue how Northern Bhojpuri sounds like. I'd feel estranged by such a mention. Instead, we can base this on someone else's knowledge, taking it at face value without dwelling on deeper meaning, and driving the point home stronger than just by such narrator's interruption.

"Yes. It is indeed true. Many people come into my store but not everyone for buying something," Sukant said.
"You don't live here very long, do you? Where are you from?"
"Yes, I am from India, Northern Bhojpuri. Does it show in my speech so much?"
"Quite a bit."

That way informed reader will know what they see, uninformed but curious can look it up, and the rest will just accept it and let their imagination fill in.
It's great if you can make character's lines stand out as his own by the way they speak alone, but don't overdo it, don't turn them into parody of themselves. It's better to make a character sound bland, than fake. So - balance, and rather err on the side of "too little accent", than on the side of "too much accent".
Unless you write a comedy. In this case accent bordering on intelligible is a valid comical device.

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