This may just be nit-picky me, but I am always uncomfortable with scenes between characters speaking another language being in English, simply for the benefit of American viewers. So during Mohinder's first scene in India when he's giving his lecture in English and then speaking with his friend/colleague in English I was somewhat disappointed.

But then, later on, all of Hiro's scenes are in Japanese, so I'm thinking, cool, this is authentic. Does that then mean that Mohinder was speaking English and not presumably Hindi or Farsi during his first scene?

Just nit-picky me, like I said.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'll assume he was lecturing in English and not the native language. It's not entirely uncommon. I know many universities in the Philippines that conduct lectures mainly in English. I'm sure it's the same in other places where English is considered a main language of sorts. I Googled spoken in English in India and found this and on Wikipedia.

The British Empire was in India in the late 1700s and the British have been in India in the 1500s and 1600s trading. I have been to Egypt and every person I met from India there spoke perfect english. In fact you would think they were all educated in the US, no wait I take that back they were to smart to be educated in the US. Haha I am a perfect example.

I just came back from a trip to India. Everyone speaks English. Some are hard to understand, but everyone I came in contact with was quite fluent. The thing is that there are dozens of languages in India and each language has dozens of dialects. One of my tour guides explained to me that he and his brother speak English, Hindi and a little punjabi they remember from when they were kids. His parents speak Punjabi and English but not Hindi. When he and his brother speak to their parents in India, they speak in English. When the parents speak to each other, they speak Punjabi, and when he and his brother speak, they speak Hindi. So it is not beyond the relm of possibility that a professor in an Indian University would be lecturing in English. It is the only common language.

See ya
Tony

"But then, later on, all of Hiro's scenes are in Japanese, so I'm thinking, cool, this is authentic."

Oh, no...you're terribly wrong about that. As a Japanese viewer, I was surprised and extremely disappointed to see the scenes in Japan were incredibly...not authentic, for a lack of a better word.

Of course, it seems like Hiro and his co-worker speak normal Japanese, but their Japanese was HORRIBLE to say the least. Hiro's Japanese was just barely passable as the real thing, and his co-worker's pronounciation, and tone/intonations were so incorrect, I could barely make out what he was saying. I wish they would have used real Japanese speakers.

It's a TV show in the USA. What we're you expecting, that they went and got writers that understood the culture of India or Japan. Hey, at least they didn't dress up some white guys as Indians and Japanese guys.

I think it's a great change of pace to see some ethnicities in a mainstream show like this. Of course, can't have a show like this without scantily clad cheerleader and over the top Internet stripper. Guess we should be glad their special power isn't seduction!

All that aside, I think this is a good show. I actually enjoyed myself watching this. Now let's hope the network doesn't get scared and mutilate this show.

Besides cheap labor another reason India is such an outlet for overseas work is the fact that yes most Indians speak English in some cases better then many Americans. They do not all sound like Apu from the Simpsons (though I have met some that do and it is quite funny)lol!

You guys nailed it, a lot of people speak English in India, especially "intellectuals" like Mohinder and Nirad.

Trivia: The scenes in India take place in Madras/Chennai where the local language is "tamil".

As for the Japanese tone/intonation it's a virtually impossible fix. It's hard enough to find good actors, let alone good actors who are bilingual and with no hint of accent in either language. Further, it's often the case that actors won't receive a script until a few days before filming (a week at best), and then they need to not only spend time learning dialog, but also going over the lines with a translator/dialog coach. Masi Oka and James Kyson Lee (Hiro and Ando respectively) do a great job (IMHO) when you factor in everything they have to do, and of course the all night parties that we know Hollywood actors are famous for

Plus given the option I am sure they would cast an English speaking Japanese actor then a Japanese actor who has to learn English just for the sake of logistics and I am asure once Hiro begins to find his footing in New York he will speak primarly in English (with an accent of course). As many of use who speak two languages have relatives who speak somethign other then English we are frequently exposed to accents by those who are ESL which makes it easy to emulate the accent and cadence.

A friend I was watching with asked me the same thing as the show was on, and I agree with the sentiment that his lecture was most likely in English. Having studied abroad in multiple countries, higher education in English (even in largely domestic progams) is not all the uncommon. Why his follow-up conversation was also in English is more open to debate, but it didn't strike me as oddly as two Japanese office workers speaking English would have.