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[Tommie Hu$tle]

I was reading about some American children left in Nigera and it was said that a missionary knew them from their American Accents. Becasue I'm from America I never hear an "American" accent I know of regional accents (South, Texas, Midwest, Boston, New York, Cali) but, not a general American Accent. To all you forginers how do we sound to you? Can you tell the difference between a Southern and a New Yorker are is it all American to you?

 

[DonasaurusRex]

There is no such thing as an american accent only regional ones. Ever talk to someone from the country...wtf are they saying.

 

[ManDudeChild]

I have the same question about the supposed "Canadian accent".

 

[Suerte]

Scottish & Irish accents > all.

 

[human5892]

There is no such thing as an american accent only regional ones. Ever talk to someone from the country...wtf are they saying.

Yeah, but I think what he's saying is, can a foreigner notice the regional differences, or all we all just "American" to them?

For example, I bet there are a bunch of different regional Australian accents, but hell if I've ever noticed any.

 

[Thaedolus]

There's a California accent? I didn't realize that, but my friend from Boston said I sounded like I had a bit of a Southern accent, yet I was born and raised in the Bay Area.

 

[levious]

I have the same question about the supposed "Canadian accent".

what are you going on aboot?

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

Yeah, but I think what he's saying is, can a foreigner notice the regional differences, or all we all just "American" to them?

For example, I bet there are a bunch of different regional Australian accents, but hell if I've ever noticed any.

Pretty much, everyone from England sounds "English" to me I couldn't tell you the difference between north or south same thing with French people.

 

[Mama Smurf]

I have a hard time believing you couldn't tel the differecne between a scouser or a posh person from England. There's no way you could hear them as the same, not if your first language is English.

Personally I can of course tell the difference between an American accent from the south and one from let's say New York, but they all have an American sound to them.

 

[levious]

oh, you should check out the Dr. Strangelove dvd, on one of the fake interviews Peter Sellers talks about and demonstrates the various british accents.

 

[Boogie9IGN]

There's a California accent? I didn't realize that, but my friend from Boston said I sounded like I had a bit of a Southern accent, yet I was born and raised in the Bay Area.

I've lived here in the Bay Area for most of my life and I cannot detect an accent at all. New York, Texas and Southern accents are easy though :\

 

[xsarien]

There's a California accent?

 

[Rei_Toei]

I think there is a general American Accent. At university colleges they didn't want us to mix up the styles. You had to either go American-style or British. I prefer the latter.

 

[human5892]

I think there is a general American Accent. At university colleges they didn't want us to mix up the styles. You had to either go American-style or British. I prefer the latter.

I would, too. British accents are awesome.

I often talk in one, to amuse my friends and trick my enemies.

 

[Tommie Hu$tle]

I've lived here in the Bay Area for most of my life and I cannot detect an accent at all. New York, Texas and Southern accents are easy though :\

People from Cali have an accent it's not like a strong NY or Southern accent but, it's there I can tell someone from cali. It their relaxed style.

 

[8bit]

Scottish & Irish accents > all.

Aye laddie!

 

[yoshifumi]

the only cool american accents are southern accents

 

[Escape Goat]

the only cool american accents are southern accents

Bzzzzzt. wrongo!

 

[xsarien]

the only cool american accents are southern accents

Not so fast there, pardner...

 

[human5892]

the only cool american accents are southern accents

Yikes.

 

[Cauliflower of Love]

South Florida has an accent, it's called broken spanish, aka cuban.

 

[distantmantra]

I've always wondered if I have an accent (Seattle, WA).

 

[gofreak]

I'm not American, but I can tell the difference between a new york accent and a deep south drawl. Definitely. But they do all sound just very "American" at the same time.

Similarly, if you listened to various people from different parts of Ireland, you'd probably readily identify all their accents as very "Irish". But even if you don't immediately pick up on them, there are huge differences between accents, even in as small a country as this.

BTW, I read recently how, even though Ireland has become quite an expensive location to do business in, lots of companies are still bringing their european call centres here because "the customers like the Irish accent"

edit - also, I think few people can easily hear their own accent. i don't think I have an accent, but if you heard me you'd prob very easily identify it as Irish/Dublin.

 

[Slo]

So how do Americans sound? If you were mocking an American about his accent, how would you mock him?

 

[belgurdo]

How newscasters talk (also known as general midwesterner dialect) is what the "common" American accent is like. But we have tons of them (including stuff that doesn't even sound like english, like gullah)

 

[gofreak]

So how do Americans sound? If you were mocking an American about his accent, how would you mock him?

"So, I was LIKE, YOU KNOW, SO TOTALLY into him, and HE WAS ALL LIKE..." (/in a blonde american clueless accent). That'd be a typical "mocking American accent" pisstake

edit - not enough "so"

 

[Rei_Toei]

Well, 'your' pronounciation of the word 'can't' is very famous in Europe

Gofreak: you forgot to add lot's of So. That was, like, SO Cool!

 

[gofreak]

Well, 'your' pronounciation of the word 'can't' is very famous in Europe

Yeah, like "keeannt".

 

[Rei_Toei]

In my country people usually refer to what they believe to be an American Accent as 'knauwend', which means, roughly translated, 'gnawing'.

 

[cybamerc]

English as spoken by Americans is typically more nasal than other English accents. Even if there are regional differences there are still common traits

 

[Dagless M.D.]

edit - also, I think few people can easily hear their own accent. i don't think I have an accent, but if you heard me you'd prob very easily identify it as Irish/Dublin.

OT, but where in Dublin are you from gofreak

 

[Thaedolus]

So how do Americans sound? If you were mocking an American about his accent, how would you mock him?

I've known a couple Russians and I asked them this, and they proceeded to do a real 'whiney', high-pitched girly impersonation of us. It was hilarious, I was rolling on the floor, but they said that's how they thought we sound. Of course I think Russians sound like a dumb jock with his nose plugged up, so...

I think it's funny how we make fun of Asian and Indian accents all the time in the US, but I bet they make fun of us just as much

 

[gofreak]

OT, but where in Dublin are you from gofreak

Malahide. Where are you?

 

[xsarien]

"I was LIKE, YOU KNOW, TOTALLY into him, and HE WAS ALL LIKE..." (/in a blonde american clueless accent). That'd be a typical "mocking American accent" pisstake

There is no defense for the American predilection for saying the word "like" when it's completely unnecessary, as if it were part of the breathing process; it's kind of like Canadians and "Eh." I'm not entirely sure what it's a remnant of, probably the 80s "Valley Girl" stereotype that peaked in the 80s.

Speaking of that, there was someone in a freshman college class of mine, a bunch of buddies and I were taking it. We used to count the amount of times this one guy said "Like," just because no matter how often your average American may utter the word, this kid was just BAD.

 

[Mama Smurf]

I'm not sure anyone can identify my accent. People in the south (this is UK) think I'm from the north, people from the north think I'm from the south. I've had people ask me if I'm Irish. My brother has a strong northern accent, my sister seems to adapt to wherever she's living.

I guess it's because I was born towards the south, moved right down to the south coast until I was just over 1, them moved to the northwest where I grew up. But my parents are from the midlands.

God knows where the Irish came from.

EDIT: I didn't want to say it, but the whiny thing is kind of true. I don't think Americans are whiny, but if I make my own voice whiny, I do sound more American than usual. It's just more in the whiny direction rather than actually being that.

 

[djtiesto]

Hmm, supposedly the definitive American accent is found in central Ohio (Columbus)... I have a Lawn Guyland accent which is pretty ugly sounding, honestly...

 

[Dan]

"So, I was LIKE, YOU KNOW, SO TOTALLY into him, and HE WAS ALL LIKE..." (/in a blonde american clueless accent). That'd be a typical "mocking American accent" pisstake

edit - not enough "so"

That's not an accent. That's a speech pattern, or even perhaps a dialect. Certainly not an accent though. Accents have to do with the way words are pronounced, not sentence structure and choice of diction.

 

[Dagless M.D.]

Malahide. Where are you?

Killiney

 

[Dice]

My favorite accents are Irish and South African, my favorite American accent is Boston.

 

[gofreak]

That's not an accent. That's a speech pattern, or even perhaps a dialect. Certainly not an accent though. Accents have to do with the way words are pronounced, not sentence structure and choice of diction.

This is true, and I was going to say as much myself. But I can't quite express an accent in words, so choosing the most commonly used sentence structure and words of the those with the accent that is mocked the most seemed the best way to express it (i.e. sweet valley high/clueless style).

 

[Rei_Toei]

Sometimes stereotypes are confirmed big time. I'm supervising an exchange student from Hong Kong, and she sounds like a parody of Mei Ling (PSOne Mei Ling) when speaking English. And then she tells me that my british-english is sometimes hard to understand for her. 'Yeah, that's because you've only met other asians with the same crappy accent, silly'. Argh.

 

[spikydavid]

I'm a brit working in London for an american company, and so the office is infested with americans from all over. It's noticeable to me the different regional accents (even if I can't identify where they all from), and they are all american, but that's just cos I know that a deep south accent is from america, and so is a brooklyn whine. If you didn't know that, you wouldn't know they were from the same country.

Interestingly, on accents, my co-worker is a south african with a spanish accent (his dad's spanish) and he has most trouble with the accent of one of the other english guys, who has a very broad barnsley accent (um, if you've never heard someone from barnsley, then I *really* can't describe it)

 

[Dan]

gofreak-

But that's part of my point. I don't think America as a whole has an accent, not at all. There's British English and American English, both sets with differing spelling and diction, and each of those has various respective accents. Some are more frequently found than others, but there really is not a core accent for either.

Has everyone forgotten that Webster and some of the founding father's deliberately set out at creating a new language in order to separate America from Britain in a grand way, but then scaled plans back? American English and British English are two different things, and that's an important point to realize. There aren't really English accents, but accents based on those two core dialects, if you will (I believe there's some debate as to how to define them).

 

[Deleted member 1235]

Americans are all lumped together, but you can distinguish different regional accents, that person is still just an American though.

You people need to fix the south by the way, that accent is BROKEN. That would be the one that gets regional mention.

 

[gofreak]

Gotta disagree, Dan - I know, sentence structure word use etc. doesn't equate to an accent - but there definitely are different type of english accents. There is an American accent (and regional variations on it, but they DO share common traits), there's a British accent, a Scottish one, an Irish one, a Northern Irish one etc. etc. etc.

 

[Particle Physicist]

My favorite accents are Irish and South African, my favorite American accent is Boston.

i absolutely hate the Bostonian accent. makes a girl seem dimwitted and just plain trash.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Not a fan of the South African accent at all. Or at least, the ones I've heard.

Nothing is as bad as a Dudley accent though. Nothing. I've gotta try and find a soundbite of it.

 

[Dyne]

I've actually figured out the Canadian accent.

It's simple.

When us Canadians speak, we add direction to our voice. We go up and down and all over the place in terms of pitch. Americans however, like the EMPHASIZE certain words in order to create direction. The Canadian accent is smoother whereas the American accent is lumpier. I heard this when I was back in school and I've put it to the test. I've seen the difference every time.

The Canadian accent has more roots with the British accent, which is the master of direction.

Yeah, and thanks to TV, most Americans are starting to sound the same.

New Zealand accents.. now THOSE are hard to fake.

 

[Deleted member 1235]

How would you describe an NZ accent?

The Aussies always get excited and say "Say Feesh and Chiips"

and then we say "Fush and chups"

apparently. I can never hear it.

 

[Dyne]

It's all about "Ehpples for Ehmelie" (Apples for Emilie) when it comes to Kiwi accents. My mom learned that on a trip to Europe. I think it's mostly the vowels that are said differently.