The Accents of the English Langauge

[Spatula]

(Sorry, this should be under the Anything else thread.  Nils you can move this, but don't delete)

Do people who speak the English language realize that when they listen to themselves speak, they can detect their own accent?

Take an Aussie for example.  He or she speaks the language of English, but do they hear and realize that when they speak to others, they expect to hear an Aussie accent from another Australian?  I was wondering about this when I was downunder.  And the same with the "Californian" Accent which is considered one of the more clearer dialects of English (by some research study where they played a tape of a conversation with people with different accents and asked the respondents to write down what the conversation was about).

How about the people in the UK, where they have British English, Scottish English, Irish English, Welsh English etc etc etc. 

And you can hear the very distinct New Yorker accent (think of the cab drivers) or the Louisiana accent where it's really stretched out, or the red neck "saouth" accent. 

When you speak and listen to yourself, what accent do you hear?  Can you try to imitate another dialect?

For some reason, the North Americans can mimic a British accent very well, however the British for some reason cannot mimic a Western American accent, as far as I've heard.

[Tash]

i hear a 'normal' accent, ie. accent of north shore private school girls, as most of my other friends sound like. however i can hear the difference between that and the 'westie' aussie accent which is probably the most traditional aussie accent that people like to mock.

the british accent is easy to mimic, anyone can do that. american is harder cos is tends to just sound lame and stupid. i'll tell you what accent i love- french people speaking english! it's the best of the best, if you're french and you speak english yummo i could listen to you for hours!!!

[brewtality]

For some reason, the North Americans can mimic a British accent very well, however the British for some reason cannot mimic a Western American accent, as far as I've heard.

i actually thought it was the other way round. heh

[Spatula]

I love Germanish- English.  Da Best! Ja!

Jeremy Irons (Die Hard 3) does an excellent accent I think.

[janice]

i'll tell you what accent i love- french people speaking english! it's the best of the best, if you're french and you speak english yummo i could listen to you for hours!!!

Oh my gosh, I TOTALLY fall head over heels when I hear a British accent!  When I hear Tony Blair speak, my heart skips a beat!!!!  LOL  I want to marry a man with a British accent, so I can just sit there and say "speak to me, my love"!   I don't care if the topic of conversation is boring, just to hear him speak!!!

The only other U.S. accent that really stands out, is a Southern accent.  I'm sorry, but I find those who speak this way to sound uneducated.  I don't feel that I have an accent (I'm from midwest USA), but I know I do to people from other places.  I know people from New York have an accent, and it is fairly easy to imitate.  I don't think that people from California have an accent.  Maybe they do, but I feel like they talk just like  me or others in the Midwest US.

[Spatula]

The Californian accent is found on most television sit comes such as friends and everybody loves raymond.  It's clear and consice, but other accents can produce the same messages, just with a different dialect.

[faulty_damper]

The Californian accent is found on most television sit comes such as friends and everybody loves raymond.  It's clear and consice, but other accents can produce the same messages, just with a different dialect.

Are you sure that Everybody Loves Raymond speaks with a Californian accent?  I have to disagree with because the actor Raymond is from the East coast from his accent.  The Friends character actors are from a variety of different places but most of them are from the East coast as well.

[Antnee]

I love Everybody Loves Raymond. Very funny show.

For some reason, the North Americans can mimic a British accent very well, however the British for some reason cannot mimic a Western American accent, as far as I've heard.

Have you seen Minority Report? Colin Farrell's American english is perfect. He has a strong Irish accent in real life.

And Kate Winslet in Titanic? Her imitation is great. She has a british accent too.

Many More I'm sure... but it is hard to imagine how people would imitate 'ourselves'.

[donjuan]

There are a couple different accents Iwouldnt mind having- That British woman who used to host "The Weakest Link", because she spoke with perfect pronounciation of every word and sounded so intelligent.  Whether or not she is will remain a mystery.  I really like that, "you...are..... the.........WEAKESTLINK!!!!!..gbye!"

I also wouldnt mind having an aussie accent (probably something like Tash) talking like Crocodile Dundee, picking up all the women...yeah..but I'm just a canadian-nothing interesting about the way we talk.  Rednecks and farmers in countries everywhere say "eh", it's not just us!  well....maybe Japanese rednecks dont say eh..
lol
donjuan

[Tash]

i do not have an accent like crocodile dundee!!! i'm too snobbish for that hahaha

[Spatula]

The Californian accent is found on most television sit comes such as friends and everybody loves raymond.  It's clear and consice, but other accents can produce the same messages, just with a different dialect.

Are you sure that Everybody Loves Raymond speaks with a Californian accent?  I have to disagree with because the actor Raymond is from the East coast from his accent.  The Friends character actors are from a variety of different places but most of them are from the East coast as well.

Not Ray Romano....he's got kinda of a new yorker going on..

I was meaning his wife (maybe I should have been or specific or chose another example)

umm...

[Spatula]

An asian with an aussie accent?  Yeah I've a friend who lives in brisbane.  Born there but is chinese.  Very interesting to see some Asian kid with an aussie accent.

I still wish I was raised with a german accent..hehe 

Vat a vonderful vay to spend dis day jah?

[xvimbi]

I still wish I was raised with a german accent..hehe 

Vat a vonderful vay to spend dis day jah?

It's more like "Vut a vunderful vay to spend sis day, jah. I can see sis verry clearrly, if my vind scrreen viper vus vorking correctly. 

[Spatula]

I still kind of wonder how English has so many accents and about %80 of them are understandable (I've never get maritime-english).

[donjuan]

I still wish I was raised with a german accent..hehe 

Vat a vonderful vay to spend dis day jah?

It's more like "Vut a vunderful vay to spend sis day, jah. I can see sis verry clearrly, if my vind scrreen viper vus vorking correctly. 

haha that remeinds me of the pronounciation of "Volkswagon".  North americans say it like "volkswagon", but germans say it "folksvagon", which is more correct.  I say it the correct way, and all my friends at school give me a hard time.. "It's not folksvagon, you dumb kid, its VolksWagon!!!"  Its kind of like saying Jalapeno..
das goot, ya?

[Rach3]

From my accent, I have been alternately suspected of being German, English, Russian, and Irish (I don't get it either, they're all quite off)... actually quite a few people have mistaken my accent for Irish (I'm not!). I don't think Americans' British imitation is accurate at all, for the most part. I have heard a variety of 'southern' accents, some of them I really really like... (btw whoever said they sound 'uneducated'... well they do, but they're still cool!). New Yorker is also super-cool. [Digression - I went to New York last week - and I envy any of you who live there.] It is sometimes possible to compare the 'sub'-dialects within these - like different species of New Yorker, or Tennessee vs. W. North Carolina... they are quite distinct. Actually I think the 'southern' accents are one of the most divergent - they are radically different from each other.

[brewtality]

An asian with an aussie accent?  Yeah I've a friend who lives in brisbane.  Born there but is chinese.  Very interesting to see some Asian kid with an aussie accent.

both my parents are from singapore but i still speak with an australian accent (not a crocodile dundee one but its easy to immitate obviously)

[Daevren]

In the Uk, only 4% of the people speak british english(or BBC English). The rest is all accents.

[Spatula]

Well I hope the Queen speaks with a BBC accent.  I like it, like those news anchors

[Dave_2004_G]

The Queen does speak 'BBC English,' although the term is misleading nowadays - it refers to how bbc presenters used to speak 50 years ago e.g. very posh.
To me, that's a 'posh accent'...when I listen to myself and people from around this area, I don't hear any accent

Dave