Accent
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Dan2108 — 19 years ago(August 23, 2006 12:50 AM)
I'm not American, but it's fair to say my English is. I live in London now and who knows, maybe I'll develop an ear for regional accents with time.
To clarify (and maybe qualify) my previous statement, most "coastal" Americans are able to pinpoint an Irish accent or a Scottish brogue. The same may be true about Cockney (not just an accent, but you know what I mean) and a thick Geordie accent. We get lost when it comes to the finer distinctions beyond those.
Concerning those who speak English as a second language in Northern Europe, it's easier to tell them apart (again, for coastal Americans with a modicum of education or exposure to the world). I've heard the term "Dunglish" often when someone in the US referred to Dutch people speaking English; Germans are in a category of their own, Danes sprinkle their English with industrial-strength antiseptic, etc.
Regional accents in the US are less pervasive due to horizontal social mobility, and increasingly limited to rural areas. Most coastal Americans can't tell the difference between the parlance of rural Tennessee and rural Kentucky, yet the local denizens insist it's there. Then again, who would spend enough time voluntarily in those hellholes to gain this type of knowledge? -
Barry974 — 19 years ago(August 26, 2006 11:38 PM)
I watched Mad Cows last night and her Aussie accent I found to be very authentic. It's only now by checking Anna on IMDB that I see she's English. It's a great thing as an actress to be able to speak with a variety of accents and I'm sure sh'll land some major roles because of it.
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ramzilba — 18 years ago(October 10, 2007 07:08 PM)
I take a bit of offense at reading your comments. I'm a born-and-bred, well-traveled Midwesterner with a solid education, and I can most definitely tell the difference between Welsh, Irish, Northern Irish, Scottish, East London, and Yorkshire accents (not to mention the difference between the accents of any Northern Europeans speaking English). My (well-educated) family can, too. I know we don't represent all "non-coastal" Americans, and I'm not getting all bent out of shape over this, but now you know that we're not all uneducated, tractor-driving dolts. Perhaps no one ever bothered to tell you.
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cej_cowan — 18 years ago(December 03, 2007 05:11 PM)
I totally agree with you! I know this is a rather old post, however upon reading all of the messages about Annas accent I was really upset. It is VERY hard to make an accent sound real. A lot harder then most people understand. I can't do it and I've been acting for 10 years.
I just think people should give more credit to actors then they are being given. -
indigo_pie — 17 years ago(April 09, 2008 09:42 AM)
Oh of course. the only accents of England are Cockney and Yorkshire!!! Geordie is not a Yorkshire accent BTW. There are a fair few Yorkshire accents, not just the one too.
And would you be able to tell the difference between different Welsh accents, e.g. Valleys, Cardiff, North West etc? The same goes for Scotland and Ireland/Northern Ireland.
My father was in one of the non coastal US States a few year ago, I think it might have been Texas. Long story short, he was asked if he was Australian, to which he replied 'no, I'm British'. Now, I know that that uneducated individual is not representative of all Americans but it does happen on more than one occasion. I've been out there and asked if I was an Australian. My sisters and I went to Boston one year, and the waitress in the restaurant couldn't understand our accent and had to ask for help! I have a 'Southern' accent, whatever the hell that means because there are a heck of a lot of them around here! -
notwitty — 17 years ago(April 09, 2008 03:30 PM)
My father was in one of the non coastal US States a few year ago, I think it might have been Texas. Long story short, he was asked if he was Australian, to which he replied 'no, I'm British'. Now, I know that that uneducated individual is not representative of all Americans but it does happen on more than one occasion. I've been out there and asked if I was an Australian.
No surprise. There are a few people around where I live that can't understand certain regional American accents, let alone "foreign" ones. -
saoirse9 — 18 years ago(October 03, 2007 06:00 PM)
Thousands, actually. NYC alone has at least half a dozen disctinct accents, though they seem to be dying out rather quickly. There used to be even more.
And I strongly disagree witht he statement regarding Americans inability to distinguish accents in "northern germanic europe"; no one would ever mistake a Londoner with a Berliner. Utterly ridiculous to think otherwise.
Now for non-native speakers of Englishthat's an entirely different story. -
EnglishST — 17 years ago(April 20, 2008 08:47 AM)
"it isn't a southern accent at all. it's just a normal accent that any normal person could have" define the word normal accent? theres no such thing of a normal accent in England, England is made up of many accents, do your research on England before you start talking about it
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Mymessages74 — 19 years ago(September 26, 2006 05:39 PM)
I'm not bothered what type of accent she originally had - which was a perfectly fine accent. The thing that irritates me is that she is putting on a false one now. She never spoke like that before. It's ridiculous to expect viewers to believe that you lose your accent so quickly. Those that do are just pathetic.
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Mymessages74 — 19 years ago(November 01, 2006 09:59 AM)
Well she had her original accent until very recently and it seems she has decided to suddenly lose it. I know people who've moved to other countries and still have their original accent 40 or more years later. People tend to only lose their accents if they are very young when they move areas/countries etc. I could understand the odd word changing but accent change is a gradual thing - not an "overnight" event. It would appear she is being pretentious.
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Garfunkul — 19 years ago(March 20, 2007 07:08 PM)
yeah, here in the US, a lot of accents get lumped into "Southern", what you would hear from a stereotypical redneck on TV, or "midwestern" - people from the north midwest who carry on the accent from their scandinavian roots (i've got it, doontcha know) - but there are really a lot of smaller sub-accents within them, you just have to be around them more to tell.
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huitzilipochtli — 19 years ago(April 07, 2007 09:11 AM)
I think around the Chicago area resides the most plain-jane US American you'll hear; that, and parts of the west coast. The north midwest seems to have that Scandinavian/Germanic carry-over (sometimes even with that singsong like attribute acquired from Norse/Swedish). I can spot Finlanders because they sound like they're from Hungary. Then you've got your east coast and all it's little differences (Boston: bar = "baah"). And, of course, southern is its own animal. I've never been to the southern US, but there is definitely a difference between say Texas and Georgia just watching TV.
I usually can tell what country someone is from when they speak English, but when it comes to Great Britain, I have only two accent classifications that I can tell apart: thick or thin.
