Worlds are colliding...

[Matz]

English accents I can identify:

- 'Standard American'
- New York
- 'Standard Redneck'
- South Park-Canadian
- 'Standard British'
- Manchester
- Thick Scottish
- Australia

I think I have these down as well, except the 'manchester' one and 'south park - canadian'. I'm also able to pick up the 'standard Penelope Cruz' by the way

[Bandit72]

English accents I can identify:

- 'Standard American'
- New York
- 'Standard Redneck'
- South Park-Canadian
- 'Standard British'
- Manchester
- Thick Scottish
- Australia

Thick Scottish? Superb. I take it you mean broad/drunken Scottish? On the flip side, for me I can recognise

New York
Texas
California - although I imagine this varies
New Orleans

and that's about your lot. I very much doubt I could distinguish South American countries speaking English. I can differentiate Spanish and Portuguese obviously.

[kv]

do you think there is a california accent? or just cali lingo?

[mockbee]

On the flip side, for me I can recognise

New York
Texas
California - although I imagine this varies
New Orleans

and that's about your lot. I very much doubt I could distinguish South American countries speaking English. I can differentiate Spanish and Portuguese obviously.

See, here's the problem, as I am sure was a problem when I said 'welsh vs england English vs scottish etc'; what you have identified here as 'American accents' is so broad and oversimplified that it kind of doesn't make sense. The video you posted about the English accents in Britain is really fascinating, but all the accents are still baffling to me, I just know 'British' pretty much and can weed out the Scots and Irish sometes if it's thick.

So in your example, 'New York' accent doesn't make any sense, and I am assuming you'd throw in the Boston, Rhode Island, Upstate, Jersey, Philly etc etc etc accents in there as well, that each have their own subgroups....... NYC, don't get people started on that one, Staten Island accents are like a different country compared to people who grew up in Flushing or Flatbush, and throw in some ethnicities in there....yowzas.

[mockbee]

do you think there is a california accent? or just cali lingo?

Yeah??


It's all lingo and ethnicities here. That's the only one where there isn't subgroups...

[Hype]

do you think there is a california accent? or just cali lingo?

Yeah??


It's all lingo and ethnicities here. That's the only one where there isn't subgroups...

Of course there are regional accents in California. EVERYONE has *an* accent, but it is true that in cities with very high diversity, there may be a combination of clearer/slower, plainer, more enunciated English that is spoken, which explains the similarities between Toronto and LA spoken English (it doesn't explain New York, but that may be because there are strong regional and ethnic accents in New York State, esp. for established white people.)

I can definitely hear the difference between Brooklyn, Jersey, and Upstate NY.

It's usually difficult, if not impossible, to hear your own accent. I noticed when I moved outside of the Toronto area, that I started picking up a bit of a Maritimer "a" sound... in words like "car", "bar", "far", it now sounds almost like "care", "bear", and "fair" (not quite that shifted, but close... think Rick Mercer...), caused by talking to so many people from Nova Scotia and PEI.

There's an Ontario/Manitoba accent that sounds a lot like a Midwestern US accent, and Albertans often sound a lot like their immediate southern neighbours in the States.

I don't pick up on a discernible Vancouver/BC accent, but it may be that they speak similarly to Toronto and LA.

Colloquialisms/slang are a totally different thing than how you inflect your vowels, though unique speech patterns can be caused by hanging around the same kind of people a lot.

In Scotland, the accents are obvious... If you can't tell the different between a Glaswegian, an Edinburghian, and an Aberdonian... you may have brain damage (sorta like the Glaswegian).
Same goes for much of England... the regional accents are changing but it's easy to tell if someone is from East London, or Newcastle, or northern England.

[Bandit72]

Good post. I was born and grew up in Birmingham which is renowned for having a "thick/dunce" sounding accent, however it is very friendly. Both my parents aren't English, so my accent is pretty neutral with a midlands twang. However, if I've had a few drinks, my accent does slide towards a more brummie accent. The plus side is that my French accent is pretty native, it's not like an English person speaking French.

[Matz]

Denmark is a tiny country but one of the really funny things about it is all the accents and how hugely different they can be. If you take a guy from Copenhagen and put him in a room with a person that lives on the most western side of the country, one that really speaks that local accent to the max, the guy from Copenhagen wouldn't understand a lot of it. So you could say that it's actually a lot more extreme than in the US. Accents there are very different as well but everybody still quite easily understand each other. There was a Danish sitcom from many years ago that featured a lot of people speaking in one (of quite a few) of these more extreme accents and it had to be subtitled so a guy from Copenhagen for example would be able to follow what was going on. It's pretty wild and unique I think

[Larry B.]

I recently had to transcribe 3+ hours of interviews of peasants and Chilean people living in rural areas. I had a tough time at moments.

In general, people from the the Altiplano tend to speak Spanish very quickly. And in comparison to the rest of the Latin American community, Chileans (in general, of course) tend to hardly open their mouths at all when speaking. So, it can be messy if you're a foreigner trying to speak Spanish and are confronted to an uncaring compatriot.

[nausearockpig]

Aussies on the other hand, are ALLL loud and obnoxious.............

But I have actually grown to like them...........

Dude!!! we're not loud

Says the guy who used 7 exclamation marks in 2 paragraphs...

sorry...

Also, Aussies generally have a good sense of humor.......

I took NRP's first response as great sarcasm....

Aussies are pretty much the best, ask any of us... & we ARE fucking funny too...

But seriously, I love living in Australia, I've not been to the US or Canadia but have spent time in South America and a bit of time in poor and rich asian countries (not enough to live there) but from what I've seen on the news and stuff, I think I would have trouble adjusting to life in the US.. I would like to visit though... ComiCon and nerd stuff like that is huge over there... I'd need to bring my earplugs though....

[mockbee]

Aussies are pretty much the best, ask any of us... & we ARE fucking funny too...

But seriously, I love living in Australia, I've not been to the US or Canadia but have spent time in South America and a bit of time in poor and rich asian countries (not enough to live there) but from what I've seen on the news and stuff, I think I would have trouble adjusting to life in the US.. I would like to visit though... ComiCon and nerd stuff like that is huge over there... I'd need to bring my earplugs though....

The thing about the USA is that a lot of people that make it out of the country are loud, obnoxious, fat and ignorant....... its just in Americans blood to move around ( not necessarily using ones own power though ) but when you visit here, we are very friendly and hospitable and engaged with our visitors.....something I have not always found when traveling in other English speaking countries. London and vicinity was pretty bad in that respect, but I assume that's because it's such a major metro area like New York. I liked it more and more as I took the train up towards Glasgow/Edinburgh with stops in Leeds and Newcastle. It was funny, we were stuck in the bridge of a slow Virgin train from London and we were sitting on the floor next to the loo and once we got to Hadrians Wall all the Scotts got up and started shouting and screaming obsenities, something to the effect of "KEEP THOSE @#%€&$;?! English out, YEAH that's right!!!! Couldn't make it past the wall!!!!!" and a bunch of other obsenities.... You guys really do hate each other.

I looved Scotland.

Anyways, visiting the US is also tough because you pretty much have to have a car and know where you are going, one for safety and two because outside of the older major cities on east/west coast it's all about the nature accessible only by car or some major tour bus and just driving through small towns. And it can be VERY expensive if you don't have inside sources for accommodations and suggestions for good eats, you can really get stuck on some expensive/crappy tours....

[Artemis]

but when you visit here, we are very friendly and hospitable and engaged with our visitors....

in my US travels i've found most Americans to be quite friendly. even in a place like new york that has a rep for unfriendliness. that image has changed over the years though.
my experience in the south was the friendliest. i recall grocery shopping in a supermarket in a small town in georgia and people actually said hello to me in the aisles.

from my hotel waitressing days, americans tipped the best. on average 20%(this is over 20 years ago too). the english were cheap bastards!

[farrellgirl99]

but when you visit here, we are very friendly and hospitable and engaged with our visitors....

in my US travels i've found most Americans to be quite friendly. even in a place like new york that has a rep for unfriendliness. that image has changed over the years though.
my experience in the south was the friendliest. i recall grocery shopping in a supermarket in a small town in georgia and people actually said hello to me in the aisles.

from my hotel waitressing days, americans tipped the best. on average 20%(this is over 20 years ago too). the english were cheap bastards!

im very nice to people, stereotype be damned! of course i get aggravated with tourists who block traffic etc but who doesn't. if someone asks me questions/directions, im more than happy to help.

nicest people i ever met were in new orleans. southern hospitality is no joke.

[Larry B.]

Aussies on the other hand, are ALLL loud and obnoxious.............

But I have actually grown to like them...........

Dude!!! we're not loud

Says the guy who used 7 exclamation marks in 2 paragraphs...

sorry...

Also, Aussies generally have a good sense of humor.......

I took NRP's first response as great sarcasm....

Aussies are pretty much the best, ask any of us... & we ARE fucking funny too...

But seriously, I love living in Australia, I've not been to the US or Canadia but have spent time in South America and a bit of time in poor and rich asian countries (not enough to live there) but from what I've seen on the news and stuff, I think I would have trouble adjusting to life in the US.. I would like to visit though... ComiCon and nerd stuff like that is huge over there... I'd need to bring my earplugs though....

I've met a few Australians during the last couple of years and they've all been great. Fun, relaxed yet passionate people.

[perkana]

Talking about accents in English, I love how the French speak it...It always makes me smile

[perkana]

but when you visit here, we are very friendly and hospitable and engaged with our visitors....

in my US travels i've found most Americans to be quite friendly. even in a place like new york that has a rep for unfriendliness. that image has changed over the years though.
my experience in the south was the friendliest. i recall grocery shopping in a supermarket in a small town in georgia and people actually said hello to me in the aisles.

from my hotel waitressing days, americans tipped the best. on average 20%(this is over 20 years ago too). the english were cheap bastards!

im very nice to people, stereotype be damned! of course i get aggravated with tourists who block traffic etc but who doesn't. if someone asks me questions/directions, im more than happy to help.

nicest people i ever met were in new orleans. southern hospitality is no joke.

I think it's general in all Louisiana...I did a plantation tour with my family back in 98 and we had a lot of fun. I loved visiting Arcadia. People were so nice, loved being called Chérie