Accents Are Beautiful.

[Parasondox]

The UK is in the middle of a storm. Storm? You call that a storm? I call that a bedtime story because I had the best sleep in years. I love nature I do. Such an islander.

Living in a multicultural London, I get to hear many different words and phrases said in different ways and manner in such beautiful tones, and then you have those from Essex and it's all ruined. I joke I but I am talking about accents from all over. From Europe, to Africa, to Asia, to the Americas, we hear it no matter where we go.

Actually let me be fair here, do those who are deaf and communicate through sign have different ways of saying words. It may be strange but I think I heard there may be different hand gestures for the same word but in different regions. If I am chatting shit, just show me one hand gesture that involves one finger. Universal in all languages.

Back on point. My accent, as told by many, is a mix between North American and well spoken British and Irish. Now allow me to explain, I am from a small island in the Caribbean called Montserrat. Named after place in Spain but has links to Ireland in terms of the early inhabitants. We celebrate St. Patrick as a non drinking holiday. Non drinking you say? Never heard of it, but it's true. According to my sister I spoke "American" but still had the Caribbean mix to it. So I came to the UK, for reasons not in my control, and still had it until a teacher... Wait, this bit was confusing. So she told us, we were in primary school, that in order for you to be taken more seriously, you had to speak like those on the BBC. Confusing, right? So I tried well spoken. Well, that didn't help. I sounded a mix of both "North American" and well spoken British which confused me more. I adapted and now sound like a smart ass. Jokes on you!! Anyway, the Irish bit. Well, I had an Irish priest who I was very close with. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NOT LIKE THAT!! He was cool and a nice guy and I admired him as a mentor and a teacher. So when he said things, I would copy. I was a kid that soaked up everything. Lil shit I was. So, here is me. A North American British Islander with a hint of Irish. My parents have had the same accent since coming here to the UK. Mother, deep French (Haiti) and Father, strong Caribbean (Montserrat/Trinidad) accent.

Mind blown? When my friends hear my parents speak, they have no clue what they are talking about but I understand clearly.

What's your accent like and has it changed over the years?

What's your most favourite accents to hear? There can be more than one. I am attracted to the female Scottish accent. Makes me fuzzy inside. Lorraine! Call me . Welsh is so sweet to the ears I love hear it. Geordie is so friendly and comforting.

Sadly for some, people have to hide their regional accent because they fear they won't be taken seriously. Eg, an advisor I knew who is from Liverpool has a strong scouse accent and told me that she struggled finding the job she's in because as soon as she spoke, people assumed she was stupid and not "intelligent". She's far from stupid and way way waaaaaaaaaay more smarter than any CEO/Manager. It's insane but sadly, high profile jobs has that sigma.

Express your true voice and speak freely.

 

[Sic Transit Gloria]

I love accents too, and the UK in particular has such a wealth of them. Could two people who live closer together sound less alike than a someone from Yorkshire, and someone from Liverpoole? You have to travel halfway across the US to get that kind of regional variation.

I love the accents associated with patois too, like Haitian and Jamaican English accents that strongly reflect their underlying languages of origin. In particular I'm amused by most varieties of the Welsh accent.

Ever hear of Vocaroo? It could add a nice dimension to your thread.

 

[DefunctTheory]

I used to have a North East American accent. After a couple years in the Army, though, it changed to a country wide mash up.

As for liking accents, I really don't notice them too much unless they're atrocious.

 

[Parasondox]

I love accents too, and the UK in particular has such a wealth of them. Could two people who live closer together sound less alike than a someone from Yorkshire, and someone from Liverpoole? You have to travel halfway across the US to get that kind of regional variation.

I love the accents associated with patois too, like Haitian and Jamaican English accents that strongly reflect their underlying languages of origin. In particular I'm amused by most varieties of the Welsh accent.

Ever hear of Vocaroo? It could add a nice dimension to your thread.

I would try but I would just end up laughing and I hate hearing my own voice like Michael Douglas hates seeing himself on screen. True fact.

Also speaking of Welsh, I know someone who is from Cardiff and one from Swansea. To many, you may not tell the Welsh accent apart but if you listen closely, the one from Swansea pronounces the word at the end of a sentence more longer.

Also, I always thought Cockney (East London) and Australian sounded similar. Maybe it's just the criminal in them. Kidding kidding.

 

[Sic Transit Gloria]

I love accents too, and the UK in particular has such a wealth of them. Could two people who live closer together sound less alike than a someone from Yorkshire, and someone from Liverpoole? You have to travel halfway across the US to get that kind of regional variation.

I love the accents associated with patois too, like Haitian and Jamaican English accents that strongly reflect their underlying languages of origin. In particular I'm amused by most varieties of the Welsh accent.

Ever hear of Vocaroo? It could add a nice dimension to your thread.

I would try but I would just end up laughing and I hate hearing my own voice like Michael Douglas hates seeing himself on screen. True fact.

Also speaking of Welsh, I know someone who is from Cardiff and one from Swansea. To many, you may not tell the Welsh accent apart but if you listen closely, the one from Swansea pronounces the word at the end of a sentence more longer.

Also, I always thought Cockney (East London) and Australian sounded similar. Maybe it's just the criminal in them. Kidding kidding.

I think it comes from their love of eels. Australians like eels right? Australians are the small furry quadrupeds, long tail, pointy ears, hunts mice and birds, goes "meow" a lot? Australian, right?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I'm from Missouri! We don't accents! Literally! When NewsCasters want to have that bland, 100% easy to understand, droning but acceptable voice, they come to Missouri to learn how we talk.

I've been to every single continental State, England and Spain and not once has anyone ever asked me to repeat myself or what I meant with my quaint idiom. BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE IDIOMS!

Nope. Not a one. Listening to me talk is like watching white paint drying next to white bread while Kenny G. plays on mute in the background.

 

[Tiger King]

Ah accents, always a good topic for discussion, or an ice breaker when meeting new people.
The questions are usually along the lines of where are you from etc and both parties get to learn about the others origins.

Being British and living in America I get asked about mine a lot, usually followed by lots of poor cockney imitating, even though I'm not from London.
Some people I have met here have tried pinpointing my accent which can be amusing.
'Are you from Australia?'
'New Zealand?'
'Scotland?' This one made me laugh a bit.

An amusing tale about accents....
I have this friend who is very easy on the eye, she's also a lot of fun to hang out with too so she tends to get a lot of guys coming onto her.
For a laugh she has an alter ego called Melissa and puts on this terrible english accent but for some reason guys really buy into it and want to buy her drinks.
I've heard this rumor that girls in California LOVE the english accent. Ive heard stories of guys punching way above their weight simply because of an accent, I've called bs on this myth but in this instance with my friend it seemed to be working.

Anyhow one guy who was obviously a bit smarter than the rest called my friend out on her accent
'You're not British' he declared loudly
In steps me and 'oh yes she is she's my cousin'
Confronted with a second real British accent the guy thinks about it for a second and says 'oh' before swiftly joining the small que of men offering to buy her a drink.

One last thing, drawbacks.
It's incredibly frustrating talking to someone and it becomes apparent that they didn't understand you because of your accent. Sometimes they do this little laugh and grin before saying 'oh ...yeah...' Because they are too polite to say your accent is to thick, please repeat that last bit.
I've had to learn to speak much slower and clearer over here. I hope it dosent cause me to lose my accent, can't be dealing with talking like an American (nothing against you guys).

I suspect it will happen one day though, probably when the moon is full one night, I'll morph and howl
'Aloominum!!'
Instead of the correct aluminium.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

In Spanish I have an Argentine accent, in English I've been told North East American/Scottish/Irish/Australian... really inconsistent.

 

[Ryotknife]

Northeast American.

One of the blandest of all accents. When your accent is prison gruel of the accent world, all accents sound wonderful by comparison.

I am le sad. I used to subconsciously mimic any accent I came across. When I was in Louisiana, I would speak with a psuedo Cajun accent. Was not doing it on purpose, I just cant utilize my own accent if I was surrounded by a different accent. Sadly I lost that ability.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

I have an Australian accent ... can you guess why?

 

[FPLOON]

1. My accent's like a Caucasian Californian surfer... impersonating a black suburban stoner...
2. I'll take anything... especially if the dialogue's filled with words that I do not understand... right way or otherwise...

Other than that, I remember when I said this in a semi-mid 2014 thread:

<url=http://vocaroo.com/i/s0bjEbpjVPmh>I hope I did this right... otherwise I fucked up and would have to default back to one of my YouTube videos...
(Too bad it's only less than 2 minutes...)

Anyway, just to clarify, I have no idea what accent I have[footnote]I'm all black, but sounds are deceiving as fuck, yo...[/footnote], I do have a few accents I like overall (besides my own, I guess)[footnote]like "Japanese", I guess...[/footnote], and all of you sound [almost] orgasmic...

Also, I don't know why you would want to download someone else's voice recording, but fuck it... Download it and replay it to your heart's content, baby!

Wow... Absolutely nothing has changed about my overall mindset...

 

[09philj]

I have a slight geordie accent. I have a fondness for the accent local to the Ashington area called "pitmatic".

 

[Aerosteam]

Why describe it when you can hear it?

Here's part of a video of me talking to [user]shrekfan246[/user] about accents over footage of me playing Dark Souls.

Spoiler

 

[Disco Biscuit]

Go to North Dakota, USA, or Essex, UK and tell me that accents are beautiful. Accents are like flowers; some are beautiful, some are ugly and just stink.

In the spirit of the thread though:

 

[Evil Moo]

I think my accent is generally in the well-spoken British English category. I like pronouncing words correctly and clearly. I recall being made fun of as a child for sounding 'posh', as my peers would put it. Somehow I managed to avoid picking up too much of the accents around me during my school years, which is probably good otherwise I'd sound like something between a wannabe Jamaican gangster and a slightly less exaggerated form of the stereotypical 'pirate accent'.

 

[Disco Biscuit]

I think my accent is generally in the well-spoken British English category. I like pronouncing words correctly and clearly. I recall being made fun of as a child for sounding 'posh', as my peers would put it. Somehow I managed to avoid picking up too much of the accents around me during my school years, which is probably good otherwise I'd sound like something between a wannabe Jamaican gangster and a slightly less exaggerated form of the stereotypical 'pirate accent'.

"You wanna rock up to Newscastle an pillage bruv?"

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

To me, I sound Canadian (being Canadian and all), but to others, especially if they haven't spent much time around me or haven't twigged as to my nationality, my accent is hard to place. Given I've lived in England for 6 years, it makes sense that my native accent (southern Ontarian) has dulled and merged with a kind of messy hodge-podge of various British and Irish accents picked up from friends, family and media (especially media I rip the piss out of or find funny). As a result, I've had people think I'm American, Irish, French, South African, British, and rarely Canadian. I've even had people completely disbelieve me when I say I'm Canadian. It's baffling. If I had a video of me talking, I'd post it.

 

[RedRockRun]

I don't care for the American southern accent. I've lived in the south my whole life, and it just sounds so uneducated.

 

[Conner42]

I still really don't know what I sound like and I'm never satisfied with the responses I get because they vary all over the country of where I live(the United States). The most definitive response I've gotten was that I sound Midwestern like from either Wisconsin or Minnesota. I recorded my accent and got a couple of comments from Reddit that's what I sounded like. Since they didn't have any point of reference, this was probably the least biased answer I could get.

I'm okay with that. I just don't want to sound like where I'm actually from. I'm from Oklahoma, which I guess is technically a part of the Midwest, but it's also a part of the south because whoever separated these regions couldn't make up their minds when they got to this boring area. I think the thicker regionalisms with accents here in Oklahoma are a lot closer to the accents in the southern states then they are in the actual Midwest area. And, as someone from the southern area, I honestly don't like the accents that come from there. I'm not sure why, but hearing that I don't sound like I come from that area is honestly a bit of a relief to me.

As far as the US goes, I actually like the northeastern accents. I like how there is a difference between caught and cot or dawn and Don. I've even been pronouncing my name, Sean, differently that fits closer with that vowel. But I've realized that this separation is more British and that the regions in the US that pronounced cot and caught differently is going away. It's kind of sad, mostly because you have all those letters in caught against cot, yet, you don't pronounce them differently here. Also, it seems hard to get people to pronounce my name the way with how I've been saying it, but I guess that's okay. If you don't know the difference, it can be really hard to hear.

I like different accents from different countries and I think that some countries have more diverse accents than the US does. I can hear the differences between accents in England alone, which is quite a small area, but I think you can find someone from the West Coast and the East Coast in the US and they could talk just like each other. I've been trying to find out if this is true for a while. Some research doesn't give me anything and all I have to go on is that I've met people from the far ends of this country and they don't have any distinct way of talking as far as I can notice. Accent deafness, maybe? Is that even a thing? It seems to happen a bit in Spanish as well as a Mexican told me that this girl from Peru sounded "normal" even though they're really far apart.

I don't know what to think...

 

[Poetic Nova]

My mother tongue is best described as a mixture of flemish and german, though mine is peppered with one of many variants we have of it over here (it litteraly changes per town really).

My dutch is horrible, and its really difficult for me to not fall back into my mother tongue or english.

Speaking of which, I've been working on my english hard enough that I can speak it without having aheavy dutch accent in it. Which is a good thing, I dislike that heavy accent most dutch people seem to have when speaking english.