Do you speak with an accent?

[Dr. Doomsduck]

Yeah, I'm Dutch, so that basically means everyone who lives about 50 kilometres away from you has a different accent. Personally I've got a southern-Dutch accent, Brabants, which I'm told is audible, but doesn't impede others from understanding me, nor does it make me sound like a pig-farmer.

I can't turn it off though.

 

[Duffeknol]

Yeah, I'm Dutch, so that basically means everyone who lives about 50 kilometres away from you has a different accent. Personally I've got a southern-Dutch accent, Brabants, which I'm told is audible, but doesn't impede others from understanding me, nor does it make me sound like a pig-farmer.

I can't turn it off though.

Wa zidde gij jonge?

 

[Dr. Doomsduck]

Yeah, I'm Dutch, so that basically means everyone who lives about 50 kilometres away from you has a different accent. Personally I've got a southern-Dutch accent, Brabants, which I'm told is audible, but doesn't impede others from understanding me, nor does it make me sound like a pig-farmer.

I can't turn it off though.

Wa zidde gij jonge?

Groetuh uit Broabant, Kut!

 

[Euryalus]

I'm Irish, people say I have an Irish accent, go figure.

But honestly, some say I do, some say I don't, maybe because it isn't super thick, I talk using Irish mannerisms, but I don't have one of those really obnoxious Irish accents.

Tizzy, If you were any more irish your blood would be made of green colored Guiness and you'd be saying "oh faith and Begora" all the time XD

I'm kidding... mostly

but you do have a very recognizable accent to me. I would immediately peg you as being Irish, and less immediately as Southern Irish.

Embrace the awesomeness of your voice! It's better than mine XD

 

[Euryalus]

I kinda do the same thing with "for", but to a lesser extent. Honestly, I've lived in Wisconsin for my entire life, but most people around here think I'm from out of state unless they know me well, but instead of educating them otherwise I just like to screw with them. I've got many people thinking I'm from the US east coast, Russia, Britain, Australia, and various other places because I can do really good accents. I look generically European, so that helps as well.

Most people are surpised that I'm not from the same state as them usually (In the midwest) because I don't have most of the "state unique" quirks in my speech. I pretty much just blend in with my blandness XD

The only thinng that gives me away usually is the for thing and (In Michigan) the fact that I say soda instead of pop, though they still can't guess where I'm from XD

Next time you're at a restaurant or a bar, just go full on heavy russian accent the whole time. See if they figure you fer a troll XD

 

[an annoyed writer]

Next your at a restaurant or a bar, just go full on heavy russian accent the whole time. See if they figure you fer a troll XD

Interesting fact: my friend has been doing that for approximately two years at this one Applebees that we like to eat at. At first they thought he was a massive troll, but since he's been staying in-character for two years they now think he's the real deal. it's funny as hell.

 

[direkiller]

As long as I don't say yinz or call a blackberry bush a jaggerbush people have a hard time figuring out where I am from.
Mostly because no one talks with the Pittsburgh accent unless they are old enough to know who Donnie Iris is.

 

[Fijiman]

I have varying accents from time to time, but that's mostly from me just being weird.

 

[Euryalus]

Next your at a restaurant or a bar, just go full on heavy russian accent the whole time. See if they figure you fer a troll XD

Interesting fact: my friend has been doing that for approximately two years at this one Applebees that we like to eat at. At first they thought he was a massive troll, but since he's been staying in-character for two years they now think he's the real deal. it's funny as hell.

My friend once told someone that I was Irish[footnote]I have an Irish name. See profile[/footnote], but could do the best "fake" american accent ever. So I started talking to them (not knowing he'd said that) and they started laughing and asked how in the hell I did it. Needless to say I was very confused XD

It took awhile to explain that they thought I was Irish and was faking an accent. My friend was laughing his ass off. XD

 

[PatrickXD]

I have a proper Radio 4 accent, but apparently I sound canadian when I'm excited, if that counts for anything.

 

[Squiddles]

Most people that have heard me before always ask where I'm from, the accuse me of lying for saying England since I sound very Romanian to them... It's strange.

 

[EeveeElectro]

No one points out any specific part of my accent, but I'm sure I don't even have one. I say Yorkshire words/phrases and confuse a lot of non-Yorkshire people (owt ah nowt, t', summert, ahcunt etc).
I think I actually sound intelligent compared to most people in my city, and that is saying something!
I speak correctly and use grammar most of the time which often gets me confused looks off people.
I know a few people who have very posh accents, they are English teachers though.

 

[trollnystan]

Missed these post's would just say I've got Swedish relatives that I visit for a couple of weeks a year and obviously it's not accent free, but I am always absolutely ASTOUNDED at how many Swedes speak English and how clear it is. Which is good for me as after around 10 years of going there and my cousins speaking Swedish all the time I can still only manage Hello, Goodbye and Thanks, found it incredibly difficult to learn anything, really hard language.

I know, we're awesome! *preens* Well, when I say "we", I mean the people who had to learn it in school; I got it gratis because of my Irish mother, with little to no effort on my part...

I don't know how hard Swedish is to learn (obviously) but both my American friend and my Irish brother-in-law learned to speak casual Swedish fluently (if with a thick accent) after about 9 months, through studying, work and, in my friend's case, playing The Sims in Swedish. Then again, I've also met English speakers who've lived here for 20-30 years and never bothered to learn Swedish because WHO NEEDS TO AMIRITE? /sarcasm

I've heard the hardest part of Swedish is the cadence; we have a very sing-songy pitch accent that can be hard to pick up, what with depending on how you stress words they can mean totally different things. (stegen = the ladder VS stegen = the steps (you take), or gifter = marrying VS gifter = poisons) My friend still has problems with this and she's lived here now for 7 years.

But if all you're doing is visiting, Hej, Hej då, and Tack is all you really need =) Swedes LOVE to speak English at you given the chance anyway!

 

[holy_secret]

I speak American English with a swedish accent, which I'm trying to perfect. My boyfriend acts as my tutor and he's helped me out a lot

The funny thing about this is the fact that he's Welsh (or English depending on who you ask). I guess you take the help that you can get you do.

I know, we're awesome! *preens* Well, when I say "we", I mean the people who had to learn it in school; I got it gratis because of my Irish mother, with little to no effort on my part...

I don't know how hard Swedish is to learn (obviously) but both my American friend and my Irish brother-in-law learned to speak casual Swedish fluently (if with a thick accent) after about 9 months, through studying, work and, in my friend's case, playing The Sims in Swedish. Then again, I've also met English speakers who've lived here for 20-30 years and never bothered to learn Swedish because WHO NEEDS TO AMIRITE? /sarcasm

I've heard the hardest part of Swedish is the cadence; we have a very sing-songy pitch accent that can be hard to pick up, what with depending on how you stress words they can mean totally different things. (stegen = the ladder VS stegen = the steps (you take), or gifter = marrying VS gifter = poisons) My friend still has problems with this and she's lived here now for 7 years.

But if all you're doing is visiting, Hej, Hej då, and Tack is all you really need =) Swedes LOVE to speak English at you given the chance anyway!

I'm teaching my Welsh hubby Swedish and it's going great. One month in and he's already answering my text messages in Swedish

The secret is to teach them the language through situations and relevance. Never use translations and make sure to practice with examples.
Intonation and stress however...yeah.

Still working on that.
Vart tog vägen vägen.

 

[Angie7F]

I grew up in Australia so I have a Aussie accent although I look Japanese.
It has neutralized after coming back to Japan and being exposed to non-Aussie english speakers, but it comes out once in a while

 

[The Jovian]

I'm Bulgarian and I've studied English since I was 5 (I'm almost 18 now and I speak it fluiently), I currently live in the UK and somehow I have an American accent so perfect 90% of all people who meet me for the first time think I'm American.

 

[Saviordd1]

Apparently I say some words in a distinctly non-New England way.

Best example is after, I pronounce it "awfter" for no damned reason. And it's not like I do it to be "that wanna be british guy" I legitimately did not notice it till last year when a friend pointed it out.

Other examples include
-Saying "Eh" after sentences occasionally (think stereotypical Canadian)
-Pronouncing "Nah" "Mah"
-Saying "Ya'll" instead of "You all"

My speaking is very weird and mixed.

 

[yankeefan19]

I have a Midwestern American accent (just like most people where I live), but I have an occasional word that I'll say with an English or Southern accent. This is because my mother is English and my father was in the Army (lots of moving around, lived in Virginia and North Carolina). Thanks to my mother, I am also very skilled at speaking with an English accent. I am also skilled at speaking with a southern accent (I think that that is mostly because I watched a lot of Jeff Foxworthy as a child and imitated him often). Overall I am fascinated by accents and work to be able to imitate many of them, with my best ones being Posh English, Austrailian, Southern, and Russian. I also give passable attempts at many other accents.

 

[T3hSource]

I'm Bulgarian and I've studied English since I was 5 (I'm almost 18 now and I speak it fluiently),...

Ha, pretty much the same deal here too. I also want to move in the UK to study. I'd also assume my accent would be American, because our English speaking skills derive from American media mostly.
As for my accent for Bulgarian, it's supposed to be one of the purest, because I'm from Veliko Tarnovo, the former capital from the previous rule - the Second Bulgarian Czarstvo(Kingdom), this is where language and writing were kept and taught even during the 5 century Ottoman thralldom. We speak the language most accurately and don't change any sounds and letters whatsoever for slang or "better sound".

However, I have a hard time expressing myself, my writing style is very out of order and doesn't achieve good cohesion. I also already think and talk to myself in English, I also use English slang like "sod off" or "f off" when someone is just annoying me. So speaking my mother tongue has already become more unnatural to me than talking in English ^^. I also stay away from Bulgarian websites, because in the ones I know, they are full of 10-13 year olds or fratboys(our version) that can't write a sentence in proper Bulgarian without using slang or Latin letters with numbers.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

Well I'm from Scotland but moved down to the Isle of Wight to live with my Dad over a year ago.

Wow, the Isle of Wight. I live like 30 minutes away from Portsmouth. It's weird to see someone on these forums that lives so close to me.

OT: Not in the slightest. I have a very much a middle class Southern English accent, because that's who I am.

I was at University of Portsmouth for 6 months before I realised I wasn't enjoying myself, I wasn't right for the course and that I'd be much better off back home in Surrey. I only moved back a few weeks ago, I'm trying to get a reference so I can reapply for Uni of Surrey, but I@m also looking for work in the mean time.

OT: My accent is more or less what it should be for my area. However, I speak a lot more softly than most of the people my age and have a somewhat larger vocabulary than others. So glad I didn't turn into a chav...