Speaking in a foreign accent?

[Soviet Steve]

I'm a Dane and I tend to speak with British accent. I can also do a nice Russian accent, and I have been told by a teacher that when I read aloud in German it sounds like I am from Saxony, which I found rather odd.

I can't do a good Danish accent though, and if I hear it I instantly get annoyed. If you want to hear what its like, try searching 'Anders Fogh Rasmussen' on YouTube. Our former PM speaks with a rather thick Danish accent and I feel like my soul is being crushed when I hear it. =(

 

[ScumbagEddie]

I had a girlfriend who tried talking to everyone at parties in a ridiculous British (?) accent. The ? is because it really switched from British to Australian to Irish to South African to New Zealander all in one sentence. She was a lot of fun to make fun of for that. We didn't last and i despise people i know adopting foreign accents.

On a fun side note, many Americans think they don't have an accent. That's hilarious. I'm originally from New York and have lived from one side of the US to the other. I tend to slide into the rapid New York accent when I'm angry haha.

 

[ScumbagEddie]

Not that it matters a great deal but technically there isn't such a thing as a 'British Accent'...given that Britain is 5 countries that all sound rather different (well eire and n.ireland are similar-ish)

I just assume people tend to mean a over the top english posh accent...which I do sometimes too....I am English - but sometimes I just like to talk in a spiffingly good manner to elaborate my point to my fellow chums

Now that it's mentioned, sorry about that. May not affect you, but may offend the next guy.

 

[LandoCristo]

All the time. I do a pretty good Australian one, and my Scottish isn't bad. And Michigander accents are not only easy, but fun, as well!

 

[FortheLegion]

I spoke in an American accent while in Australia. Does that count?

 

[Kirkby]

I wish i knew what accent i have now before i start doing impersonations of others. I grew up in Newcastle (for those of you who dont know what a Geordie accent is, i suggest u check it out, its pretty damn good and most Americans cnt make it out = P), but grew up with a posh mum and now iv lived in Ireland for two years, so as a result i lapse in and out of all three.

Iv been told iv sounded Posh, geordie, irish (both southern and northern), Yorkshire, Welsh, Scottish and American! I mean.. WTF

 

[themrwinkleman]

I'm just going with the evidence that online multiplayer garnishes me with here but faux accents would be fine if most gamers were a tad more geographically aware.

Every American player online I've spoken to thinks that ALL English people speak in a posh, upper-class, Hugh Grant accent. Or that we are Australian.

Dude c'mon! Tis not that hard to discern between an English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Australian, New Zealand, South African, Canadian or Jamaican accents (there are more but I'm getting tired).

I'm a whore for pop culture, be it film or tv, cartoons or comics so perhaps it's understandable that I can discern the difference between say, somebody from the Bronx, or somebody from Boston, or from LA, or from Texas.

The online gamers are indeed the best and worst of the multiplayer experience but surely, like me, you can use it/them as a learning experience. Be social, talk freely, make friends but don't sprout bullshit and violence everywhere.

 

[Meestor Pickle]

I am fluent in six million forms of communication. Well not really but 6 million forms of foreign accents.
Also to whoever gets the gyst is so fucking awesome

Its awesome when Star-wars can be related to almost anything. :3

OT: I dont tend to try to do it but am told the way I say some words is in an accent.

 

[SckizoBoy]

(well eire and n.ireland are similar-ish)

What?! No, they are so different (Eire accents are so much nicer, plus they can't seem to pronounce 'th', not that I care).

OT: I sometimes lapse into my old man's accent (he's Hong Kong Chinese, but learned English and German at the same time, so everyone reckons he's German when they first speak to him over the phone). Other times, just to be annoying, I speak Japanese with a Chinese accent and vice-versa to get out of speaking with East-Asian tourists (Koreans excepted as I just end up doing the normal English thing and talk loudly).

 

[SIXVI06-M]

At my archery club, we break into spontaneous and often traumatising asian accent jags.

 

[SIXVI06-M]

I spoke in an American accent while in Australia. Does that count?

I'm Australian and I HAVE an American accent - and I've only been in America once, I was born in Hong Kong and moved to Australia when I was 4 years old.

 

[Peteron]

(Today, we were discussing Hitler, so he spoke in a German accent)

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Weird. Why German?

Because for very obvious reasons Hitler is associated with Germany.
And not everyone knows that he is Austrian (I think he's Austrian at least, I've never really cared enough to get a definitive answer)

(Today, we were discussing Hitler, so he spoke in a German accent)

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Weird. Why German?

Im no genius, but I am guessing because Hitler is German? Just taking a shot in the dark here.

Hitler was Austrian. It's weird for Hitler to even be associated with Germany. I was taught in my schools that WW2 was the allies versus the axis powers, Churchill versus Hitler, freedom versus fascism, and Britain versus the Nazis, never versus Germany. That's very odd to me.

I really don't see how that is weird. Hitler led and ruled Germany did he not? So yes, Hitler is commonly if not always associated with Germany.

 

[SwiftBlade18]

(well eire and n.ireland are similar-ish)

What?! No, they are so different (Eire accents are so much nicer, plus they can't seem to pronounce 'th', not that I care).

When I said similar-ish i just mean they sound more alike than say scottish to welsh...

I also agree that Eire is better....nothing to do with the fact I have family there or anything no no no lol

 

[Fetzenfisch]

(Today, we were discussing Hitler, so he spoke in a German accent)

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Weird. Why German?

Because for very obvious reasons Hitler is associated with Germany.
And not everyone knows that he is Austrian (I think he's Austrian at least, I've never really cared enough to get a definitive answer)

He was Austrian, yeah. But German is the main language of Austria, so that's why.

And english is the main language of America, so they have an english accent there yes?

(Today, we were discussing Hitler, so he spoke in a German accent)

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Weird. Why German?

Because for very obvious reasons Hitler is associated with Germany.
And not everyone knows that he is Austrian (I think he's Austrian at least, I've never really cared enough to get a definitive answer)

(Today, we were discussing Hitler, so he spoke in a German accent)

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Weird. Why German?

Im no genius, but I am guessing because Hitler is German? Just taking a shot in the dark here.

Hitler was Austrian. It's weird for Hitler to even be associated with Germany. I was taught in my schools that WW2 was the allies versus the axis powers, Churchill versus Hitler, freedom versus fascism, and Britain versus the Nazis, never versus Germany. That's very odd to me.

I really don't see how that is weird. Hitler led and ruled Germany did he not? So yes, Hitler is commonly if not always associated with Germany.

Yup he was officially the head of state and by that representative for Germany, which later in his period included the former and nowadays Austria, which volunteerly got swallowed by the Reich.



We often fake accents from other german speaking regions. There are tons of extremely different variations.
And I try to learn a lot about the different english accents. But i only do the stereotypical american one to mock some people at university which annoy me beyond believe.(some of these terrible "well it was kinda like you know...duh " girls, i still wonder how they made it into a university...a terrible joke of someone i guess)

 

[Superior Mind]

I speak in foreign accents sometimes, mostly scottish. I find when I'm cold I adopt a scottish accent without thinking about it.

Apparently no-one can pick my accent. I spent a while working at a place where they insisted I was American. Another workplace took me for Irish and another for South African. I think it's because I'm not really a fan of the Kiwi accent drawl so tend to mask it a bit.

 

[SckizoBoy]

When I said similar-ish i just mean they sound more alike than say scottish to welsh...

I also agree that Eire is better....nothing to do with the fact I have family there or anything no no no lol

Fair enough, though the NI accent is very harsh compared to Eire (and I can just imagine your family toting lead pipes ready to stove in your head for dissing their accent! lol)

OT (again): That was another thing, for some reason I've been known to lapse into a slow Deep South lilt every so often for absolutely no reason (one of my colleagues is from Louisiana and when she first heard it was all o_0' making mention of a Georgia accent). Weird, no? (And this coming from someone who speaks like Stephen Fry most of the time.)

 

[Duffeknol]

I do it all the time because it is one of the rare things I am actually really, really good at. I'm dutch, but I'm on native speaker level when it comes to speaking english. That allows me to broaden that to every accent I can possibly think of, it's quite fun and it entertains my friends.

I'm also quite good at speaking French and German. Not just doing the accent, but speaking the actual language. I hate it when people try to speak a foreign language, and it's really easy to tell where they're actually from. I try to avoid that as much as I can. Thankfully, I manage to pull it off.

 

[dogenzakaminion]

I sometimes speak with a french, Russian or cockney accent just for giggles. Especially when I'm with people I'll never see again. Once, I faked an entire conversation with a waiter making him think i was french and sightseeing in a teeny tiny rural town in Norway. Just for giggles.

 

[dex-dex]

I have popped in with an accent it catches people off guard and wonder wtf?
I also say certain words differently than others around me courtesy of watching way too much foreign films and television.

 

[justnotcricket]

If required, I can do a horrible valley-girl American accent?

As a New Zealander, I confuse people from everywhere for apparently having an undefinable natural accent - probably because I try my hardest not to have a New Zild accent, because it makes my ears bleed. I can do an excellent New Zild accent if asked, but it makes my mouth feel funny =S If anyone's not sure what New Zild is, I refer them to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA&feature=related

I work with a guy from Michigan though, and I think his Yooper accent (which he thickens deliberately at will), is just about the cutest thing EVER.

Imitating accents can be fun to amuse friends who speak that language, *if* they find that sort of thing funny. If not, then it's dangerous territory you get into and you easily risk offending someone.