jpowers
Emperor
Some of us who grew up on the East Coast can even pick which exit of the Jersey turnpike you are from.
American Accent
- Thread starter CivCube
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Some of us who grew up on the East Coast can even pick which exit of the Jersey turnpike you are from.
When I speak English, I speak with the Queens English accent (We learned that in pre-school), and it is nearly impossible for me to imitate the common American accent. Having said that, I can imitate Texan-American to some extent.
thestonesfan
A Client of Ron Kuby
Hey! The Midwestern dialect isn't annoying! 
Actually, people who go to school for public speaking, such as radio people, learn Midwestern speak. I guess it's the most 'neutral'.
Actually, people who go to school for public speaking, such as radio people, learn Midwestern speak. I guess it's the most 'neutral'.
MrPresident
Anglo-Saxon Liberal
Double-post.
MrPresident
Anglo-Saxon Liberal
Almost everyone wrote phonetically at the time. Also there are lots of resources written about how Americans sounded or should that be how strangely they sounded.
I just spend three months in the United States and I can say with some assurance that there is no real difference between American accents. This is, of course, relative. I am British and therefore live in a country full of a massive array of very strong accents. America does not have this. Sure there is some difference between the regions and this difference is clearly audible to a native but it is very hard for outsiders to notice this difference.
Yoshimune
Haruhiism
Not entirely correct. There is a completely separate Chicago accent, which people tell me I have a heavy one (it's weird because I grew up in the suburbs). Anyway, the Chicago accent pronounces short-a's like eah and short-o's like ahh, so I say "hahhkey" (hockey), geahp (gap), seahlad (salad), and so forth. I think it's from seeing this one McDonalds commercial made just for the Chicagoland area with a guy with a stereotypical Chicago accent too many times. (P.S. The Saturday Night Live skit "Da Bulls!" is pretty accurate with the accent.)
The Minnesota accent is heaviest in Minnesota (duh), and gets softer as you radiate out. People in metropolitan areas in the Midwest other than Chicago tend to have normal accents.
No, this is only Boston. I went to Yale (in Connecticut, which has another accent), and it was torture to have the annual football "The Game" versus Harvard at Harvard because we had to listen to the stadium announcer and his heavy Boston accent. "Dah bahl is on dah thahty yahd line."
The Connecticut accent, which I noticed from my freshman year roommate and his friend who were both from the area, tends not to pronounce double-t's. Manhattan becomes Manha'an.
Like, oh my god, I totally disagree that California can be classified as, like, the standard American accent and some junk. I can pick out someone who grew up in California out of any crowd. (I was exaggerating on the valley-girl speak. Well, just a little.
)Wow, where did you find petrol in America? We us gasoline.
I always find it amusing when I hear Japanese people speaking English (usually poorly) with an English accent. Though this is mostly because most of the English teachers come from Australia, New Zealand, or England, or Japanese people go to school in Oceania because it's cheaper than America.
lord42
Prince
Well I'm from pennsylvania and as a residet have no clue about my accent. Anyone have any observations on a PA accent?
Oh and i can fairly fake a brtish accent myself. It's pretty easy as it mainly revolves around useing the proper wording and stressing I and E.
Oh and i can fairly fake a brtish accent myself. It's pretty easy as it mainly revolves around useing the proper wording and stressing I and E.
Mescalhead
Vincebus Eruptum
I was genralising donchya know? If you're not from their its hard to distinguish between Wisconsin and Minnesoter. Sorry, but there is a bit of the 'twinge' in da Chicaagoe accent as well.
This accent is also found in Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island. Connecticut is more 'upstate New York'.
Originally posted by Yoshimune
Like, oh my god, I totally disagree that California can be classified as, like, the standard American accent and some junk. I can pick out someone who grew up in California out of any crowd. (I was exaggerating on the valley-girl speak. Well, just a little.
That's like only rich people from the valley. Most Californians are totally not from there. Gyod! Also surfer 'stoners' are like whoaaaa!
Stapel
FIAT 850 coupé
The spread of accents can be very rapid. In my tiny home country of the Nethelands (150 by 200 miles), we have many different accents. The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Rotterdam accents are very easy to recognize. And very different! the maximum distance from one to another is 50 miles......
People in Friesland or Limburg simply can not be understood.....
People in Friesland or Limburg simply can not be understood.....
Mr Black
Los Zetas
nah, it all sounds like one accent to me.
Hitro
Feistus Raclettus
I don't think so. The "Southern" American accent (which is the stereotypical American accent in German and very easy to imitate) is clearly different from the one of people from, let's say, New York.
Britain surely has more distinct accents, or rather dialects, but that doesn't really neglect the American ones.
phoenix_night
Deity
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@MrPresident,
Where were you? Were you travelling?
Where were you? Were you travelling?
Double Barrel
Deity
I thought there was a discussion in the forum awhile ago that the term "American" stood for everyone from Canada to Argentina??
Therefore, I do not believe that there would be such a thing as an "American accent" any more than there would be a "European accent".
Therefore, I do not believe that there would be such a thing as an "American accent" any more than there would be a "European accent".
Mescalhead
Vincebus Eruptum
Originally posted by Double Barrel
I thought there was a discussion in the forum awhile ago that the term "American" stood for everyone from Canada to Argentina??
Therefore, I do not believe that there would be such a thing as an "American accent" any more than there would be a "European accent".
People from Canada are Canadian. People from Argentina are Argentinian. Should people from the U.S. be United Statsian? Its simply a matter of convenience rather than narcissism that people from the United States are 'American'.
Yoshimune
Haruhiism
We don't have a twang. We also don't say "donchya." Chicago-speak is more characterized by the way words are pronounced, not inventing new ones.
The Minnesota accent sounds close to the stereotypical Canadian accent that Americans think of, eh? They're aboot the same.
You don't have a location up, so I can't guess on your situation, but I generally agree that you can't distinguish accents if you don't speak the language fluently. I can only distinguish different Japanese accents if words are different, but there's no way I could tell if someone was pronouncing words differently from Tokyo-ben (standard dialect). But that's getting into dialects rather than accents.
I probably also couldn't tell the difference between an English accent and an Australian accent if you brought two people up to me and made me guess.
SeleucusNicator
Diadoch
The "Chicago Accent" does not occur in all parts of Chicago (I live in Chicago, and there is probably not one speaker with that accent living within a few square miles of me)
It is certainly distinct from the Minnesota accent; I would say it is closer to the New York or Boston accent than it is to the Minnesota accent.
It is certainly distinct from the Minnesota accent; I would say it is closer to the New York or Boston accent than it is to the Minnesota accent.
phoenix_night
Deity
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Really? It's not that hard.
Oruc
Reactionary
i thought there was only 2 american accents
Yoshimune
Haruhiism
That's the odd part about it. I have a heavy one, but other people I knew at college from Chicago didn't really have one. And even my friends from high school said they could tell I have one. And I went to high school in the Chicago suburbs!
Accents are partly due to who you hang around with and talk to the most. Example: My girlfriend grew up in Edison, New Jersey, and later moved to Princeton, New Jersey before high school. But she doesn't have a New Jersey accent at all. It's probably because at home, she speaks mostly Chinese, and then she went to Lawrenceville for high school, so there were kids from all over the country there, and most of her friends were other Chinese kids from the area. So she was never heavily exposed to the New Jersey accent. She also studied abroad for a year in Scotland, so she can do an English accent fairly well.
phoenix_night
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