What's your accent (in your native language)?

[Lillefix]

I have gone through the dictionary. Not one place does it say that people who have a language which is close to the written and spoken standard of that nation, don't have an accent. It's simply means pronunciation.

 

[GinandTonic]

The most "accentless" english isnt from brits or yanks, it's from euro's who have learned a version of english that has none of the ticks that irritate brits or yanks. As a brit I cannot but help but listen for peoples accents and people with (so far as possible) unaccented english wird me out. Belgians and Israelis mostly. It's like seeing a car with no plates is far far wirder than foreign plates.

 

[Jehoshua]

I have been confused for a british person by a british person before so.... perhaps cultivated Australian English for me, although I never thought I spoke in that manner.

Of course saying that a german lecturer of mine once inquired as to whether I was american so perhaps I just have an intermediate accent between general and cultivated australian english (considering the three forms of australian english are on a spectrum) that confuses people .

 

[Tecknojock]

Your right of course Lille, but if someone is comparing how they or other people speak to their baseline and they find they don't differ, they might say they don't have an accent with an implied "compared to their baseline" that they might not consciously realize is there.

 

[Mise]

Okay, but they would be wrong to suggest that they don't have an accent. Everyone has an accent.

 

[Arwon]

Yes but you're all at least vaguely aware that other countries exist and their people speak differently, right?

 

[emzie]

I remember when my dad found out that House was actually British, he asked me how hard it would have been to lose the accent for the roll. The thing is, he wasn't a stupid man, just a sheltered American.

 

[Leoreth]

Do you greet people with "Moin" at six in the afternoon ?

Of course. But that's dialect, not accent, and for the record, the word is not related to "morgen" at all. I don't even know why everyone thinks that.

[This reminds me of the time me and my friends met a Bavarian group while on vacation in Italy in the evening hours. They greeted us with "servus", we replied with "moin". Then they asked "why 'morning'?". Our deadpan response: "why 'slave'?" ]

 

[NiRv4n4]

Surfer dude Californian, even though I live in Vermont. Lived most of my life in California, which probably explains it.

I tend to say "dude" "man" "radical" "bro" a lot when I speak without thinking, or am otherwise 'impaired'. Which happens more often then I'd like... the first one, not the second.

 

[Camikaze]

You mean there's another way to say "caught"?

Court and caught are homophones here, and, I believe, in a lot of the UK.

 

[madviking]

Court and caught are homophones here, and, I believe, in a lot of the UK.

Damn rhotics.

 

[Save_Ferris]

I guess what people mean by "no accent" English is Hollywood English, aka the tone most people use on American movies and TV shows. I have that accent.

 

[Whomp]

Some American northern cities vowel shift with a bit of Chicagoese ("supposed to" becomes "supposedta" or "and" becomes "ahn", soda is "pop" and "sneakers" are "gym shoes") and a pinch of Cali surfer for emphasis. Also, I think specific to the town I grew up in it's Row-za-velt Road or idit Rooo-za-velt. I forget but was corrected by someone from California.

 

[sophie]

I speak generic Northern-Californian English, although with a few peculiarities (which my friends like to point out and make fun of, on occasion). I'm not really sure where they come from, my mom's a native Iowan, so they may well have come from her. Some of the noticeable things I say:

Awesome: I tend to get a lot of crap for this one, mostly because I tend to front the ɑ so it sounds closer to an a or æ. In IPA:

I say a'səm vs most Californian ɑ'sʌm.

There's also Peninsula, which some of you may remember me starting a thread on a few years back.
I say: pɛ'nɪn'sju'lə
Most say: pə'nɪn'sə'lə (or even pə'nɪn'sl&#601

So there's that. Additionally my Spanish is a bit weird. Kind of a mix between Iberian and Argentinian Spanish. (I have the ʒ in ll words, as in ella [eʒa], but I also do the Iberian lisp and I clip on a lot of words).

I think with German I think I have a bit of a Bavarian accent owing to the fact that for the first 17 years of my life the only German I ever heard was from my Mom and she speaks the München variant fluently.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Some American northern cities vowel shift with a bit of Chicagoese ("supposed to" becomes "supposedta" or "and" becomes "ahn", soda is "pop" and "sneakers" are "gym shoes") and a pinch of Cali surfer for emphasis. Also, I think specific to the town I grew up in it's Row-za-velt Road or idit Rooo-za-velt. I forget but was corrected by someone from California.

I talk like this

 

[Oerdin]

My accent is Southern Californian which is to say standard American English. Thank you, Hollywood for standardizing everything around the accent I already speak.

 

[sophie]

My accent is Southern Californian which is to say standard American English. Thank you, Hollywood for standardizing everything around the accent I already speak.

Well...not exactly.

 

[Core Imposter]

Court and caught are homophones here, and, I believe, in a lot of the UK.

If'n I called a feller a homophone on this here board I'd be throwed out sure nuff.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

If'n I called a feller a homophone on this here board I'd be throwed out sure nuff.

Well probably not , but that whole quirky turn of phrase should be infractible

 

[Mise]

I guess what people mean by "no accent" English is Hollywood English, aka the tone most people use on American movies and TV shows. I have that accent.

I know exactly what they mean. I'm just wondering if they beleive that the "standard American accent" represents an entirely accentless form of spoken English because they are arrogant or because they are naive. I usually assume naive, which I suppose makes me arrogant for thinking that most Americans are grossly ignorant of the vast array of other countries that also speak English. English.

Speaking of homophones, some people for some reason pronounce "bald" and "bold" the same. So when they say that Picard has "boldly" gone where no man has gone before, I'm not sure whether they're making fun of his shiny head or not.