Speak with an Accent do you?

[Anachronus]

Everybody speaks with an accent...

I don't but everyone else does.

 

[bod]

I have a scottish accent. Specifically it's a soft Edinburgh accent which has a lyrical quality to it. I wouldn't have known about the lyrical bit, but for other people pointing it out. I kind of drag out the syllables of the last word in each sentence.

'oh aye, I dooooo'

 

[An Officer]

^ Anyone who sounds remotely like Billy Connelly is alright by me.

 

[Searider Falcon]

I've heard that regardless of where you're from, a second language will often have hints of the teacher's accent . . . say if I learned spanish from a Mexican I'd have an American/Mexican Spanish accent which would be different if I learned in Spain
so the TV influence is quite plausible

I have a coworker whose father was a German immigrant that was tutored in English by a Mexican immigrant. He spoke English with a Mexican-Spanish accent, lol.

A friend of mine from California says I sound very typical Midwestern, and some store clerk in New York City actually asked me if I was from Alabama or Georgia, which I'm pretty sure I really don't sound nearly like that (though I seem to start picking it up when I'm there long enough!). My friends say I don't sound quite like everyone else in Southern Indiana. It's probably the influence of my New Englander mother. One quirk that I think I have picked up from living here is my pronunciation of Louisville, which comes out Loo-uh-vull. I had a lot of northern Indiana natives giggle at that any time I uttered it when I was attending Indiana State in Terre Haute. I'd never noticed it before that.

 

[Franklin]

I grew up in Iowa, and as most Iowans will attest, we honestly believe we have no distinct accent. Especially compared to other midwesterners from Minnesooootah, Mizzourah, or Chicawgo.

That said, having not lived there for years, when I go back to visit I'm actually conscious of how I don't talk "that way" any more. So maybe there is something there to notice. Or there's nothing to notice. Either way.

 

[Mallory]

I was born in the west, my parents were from Colorado and Illinois, I spent a decade growing up in the Deep South and then another decade in the Northeast before moving back to the west. Whatever accent I might have is pretty generic American at this point.

Another thing I noticed, is that if I'm in the South for a few weeks (for work, mostly), the Southern accent comes back rather quickly. Pisses my wife off to no end....

Same here. I learned to talk and read in the South and so it comes very naturally to me.

 

[DBR]

Apparently, I mumble. But I'd say my accent is the baseline to which I compare everybody else's.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I apparently speak with a CA accent, dude.

 

[RAMA]

So, I was having a conversation with a few friends the other night at the bar and accents came up.

It's always a topic that interests me.

Do you speak with an accent? I would guess most people don't know they do, or don't realize it. You usually only become aware of it when other people say you have one.

I'm from, and still live in the NYC metro area where you have tons of different accents in a relatively small area. I have a heavy North Jersey (Joisey) accent. Which is very different from Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island or Staten Island, which are all within minutes driving distance from me. But I try my best to squelch it.

So ya, do you have an accent and what area is it?

I'm from Jersey and I surprise many people by not having any accent whatsoever.

RAMA

 

[captcalhoun]

i'm from Gloucestershire in England and i have an accent from there. i got teased summat chronic in high school for sounding like a farmer (ooo, arrr, oi'll get me trrrraaaaahteeerrr!!) despite the fact that to my ears i sounded exactly the same as all the other bastards.

i've (oddly) been accussed of having an Aussie accent and a northern one a couple of times...and i've never even BEEN to Australia...

 

[Zulu Romeo]

i've (oddly) been accussed of having an Aussie accent and a northern one a couple of times...and i've never even BEEN to Australia...

Emmerdale / Coronation Street and/or Neighbours / Home and Away fan?

 

[indranee]

I've been told I change accents according to the people I hang out with. I don't do it deliberately. guess it just happens. when I'm with my bro who has a pronounced north jersey accent, mine matches his. when I speak with my dad and mom in English (they're Indian), then I think my English takes on a Bengali-Indian lilt. with my cousins, it's more of a bollywood-ish/fusion/Indian accent. when I'm at work or with friends, it's my usual Jersey/DC/Nova accent mixed in with some convent English (from my youth in India). yeah, pretty much of a hodgepodge, I am.

 

[captcalhoun]

nope. not watched Neighbours in nigh on twelve years now. never watched the others. it was just the way i pronounced odd words in work.

i can fake an Aussie accent, but it's a really broad-obviously-fake one. usually littered with 'nah wahhries!' and 'sheberight!' which i got from Sir Terry's The Last Continent

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I've been told I change accents according to the people I hang out with. I don't do it deliberately. guess it just happens. when I'm with my bro who has a pronounced north jersey accent, mine matches his. when I speak with my dad and mom in English (they're Indian), then I think my English takes on a Bengali-Indian lilt. with my cousins, it's more of a bollywood-ish/fusion/Indian accent. when I'm at work, it's my usual Jersey/DC/Nova mixed in with some convent English (from my youth in India). yeah, pretty much of a hodgepodge, I am.

It's quite a common occurrence - I had a schoolfriend whose accent was Scottish to our friends, but when talking to family she slips effortlessly into a more RP accent.

 

[Roshi]

I'm French!

'nuff said.

 

[indranee]

I've been told I change accents according to the people I hang out with. I don't do it deliberately. guess it just happens. when I'm with my bro who has a pronounced north jersey accent, mine matches his. when I speak with my dad and mom in English (they're Indian), then I think my English takes on a Bengali-Indian lilt. with my cousins, it's more of a bollywood-ish/fusion/Indian accent. when I'm at work, it's my usual Jersey/DC/Nova mixed in with some convent English (from my youth in India). yeah, pretty much of a hodgepodge, I am.

It's quite a common occurrence - I had a schoolfriend whose accent was Scottish to our friends, but when talking to family she slips effortlessly into a more RP accent.

yeah, and mine changes completely about a week into my visits to India. I grew up there until I was 15. hence why I had no problem accepting Gillian Anderson's English accent once she went back to live there. I think she was brought up in London during her childhood and teenage years.

Madonna's accent OTOH

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Well I have a "Northern" accent, but considering the amount of accents in this country you'd think the southern bastards would just stop saying "northern" as the accent.
Ah've gorr ah 'Ull accent... I suppose it's a Yorkshire accent, but isn't as broad as some other Yorkshire accents, but apparently more nasally... and we pronounce five and nine strangely. So I'm told, not that I've ever noticed.

 

[Canadave]

I'm French!

'nuff said.

So, basically, you're saying: Why else would you speak with that OUT-raaaaGOUS accent!

Anyway, my accent is pretty typical English Canadian. Fairly flat\neutral sounding overall, with a lot of "eh?"s mixed in.

I don't say "aboot", though.

 

[Roshi]

lol I'm just saying American actors who try to impersonate French accent actually try to much and don't sound correct at all. I think they're just impersonating Pepé Le Pew. When we're speaking English, we're worse.

 

[Saumer]

Yes, I have a very strong West of Scotland accent. Didn't realise how strong it must be until a friend from Minnesota was over visiting last summer.