manning1 Joined: 2002-04-24 Posts: 1,456 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
I bumped into an American at work today and we got conversational and I noticed many of the words he uses are quite different in there pronunciation. I prefer English pronunciation personally, but he thought I sounded funny  Cheeky git I speak splendid English  | ||
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James Wheeler Joined: 2000-12-10 Posts: 2,657 Files: 7,247 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
I meet many people from England and from the US when I'm in Amsterdam in the weekends and I understand the people from US with no problem but with the ones from England I really I have to hear good what they're saying and it's not because they're always stoned out of their mind. Maybe it's because I watch more American movies so it's more easy to understand.
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manning1 Joined: 2002-04-24 Posts: 1,456 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Quote: Bloody hell  you don't speak English you speak American
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Solekid2u Joined: 2003-02-23 Posts: 1,182 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Whenever I travel to the US (about once a year) I am always mistaken for an Austrailian for some reason. I have a Northern English accent (Yorkshire) which in my opinion sounds nothing like an Aussie accent...but it amuses me none the less, and sometimes I play along with it.
G'day blue. Sk2u It's all about feet is what it's all about! | ||
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manning1 Joined: 2002-04-24 Posts: 1,456 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Quote: When I use to visit yahoo chat many years ago there were a few Americans that couldn't identify my accent and they said I sounded like an Australian.  Like you I sound nothing like an Aussie. I would describe my accent as well spoken, but I am not posh. I was originally born in the south near London and I have definitely retained most of my southern accent. I now live in the west midlands and my home town is called Solihull 
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Rambone Joined: 2006-06-23 Posts: 364 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
I'm an American and I understand English just fine. I actually think some of the Irish and Scottish accents are a LOT harder to decipher.
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Aelfgifu1 Joined: 2006-06-04 Posts: 10 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
I'm currently in Germany and one of my friends at the German school here says that he can't understand my German, because I speak it with an American accent. He has no problem with people who speak German with a British accent. I'm constantly having to repeat myself.
Have a nice day, Kelly 
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manning1 Joined: 2002-04-24 Posts: 1,456 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Quote: Us Brits always do it best. You need to speak clearly and concisely old boy 
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rickhatman Joined: 2005-05-04 Posts: 217 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
On a related note, I'm an American myself and I know a lot of Americans who can fake an English accent. Some better than others, but nevertheless. I wonder, can many Englishmen and women fake an American accent a la Hugh Laurie as Dr. House? To me, it just seems odd to fake an American accent, but of course, it isn't an accent to me since it's what I've grown up hearing. Probably the same thing is true for the English accent if you are a Brit.
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Rambone Joined: 2006-06-23 Posts: 364 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Quote: From what I understand, it's much harder for a Brit to fake an Ameircan accent than the other way around. It's a grey area, though, considering the fact that there are many American accents that are very different from each other. | ||
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manning1 Joined: 2002-04-24 Posts: 1,456 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Quote: I can fake a pretty good variety of American accents, but as for the rest of the English we are far to busy being English  Checkout this link www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLsVh6Qrpew&mode=related&search= | ||
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kwab Joined: 2002-12-25 Posts: 580 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
I had a couple of Aussie friends come over last summer. While we were in San Francisco, one of my friends had their accent mistaken as a Brooklyn accent.
 Funny enough, she told me a couple of stories where she's back at home working and a customer would ask her how long she's been in the country because she sounded like a Yankee. All she could do was go   | ||
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Whogirl123 Joined: 0000-00-00 Posts: 268 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Rambone wrote: |
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speaker2animals Joined: 2002-10-06 Posts: 751 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
manning1 wrote: I don't agree about the difficulty of Brits doing American -- I think there's a lot more actors doing that than American actors affecting a Brit accent -- actually trying to pass as a native rather than uttering a few sentences with that accent. All this reminds me of a visit years ago to Stockholm. where I took a boat tour and the guide (a beautiful blonde, of course) started out by asking the nationalities of the various passengers. Hearing that there were Americans (myself) and English, she traded back and forth between both accents when she was speaking English -- and she sounded like a native in both cases. She also talked in German, French and IIRC, Italian. I also remember a few years ago when that crazy Muslim crashed a car into the terminal at Edinburgh airport. A CNN reporter, or someone local and picked up by CNN, was talking to the fireman who grabbed the terrorist and even though he was speaking English, his burr was so thick there were subtitles. | ||
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speaker2animals Joined: 2002-10-06 Posts: 751 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Solekid2u wrote: |
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Howling Joined: 2000-05-03 Posts: 172 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Rambone wrote:The only American accents I could possibly identify are probably New York, the deep south and possibly Californian. Like James Wheeler said, thats probably only due to watching American movies. As for all the states inbetween, I wouldn't have a clue! As for being easier to fake a 'British' accent, I disagree. There are many British accents... I live on the east coast of Scotland and there is a difference between the local accent here and the accent in Glasgow on the west coast. And Aberdeen further north is different, as is that of the Shetland Islands. There is a difference between north and south Wales (especially if your first language is Welsh). And then in England you have a southern accent like mine, which is different to the Cornish accent, the Birmingham, Cockney, Brummie, Geordie and Yorkshire accents!  | ||
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The MoonShadow Joined: 2000-04-14 Posts: 500 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Seems to me there's as many different British accents as American ones. I have to admit that I have to use the closed caption button sometimes when I watch BBC America.
 Actually, one time I turned on BBC America and the show already had captions.  | ||
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Howling Joined: 2000-05-03 Posts: 172 Files: 0 Thanked: 0 Downloaded: 0 Uploaded: 0 |
Actually Solekid2u, for some unknown reason I've always thought you were Australian... no idea why! Must have read something wrong somewhere down the line...!
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