American Accent

[Yootopia]

Remember the scene in Hot Fuzz where the old farmer had to have his accent translated by the old cop to a form Nick frost could understand so he could translate it for Simon Pegg? All the people around where I live speak like that farmer. It's hard work even to say "hello".

You from the west country then, moi loverrrrrrrrr?

[DrunkenDove]

Remember the scene in Hot Fuzz where the old farmer had to have his accent translated by the old cop to a form Nick frost could understand so he could translate it for Simon Pegg? All the people around where I live speak like that farmer. It's hard work even to say "hello".

You from the west country then, moi loverrrrrrrrr?

I be visiting, stealing all the British jobs and women, like a good ex-pat should.

[No Names Left Damn It]

American accents are very easy to understand. They're clear and flat. I agree, as an American I too have trouble understanding foreign accents. What kinds? Every kind. I find the British easiest to understand, largely because it's not very strong.

There is no such thing as a British accent, seeing as Britain is composed of 3 different countries, all of which have different accents.

[Eofaerwic]

American accents are very easy to understand. They're clear and flat. I agree, as an American I too have trouble understanding foreign accents. What kinds? Every kind. I find the British easiest to understand, largely because it's not very strong.

There is no such thing as a British accent, seeing as Britain is composed of 3 different countries, all of which have different accents.

As does each county (well outside the Home Counties at least) and each city. What most people think of as a British accent is Received Pronunciation, and that just because up until relatively recently it was the accent BBC presenters had to use.

[Reprocycle]

American accents are very easy to understand. They're clear and flat. I agree, as an American I too have trouble understanding foreign accents. What kinds? Every kind. I find the British easiest to understand, largely because it's not very strong.

There is no such thing as a British accent, seeing as Britain is composed of 3 different countries, all of which have different accents.

Four different countries. Britain is different from Great Britain don't forget.

Sorry I can never resist

[Mt Id]

Ok if you want to say Britain has no accent then you have to say America has no accent. If Britain has three "different" accents america has atleast 4. There is the "New Yorker" accent, the "Southurn"(spelt like that on purpose) accent, the "Texan" accent, and the "Mid-Western" accent.

You can't base an entire accent of a country like america based on one or two people that you meet. Sometimes people here in america have trouble understanding each other and the way they talk. I live in the south and am constantly accused of sounding like I'm from the north because I've lived in areas where the southern influence has been rather minimal and so my accent isn't nearly as pronounced.

[Hydrosteria]

That entirely depends on the type of British accents, for instance a slightly posh or even cockney southern accent is far more colourful and with a lot more contrast than any normal American accent. Also, if people ever pretend to do an American accent in the UK, they do it by deliberately limiting the contrast in their accent and limiting the highs and the lows.

Hmm... hold on...

*Tries Out American Accent*

You make a very good point... I am now sitting here going "Hay There!" To myself.

Southern accents are incredibly easy to understand. If people claim not to understand you, they just hate you

generally British accents are flat and monotone without much expression, just a dreary drone; and I should know, I am one.

Eh that's lies and foreign propaganda, my man. People largely have some kind of regionality in their accent. The southern accent is probably the one you'd hear most on American TV, but a bit overdone. Speak with very clipped tones myself, but that's pretty rare anywhere in Britain.

My apologies, that should read, -Northern accents are hard to understand-Southern accents are easier to understand-

I was having a bit of a fools moment with my grammer it seems; and I am one of those eccentric oddities who speaks like an upper class snob despite my famies completely-and-utterly-non-upper-background.

[Levity]

Ok if you want to say Britain has no accent then you have to say America has no accent. If Britain has three "different" accents america has atleast 4. There is the "New Yorker" accent, the "Southurn"(spelt like that on purpose) accent, the "Texan" accent, and the "Mid-Western" accent.

You can't base an entire accent of a country like america based on one or two people that you meet. Sometimes people here in america have trouble understanding each other and the way they talk. I live in the south and am constantly accused of sounding like I'm from the north because I've lived in areas where the southern influence has been rather minimal and so my accent isn't nearly as pronounced.

America, like all other countries, has far more than 4 accents. Which "New Yorker" accent? Brooklyn? Long Island? Buffalo? My grandmother, who lives in NYC, sounds more like Katherine Hepburn than someone off of the Sopranos or an Olive Garden commercial.

The maps here: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html are good for thinking about US English accents.

I grew up in the Hudson River Valley and Connecticut and currently live in upstate New York. My accent probably is closest to the Inland North accent than anything else, but my vowels don't slide forward as much as people who have lived their whole lives here. (I hear it in my kids. When I say "bag, the "a" is vocalized much further back than most local people. ) I've maintained some of the characteristics of the Connecticut/Western New England accent, like the glottal stop in some of my words (Clint'n for Clinton, mitt'n for mitten).

And there are about as many Southern accents as there are southerners! Some are more difficult for me than others, as I don't hear them as often, and I think those maps don't account for the southern accents well...take Mississippi -- the Gulf Coast accent sounds a lot different to me than some of the more inland ones.

I love listening to accents. There are only a few that grate on me a little, and it's usually beacuse of the voice tone of the person speaking them, more than the accent itself.

[Mt Id]

Ok if you want to say Britain has no accent then you have to say America has no accent. If Britain has three "different" accents america has atleast 4. There is the "New Yorker" accent, the "Southurn"(spelt like that on purpose) accent, the "Texan" accent, and the "Mid-Western" accent.

You can't base an entire accent of a country like america based on one or two people that you meet. Sometimes people here in america have trouble understanding each other and the way they talk. I live in the south and am constantly accused of sounding like I'm from the north because I've lived in areas where the southern influence has been rather minimal and so my accent isn't nearly as pronounced.

America, like all other countries, has far more than 4 accents. Which "New Yorker" accent? Brooklyn? Long Island? Buffalo? My grandmother, who lives in NYC, sounds more like Katherine Hepburn than someone off of the Sopranos or an Olive Garden commercial.

The maps here: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/phono_atlas/home.html are good for thinking about US English accents.

I grew up in the Hudson River Valley and Connecticut and currently live in upstate New York. My accent probably is closest to the Inland North accent than anything else, but my vowels don't slide forward as much as people who have lived their whole lives here. (I hear it in my kids. When I say "bag, the "a" is vocalized much further back than most local people where it's ) I've maintained some of the characteristics of the Connecticut/Western New England accent, like the glottal stop in some of my words (Clint'n for Clinton, mitt'n for mitten).

And there are about as many Southern accents as there are southerners! Some are more difficult for me than others, as I don't hear them as often, and I think those maps don't account for the southern accents well...take Mississippi -- the Gulf Coast accent sounds a lot different to me than some of the more inland ones.

I love listening to accents. There are only a few that grate on me a little, and it's usually beacuse of the voice tone of the person speaking them, more than the accent itself.

I said atleast four because I know there are many many more but most can be separated under the BROAD categories I mentioned above.

[Ryadn]

mon= come on
wat= what
bout ye= what about you, (hello)
how's she cuttin= read above

My mum used to yell at me for changing 'o' to 'a' in words e.g. Chacalate, Shaps, etc. I'm forever grateful to her for breaking me of the habit

Sounds like my mom's accent--upstate New York.

[Reprocycle]

mon= come on
wat= what
bout ye= what about you, (hello)
how's she cuttin= read above

My mum used to yell at me for changing 'o' to 'a' in words e.g. Chacalate, Shaps, etc. I'm forever grateful to her for breaking me of the habit

Sounds like my mom's accent--upstate New York.

I got it from spending too much time with kids from Belfast

[Buffett and Colbert]

As an American, I sometimes have trouble understanding foreign accents, especially ones that I haven't heard very often. I work in a place where we have a lot of international visitors. I was wondering if others have any difficulty understanding Americans. Sorry if I sound like an ignorant American.

I have no trouble whatsoever understanding any type of accent. I have no idea why, but I just get them. But if you write as if you were speaking in an accent I'm sure I'll not be able to understand what the hell you are saying. I'm part of an American family living in Puerto Rico. For the most part I would say I have what is a Western American Accent which means that I basically have no accent at all. As long as you understand English, you should be able understand me. Of course, I don't say "uh" much, I say "eh" (not pronounced "ay." I'm no Canadian!!...) and I might say some things in Spanish by accident but that's about it.

[Pol and Queens County]

I live in New York City, and have lived their for my entire life, yet I don't have a strong accent. On the other hand I had an English teacher who spoke with the strongest Brooklyn accent you will ever hear.

[Buffett and Colbert]

American accents are very easy to understand. They're clear and flat. I agree, as an American I too have trouble understanding foreign accents. What kinds? Every kind. I find the British easiest to understand, largely because it's not very strong.

You're joking, right?

[Levity]

mon= come on
wat= what
bout ye= what about you, (hello)
how's she cuttin= read above

My mum used to yell at me for changing 'o' to 'a' in words e.g. Chacalate, Shaps, etc. I'm forever grateful to her for breaking me of the habit

Sounds like my mom's accent--upstate New York.

Rah-chester?

[Frei Volk]

Fun little story. I was on an exchange trip in Germany. The region I was in is said to have very good Germanic pronunciation. The Father at the host family spoke a dialect which the rest of his family laughed when he talked in it. It all sounded German to me. I don't think it is like that for people of other countries because they hear our accents all the time in pop-culture. I think my relatives in western New York sound funny, and they don't live that far away. No, silly relatives; it's not called pop.

[The Grand Philippines]

Pinoy accent!

[Dagnia]

I have been video chatting over Skype with a guy living in Australia who is originally from Bangladesh, and sometimes talk to his roommate who is from Persia. They both say that my English is far easier to understand than that of the Australians. I live in Buffalo, but am an Air Force brat, so I have lived in several different parts of the country. My parents are both originally from Buffalo.

There is no American accent. Given where I live and who I have dated, I talk more like a Canadian than an American (I don't say "eh" at the end of every sentence, nor do I say "aboot" in the place of "about", they really only talk like that in Alberta or Newfoundland). Our different regions talk with accents that can at times be difficult for other Americans to understand.

[Crabulonia]

Americans have no idea what I'm saying (Scottish eastern lowlander). I speak at a quicker pace than the American's I've found, I need to slow down to about half pace sometimes. It is like speaking to somebody who speaks a different language who has a tenuous grasp of English.

One day I kept my pace with Americans when I went home, my brother asked me why I was talking like a retard. Interestingly, we speak far quicker in Scotland and think people who speak slowly are in someway unable to think quickly. I've found this to not be true, but I'm not sure if the relative clarity of American accents means that they aren't as used to understanding people with different accents.

[Fionnuala_Saoirse]

Americans have no idea what I'm saying (Scottish eastern lowlander). I speak at a quicker pace than the American's I've found, I need to slow down to about half pace sometimes. It is like speaking to somebody who speaks a different language who has a tenuous grasp of English.

I find the same problem with regards to speed of speech. That and a blend of wierd vowel sounds and liltiness doesn't help.

[Crabulonia]

Americans have no idea what I'm saying (Scottish eastern lowlander). I speak at a quicker pace than the American's I've found, I need to slow down to about half pace sometimes. It is like speaking to somebody who speaks a different language who has a tenuous grasp of English.

I find the same problem with regards to speed of speech. That and a blend of wierd vowel sounds and liltiness doesn't help.

Still, I'd prefer varied speech existed because it tends to give me an air of mystery. A bit of other worldliness that American women find irresistable.

[Meowfoundland]

I'm pretty good at understanding thick accents. I go to a school which is about 80% immigrant or overseas student, so I get a lot of practice.

[Crabulonia]

I'm pretty good at understanding thick accents. I go to a school which is about 80% immigrant or overseas student, so I get a lot of practice.

I'm quite envious of that because though I'm not in a university where there is a good range of people from different countries, I went to a school that was 95% white, mostly Christian, no homosexuals, about two foreign students, and generally lacked diversity beyond the arbitrary divisions that high school kids erect.

[Risottia]

I was wondering if others have any difficulty understanding Americans.

I do. Some of them - expecially Southerners and Californians - are just barely more understandable than Pakistanis.
On the other hand, Bostonians and New Yorkers aren't much difficult to understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V6bnqRYkzo

[Crabulonia]

I was wondering if others have any difficulty understanding Americans.

I do. Some of them - expecially Southerners and Californians - are just barely more understandable than Pakistanis.
On the other hand, Bostonians and New Yorkers aren't much difficult to understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V6bnqRYkzo

They always sound like they're asking questions to me because when they are trying to explain something they go up at the end of every sentence. My experience certainly.