Do You Have An Accent?

[Kamisama]

I'm from illinois.. So i wouldn't exactly know if i have an accent.
Most famous people come from the midwest and we keep a a humming tone to our voice.. sometimes it's ringing.. but that's about all i know..

 

[Fantt]

I grew up in Mississippi, though most people in Mississippi claim that I have very little (southern) accent. I think that means I don't sound like a hick. I'd like to think that I have more of a refined southern accent, but then that would be kind of prententious on my part, so let's say that I have a mild southern accent.

 

[TwistedMac]

heeeermynerby hoobydoo fertnert hoodydoo

OMG! I will not have you speaking ill of the equator like that!

 

[miu]

I have a weird Brit English accent. It doesn't sound like a Finnish accent but it doesn't sound like a natural Brit accent either... I think it's mostly because Finnish is a pretty monotonous language compared to English (which is stress timed and Finnish isn't). I was told that when I speak Japanese I sound like I'm Korean Go figure!

 

[Brooker]

In Seattle (and other West Coast cities) we speak the English you most often hear on American television and in movies (thanks to the location of Hollywood maybe), so some like to call this the Standard American Accent, as we don't really have accents that are distinctive on their own. We do use some regional words that aren't used often elsewhere though.

But I once had a conversation with some factory workers from Northern Ireland and they couldn't seem to understand a word I said (and vise versa). Guess they didn't watch many American movies. ☝

 

[Flashjeff]

I live in Philadelphia, and I don't think people here in Pennsylvania have any sort of accent. At least I've never noticed one.

 

[Maciamo]

In English everyone has an accent because there is no standard English accent. There may be a standard AmE accent, BrE accent or even Aussie accent (standard Aussie accent ? well not too sure after all). But given that even in the US, which is more homogenous for pronucation than the UK, there is a quite big difference between a typical New Yorker, Californian or South-Eastern accent.

In languages like Italian, Spanish or Japanese, where the sounds are less numerous and more clearly defined, their may be dialects (different words) but hardly any accents (different pronuciation for the exact same word). If there is (like Kansai vs Tokyo accent) it's about the stress of the word (HAshi vs haSHI, etc.).

In other languages, there are accents, but one standard accent has been chosen so that any other accent can immediately be pointed out. French (of Europe, not Quebec) is the most obvious example.

To come back to the question, do I have an accent ? I am probably a special case given that I do not have one but many accents, which I can change voluntarily or which change according to my mood or the people I talk to. This is because I have learned many languages and strived to speak with the most "native-speaker" accent in each of them. So when asked to read a text in English, I can read it with a BrE accent (close to R.P., not BBC but more like Hugh Grant or Colin Firth), slight AmE accent (more California than New York), or French, Italian, German, Japanese, Chinese, Hindi accents or many other self-made accents not from any particular languages. My "natural" accent is none of them though, but depends a lot on my mood, and is closer to BrE spoken with a soft French voice (esp. when I am tired).

 

[Brooker]

@Maciamo...
So you've got the international supermodel accent.

 

[Lina Inverse]

I didn't have that much interaction with English speakers, but have never been told that I have an accent, so I wouldn't know...

 

[Dream Time]

one of my friends says i have an accent
i am not sure about that, i want to get rid of the accent, but i've heard that it is impossible to do so?

 

[Nothingness]

I'm just dumb.

I speak like a higher class hick.

 

[jspecdan]

i was born in chicago and grew up learning English mixed between midwest and new england (hows that for a weird accent). i know that when I lived in japan for two years and then returned to the US, people said i had a heavy japanese accent when I spoke English.

that has since changed, but i turn my new england/chicago accent on and off. depends on who i'm talking to.

 

[Sally_Hawn]

I speak English with an accent... but not many people can tell what kind of accent it is (not Mandarin nor Cantonese). Anyway, at work, most of the time I don't even need to deal with English-speaking clients, so it is not really a problem for me.

 

[Carth]

I don't believe I have an accent then again some Californians and Bostonians could say that my method of speaking is a little Texan; even if I am not intending it to be.

 

[sgt. Pepper]

I speak a mixture of BrE and AmE with a Swedish accent (swedish accents sounds so ugly ^^).

Och i Sverige är jag från Halland, så det blir väl lite "kåv" och sånt, antar jag.

 

[Brooker]

I don't believe I have an accent then again some Californians and Bostonians could say that my method of speaking is a little Texan; even if I am not intending it to be.

EVERYONE has an accent.

 

[Shooter452]

EVERYONE has an accent.

Complete agreement. I find that when I relocate to a new region I often adopt the accent of the region, when using spoken English. I have tried to fight this habit (I do not always want to sound like a local in some cases). In a different language, I unconsciously adopt the accent of my teacher, but there are limits. In Japanese, I sound (I am told) like every other gaijin,

Not that it matters. I never mastered the language skill of the spoken tongue and did not even begin to understand the written language.


Ceteris paribus, cogito sumere potum alterum

 

[REX]

In Seattle (and other West Coast cities) we speak the English you most often hear on American television and in movies (thanks to the location of Hollywood maybe), so some like to call this the Standard American Accent, as we don't really have accents that are distinctive on their own. We do use some regional words that aren't used often elsewhere though.

But I once had a conversation with some factory workers from Northern Ireland and they couldn't seem to understand a word I said (and vise versa). Guess they didn't watch many American movies. ☝

Since you are from the Pac North West I agree your accent is slight but I live just north in Vancouver BC and I have to say that in Canada we have the purest and most understandable form of the English language.
Just say the name of your State and you will be busted.
If you know what I mean.

 

[Brooker]

Just say the name of your State and you will be busted.
If you know what I mean.

No sure I know what you mean. :? "Wash-ing-ton" seems pretty straightforward to me.

 

[Japanimaniac]

I have to say that in Canada we have the purest and most understandable form of the English language.

I thought, and was always told, that the ones who had the purest form of the english language were, in fact, the english. But, I guess not...? :?

 

[Glenn]

I guess you're going to have to define "pure" before we can really discuss this. If you mean the closest to the standard, then you're in trouble, because there is no standard.

 

[Japanimaniac]

Heh, very true. I didn't want to start a debate, though. I was just messing around. ^.^ As for me, I proudly speak 'Merican.

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, but there isn't even one of those. In fact, there are very different "Americans." For example, compare Chicago to Birmingham -- the two could possibly be mutually unintelligible.

 

[Japanimaniac]

Hhmm...dangit, got me again. Alright, well, I speak Southern Maryland...ish. When I call my friend in New York she always cracks up because she says I sound really country. I take it as a compliment.

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, I knew a guy from Maryland once who spoke like what I'm guessing you speak like, and I had a hard time believing that he was from Maryland for a while. I'm pretty sure I know what your accent sounds like, though.