|
question for non-americans (pg. 2)
|
View this Thread in Original format
| swisstoni |
| i'm just watching ER and the english bird really really stands out, even tho i am english, after listening to all american accents, when she speaks, i can tell instantly :toothless |
|
|
| eXo |
| Everyone sounds and looks the same to me. :conf: |
|
|
| montie |
| I WANT A WALDORF SALAD!!!!! |
|
|
| tubby |
americans have a lot of differnet accents, but all are easily idetifiable as american to outsiders.
Americans on the other hand generally have little idea about other accents. I got asked in ohio if I was from pennsylvania cos those were the licence plates on my rental car, despite a pretty damn obvious aussie accent. but then aussie accents in american movies sounds like nothing i've ever heard elsewhere. |
|
|
| swisstoni |
| quote: | Originally posted by tubby
americans have a lot of differnet accents, but all are easily idetifiable as american to outsiders.
Americans on the other hand generally have little idea about other accents. I got asked in ohio if I was from pennsylvania cos those were the licence plates on my rental car, despite a pretty damn obvious aussie accent. but then aussie accents in american movies sounds like nothing i've ever heard elsewhere. |
when i have been listening to american accents, then hear an auzzie accent, i sometimes mistake them in the first few words for being a brit with a cockney accent (sorry) but i usually quickly realise |
|
|
| -=M=- |
dude thats just like me asking "Since i'm in australia and dont notice the accents of my aussie mates - do i have an accent to you?"
pfft |
|
|
| Mr. Pink |
I know a lot of foreign people who have no accents whatsoever.
so basing it on the way people pronounce words isn't really valid, imo.
For the most part it is...but there are many many exceptions. |
|
|
| Lumps |
I've got four words for you - KING OF THE HILL.
Not Hank, per se, but the characters in general. |
|
|
| Mako |
| quote: | Originally posted by Dj Dizzy
this is something i've always wondered, you can tell when someone is american or not by the way they talk |
Hmm seems like you are planning to go to Europe, and you want to mask that Yank accent? Your best bet: Put a Canadian flag on your backpack. ;) |
|
|
| trancepixie17 |
| quote: | Originally posted by montie
I WANT A WALDORF SALAD!!!!! |
** Is that the fruit and marshmallow one????? if so, it taste awesome. |
|
|
| ViolentNature |
only southerners, new englanders, new jersey people, new yorkers, americans with deep accents in general would have a hard time covering their american accents if they wanted to imo. being out west it's not too hard to change my accent at all. I remember living in new york one summer and I came back with a new york accent before.. same thing when i stayed in london for a couple months,I can do a pretty good cockney accent, but the other english ones take practice. Aussie is harder to learn imo then an english accent.
it's probably because being out in california, all that hollywood rubs off on the locals. |
|
|
| Lira |
| quote: | Originally posted by Dj Dizzy
this is something i've always wondered, you can tell when someone is american or not by the way they talk, but do we have an accent to you?
i live in atlanta so i hear alot of southern accents but i'm from cleveland so i sound completely different, those kinds of differences anyone can tell, but does the average typical american have an accent? |
Yes, and these are the reasons:
1 - Rhotic: You guys pronounce the letter "r" in hard, which doesn't happen in other dialects (like Brit or Aussie English). From this point, we know you're not from these places.
2 - non-labialization of "o": When you say "god" it sounds like "gaaad" for foreign speakers, which doesn't happen in other dialects (like Irish or Scottish english).
3 - entonation: you guys speak in a "circular" way... kinda hard to describe.
4 - Southern US: you guys talk very nasal and the way you release the vowel is quite peculiar.
Keep in mind that we ALL have accents. I have accent in Portuguese even though it's my native tongue. Why? Because I speak the way people from my district talk. If I go anywhere else, there'll be some minor differences, which is what accents are.
here are the common mistakes americans do when speaking a foreign language:
1 - "r": you guys usually can't say the "tapped r", like in Spanish, Italian and Japanese; nor the "r" with your throught (German, French). As we have both sounds in Portuguese, we can spot an American speaker right away.
2 - "a": Keep in mind that our "a" is, 90% of the times, your "o" (as in "god"). In Portuguese, we listen to "bad" the same way you say "bed", so when you say "samba" we listen "semba". Once again, not hard to distinguish.
3 - vocal glides: this is quite common in english. You guys have some sounds that only appear in dipthongs, reason why often when you listen to these sounds in another languages, you tend to glide between the vowels as well.
4 - "t", "d": You guys usually aspirate too much pronouncing these sounds or pronounce it as a "tapped r" so, when you guys try to say "Italy" we hear "Iraly".
And so on...
by the way, don't expect people to distinguish North American accents easily when English is not their native tongue. Personally, I can only distinguish 4 accents:
- From Vancouver (and only if they say things like "about", "ice" and "ace")
- From Southern US
- From NYC
- From the rest of Canada/US |
|
|
|
|
