English English Accents Not From The Country, From The Language

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EvanescenceChibi Thursday 10th of August 2006 02:52:20 AM
English Accents - In America, I\'d venture to guess that most, if not all, native AE speakers are able to distinguish different types of accents (i.e. British [they\'re all the same to us, hehe], French, German, Spanish, and Italian). British sounds more proper and formal, Germans tend to make voiced consonants unvoiced, Italians tend to add extra vowels onto the end of words that don\'t have vowels on the end, etc. (Generally; there are French people, Germans Spanish people and Italians that have very good accents).

After being in Germany and hearing a ton of German teenagers speaking English with heavy German accent, it got me wondering...

What is characteristic of an English accent in [i]your[/i] native language?

squeak Saturday 19th of August 2006 06:29:12 AM
- Which region? :p

Anya Monday 21st of August 2006 09:48:56 AM
- This is a GREAT question!

When I first came to the US, people thought that I was from Britain (as I learned British English).

Just recently, I couldn\'t figure out why on Earth everyone thought I was american when I didn\'t speak a bit of English in Nepal? One explanation is that some might think that ALL foreigners are americans, but that\'s not the case. Since I\'ve spent a large chunk of my life in the US now, I have acquired a distinct accent in my Nepali. I am sure that if I speak Spanish now, it will no longer have a Russian accent to it (even though that is originally how I learned it).

So, I guess it is possible to switch accents in mid life.

Anyone else have that experience or talked with someone with a mixed accent?

EvanescenceChibi Monday 21st of August 2006 10:05:36 AM
- For me, I kind of grew up with German, in a way. While I\'ve never lived in Germany, and my parents don\'t speak German, I still kind of feel that I have grown up with it.

The first time I visited Germany was when I was 2 years old. The age at which I was developing my speech, etc. Clearly, I was able to benefit from that, as I seem to be the only one in my German class who can manage to pronounce a German \'r\' (even the teacher can\'t! She\'s not even a native speaker of German, Lithuanian was her first language, but she speaks a lot of language).

I almost feel like I have the rhythms of German down, basically because of my exposure to it at a young age. However, I still feel that there\'s something...\"American\" about it, too, that native German speakers could immediately tell that I was from America when I talked to them. Im not quite sure what it is, though.

With French, Chinese, and Russian, I\'ll never be that way, I don\'t think. I didn\'t grow up with these languages, and they have a more distant relationship with English than German does (ESPECIALLY Chinese). The sounds are different, the rhythms are different, pretty much everything about the spoken language is different. So unless I live in France/China/Russia for a few years, I don\'t think I\'ll ever manage to rid myself of my horrible, American accent.

kea Monday 21st of August 2006 02:29:34 PM
- Estonians can have quite a strong accent in any language they speak (unless they have spent years living around the native speakers). They may not even make grammar mistakes but they have their accent. It is hard to describe though what is it about, especially when they speak English. Their accent is bigger when they speak Russian, then I think it is because Estonians are used to pronounce absolutely every letter very clearly and openly, Russians do that bit more smooth and narrow. And of course Estonians always like to stress the first syllable ;)

caeireann Monday 21st of August 2006 07:44:35 PM
- [quote][i]Originally posted by kea[/i]

Estonians can have quite a strong accent in any language they speak (unless they have spent years living around the native speakers). They may not even make grammar mistakes but they have their accent. It is hard to describe though what is it about, especially when they speak English. Their accent is bigger when they speak Russian, then I think it is because Estonians are used to pronounce absolutely every letter very clearly and openly, Russians do that bit more smooth and narrow. And of course Estonians always like to stress the first syllable ;)[/quote]

HEHE. Hea küll Kea!

But my partner doesn\'t have an Estonian accent when he speaks English, rather a very BBC English accent! LOL I will have to make him speak more Irish-like! :D

But yes it is true, I have found that Estonians and Finns have a very heavy accent when they speak English or French. But then again, I can recognise an Italian, German, Dutch, French or Spanish person when they speak English. They all have a very specific way of speaking and pronouncing words. It is easy to recognise for me. :)

squeak Tuesday 22nd of August 2006 02:51:19 AM
- [quote][i]Originally posted by Anya[/i]

Anyone else have that experience or talked with someone with a mixed accent?[/quote]

Although my Greek isn\'t good enough for me to hear the regional accents usually (though I can hear differences when speaking to two Greeks from different parts of Greece), I have been told that someone I used to work with spoke Greek with at least some of his Scouse (Liverpudlian) accent!

Phrasebase Archive
	EvanescenceChibi	Thursday 10th of August 2006 02:52:20 AM
	English Accents - In America, I\'d venture to guess that most, if not all, native AE speakers are able to distinguish different types of accents (i.e. British [they\'re all the same to us, hehe], French, German, Spanish, and Italian). British sounds more proper and formal, Germans tend to make voiced consonants unvoiced, Italians tend to add extra vowels onto the end of words that don\'t have vowels on the end, etc. (Generally; there are French people, Germans Spanish people and Italians that have very good accents). After being in Germany and hearing a ton of German teenagers speaking English with heavy German accent, it got me wondering... What is characteristic of an English accent in [i]your[/i] native language?
	squeak	Saturday 19th of August 2006 06:29:12 AM
	- Which region? :p
	Anya	Monday 21st of August 2006 09:48:56 AM
	- This is a GREAT question! When I first came to the US, people thought that I was from Britain (as I learned British English). Just recently, I couldn\'t figure out why on Earth everyone thought I was american when I didn\'t speak a bit of English in Nepal? One explanation is that some might think that ALL foreigners are americans, but that\'s not the case. Since I\'ve spent a large chunk of my life in the US now, I have acquired a distinct accent in my Nepali. I am sure that if I speak Spanish now, it will no longer have a Russian accent to it (even though that is originally how I learned it). So, I guess it is possible to switch accents in mid life. Anyone else have that experience or talked with someone with a mixed accent?
	EvanescenceChibi	Monday 21st of August 2006 10:05:36 AM
	- For me, I kind of grew up with German, in a way. While I\'ve never lived in Germany, and my parents don\'t speak German, I still kind of feel that I have grown up with it. The first time I visited Germany was when I was 2 years old. The age at which I was developing my speech, etc. Clearly, I was able to benefit from that, as I seem to be the only one in my German class who can manage to pronounce a German \'r\' (even the teacher can\'t! She\'s not even a native speaker of German, Lithuanian was her first language, but she speaks a lot of language). I almost feel like I have the rhythms of German down, basically because of my exposure to it at a young age. However, I still feel that there\'s something...\"American\" about it, too, that native German speakers could immediately tell that I was from America when I talked to them. Im not quite sure what it is, though. With French, Chinese, and Russian, I\'ll never be that way, I don\'t think. I didn\'t grow up with these languages, and they have a more distant relationship with English than German does (ESPECIALLY Chinese). The sounds are different, the rhythms are different, pretty much everything about the spoken language is different. So unless I live in France/China/Russia for a few years, I don\'t think I\'ll ever manage to rid myself of my horrible, American accent.
	kea	Monday 21st of August 2006 02:29:34 PM
	- Estonians can have quite a strong accent in any language they speak (unless they have spent years living around the native speakers). They may not even make grammar mistakes but they have their accent. It is hard to describe though what is it about, especially when they speak English. Their accent is bigger when they speak Russian, then I think it is because Estonians are used to pronounce absolutely every letter very clearly and openly, Russians do that bit more smooth and narrow. And of course Estonians always like to stress the first syllable ;)
	caeireann	Monday 21st of August 2006 07:44:35 PM
	- [quote][i]Originally posted by kea[/i] Estonians can have quite a strong accent in any language they speak (unless they have spent years living around the native speakers). They may not even make grammar mistakes but they have their accent. It is hard to describe though what is it about, especially when they speak English. Their accent is bigger when they speak Russian, then I think it is because Estonians are used to pronounce absolutely every letter very clearly and openly, Russians do that bit more smooth and narrow. And of course Estonians always like to stress the first syllable ;)[/quote] HEHE. Hea küll Kea! But my partner doesn\'t have an Estonian accent when he speaks English, rather a very BBC English accent! LOL I will have to make him speak more Irish-like! :D But yes it is true, I have found that Estonians and Finns have a very heavy accent when they speak English or French. But then again, I can recognise an Italian, German, Dutch, French or Spanish person when they speak English. They all have a very specific way of speaking and pronouncing words. It is easy to recognise for me. :)
	squeak	Tuesday 22nd of August 2006 02:51:19 AM
	- [quote][i]Originally posted by Anya[/i] Anyone else have that experience or talked with someone with a mixed accent?[/quote] Although my Greek isn\'t good enough for me to hear the regional accents usually (though I can hear differences when speaking to two Greeks from different parts of Greece), I have been told that someone I used to work with spoke Greek with at least some of his Scouse (Liverpudlian) accent!