British people only: Do the English think American's have accents?

Question

I know Americans think the British have beautiful accents but i never considered myself to have an accent. I think i speak normally of course. I want to know what do the British think of American speech. Do we talk different?

Answer 1

Yes -- and Americans CAN (if they have a good ear) learn to identify what their accent IS.

Although I'm a native speaker of American English, I have traveled to Britain on several occasions. I have a good ear for languages (I have studied eight or ten languages and remember enough of half a dozen to get by) and accents, and after three or four days in England I had to force myself NOT to imitate the local accent.

That exercise made me aware of my American accent, which was a VERY interesting experience. My native accent (West Coast, which is largely derived from the Midwest) uses broad, flat As and hard terminal Rs, with "ou" and "oo" sounds that are so glottal they sound swallowed (especially compared with the British tendency, in some regional dialects, to pronounce "out and about" as "ite and abite")

I have also had to "interpret" between speakers from different parts of the US; while hosting a colleague from North Carolina in Chicago once, I felt as if I was translating her requests to the waitress, and vice versa.

And of course, when I was simultanously addicted to Steve "The Crocodile Hunter" Irwin and watching the appendices on the DVD versions of "The Lord of the Rings," I learned to distinguish Australian accents from New Zealand accents.

If you're interested in seeing how a very talented British actor treats American accents, watch the Fox TV show "House," starring Hugh Laurie. His American accent is WONDERFUL, though to the advanced student of languages and accents it's clearly artificial, as he combines sounds from various different parts of the country (and at this time I have to think of Professor Henry Higgins from "Pygmalion:" "Born in Hounslow; mother Welsh, I should think.")

For fans of "House" who did NOT know Hugh Laurie is British, try to find some of his earlier BBC TV series, especially "Jeeves and Wooster" with his longtime friend Stephen Fry; he's also hilarious in the "Blackadder" series, playing the Prince Regent. You'll be amazed, and you'll likely howl with laughter. The man's brilliant... especially when he's playing someone who so clearly isn't.

Answer 2

Yes, we KNOW that Americans have accents! We know this from an early age, as we also know that British people from other parts of Britain ALSO have accents...!

But it takes a few more years to realise that EVERYONE has an accent of some sort, and what sounds 'normal' to my ears is a South East England accent to everyone who's not from South East England!!
; )

I still don't know which part of America someone's from just by their accent though ... but then, I've never actually TRIED!

And yes, you DO talk different! I always do a double-take when I hear someone say "Monday through Friday" or "Twenty of nine" for example! To English people those are incomplete sentences, but I'm well aware that you sometimes have to do those double-takes when British people speak!

Answer 3

Yes, of course you do. And you must have noticed there are all kinds of American accents - New York, Midwest, Deep South, West Coast and so on. Just as there are lots of different British accents - London (aka Cockney), Scottish, Welsh, Yorkshire, Scouse (that's Liverpool), West Country, etc.

Generally speaking, I like American accents, apart from the very harsh nasal ones. A girl with a soft, furry American accent can sound very sexy.

Answer 4

Yes, although my daughter finds it hard to hear accents at all. If you mean 'do they have accents that are regionally specific', well, we don't find them to be all that different from each other, but I can differentiate between north and south, and can often spot a New York or Texas accent. Your accent is known, by those who are into that kind of thing, as 'rhotic', that is the same group of accents as Scottish, Irish and Cornish (Cornwall is a county in the south west of England). So we probably don't think a lot about it: we are more or less used to hearing that sort of thing, plus we hear American accents on TV all the time.

So, yes, you do speak differently, but that's a good thing.

Answer 5

Of course you do! All countries have different accents, and most regions (ie American states and English counties) have accents that differ again....it's only natural! I think most American accents sound fine...I do wish you'd reinstitute the use of the letter 'u' in written words though, I never understood that!

Answer 6

I like the American accents. I love hearing all the different accents there.

Answer 7

Absolutely darling! The English language is suppose to be a bit more elegant and descriptive and clever at times - that's as far as sentence structuring. Pronunciation is an entirely different subject - too much to get into here. So the answer, in American English, could be just "yeah".

Answer 8

Sorry, I'm not English, but I had to answer... are you really arrogant, ignorant or completely closed up enough in your little American world to ask this??? Sorry, that probably sounded rude, therefore I truly mean my apology but really! Everyone has an accent. Even I realize my accent in French, English, etc. I guess it also depends on who says their opinion. I mean, an American may say you talk "normal" and an Australian would take great pleasure in saying you talk weird and exaggeratingly imitate you. See? It all depends.

Hope this helped (in spite of my slight rudeness for starters in this answer) ! :)

Answer 9

Every person on this earth has an accent that reflects the environment they grew up in.

Answer 10

PPP....I dont like American accent.....Britishes speak better but they are not good neither....The best accent is mine....;P