Can British people (and other non-U.S. English speakers) distinguish between different U.S. accents?

Answer 1

Yeah, I can...but only generally.
I can tell an East Coast accent from a West Coast accent from a Southern accent...I can even tell the difference between an American accent and a Canadian accent.

This gets tricky however when I try to distinguish where in those areas those accents come from.

E.g, I thought that all East Coasters sounded like New Yorkers, all West Coasters Sounded like Californians, and all Southerners sounded like they were from Texas...but when browsing Youtube I found that people from Boston have a different to people from New York City, and likewise with other similar similar situations in the other regions.

It's still extremely hard to tell, for me the differences in accent seemed more like differences in vocal quality and voice timbre rather than actual seperate accents, but I'm sure an American would be more familiar with the differences, and therefore be able to tell them apart more easily.

As an Australian, I find that British accents are far more varied...you can practically walk to the other side of the River Thames and there's a different accent to the side you were just on. There are hundreds of accents in Britain, and some are so hard to imitate or even understand, whereas some are easy.

I have an Australian accent, but once for fun, I decided to imitate one of the few British accents I can do well while i was at work to a British co-worker, and she said i sounded just like the Prince William...I then decided to do a completely different British accent, and she said it sounded like nothing like one; so it all depends on how exposed you are to different accents and and how familiar you are with them.

Answer 2

I can tell when there's a difference but cannot pin-point the geographical location.

I could probably tell north from south US accent.

In the UK there are different accents for almost every county and even within each county although it's becoming less so now that people are more mobile. Bear in mind that one of our counties is only about 50miles across. I live in West London and can tell someone from Central London by their accent.

Answer 3

British people talk funny but they tell Americans they are the funny talking ones. The bigger question is: Are there regional accents in England. Do those who live in London sound different than those in Wales?

Answer 4

Yes but we cannot pinpoint specific areas, we can distinguish a California accent from a New York or a Georgia accent but that's about it really.

Answer 5

I'm Canadian, and in my experience, British people can not tell Canadian from American, so I doubt they can tell different Americans apart.
I can generally tell southern from northern, New York from Chicago or Boston, but I know a lot of Texans that I never would have guessed--they don't sound at all like Dubya OR JR.

Answer 6

Yeah - to some degree. I'm Scandinavian and we can easily distinguish northern American dialects from southern, and also different ethnics "lingoes".

But of course we can't tell the difference as good as Americans can, since we have no broader experiences than those we have from our medias...

Answer 7

can tell a new york accent and a texas accent but thats about it really

Answer 8

lol That is a good one. I live here and have been all over the USA and I can`t tell them all. Thats a good one.

Answer 9

yes, i can, the difference between the caucasians and african americans, and those from the south.

i m from south east asia, by the way.

Answer 10

Yes, we certainly can!

But we won't know where in the US it correlates to, but picking the diference is easy!