Do Americans notice the differences in British accents?

Question

If I go to America everyone just sounds "American" although I do realise that there are different accents E.g southern and New York accents.
Do americans find the same with us,or does a Yorkshire accent sound the same as a Somerset or "home Counties"

Thanks for all answers so far!!
Im interested in everyones comments.
It's late now in UK, so I'm of to bed .
I'll choose best answer in the morning!!!

Answer 1

I for one do. But perhaps my Scottish - Irish - Welsh /Scots-Irish/English blood and awareness of my ancestry has sharpened me (I am also a musician and when in London was able to hear dozens of accents even within London - I am also fluent in Spanish and can tell Central American from Castilian, can distinguish a German speaking German as compared with a Swiss National speaking it, etc.).

But BTW there are many American accents: California (the lack of an accent, like Lancashire or Eric Burdon), Texas - the deepest drawl, No'th Ca'lina - clipped versus Mississippi's slow-talk; New England, much like your own East Anglia accent; Chicago - with a very round and liquid sound; New York - with its clipped shrillness, Detroit - which sounds almost Canadian; Sooth Dahkoota - where they pronounce o's like Dutchmen.

Gettting back to the UK, I can hear the difference between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen as well as "Fat Bastard"-type phony accents ala Mike Myers. I also can tell Liverpool, Giordie, South'ampton, Cockney, BBC, etc. It is very obvious to me but again, I may be more in tune than most. So I am not sure if I am typical. I'd wager that in general the Canadians are better at this than most in the States.

Cheers!

Answer 2

It surprises me that Americans (well, some, at least) can't tell the difference. I'm French and I can tell the difference, although I wouldn't be able to reproduce them AT ALL, and wouldn't be able to place them as I live in London, and you get to hear so many different accents (and pronunciations). The only ones I can recognize are RP English (well, that's what we hear the most at school), Scottish, and Manchester accents.

I can also make the difference betzwwen American and British English, and even among American accents (although, once again, apart from the accent from Wisconsin - where I lived - or Texas, I wouldn't be able to place them either.

Accents from other countries, I tend to confuse them with either American or British accents. My ears haven't been trained enough!

Answer 3

I'd say that some Americans can distinguish between British accents, but most cannot. I don't think that I could.

There are subdivisions of accents: national, regional, local. For example, my cousins who grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, NY can distinguish a "Forest Hills" accent, but I, who grew up in Long Island City, Queens and now lives in Corona, Queens, cannot, even though Forest Hills less than a mile away. I'm not even sure I can distinguish a Bronx accent from a Brooklyn accent, though many can. However, I can surely tell a Southeastern U.S. accent from a Northeastern one. I can also tell a Boston accent from a New York one.

Which is all to say, when it comes to distinguishing accents, you're in good company!

Answer 4

I hear the differences in the British accents, the one country that surprises me is Australia. There they have combinations of accents.
I remember working with a young woman who was 4 when she left New York to live in Jamaica. She was talking and I asked her what part of the south she lived in.
Everyone gave me a bad time and insisted that she had lived only in New York and Jamaica.
She just smiled and asked me what was it she said to give it away?
Everyones jaws dropped and they stared at me. She was also from a southern state named Louisiana.
I have not thought of Dannet for sometime, thank you for the question, it brought back many wonderful memories.

Answer 5

I hear the differences between the heavy cockney accent and the more glamorous "regular" english accent. I love the english accent. I think it makes a person sound more refined and intelligent. I can also tell the difference between austrailian and south african accents though. Not a lot of Americans can. I guess I have a good ear for linguistics. cheery-o

Answer 6

Americans generally can't tell the difference. I think it's because Americans tend to keep themselves fairly insulated from the rest of the world, and really are fairly oblivious to anything not American.

Actually, most Americans I know not only can't tell the difference between Cockney, Queen's English, or the accent of someone from Liverpool, they generally can't even tell the difference between the accent of people that are Irish, Scottish, English, Australian, or South African. However, most can tell if someone is Canadian.

Although I've lived in the U.S. most of my life, I think I'm an exception because I'm used to hearing the differences in others languages - I also speak Spanish, French, and Hebrew.

Answer 7

I know the difference between a Cockney accent and a refined accent (such as Tony Blair) and maybe an Essex accent but that's it. Of course, I haven't actually known any British people in my life. I just watch BBC America.

Answer 8

At first blush, everyone from England sounds "British" to me.

However, if I listen more carefully, I do notice some differences between speakers from London, Yorkshire and Liverpool. Some of the same pronunciation differences that exist in the different regions of England repeat themselves in North America too.

For example, "garage' is pronounced guh-rozh in Seattle and Los Angeles but guh-rodge in New York. I've noticed that Londoners pronounce it guh-rozh while Liverpudlians pronounce it guh-rodge, just like New Yorkers.

R-insersition is found in New York City and Boston as in awr-ful and ar-topsy (awful; autopsy) but it also turns up again in Yorkshire English.

One feature of Somerset (or West Country) English, I'm told, is the tendency to pronounce initial s and intervocalic 's' as 'z'. It turns up occasionally in North America where they say "zit, zee, zink and gæ-zo-leen" for 'sit, see, sink and gasoline' in the Chesepeake Bay area and "ree-zorss" for 'resource' in the Chesepeake (Cheh-zuh-peek) Bay area and Canada.

The ee-ther/ nee-ther and igh-ther/nigh-ther distinctions for 'either' and 'neither' can be found about equally in both the United States and England. There is more of a tendancy to say "igh-ther" and "nigh-ther" in the Southern States.

Answer 9

We do know that there are different British accents but it's a lot harder to distinguish between them for me at least. I think that if I heard them all say the same sentence I'd be able to tell.

Answer 10

Oh, definitely. My two brothers-in-law grew up in England (thanks to boarding school) and they both have upper-crusty accents. One of them lives in Sheffield and his sons have that northern accent (which, according to my brother-in-law, is considered undesireable, but we we Yanks just adore). I can identify a Cockney accent and a, well, lower-class accent, such as the one that Lady Sovereign has.

In general, it's easier for us to understand the upper-crusty accents. The lower-class accents tend to use a lot of glottal stops, drop a lot of consonants and sound somewhat sing-songy.

I'd say that Nanny Jo of Supernanny has a lower-class accent. She uses an 'f' in place of 'th' and some other things I can't think of right now.

I grew up in New York but now live in California. My kids constantly make fun of my accent and I of theirs. It's all in good fun!