Do you think accents matter? If you hear a strong accent do you instantly form an opinion of them & if so, why

Question

What are your favourite (& un-favourite accents?) Americans try to do a Brit accent & we laugh cos there's so many dialects, but we try to do the same with just a NY accent. We're as bad aren't we? (Remember who taught who here!)

Answer 1

I'm a Mackem and the North East accent is forever parodied. We do not go around saying Wey aye, man all the time. We do say it but not all the time.

Well, I might say it once a year, my colleagues are shocked when they hear it because although I was brought up on a rough estate (Pennywell), we had to speak properly and were not allowed to use slang. Swearing was a hanging offence.

However, now, people think I'm very intelligent, comes in handy that.





I have southern family (my sister married a 'foreigner' from Kent .. here's where I get into trouble ... he's Gravesend born and bred and we do get on quite well, we'd better after 29 years of knowing each other. I hated him at first but then, I was only 11 and he was taking my big sister away from me)

I have Brummie family (my aunt married a very wonderful man from Birmingham - my Uncle Fred)

I have Scandinavian family (my cousin married a Norwegian chap - Svein)

I have South African family (my cousin and her husband moved out there but her children were born there and have only ever lived there so they're South African).

Imagine all the accents at family get-togethers. Out of my three boyfriends one was from Chester and another was from Ghana.

Answer 2

Of course people insantly form an opinion.. Thats just what we do be it race religion or creed. There are lots of bad accents in the world luckely I dont have one . People are very quick to judge but once you get to know the person you will find that you have more in common then you think.Body launguage and facial expressions give more away then you think., If your on the phone and have a bad accent unless your funny forget it. My least favorite is southern states accent also Brummy and hmmm yorkshire.. favorite would have to be latina speaking english and also southern Irish.

Answer 3

I live in the American south and southern accents are easier for me to understand. It's the northern accents that I find sometimes difficult to stand.

The accents I hate are those when I call technical support and the person on the other end of the line is half a world away and can barely speak English, then gets annoyed because I can't understand their poor pronunciation.

Answer 4

The BBC realised after many years of those awful Ox-bridge accented newscasters that in reality people in Britain in general don't speak like that at all and the accent irritates us.
Don't take offence Brummies but in the UK your accent has to be the most excruciating, I have good Brummie friends but Honestly I often can't take them seriously because of the accent !!!! Before someone points it out I know that Shakespear most probably talked like a Brummie !!!
I have a toned down South Yorkshire accent so I'm not throwing stones. For the record, the only reason it is toned down is that I have been out of South York's for many years and natural attrition has occured. We should all be proud of our regional accents.........even the Brummies,,Te He :-)

Answer 5

I dont know where Mr. Ralph Fiennes is from, but he could whisper a grocery list and it would make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Sigh. Thats power.
Anyhow - I thought everyone on American TV sounded like they were from Detroit, not NY! And my mother is so southern I am probably my own first cousin, but I tell ya, its not the most intelligent sounding accent there is. She uses the yankee accent at work for that reason.
The only time accents really bother me, is when I cant understand them, and I have a hard time understanding heavy asian accents - especially when paired with a soft voice. Then I'm just embarrassed for not being able to undestrand them.

Answer 6

Favourite accents from around the world are Geordie, girls with a geordie accent fuzz my brain great! Love the Brooklyn accent. I'm a very broad cockney, living in Nth East Scotland, you can guess the rest!!!!!!

Answer 7

I love the irish accent, it feels really warm and easy to listen to. I also like the brummy accent as my grandparents whom I havent seen for years like there and I miss them, hearing the accent reminds me of seeing them when I was a child.

I dont like accents I cannot understand. I dont dislike or hate any accent in particular but the worst is if you ohone through to a help line and you are out through to some poor little worker in India who speaks with such a strong accent that you cannot understand a word of anything, let alone arrange help! (dell and 3 mobile are guilty of this!)

I also dont like stephen hawkins's accent, it freaks me out!

Answer 8

I do form opinions of people partly cos of their accents but that is only a minor issue in what I think of someone.

Answer 9

i have a black country accent, and sometimes people do treat me as if i am retarded. People generalise, ie blondes are dumb (not my opinon but you know what I mean) When you hear a plumb british accent you think intelligent, its just the way people are

Answer 10

I love a Cuban accent, it is so different from other dialects.