Can anyone NOT from Australia or New Zealand actually tell the difference in accents?

Question

Just out of curiosity....I lived in England where I was continually asked if I was an aussie!! grr
I lived with an aussie (with a very broad accent) and an english guy and asked after a year if he could tell the difference in accent.....he couldn't!! Can anyone else actually hear the differences in accent....or duffrunces un uksent as we say it here apparently.

Answer 1

Usually. I mean, there's a big difference between Paul Hogan, Jesse Spencer, and Peter Jackson's accents.

Although I pegged an Australian who had lived in England as a Kiwi once, so it doesn't always work for me.

Answer 2

I'm also Aussie and I guess for us there is a real difference between the accents. I live in Croatia now, and I've just started to tell some slight differences between the guys here and say Bosnians or Serbs, its really hard. But a funny story I heard is about a foreigner who moved to New Zealand, then to Australia after a few years, and asked someone in Aus for a 'pig' to hang up her clothes. The Aussie finally worked out what she was saying and cracked up laughing. But the person had no idea that she said something funny. She thought a clothes 'peg' really was a pig!! Poor thing, accents make life difficult at times.

Answer 3

I was born and grew up in Canada, have lived in Australia for 'donkey's years', as they say here. When I first came here, I could not tell the difference, but I find it easy to tell now.

As a matter of interest, most Aussies ask if I am American...

Answer 4

I've only heard the Aussie & NZ cricketers speak....but no, never noticed any difference. Will pay attention to it in future though.

Answer 5

Yeah I think it's easy to tell the difference

Answer 6

i'd like sux dullers werf uv fush n' chups muster

Answer 7

Honestly, No!.. But its serioulsy hard!.. They're both really similar!. =D