How much do you notice people's accents?

Question

This is really just out of interest, but it relates to some research I'm doing.

How much do you find that you notice another person's accent? If it's different from your own, do you notice this immediately? Are you generally good at telling where a person's from based on their accent? How about other information (such as class, or age)? Do you find you just don't hear accents?

Please also tell me where you're from and what accent you consider yourself to have. Thanks!

Answer 1

I'm from the North East of Scotland, but I spent a lot of my childhood travelling as my father was in the forces. People can identify me as Scottish, but can't pin down where I'm from as it's not a particularly strong accent. Currently I live in Brunei in South East Asia in an extremely multicultural environment. I can now tell the difference between Canadians and Americans, and Australians and New Zealanders, which I always found difficult before. I'm reasonably good at identifying UK accents, but not great at identifying where in the US people are from, unless they have a particularly easy accent, like New York, or a Southern accent. I don't think I could tell a person's age by their accent at all, but I am as guilty as the next person for ascribing characteristics to certain accents, which is something I wish I didn't do, and something I would always try to hide!

Answer 2

I have a big interest in accents and I have to say I find some of them very sexy. Although Ireland where I am from has become more multicultural now, the best place to hear different accents would be the internet, I think I actually subconsiously at this stage, study every single person I type or talk to online. by listening to a persons accent I can tell generally where they are from and their class. (although just from the way people type it is possible to find out a lot about them, most type as they would speak and I watch their grammer.)
Generally the accent would not help me to guess a persons age, this I can figure out by the what they say, their outlook on life.
In my opinion everyone has an accent, its just that some people have a stronger accent than others. mild accents would be the mid atlantic type of accents (dj types) and the stronger ones would be a texan accent etc. I find a lot of americans insist they do not have an accent and feel it is an insult that someone might think that they do. I have an american friend I have chatted to for years and as time goes on we notice our accents less we would both say.
Every country seems to have many different accents, in dublin alone where I live there are a few different accents in one city, I have a south dublin accent myself.
I really love listening to people speak from all countries of the world, my favourite accents would be the snotty english accent and the florida accent, all in all accents are simply a pleasure to hear.

Answer 3

Last thing first: I'm American, an Ohioan, and have an accent that changes depending on who I spend most time with. Normally it is soft and somewhat Irish or Hispanic...or so I've been told. I have a slight "r" and "l" speech thingy going on....

First thing last: I always notice a person's accent and sometimes I do not know where they are from but will wonder if they're from someplace like Romania or Germany or whatnot. I have been embarrassed to ask anyone where they have gotten their lovely accent from ever since asking a Filipino man where he was from after recognizing his language and he got a little tense talking about where he was from. I didn't realize it might embarrass people to have someone wonder where they're from. But yes, I always hear the accents...but do not always know what the accent can tell me about the person.

Answer 4

I notice any hint of accent immediately.
I can tell certain accents better than others just because I have friends in New York, New Jersey,England, and family back in Virginia.
I usually ask the person where they are from; if they are visiting or recently moved here I welcome them to California. I have grown up here in California and there are people from all over the world have lived here since I was little. So hearing an accent everyday isn't unusual.

I suppose I have a California accent. Although, I don't hear it.

Answer 5

I love accents I listen to that before I hear what the person is saying I'm good at pinpointing where people are from because I used to travel a lot up and down the map too as for class and age I can get the jist but not very well on the phone

Answer 6

I "love" listening to accents!

Its the first thing I notice about a person...
To me, a persons color, weight, height or anything else is unimportant and generally doesnt make an impression on me, but, you give me someone with an unusual accent and I will remember them for LIFE!

Aussie accents are the BEST! I could listen to them all day long!

Some English accents rub me the wrong way, like a burr under my saddle..they "grate" on my nerves, especially the corkney accent.

I can immediately tell if someone is not from this Country by thier accent.

I love a good "texas drawl"... It pleases me to no end to hear a woman with it.

Some accents, like those who are "backwoods" in Kentucky, you can barely understand them, and would think they were from a foreign Country!

I am from Ohio, with a Mid-Western accent.
Though, I say "wash" instead of "warsh", and I say "soda" instead of "pop", thats about the only thing that differentiates me from most Ohioans.

I wish you well...

Jesse

Answer 7

Hi,
I am from Suffolk, UK, so I have a slight Suffolk/Norfolk accent. It has 'weakened' through the generations though, so I don't have a broad accent like my parents.
I am very aware of accents, and think I'm good at knowing where people are from. I'm sure I would pick up a different accent very quickly if I moved to another area/country. For example, when spending a lot of time with an American friend, I'm sure I started to sound ever so slightly American! This wasn't intentional.
My friend, however, said she no longer differentiated between an English & American accent?!?!
Good luck with your project!

Answer 8

Yes, I notice accents immediately. I am somewhat good at knowing where the accent is from. I work in the medical field in a metropolitan area so I get people from all over the world. I've learned to identify them because I just ask the patient where they are from. Class? uh...somewhat, but I've learned looks can be very deceiving. Age... pretty much can tell a person's age (even from their writing).

Where am I from? Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. I don't have an accent......yinz do. Now I gotta go dantan and git some pants n' nat. LOLOL

Answer 9

I do notice accents immediately, and find them interesting. I enjoy listening to people with accents other than mine. It's funny, because when we moved from Minnesota to Texas many years ago we had a hard time understanding people here....and some of them had a hard time understanding us. Not only due to heavy accents, but also due to some different terminology -- such as Minnesota's "stocking caps" are Texan's "tobagans". Minnesota's "kitty corner" is Texan's "katty corner." Minnesota's "pop" is Texan's "coke". (All soda pops are Coke's to many Texan's. My neighbor would ask me if I wanted a coke, then ask what kind. We one time went to a grocery store looking for the pop, and they didn't know what we were talking about until we said coke.)

We loved listening to Texans talk. Now, we don't notice Texas accents......unless they are the real heavy, deep Texas drawls. But.............we do notice the Minnesota accents! Funny how that changes after time. We no longer have the sharp Minnesota accent, but we have enough of it left that Texans can detect it. When we go back to Minnesota on visits people hear our Texas accent.

I can't really pin point the origins of different accents except those that I am very familiar with............like Minnesota and Texas. But I can usually determine the general US region an accent is from. Some foreign accents.....such as Mexico, France, Italy, England, Australia, Africa.....are somewhat familiar to me, and I can usually make a good guess as to where they originate, but I'm rather limited on that.

I'm not sure what you mean by class or age............if you mean in relation to accents, or if we notice different classes or ages. If it's in relation to accents, I guess I somewhat detect a difference in some people as to what social class they may be in, but not often. And age...........no, I don't notice a difference there as far as accent.

If you mean do we notice different classes or ages, I do notice somewhat, but not really. It's not something I look for or that really stands out to me unless it is very evident. Actually, I do notice the elderly because I enjoy them and really have a heart for them, but other than the very young, or the very old I don't differentiate or group people.

I was born and raised in Minnesota, moved to Texas when I was 30, and we have been here in Texas for 23 years. I consider myself to have an accent that doesn't really belong anywhere because it is now Minnesota Texan.

Interesting subject. :)

Answer 10

I generally notice foreign accents, except Canadians. For Americans, I notice Bostonian accents (I grew up there, but have lost my accent after years of not living there) and Southern accents. I can pick out someone from the South by just one word, but I couldn't tell you where in the South they come from. Most other accents, I don't even notice unless I can't understand them (had that problem in W. Texas).