Can Brits tell where an American is from by his/her accent.?

Question

I sure as h.ll can't distinguish between Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, and London accents!

Answer 1

I watched "How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days" and all the Americans (plus me, Canadian) thought it was extremely far-fetched that Matthew McConnahaugh (sp) came from Staten Island, but none of the Brits thought anything of it. Also, pretty much no Brits can tell a Canadian accent from an American one. So I say, no, not unless they've lived in the states.

I can tell northern England from London pretty easily (me dad's from the North).

Answer 2

Hi there Rhcpizno1, I completely understand what you mean. I am from the uk, and I find it difficult to believe that you cannot differentiate between Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and London...they are all so different. If you can, try to study a birmingham accent and a London one and you will spot the differences. Having said that, you probably find it amazing that us Brits cannot tell where an American comes from by his/her accent. I believe that most Brits can only tell the difference between a southern and northern accent.

Answer 3

Generally we can distinguish between North and South, and many people can pinpoint certain specific local accents - such as Bostonian and Brooklynese - but I doubt most could do better than that. Most of us can't tell the difference between an American and a Canadian, for example.

I can understand why you might not be able to distinguish between Leeds and Manchester - most people from the South of Britain can't either - but Birmingham has a very distinctive accent - as distinctive as Brooklyn - and London/Southern accents are very different from those of the North (Leeds and Manchester).

Answer 4

I can tell up to a point..eg New York is distinctive and so is the 'Beverley Hillbillies' type southern accents but I wouldn't be able to tell if someone came from the Virginias, Arkansas
Tennesee or the Carolinas.I would be stumped telling the difference between Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, Nebraska etc...I wish I could though. I'm Welsh and I can't tell the difference between a Leeds and a Manchester accent but I can tell when someone is speaking Welsh whether they come from Caernarfon, Wrexham, Machynlleth or Pwllheli.
(Which are all within 80 miles of each other in North Wales.)

Answer 5

I can tell a New York accent, but not a manhatten/queens etc. I can tell a west coast accent maybe LA or San Fran, but not too specific. Again I can tell a Boston accent and a southern accent, but not too specific. However I would question whether the average American would be able to tell the difference with a 'Brit's' accent and Britain is only the size of a medium sized state!

Answer 6

Yes, it seems that the southerners have a very distinct drawl, but the further north you go the finer tuned the accent is. New yorkers have a brash kind of accent. Canadians sound something like a mix between scots, irish and american to me and their accent is kind of soft and pleasant to listen to. Unlike some young Californian women who sound very nasal . That's about all I can distinguish.

Answer 7

In most cases yes. There are plenty of very distinguishable American accents from New York Bronx to Texas.

The major difference between us Brits and you Yanks, is that we get to see lots of US TV soaps and movies in their original format, exactly as you see them. This means we get to see and hear you all, but the same is not true of us for you.

I'm not saying it's possible to pin-point exactly where an American comes from, but we're familiar with certain regional US accents.

Bush is Texas, but not as well spoken as John Wayne, also Texas. Bill Clinton, sounds to me somewhere south but not Deep South.

Answer 8

I do sort of wonder that... I can tell the general area an American is from by their accent, and I can usually do it for Brits as well. It would be interesting to know if that's a skill that is learned, or is natural (such as a knack for languages).

Answer 9

There are several accents that we can distinguish. For instance the Deep South, and Brooklyn.

Answer 10

Could probably place North, South, East, West - and maybe pick out a New York Accent, but thats the best I could do.