American accent

[Alfieri]

So you know how a lot of American comedians or just people in general like to mimic the Italian, British, Australian, etc. accent? Well I always wondered if people from Britain, Australia, or several European countries ever tried to mimic the American accent.

Cause to us Americans, European and Australian voices are accents to us, but normal speech to them. They probably feel the same way when they hear an American speaking.

 

[Flushed]

I think there's a video of the Harry Potter stars trying to do an American accent, which is pretty entertaining. I know at least Emma Watson had to use one in Wallflower. But yeah I've seen quite a few British people do the accent, quite flawlessly I may add.

 

[Shining Raichu]

I'm Australian and I do a pretty good American accent, because most of the media I consume is American. When you've been flooded by it your whole life it's really not much of a stretch.

Look at Portia de Rossi, she's a prime example. She knows exactly what she's doing.

 

[Nihilego]

No-one I've ever talked to about this (admittedly, not many people) has said that they want an American accent. In England the consensus that I've seen is that most American accents are really, really irritating. Somehow we don't notice them so much on TV since I guess we're kinda used to it but in person oh god no

 

[Guardian]

Oh man.
I come from a country with an accent similar to Russian.
I almost NEVER hear people speak American/British/anyother accent cos they can.
As the matter of fact, I rarely hear a person speak English correctly.
Not just students, but also professors, politicians (!) celebrities.
It's embarrassing for me when I hear it lol.

That's why I am trying really hard to speak English not only fluently, but with an American accent as well. There are some really good youtubers who put American accent lessons online. :D

 

[Oryx]

Oh man.
I come from a country with an accent similar to Russian.
I almost NEVER hear people speak American/British/anyother accent cos they can.
As the matter of fact, I rarely hear a person speak English correctly.
Not just students, but also professors, politicians (!) celebrities.
It's embarrassing for me when I hear it lol.

That's why I am trying really hard to speak English not only fluently, but with an American accent as well. There are some really good youtubers who put American accent lessons online. :D

Why American accent as opposed to British or Irish or Canadian or any other country that speaks English natively but isn't American?

 

[Nah]

That's why I am trying really hard to speak English not only fluently, but with an American accent as well. There are some really good youtubers who put American accent lessons online. :D

Which American accent though? :P We've got a few different ones over here, and they don't exactly sound the same.

 

[Ivysaur]

There are several accents! Like most Southern States are really thick and I often describe the New England accent as "they just spit the words out instead of trying to pronounce them". Admittedly though, it's easier to understand because of that.

 

[Poki]

I can pull off a British accent, but I'd much rather speak in my own, Easten European, kinda way.

 

[VeranithasVI]

I'm English, living in Australia, and I can do a semi-decent American accent. My Australian accent is the one I use the most nowadays, but when I'm out I'll whip out the English accent just for fun sometimes.

When I first came to the country, some girl in one of my classes said that Australian's don't have accents, but everywhere else does. There was a bit of frustration on my end that day, trying to explain how she was wrong.

 

[The Void]

Reminds me of Hugh Laurie. I actually thought he was an American because of House.

 

[Guardian]

Which American accent though? :P We've got a few different ones over here, and they don't exactly sound the same.

Why American accent as opposed to British or Irish or Canadian or any other country that speaks English natively but isn't American?

Several reasons.
The way I've always seen it is that American accent is like, just a regular English. (I am not talking about accents that are fairly distinguishable, but what you hear in most movies. Or at least what I hear.) So to speak American English, I imagine I'd only have to lose my Croatian (similar to Russian accent, but less rough, so to speak), and pick up some general ways of pronunciation of some letters/phrases/etc.
As for British, I would have to speak English perfectly, to be able to pick up that pure British accent.
Take the world "Far" for example. In Croatian accent it'd have the rough R, and to switch it to American, I'd just have to smoothen the R part, and it's already sound a lot more like American (Right?), and to switch it to British, I'd have to say the entire word differently, from the R that is not even pronounced, to the "A" that to me, doesnt even sounds like an A, but more like an O.
As for Canadian, I cant even hear the difference between it and American :/

And as for different American accents, I can rarely notice the difference.

For us with totally different accents, it's a good thing if we can just hide our own accents (which would then sound more like American accent), let alone picking up something like British or Australian accents. If you wish, I can send you a YT video of our politician speaking English, and you'd hear how horrible it sounds lol.

Honestly
I really wish I knew someone whose English is native language to have them correct me and so I could improve my speaking, but I can only rely on TV and Youtube for now.
I believe I can speak in American and British accent, or at least some of it, but I heard people who thought the same but their English was s*** so what do I know lol.

 

[£]

I have a hideous American accent impersonation or two. If I wasn't lacking in a laptop I would actually provide you with it (or them, perhaps). Generally my impressions are fantastic if you want incredibly irritating female voices. I have had many years of practice as I live with one.

I'll try to remember to post here when I have my lappy back since I know there's a fair few masochistic sorts around here.

 

[Altius]

I'm not sure. Many of my friends say I sound American when I speak proper, formal English.

Otherwise, I guess I speak like a typical Singaporean (aka Singlish, with the infamous la and mehs).

I'll admit. I think I am quite good at code-switching.

 

[Manitee]

I don't really see how there's a such thing as an American accent because not everybody on the whole of the United States is going to sound the same. Like I'm no Amercian but somebody from Texas and somebody from New York are not going to sound the same. It's the same with British accents. When Americans try to impersonate British people, their accent is quite posh and stuck up but I don't really know anybody who sounds like that. Like just in America, somebody from Liverpool and somebody from Stoke aren't going to sound the same.

 

[Megan]

Probably a couple of different words from a lot of american accents (considering I'm watching a lot of videos from different american Youtubers), but mostly my own language, I suppose. I'm not really talkative, so I'm not sure, though. ^^"

 

[Phantom1]

People sometimes think I'm Canadian.

That counts, right?

 

[Plumpyfoof]

An interesting thought occurred to me just now in this thread.

I'm going to talk from the perspective of an Australian, from inner suburban Melbourne who speaks English as a first language:
I am particularly sensitive to variations in human speech as a side-effect of sensitive hearing. I often find myself questioning actors on television and in movies if their accents are genuine.
"American English" or as I prefer "Hollywood American" has become the standard accent for entertainment media. Think about it, 9 times out of 10 a blockbuster movie has American (or at least American speaking) leading characters. We've come to accept it as normal and don't really question (even subconsciously) why their accent is different from our own. It is to the point where I question the validity of genuine Australian accents in a genuine Australian television show or movie.
It sounds out of place, unprofessional almost. Even when everyone in the movie sound the same. I especially notice pronunciations of the letter 'r'. Take an earlier example, the word "far". Australian accents don't pronounce the 'r' we simply leave it out, it's weird to hear on TV.
Today I questioned the automatic train announcements, she has a legitimate Australian accent but I wondered if we would be taken more seriously if she was American.

I think this standardisation of the Hollywood accent is kind of aiding that whole sexy foreign accent thing. Because thicker American accents seem like they're taking the whole Hollywood standard way further than it needs to be. I'm not sure I can word that better.

Just my thoughts.