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For the British: What do you think of an American accent?


pianoguy

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Having an American accent is a liability, and not an asset. My sister just came back from 6 months of world travelling, and she said that people around the world don't like Americans. She said that people were harsh when they thought she was American, but when she told them she was Canadian suddenly thier attitude changed. She also said that American travellers she travelled with pretended to not be American, for the purpose of not being harassed by those with anti-American feelings. So accent hot ?? I don't think so.........

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Night Pumpkin, be careful about making generalizations about your sister's experience. Americans don't have the best reputation in the world now because of our last decade of horrible foreign relations and the ridiculous and stupid things American travelers do in other countries. Whenever I travel to other countries I do my best to stay away from 'tourist' types as they typically are loud, annoying and "American, God **** it!" (super ego for no apparent reason)

 

People have preconceived notions about others from far away places and it's hard to counteract when a lot of the tourists reaffirm them.

 

As far as accent goes... American English is deemed 'the cool English' by many, whereas British English is thought to be more refined and scholarly sounding.

 

(I'd take a sassy Aussie girl over any of those... too cute...)

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That's true about americans traveling. My buddy mike has done alot of overseas traveling and he says the same thing. He left one time and was in Germany and he wore a shirt with a picture of bush and below it said "not my president". He actually got applause from a bunch of people, and said everyone in Germany liked his shirt.. lol

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Night Pumpkin, be careful about making generalizations about your sister's experience. Americans don't have the best reputation in the world now because of our last decade of horrible foreign relations and the ridiculous and stupid things American travelers do in other countries.

 

Join the club....we don't exactly have a great reputation abroad either.

Everyone hates us too

 

As far as accent goes... American English is deemed 'the cool English' by many, whereas British English is thought to be more refined and scholarly sounding.

 

 

Yeah, those who speak 'upper class' English maybe....Hugh Grant as a prime example. Not all of us have the same accent as him and they vary from region to region. Northern English speak and sound totally different to the Southern English. Still English though I guess....and you wouldn't mistake us for being any other than English, no matter where we are in England.

 

I prefer American accents to Australian ones....

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I wish I had a Scottish accent. I've noticed that Scots have an easier time in saying words from other languages correctly over other English speaking accents. I'm not too concerned about how "attractive" it is, but I just like to be able to have a more fluid manner of speaking.

 

I have an American accent, and I kind of feel it takes liberties with the correct way of pronouncing things (Americanized English). I would also say that I'm Canadian if I were to travel abroad...

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I am British and love the American Accents.....

 

Keep talking!

 

 

 

Just curious about what our British friends here on ena think of the American accent. I know that I find the English accent very hot, and a lot of Americans would probably agree with me. Do you feel the same way about our accent, or do we sound like yokels?
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First off I am an American, this is just my opinion on accents. I think it's hard to generalize an American accent. Though be it when I think of an American talking, I think of someone from the North-Eastern states. There are so many different accents just in America that to say you like an American accent can entail a lot. Like with me, I personally dig a hot southern girl accent, but a Minnesota or Wisconsin accent drives me insane.

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First off I am an American, this is just my opinion on accents. I think it's hard to generalize an American accent.

 

You can't a British one either.

 

For a start, Britain is England, Wales and Scotland....3 different countries that make up the British population.

Accents and dialects in England, Scotland and Wales vary from region to region. A man from Glasgow, Scotland, is a lot harder to understand, than a man from Edinburgh, Scotland. A man from North East England, sounds a lot different to a man from London, England...

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Having been engaged to two (English) Brits and traveled everywhere in the UK from Derry (NI) to Edinburgh to Cardiff to Newquay, I've always gotten loads of compliments on my accent. But I don't have one, though I grew up between New York and Boston - two very distinct regional accents.

 

Accents in the UK are sometimes not even understood within its own borders, they are so varied. But it needs be said that with all the subtle differences, say, between Manchester and York, the US is simply so much larger and there are variations within very small areas. Sometimes people from Providence and Boston need translators.

 

Give me some deep Balkan accent any day of the week, though.

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From CT to boston and from CT to NYC thee accents change so much. in NY the accents change a lot from BX to BK. My roomates in college were from maryland,ohio,oklahoma and texas and we all had different accents. I asked them if i had an accent and they said yeah because I never knew what an accent from connecticut sounded like. some many different accents in America.

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Precisely. I've also lived for several years in California, and have been to all but 7 states. I knew someone from Austin who claimed not to understand his relatives in Corpus Christi.

 

We've gone completely OT, but I guess it's just strange to me to think that there's one all-purpose "American" accent. I suppose since this is meant to be for the Brits, that would simply mean a non-British accent.

 

In other parts of Europe I have been asked if I were Irish, or even Swedish. Oddly, nobody has ever guessed that I might be Canadian - for reasons I suspect have nothing to do with the way I speak.

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I'm an American recently moved to England and have received positive feedback 100% of the time...

 

I think the 'California' accent is what most people associate with 'American.'

 

As an aside, I have no idea what people are talking about when they say that Americans don't get respect abroad. This has never been my experience.

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I'm an American recently moved to England and have received positive feedback 100% of the time...

 

I think the 'California' accent is what most people associate with 'American.'

 

As an aside, I have no idea what people are talking about when they say that Americans don't get respect abroad. This has never been my experience.

 

Maybe it depends upon which country you are in...

 

In England it is highly doubtful that you will get any 'hostility'...

 

In Middle Eastern countries however....well I will say no more.

 

We Brits get it wherever we go....Germany, France, Spain and all over...lolss

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