Have you ever heard someone imitating an American accent?
We all speak with an accent of one sort or another, though we all think that we don’t but everyone else does. I was wondering what it would be like as a native speaker of a language hearing a non-native speaker speaking with an exaggerated accent. Can you recognize what they are doing?
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There are many distinct accents in America, depending which part of the country a speaker is from. Listen to “The Daily Show” and you will hear Trevor Noah using many different American accents.
I wonder if someone whose native language was not English could recognize different accents of English speakers. Has Trevor Noah done an imitation of the accent of your region?
In my experience, when people from the UK are making fun of Americans they imitate a Southern accent. Most Europeans can do a straight up American news reporter accent. A sort of nondescript Midwest accent, but I don’t mean the kind way north with the exaggerated ou sound or exaggerated nasal tone.
So many British and Scottish actors are on American TV shows and do the American accent incredibly well.
@LostInParadise It’s harder for non-native speakers to distinguish between the different accents, or I should say to pinpoint specifically what part of the states the accent is from, but my husband can tell deep South from a northern accent. He can’t even understand the very poor Southerners sometimes. I’m talking about the very extreme, who most people would have some trouble even if their first language was English. I can tell the difference between New England and other states in the Northeast, I’m not sure if my husband can. Too many subtleties, unless it’s a very extreme accent.
My husband knows a Colombian accent from a Venezuelan accent. Sometimes it’s dialect more than accent that is the giveaway. I can tell extremes like Argentina vs other South American countries, but he catches more subtleties than me since Spanish is his first language. Like I kind of group all islands together as being hard to understand. Cuba, PR, Don Rep, it’s all island accent to me, but really each of the three have distinct accents.
Call centre employees supporting US businesses across the world!!
An old friend of mine was obsessed with being able to speak perfect English. She spent time trying to learn American accent. At one point she was sure she had mastered the accent and tried to impress a foreigner. She asked him if he could notice something in her voice. Of course the man couldn’t. She was quite insulted that he couldn’t notice that she was speaking with American accent. I was like “what’s the point of that? No one cares which accent you’re using as long as they understand you. You learn English to communicate, not to appear pretentious.”
American accent – what the hell does that mean?
Mobile, Alabama has an accent far different from Atlanta, Georgia. Seattle Washington people sound different from Boston people. Chicagoans sound different from Minnesotans.
There are literally hundreds of American accents.
Hey, yous guys like basebowl? / Hmm..must be one tham yankee fellers.
Here’s a funny video, It sounds pretty spot on to me, showing what Americans sound like to non English speakers.
It’s an Italian singing gibberish with an American accent.
At 1:40 the class is repeating the “English” phrase with their Italian accents. Then the teacher breaks out in song in fluent “American”.
Adriano Celentano: Funny English Gibberish Song
It depends on which American accent you’re referencing. I’m from the Southeast section of the US & I’m used to non-native Southerners making fun of our accent. Some do it in a way that I find insulting & others speak it better than I do!!!
I’ve mainly heard it in terms of English actors in American roles such as the recent BBC production of “Little Women.” I thought the accents were pretty well done – although not particularly regional New England sounding but the acting was a bit flat.
Actually the actress who played Jo was American – the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. I think most of the others were British.
Anthony Hopkins is Welsh and has had many American roles.
Yes. Specifically, upstate New York vs. New York city, or anyplace vs. New Jersy and/or Boston. Or a Texan drawl. Never heard anyone mimic the fast talking people who inhabit certain areas of Northern California.
My husband was from the coast of Oregon & I never noticed him having an accent of any kind. His mother was British & his dad from the mountains in Montana. He watched the BBC a lot but he usually had to translate for me as my brain just refuses to process a British accent although I find it a beautiful when I hear it!!!
The timing of this question is funny.
While looking at Lucas the spider on YT a couple of days ago, I stumbled on video of Japanese school girls trying to make English sound right.
It was so cute! They were trying very hard, but mostly it was awkward. One girl did pretty well. I was impressed. Another girl impressed me with her quick thinking when a certain word escaped her and she substituted. They were having a blast.
I also saw a video of some contest. Japanese girls were saying a word to a phone trying to sound American. The phone would say back what it thought they told it. Like one would say pizza, and the phone would say back peace ruff.
Me, I mimic accents without intent. A fifteen minute phone conversation once with a woman in Dallas had me sounding Texan the rest of the day.
@Mimishu1995, I knew a woman who was originally from Jamaica and who had no accent that I could detect. She said that she spent hours trying to copy the accents she heard on a tape recorder. I don’t know if you have ever heard a Jamaican accent, but it is very distinct.
Mel Gibson is from Australia. In his early movies, he slips up and has the Australian accent at times and at other times he speaks with an American accent. I noticed this in some of his Mad Max movies.
Not necessarily. Take foreign-born actors for instance. The battalion chief on Chicago Fire is British. The star of Elementary is Australian (doing a British accent) as was the star of The Mentalist.
^^That’s really funny! I thought it would start once they say one one instead of eleven as a twist in the end..)
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