I don't care for the Canadian accent (law, rich)

[netwit]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Yes, almost all South Africans that come here are white (although we do get African immigrants from other countries). Their accent is interesting, I always get a kick out of listening to it!

I'm a little confused as to whether we are talking skin colour or language ethnicity. I wasn't thinking of the color of anyone's skin. I was thinking of the Boers - the Afrikaner speaking South Africans. While they speak English as well, I always hear a Germanic inflection coming through because it is similar in many ways to the Mennonites, who also trace their ancestry to the Netherlands.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by netwit

I'm a little confused as to whether we are talking skin colour or language ethnicity. I wasn't thinking of the color of anyone's skin. I was thinking of the Boers - the Afrikaner speaking South Africans. While they speak English as well, I always hear a Germanic inflection coming through because it is similar in many ways to the Mennonites, who also trace their ancestry to the Netherlands.

Oh scuse that I didn't read your original post (probably missed it as I read the entire thread thus far). Yes, Afrikaans is very close to Dutch, and much of the typical South African accent spoken by both Boers and British South Africans is because of that. It's definitely stronger among Boers/Afrikaans speakers. Black South Africans seem to have an accent similar to the rest of Africa.

[Alicia Bradley]

FWIW, when I traveled in Vancouver (and elsewhere in BC) with my family a few years ago, locals seemed to assume we were also locals (even though they were obviously Canadian to me, dialectally.. but then dialects are one of my nerdy special interests). On the flip side, I used to work with a Canadian woman when I was in college and very quickly determined she was Canadian based on her dialect; she was mildly impressed and said I was one of the few people she'd encountered in the US who'd 'noticed.' My hunch is that a greater percentage of the Canadians we spoke to would've eventually figured out we were Americans (based on some vowel pronunciations or whatever) than the woman's American coworkers would've figured out she was Canadian, simply because there are arguably more American dialects (speaking very roughly here, of course), and most Americans don't presume to be familiar with all of them.. also, Canadians have more experience hearing American accents than vice-versa, I think.. heh. Incidentally, my own dialect is basically northern Illinois/southern Wisconsin, and my parents' (with whom I was traveling in BC) speech is pretty similar.. the college was also in the US Northern Midwest. (Not suggesting the dialects are exactly the same at all - 'General Canadian' has definitely got a lot more Scots-type stuff (interesting diphthongs and such) going on, while Northern Midwest American has more Scandinavian (the infamous monophthongs.. though 'General Canadian' has a couple of these, too).)

[tiderunner]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

Not bashing you guys (I'm sure the Yanks do it enough, lol) but I have to say I'm not a fan of the Canadian accent. I generally like and am interested in different accents, and like most of them (some Southern, northern English, Scottish in particular) but I find Canadian kind of strange and bland at the same time. Maybe it's the way it's spoken, like a robot or something (maybe this is just the strong stereotypical one). Kind of like the American with a bit of British thrown in. Also not a fan of how you say 'aboot' or 'aboat' for 'about.' I'm sure many of you probably don't care for the Aussie accent, either, which is fine. Anyway the point of this thread was to hear about your opinions/impressions of a stereotypical accent (please don't say you 'don't have an accent', or sound just like Americans, because there is A Canadian accent which even I can tell apart).

I don't care for the Aussie accent. But I wouldn't go into an Aussie forum and state that - imho it is a rather rude thing to do.

But in answer to your question about accents that others find quite awful, I'd go with either Australian or Glaswegian. Aussies speak in a slow twisted way that sounds like they can't decide exactly what they want to say, and the Glaswegian accent just sounds rough and incomprehensible to me.

[reckless99]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I think the poster was probably referring to the accent of "white anglo" South Africans, for whom English is in fact the first language.

As opposed to the "dutch settlers" who speak Afrikaans, and would still be running that country if they weren't stubborn enough to insist that the natives receive their education only in Afrikaans, and not English.

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by tiderunner

I don't care for the Aussie accent. But I wouldn't go into an Aussie forum and state that - imho it is a rather rude thing to do.

But in answer to your question about accents that others find quite awful, I'd go with either Australian or Glaswegian. Aussies speak in a slow twisted way that sounds like they can't decide exactly what they want to say, and the Glaswegian accent just sounds rough and incomprehensible to me.

I'm sorry for having an opinion (okay, most of the pot stirring was merely to stir up discussion, not have a go at Canadians!). And actually after thinking it through I don't think the Canadian accent is all that bad, it's just the other accents seem more interesting. Canada seems too close to American to me.

And it's cool you don't care for Aussie either. Most every American seems to love our accent so it's good to see more diversity of opinions on it.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

I'm sorry for having an opinion (okay, most of the pot stirring was merely to stir up discussion, not have a go at Canadians!). And actually after thinking it through I don't think the Canadian accent is all that bad, it's just the other accents seem more interesting. Canada seems too close to American to me.

And it's cool you don't care for Aussie either. Most every American seems to love our accent so it's good to see more diversity of opinions on it.

Fair dinkum, mate.

Actually, you probably weren't talking about the accent I have anyway since I speak English with a slight French Canadian accent. Although some Canadians and Americans have told me that that might get me into trouble with people in your part of the world because of the whole Rainbow Warrior thing... although of course that had nothing to do with French-speaking Canadians...

Personally, I've never had any problems when I was Down Under. In fact, no one has ever raised the Rainbow Warrior ssue with me because of my accent.

[lucknow]

I think the absolute worst accent in English is one I hear in the American midwest. South Il. and indiania all the way over to Missouri. It's just brutal. I'm very deaf and without my hearing aids on I can even lipread that accent.
Most american accents I really like. I just got back from Arkansas and if you want to hear a strong accent......

[Stay By The Phone]

I have lived in Toronto my whole life but the past few years I have been traveling the States for work. I have been in every state for work except for Hawaii and Alaska. When it comes to meeting new people and talking to them south of the boarder people often confuse me as being from Wisconsin or Minnesota. But as for summing up all Canadians and pointing out a certain accent that's nearly impossible.

Just compare someone from Massachusetts to someone in California and every state in between, you simply can't. You can even travel to Windsor or Sarnia which both are only 4 hours from Toronto and both cities have extremely different accents. Same goes for Northern Ontario and that is just in Ontario alone. Every province has a different accent same goes for the States, someone living in Chicago sounds completely different than someone living in Milwaukee which is only an hour and a half north of Chicago. I personally love working in the States and no one being able to pin point my accent, its unique.

[Cornerguy1]

Originally Posted by Stay By The Phone

I have lived in Toronto my whole life but the past few years I have been traveling the States for work. I have been in every state for work except for Hawaii and Alaska. When it comes to meeting new people and talking to them south of the boarder people often confuse me as being from Wisconsin or Minnesota. But as for summing up all Canadians and pointing out a certain accent that's nearly impossible.

Just compare someone from Massachusetts to someone in California and every state in between, you simply can't. You can even travel to Windsor or Sarnia which both are only 4 hours from Toronto and both cities have extremely different accents. Same goes for Northern Ontario and that is just in Ontario alone. Every province has a different accent same goes for the States, someone living in Chicago sounds completely different than someone living in Milwaukee which is only an hour and a half north of Chicago. I personally love working in the States and no one being able to pin point my accent, its unique.

Oh geez, yet another member who insists on being factual -- this type of thinking really puts a damper on the bickering, you know.