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Location: Northern Ireland and temporarily England
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Originally Posted by lexdiamondz1902
I mean, could you tell a Venezuelan accent from a Panamanian? Probably not. To many ESL learners, English just sounds like English, and it takes a long time to differentiate the different accents and dialects
The only foreign accent I can identify is the Spanish one and only because I holidayed there alot. They all sound similar to me.
Location: East Central Pennsylvania/ Chicago for 6yrs.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sickandtiredofthis
The United States doesn't have a very large amount of accents for its size and I find the more as time goes on the more the accents absorb. For me I can identify the following accents:
1. NYC/North Jersey.
2. Tennessee.
3. West coast, i'm not sure what area it is but every time I hear it on tv I know its from the West coast.
4. The South.
5. Chicago.
Chicago accent... I lived there a few years. I never really heard a AUTHENTIC CHICAGO accent living on the Northwest side. But a couple years back on a visit. On the way back to Midway Airport by Taxi express trips to the Airports. The driver HAD THE TRUE CHICAGO ACCENT I MISSED HEARING MY YEARS THERE.
It seems it is mostly limited to some Southside White neighborhoods. Not really City wide anymore.
I would love to see what foreign people see the accent as. Like can they differentiate between Irish and English etc.
My Asian friends can, easily. What they have a hard time differentiating are White English and Black English accents, for example. But, if they listen closely, they can tell too.
My family is Canadian. We are French-speaking, second language English speakers.
My kids are growing up in a francophone environment. They have basic spoken and written second language English at this point but can understand it pretty well.
They can tell a British accent apart from a North American one. Not sure they can distinguish an Australian from an Englishman though.
The outlier American accents like Southerners they can identify.
But they can't really distinguish your average Anglo-Canadian English accent from the neutral/mainstream American accent that 100-150 million (or more) Americans have.
But they can't really distinguish your average Anglo-Canadian English accent from the neutral/mainstream American accent that 100-150 million (or more) Americans have.
As someone from south of the border, I have to say that I too have trouble telling the difference.
Like in the U.S., Canadians can have a variety of accents depending on where they are and what external influences they experience over time. Accents, especially those in highly mobile cultures and in ones where immigration represents a significant percentage of population (again, over time), will usually morph and homogenize. With the globe getting smaller and smaller in terms of communications in particular, expect more change in English language use across the continent and the world.
They certainly sound LIKE Americans, but of course few sound 100% IDENTICAL to Americans I'd say. Like others have said, there are regional variations too. For me it's mostly a few words and vowels, but also the cadence/intonation, which is more subtle. A teenager in Vancouver or Toronto sounds more American-influenced (mostly the General American type accent) than say an old person in Nova Scotia or Saskatchewan. The Upper Midwest accent, e.g. in Fargo, sounds like the stereotypical Canadian accent to me with the distinct rounded 'o'.
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