Breckenshire: I meant, if I were to learn German, or Japanese, or Russian, would my American accent sound nice, or irritating? I don’t think you can really use English speaking countries as an example, because then it’s more dialect, and not a completely different language.
I know for sure that most Americans have a hard time speaking Spanish, especially since many cannot roll their “r’s.” And the accent sticks out like a sore thumb.
Sorry about the hijack.
“Life is hard…but God is good”
I happen to like Southern accents. I go to Atlanta on business a few times a year, and there are a lot of transplants there. It’s always nice to hear someone in Atlanta with a local Georgia accent.
JillGat wrote:
Hey! That’s me! Thanks Jill! 
My personal favorite is the Irish accent. Scottish is nice, too. I actually like Canadian accents as well. To my ear, there seems to be some Native American influence in them. (I could be wrong.)
As for Southern accents, we have a whole range of them:
Southern patrician (think Jimmy Carter - lots of silent 'r’s). Often say “you all” instead of the less formal “y’all”.
The twang (Clinton has a softened version of this one - 'r’s do get pronounced). Poor folks tend to have this one.
The serious twang. This one is for hillbillies. Very nasal and twangy. In some sections folks substitute “you 'uns” or “yins” for the more typical “y’all”. Found in east Tennessee.
Cajun (ah, the French influence) I like this one a lot.
These categories are not clear-cut. There are many shadings, and I’m probably leaving some out (oh yeah, the Texas version, e.g.).
As for how Americans sound when they speak a foreign language, I’m guessing we sound kind of harsh. English is a Germanic language after all, and it seems to me that Germanic accents are a little hard on the ears. Can anyone confirm any of this?
That’s eh tough’en, to be sure. As fer me, I’m part Irish, so of coerse I’m rather fond o’that. Howsume’er, I ken also wrap me lips around a few others’n. 'Tis too hard to call, by me dear ole Saint Patty, to be sure.
An’ ken ye tell I been kissin’ the ole blarney stone agin? 
Seriously, I like too many accents, including the different American ones to pick one favorite.
Changing my sig just 'cause…
To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are.—Anon.
Purplebear,
What accent was that then?
It’s just that “ken” is Scots for “know”, made your sentence sound a bit funny to me
Well, nobody’s complained about posters just mentioning Irish or British accents, even though there are probably fewer (distinct) American accents than there are Irish or British accents.
“Shut up! I’m having a rhetorical conversation!”
Irish and Scottish accents. Simply yummy. And although it isn’t related to the OP, I really like their slang as well.
“I thought: opera, how hard can it be? Songs. Pretty girls dancing. Nice scenery. Lots of people handing over cash. Got to be better than the cut-throat world of yoghurt, I thought.” - Seldom Bucket
Ok, I don’t know how much experience you guys have had with Scottish and Irish accents but they are NOTHING like the movies. Sean Connery doesn’t have an Scottish accent. He has a Scottish twang with and Engish accent. Most people in Ireland and Scotland (either in cities or villages) have a think gaelic grunt of an accent. There is no comparison in the US for having a different accent every 30 miles, or one depending on how much your parents make. With that said, I’d have to go with a posh Northern Irish accent…anything else for a woman sounds like a Gaelic hillbilly.
I really enjoy Icelandic accents.
Have you ever heard Bjork speak? It sounds so cute.
I don’t know if I have a favorite.
My girlfriend’s family presents four to choose from:
Her mother is a Tagalog speaking Phillipina.
Her father is from Wisconsin and has that Northern US sound (think Fargo/Milwaukee)
Her sister spent high school and college in Alabama and has a “Southern Belle” accent (think Scarlett O’Hara)
My gal was in elementary and high school in London and although it is very light has a minor British accent. (she parks her car in a “GARE-age”).
It’s the kookiest sounding family ever! Their dad was in the Air Force, so they moved around a lot…
Sweet Basil
Didn’t get voted for a damn thing!
(thanks guys…)
I’ve never actually heard him speak outside of his movie roles, but I would imagine that when he does so, his accent is considerably different.
What exactly is a “posh” Northern Irish accent? I know loads of NI’ers, and I’ve never heard one I’d describe that way. (I know a few posh Dubliners though! :))
“Shut up! I’m having a rhetorical conversation!”
To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are.—Anon.
And, BTW, I have heard Sean Connery speak outside of a movie role, and yes, he does sound quite different. Lovely voice, I could listen to him speak for hours in his own voice.
To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are.—Anon.
ruadh, I think what constitutes a “posh” Norn Iron accent is relative. Compare David Trimble (middle class) with Ian Paisley (working class), for example.
For what it’s worth, I once heard a man from Cork doing an impression of a Dubliner. He sounded to me (an Englishman) like a Scouser.
I have to toss my vote in with Irish…
However, my girlfriend is from Russia and although I always liked the Russian accent I never found it particularly sexy until now.
The Sleeper has AWAKEN!
If the way my non-Dublin friends love to tease Dubliners by calling them “Brits” is any indication, that may have been intentional
“Shut up! I’m having a rhetorical conversation!”
I met a person from Trinidad, and mmmmmmm… what a delicious sound!
“It says, I choo-choo-choose you. And it’s got a picture of a train.”
– Ralph Wiggum
I agree with you. I’m from Ireland and people in the U.S. can’t place my accent because it doesn’t sound like a Lucky Charms TV advert and because I don’t say “Top o’ the morning”. Ever.
I like American accents. Especially Boston and southern ones.
Uppity, a Gaelic hillbilly
I’m not a native German speaker (in fact, I don’t speak that well at all), but after years of listening my parents and some of their friends, I have a pretty good ear for the language. I’d have to say that Americans with limited German knowledge are nigh incomprehensible, mostly because they have a lot of difficulty with sounds like “ch” in “ach.” Those who have a better grasp still don’t speak as “crisply” as speakers of standard German, and wind up sounding as though they learned German in Bavaria.
When I visited France on a high school trip, I found that most French were happy to deal with you no matter how bad you sounded, as long as it seemed you were really trying to speak properly. Lackadaiscal attempts were greeted with the same contempt as no attempt at all. Interestingly, our British tour guide delighted in butchering her accent for maximum irritation - and it worked every time.
BTW, while I was in Australia I found that uttering just a few words was enough to initiate conversations about where I was from, because I stuck out like a sore thumb. For some reason, most people thought I was Canadian. (I should say that I have been told repeatedly that I sound more like a Midwesterner than a New Yorker. Go figure.)
There’s something about british accents (high and cockney both) for me that makes any girl sound lovely, yet any guy sound like a prat. Then, red hair does the same for me… love it on girls, hate it on guys. Irish and Scottish accents are okay, but I hear too many bad ones in the SCA. Generally the easiest on my ears is the west coast one I’m used to. Luckcy for us we control the media… I can’t imagine watching Friends if it were cast in the south.
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