# How American accents are viewed in other languages **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 3, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821 "2010-06-03T19:31:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/41 "2010-06-06T01:03:50Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > This kind of conflation affects the prejudices that come many accents. From the point of view of an American in America: in both in college (a few dozen English & Irish students) and in one of my former workplaces, Cockney accents were regarded by Americans as highly distinguished and “fancy” … virtually equivalent in elegance to the speech of the England’s snootiest RP speakers 😃 I have to say, I can tell broad regional and cultural accents in British accents, like Welsh or upper class proper, or broadcast tv news Neutral, but Cockney is the one I absolutely love. I associate cockneys and the accent with everything COOL about the English (Yes I loved your impressive Empire but it’s gone now). Sexually I am glad I have never met an attractive woman with a cockney accent, I know the inevitable result would be something akin to slavery. ---
**Author:** ![AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/42 "2010-06-06T01:09:43Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Or possibly Scottish or Australian. 🙂 I usually don’t have any trouble distinguishing between the Atlantic regional accents, I can tell Scottish from Irish, from British (and even some regional British Accents), however the Pacific accents of Australian and New Zealand sound identical to me, and it takes me a while to distinguish a Australian from a Cockney accent, but I usually can after a couple of minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/43 "2010-06-06T01:14:24Z")
[This Italian video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZXcRqFmFa8) from the 1970s has fascinated me since the first time I saw it. It’s a parody- in gibberish- of how American singers sounded to the maker. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/44 "2010-06-06T02:20:50Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > [This Italian video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZXcRqFmFa8) from the 1970s has fascinated me since the first time I saw it. It’s a parody- in gibberish- of how American singers sounded to the maker. I remember when you posted that before, and it’s funny how it really does sound (to me at least) like garbled American English and not a foreign language. I feel like if I listened carefully enough I’d be able to understand what he was saying, even though I know it’s really all gibberish. ---
**Author:** ![Sinisterniik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Sinisterniik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinisterniik)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/45 "2010-06-06T02:22:56Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > [This Italian video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZXcRqFmFa8) from the 1970s has fascinated me since the first time I saw it. It’s a parody- in gibberish- of how American singers sounded to the maker. Hilarious! Whoever did this knew what they were doing. I remember taking a class way back in my sophomore year of high school that discussed (among other things) American popular music history. This one girl in the class (which was advanced placement, btw) said that when everyone sings they “sound American” to her. To which I promptly replied “Um… No.” ---
**Author:** ![AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/46 "2010-06-06T02:24:21Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I remember when you posted that before, and it’s funny how it really does sound (to me at least) like garbled American English and not a foreign language. I feel like if I listened carefully enough I’d be able to understand what he was saying, even though I know it’s really all gibberish. Have you all seen the great Sid Caeser doing foriegn speech in languages he doesn’t actually speak? It’s even better if you watch some of his old ‘Our Show of Shows’ stuff. Check out this bit from “Who’s line is it anyway?” [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_dlr8fj4Y00/hqdefault.jpg "Whose line is it anyway - guest star Sid Caesar") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dlr8fj4Y00) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/47 "2010-06-06T03:52:11Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > …they loved my American accent… I had a South American woman telling me she loved the American midwestern accent: “You know wheech occent I jooost looove? The Weees-cawn-saaan occent. Eet ees so byooo-ti-foool!” ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/48 "2010-06-06T04:01:22Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > If there are other New Zealand accents not represented on the show then I doubt I’d be able to place them correctly, though. > > In general I think that if an American encounters someone who’s clearly a native English speaker but doesn’t have a North American accent our first guess is going to be that they’re English, both because there’s a wide variety of English accents and because there are greater odds of encountering an English person in the US than an Australian or New Zealander. I can tell a Kiwi from an Aussie, and I can tell someone from Somerset from someone from Yorkshire, and lower/upper class in all 3 fairly reliably. However, I couldn’t tell you whether a Kiwi’s from Christchurch or Auckland, or for that matter, whether someone’s from Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. I mean, I could tell the accents apart, but I wouldn’t know which was which, without someone pointing it out to me. On the other hand, I can pick rural North Texas from West Texas from East Texas. I can also tell New Orleans from Cajuns from plain old non-Cajun Louisianans. I think most of it is having a trained ear; I have a recognizable and somewhat pronounced Texan accent (Gulf Coast / SE Texas) and in the UK, people can tell I’m American, but nobody picked me out as specifically Texan, but just from somwhere in the South. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/49 "2010-06-06T14:53:22Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I think most of it is having a trained ear; I have a recognizable and somewhat pronounced Texan accent (Gulf Coast / SE Texas) and in the UK, people can tell I’m American, but nobody picked me out as specifically Texan, but just from somwhere in the South. Ha, my mother has a very pronounced East Texas accent, and even in the US people rarely identify her correctly as a Texan. We lived in the South for most of my childhood and I don’t remember people commenting upon or trying to guess her accent much then, but when we moved to the Midwest people suddenly wanted to play “Name That Accent!” all the time. I can only think of one or two times when the other person got it right. The most frequent guesses are non-Texas states in the South, but to my family’s constant bemusement a lot of people guess Australian. Really. Since a lot of Americans apparently can’t even correctly identify other American regional accents, it’s no surprise people from other countries can’t do it either! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/50 "2010-06-06T16:03:24Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > It’s Estuary English (but slightly toned down - not an “_ **owllwight??** _” geezer-type). Every reference I found after Googling it referred to it as Cockney, which is what really messed with my head. There is a very discernible difference between the two. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/51 "2010-06-06T16:12:51Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > Hilarious! Whoever did this knew what they were doing. > > I remember taking a class way back in my sophomore year of high school that discussed (among other things) American popular music history. This one girl in the class (which was advanced placement, btw) said that when everyone sings they “sound American” to her. > > To which I promptly replied “Um… No.” The so-called “singer’s accent” does sound quite American to American ears. There is a tendency to drop the most discernible pieces of the accent while singing. And, in any particular genre, there is a tendency to mimic the accents of other people in that genre. The differences are still there, of course, but I can understand someone not well-trained in discerning them not to notice since they are so muted. If you don’t believe me, Google “singer’s accent.” You’ll find a lot of people asking why English people sing in American accents. Heck, to some people, even the Beatles sounded American. ---
**Author:** ![Sinisterniik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Sinisterniik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinisterniik)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2010, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/52 "2010-06-06T16:22:53Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If you don’t believe me, Google “singer’s accent.” You’ll find a lot of people asking why English people sing in American accents. Heck, to some people, even the Beatles sounded American. Wow! Surprising! One [article](http://wcco.com/goodquestion/singers.accent.singing.2.1456258.html) says that not only do the Beatles sound American but Susan Boyle too! I still don’t get how people can’t hear that difference… Well I understand it -I guess it’s hard for me to imagine _not_ noticing the accent. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/53 "2010-06-12T14:47:07Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > I can’t really speak for what the “average” Irish person can distinguish, but I would think it’s more likely that the Irish person can hear the difference, but that the difference isn’t as important to the Irish person as it would be to an American person. From the point of view of the Irish person, the person has an American accent. > > Can an American person hear the difference between a Cork accent and a Donegal accent? Of course they can, if they hear examples of both. But from an American point of view, both are just an “Irish accent”. I think you make a good point in your first paragraph. As far as Irish accents go, for me the Ulster accent is easily recognizable, but all the others just blend together. My Kerry cousins tell me they can hear the difference between a Kerry accent and a Cork accent. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/54 "2010-06-12T18:11:09Z")
> [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](#): > > I think you make a good point in your first paragraph. > > As far as Irish accents go, for me the Ulster accent is easily recognizable, but all the others just blend together. My Kerry cousins tell me they can hear the difference between a Kerry accent and a Cork accent. Those are two very distinctive accents, and I have no doubt your cousins can reliably tell the difference. I certainly can and I don’t live anywhere near there. I know what you mean about the Ulster accents being easily recognisable. They are quite different from the other Irish accents, and to me sound similar to Scottish accents. ---
**Author:** ![Zago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecccb3/32.png) [@Zago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zago)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/55 "2010-06-13T00:40:42Z")
I grew up on the West Coast of the US and speak with what I consider a typical ‘tv’ accent (in other words, none). About ten years ago I moved into a working class neighborhood North of Boston where many of the locals had pronounced accents. The kids next door thought I was British. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/56 "2010-06-13T20:24:46Z")
‘Boston’ makes me think of the doctor in M_A_S_H_ (Major Charles Emerson Winchester III), who scarcely sounds American at all. ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Kit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Drew\_Kit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Kit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/57 "2010-06-13T23:38:27Z")
I was stuck on a train platform in Germany with a couple of hundred other people, and I don’t speak German. There was an old Texan shouting at his wife, complaining that all the announcements were just in German, and that ‘that little bitch at the hotel reception refuses to talk English to me even though she knows how to’. The train platform announcement was obviously a cancellation to everyone except the Texan. Not everyone on that train platform spoke English or German, but the vast majority spoke English and suddenly pretended not to. Everyone went to the new platform, following the Germans if they didn’t understand the announcement, but nobody told the Texans. Europeans are very clued up as to American accents thanks to Hollywood, and we really don’t hate Americans per say, but a dickhead is a dickhead in any accent. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/58 "2010-06-14T03:27:34Z")
I find these threads fascinating, because after living in Britain for 10 years, I can detect general geographic areas - a Southerner, someone from oop north, East Anglian, Western (specifically Bristol) and of course Cockney. Some regions have very discernable accents (Yorkshire). I couldn’t be more specific than that. The Geico gecko has had a few voices. Initially he was rather posh. One of the more recent incarnations of the gecko was voiced by EastEnders star Jake Wood - classic Cockney. I have to tell you that I don’t hear any similarity to a Cockney accent and an Australian one. I think it’s very odd that some people find the accents similar. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/59 "2010-06-14T03:52:49Z")
Cameroonians thought my American-accented broken French was “cute.” My Chinese students are surprisingly adept at distinguishing American accents. They could pick out that my mid-western friend spoke differently than I do, and they liked her accent better than my California-ness. However they have trouble with African-American vernacular English. My school gets African-American exchange students, and my students can’t figure out why they often don’t speak the same as me (then again, one of my students said she couldn’t figure out why they have black skin.) Right now one exchange student is from my hometown, and it really confuses them that two people from the same hometown could have different accents. They also have trouble with non-British/American accents. We had a Jamaican student and nobody understood a word he said, and no amount of explaining could make my students understand why he spoke differently. After four years abroad, I do notice a distinct “cowboy” accent when Americans speak. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Chicago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Dr\_Chicago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Chicago)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821/60 "2010-06-14T06:30:40Z")
It’s funny, someone mentioned that British people sound American when they sing…I had always considered it the other way around, if anything (I’m from the West Coast). A friend from Seattle went to England for a few days, and the people he met there said he sounded like Kurt Cobain (how’s that for picking out an accent?). As far as personal experiences, I will say I dated a girl when I studied abroad in Norway, and she used to ask me to do the Texan accent sometimes. Though if I needed to say something to other native english speakers that I didn’t want her to hear, I would just do a 30’s gangster accent, and she couldn’t understand a word. That Italian video is incredible, I’ve been wondering that very question for years! I asked a french friend of mine what americans sounded like before she understood english, and she said we all sounded like lions. Before that, I just made my best guess by listening to Eddie Vedder. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-american-accents-are-viewed-in-other-languages/541821.md?page=4)