# What is this accent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 24, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929 "2019-11-24T19:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/1 "2019-11-24T19:27:08Z")
Example: [Invest in Kazakhstan - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r1ghyh93pA) I hear this kind of “Commonwealth” accent a LOT in Sunday morning commercials for international or high end investment, banking, consulting, and the like. To my ears, it sounds vaguely South African or Australian, with some RP in the mix. I know it’s not Dutch English, which I’ve also heard in ads airing during Sunday morning public affairs shows. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/2 "2019-11-24T19:40:38Z")
Somewhere to the south East of London, with what seems to be a very slight antipodean twang, but I think that might just be arising from the speaker’s explicit effort to enunciate more clearly, and sound more dynamic than he would if speaking naturally. Could be an English person who has spent some time in New Zealand, or a New Zealander who has spent a long time in England ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/3 "2019-11-24T19:41:56Z")
Sounds like a native British speaker to me. The accent reminds me a little of soccer football player [Sir Trevor Brooking](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--0IRfDJ82k&feature=youtu.be&t=22), who is of Essex/East London derivation. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/4 "2019-11-24T19:52:59Z")
I think the most significant bit that makes it sound NZ is a red herring - around the 10 second mark the word ‘Stability’ is pronounced ‘stuhbility’ and for some reason this is reminiscent of the way the NZ accent renders ‘fish’ as ‘fuhsh’ - except… it’s not the same vowel - there are a couple of other bits like that where it generates an impression of an accent that is both elusive, and under close examination, not what it appears to be. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/5 "2019-11-24T20:09:05Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > … what seems to be a very slight antipodean twang … That’s what got me thinking “what is this?” It’s definitely not RP, but there’s a slight twang that says Australian or Anglo Seffrican. The twang is distinct but kind of weak, though, and doesn’t sound like “newscaster Australian”. Thing is, I hear that accent a LOT in the context of high-end “international” advertising during news and public affairs shows. British voiceover in American ads usually take the form of straight RP, or RP with an affected “high fashion” inflection. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/6 "2019-11-25T09:59:27Z")
Definitely not an Australian base accent with additional influences, and probably not NZ base either. To me the accent was most reminiscent of actor Stephen Mangan (Alan Partridge’s Dan, one of the sex people), which I would guess is urbane SE English. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/7 "2019-11-25T10:45:28Z")
I get a very vague Robin Leach-ness. Not full-on, but just a hint. So possibly a Londoner who’s lived overseas, rather than the other way around? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/8 "2019-11-25T12:22:55Z")
Definitely native British - good call on Stephen Mangan: very similar pitch and timbre, but this sounds to me like someone who’s spent too much time working in local commercial radio in the UK and tries to make everything sound more emphatic and portentous than might be entirely justified, [Alan Partridge](https://youtu.be/RxSbTlH0K4w) or [Smashy’n’Nicey](https://youtu.be/IaQCr4PIsHE) style. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/9 "2019-11-25T12:40:05Z")
I too heard antopodean on first listen, but perhaps because the OP mentioned it. On second listen, it’s certainly SE/estuary English - there’s a lot of crossover with antopodeans in accent. But this guy’s English. The OP is right that it isn’t RP though. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/10 "2019-11-26T01:45:49Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Definitely native British - good call on Stephen Mangan: very similar pitch and timbre, but this sounds to me like someone who’s spent too much time working in local commercial radio in the UK and tries to make everything sound more emphatic and portentous than might be entirely justified, [Alan Partridge](https://youtu.be/RxSbTlH0K4w) or [Smashy’n’Nicey](https://youtu.be/IaQCr4PIsHE) style. You’ve got it. The accent is all generic SE English, but that sort of intonation is the kind you hear in American commercials, so it sounds odd. I am TELLING you that this PRODUCT is the BEST of ALL TIME. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-accent/843929/11 "2019-11-27T13:03:12Z")
That is an odd accent. For the first few seconds I wondered if was a computerised speech program, as the intonation was so weird. Especially on the word “duties” at 0:05. It got less strange through the commercial, though.