Do Europeans think that Americans have 'beautiful' accents?

[LG Gone Wild]

Two actors that really got me was seeing an interview with Sascha Baron Cohen right after watching Borat and the first few times I saw Hugh Laurie in interview.

 

Hugh Laurie's accent sounds put on. His cranky American accent seems natural. I saw him in a BBC show and thought his British accent was so terrible that it was embarrassing to watch. Oops. :lol:

[Rosie_0801]

I find it interesting the difference in Arabic accents, and some sound more beautiful to my ear than others, but that's a personal preference. I should ask someone if I have an American accent when I speak Arabic -- I don't rightly know, lol..

 

I have a "hearing" accent when I sign. Heheh.

 

Rosie

[keptwoman]

Hugh Laurie's accent sounds put on. His cranky American accent seems natural. I saw him in a BBC show and thought his British accent was so terrible that it was embarrassing to watch. Oops. :lol:

That's so funny. I was used to his British accent from Blackadder and various British movies and TV shows, it took me the longest time to get used to him with a US accent, it's the US one that seems put on to me because to me he sounds like a posh Brit.

[smrtmama]

American accents in general? Not in my experience. Southern accents specifically? In my experience, yes.

[Ester Maria]

With the years I got used to it and acquired it myself, but during my schooling, I wasn't crazy about the American accents. Now I view them as something "regular", but from what I see, the younger generation is the same, they're so USED to it, since they grow up with the media, that it smells more of familiarity than exotic beauty.

 

What I honestly dislike though are American accents in foreign languages. I know it's purely personal, but hearing Italian or Hebrew spoken with an American accent makes me think of nails on a blackboard, I just can't help it - the American R and unclear vowels (vowels are important for Italian) just ruin everything. Maybe it's just me being extra sensitive on the languages I grew up with, though, but interestingly, my daughters feel the same (raised in US/Italy) - they say that American-accented Italian is far worse for their ears than Italian-accented English.

 

My husband, Italian/Israeli, is a pragmatic, he considers everything good as long as it's understandable and he doesn't understand the aesthetic component "we women" give to the accents :D

[Rosie_0801]

I know it's purely personal, but hearing Italian or Hebrew spoken with an American accent makes me think of nails on a blackboard,

 

Heheh. Half of Canada sounds ok to me. The other half sound as though they've been put through a cheese grater.

 

Rosie

[Ibbygirl]

I have a "hearing" accent when I sign. Heheh.

 

Rosie

:lol::lol: That's funny. :)

 

 

What I honestly dislike though are American accents in foreign languages.

 

:iagree: I wouldn't consider an American accent in English "charming" (with the exception of well bred Southern of course. ;) ). I mean, I think if we're going to assign adjectives maybe "hip" or "cool" would be more suitable. I mean, Cary Grant was "charming" but Clark Gable or Humphrey Bogart would definitely be consider more "cool" for example. I appreciate British English. I think the posh accents are very nice and even some of the others are pretty amusing like "norf London", but some things can really only be expressed in American English. I mean, anyone who has ever met a New York Italian from Lawn Guyland knows that it just wouldn't work with a posh British accent. ;) But I have to go with Ester Maria on the American accent in foreign languages. They usually are pretty bad, but in fairness to my fellow countrymen, I have met some that can actually hold their own pretty good and am always pleasantly surprised when I hear them. :)

[Ester Maria]

But I have to go with Ester Maria on the American accent in foreign languages. They usually are pretty bad, but in fairness to my fellow countrymen, I have met some that can actually hold their own pretty good and am always pleasantly surprised when I hear them. :)

Absolutely, there are people who acquire very good accents in foreign languages. :) It's not even the question of being bad - Russian-accented Hebrew is also "bad", but for different reasons which concern different phonology - it's just that for my ears, American-accented Hebrew will be instinctively more "irritable" (in lack of better expression; don't get me wrong, it's not intended as an insult for those who learn) than the Russian-accented one, and I noticed that tendency in other languages too. Like I said, for me it's just a combination of R and unclear vowels, most of the time. If an American speaker successfully removes that, even if by doing so he adopts the Russian R or softens some words where he shouldn't (like "Russian Hebrew": anyi instead of ani and similar), his Hebrew won't be nearly as "irritable" for my ears.

 

But I still think it's purely subjective, depending on your language, so Italian accents never "irritate" me and I'm Italian. I can hear Italian-accented English with no problems, Italian-accented Hebrew, Italian-accented French... Still sounds good to me. :D

[Ibbygirl]

Absolutely, there are people who acquire very good accents in foreign languages. :) It's not even the question of being bad - Russian-accented Hebrew is also "bad", but for different reasons which concern different phonology - it's just that for my ears, American-accented Hebrew will be instinctively more "irritable" (in lack of better expression; don't get me wrong, it's not intended as an insult for those who learn) than the Russian-accented one, and I noticed that tendency in other languages too. Like I said, for me it's just a combination of R and unclear vowels, most of the time. If an American speaker successfully removes that, even if by doing so he adopts the Russian R or softens some words where he shouldn't (like "Russian Hebrew": anyi instead of ani and similar), his Hebrew won't be nearly as "irritable" for my ears.

 

But I still think it's purely subjective, depending on your language, so Italian accents never "irritate" me and I'm Italian. I can hear Italian-accented English with no problems, Italian-accented Hebrew, Italian-accented French... Still sounds good to me. :D

 

I know what you mean. I am American, but my family is Spanish/Cuban so I grew up with Spanish and English around me all the time. I have no problems whatsoever with a thick Spanish accent in English because the people I loved most in the world all had them and couldn't say Pepsi to save their lives, but I'm sure to another American it must be like nails on the chalkboard to them. But I on the other hand have a hard time with the American "r's" in Spanish, it's just hard on my ears.

[KidsHappen]

! Ha. Funny because Naveen Andrews isn't Iraqi! The first time I saw him was in the English Patient, where he played a Sikh. He was also in Kama Sutra, from around the same time.

 

I was thrown to hear the actresses from the Ladies' No. 1 Detective Agency speak out of character (Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi) in the "making of" specials -- they're both actually American! What a shock that was.

 

I know now but I didn't know until I watched the extras. Have you noticed that he Iraqi accent has been less pronouced over the course of the show?

 

Daniel Day Kim had to really work on his Korean accent. Although he is Korean he said he hadn't spoken it since he was a child and he naturally speaks without an accent so he worked with the actress who plays Sun to improve his Korean (speech & accent). Now three years later he has lost it entirely whereas Sun still counds Korean.

 

Sawyer was originally supposed to be from New York and he read the part that way but after they heard him speaking naturally they rewrote the part for him. In the beginning, he was playing up the southern accent a bit but now it is less pronounced.

 

I know, I know way too much about LOST.

Edited February 19, 2010 by KidsHappen

[Sputterduck]

I think not. Mostly they mock many of the regional accents, think the southern drawl, the New York accent, the midwestern (MN & WI especially), Boston, LA and of course, just good ole redneck. You have to admit, even we find it amusing.

 

There is an LA accent??

[KidsHappen]

There is an LA accent??

 

Louisiana

[funschooler5]

While it's not hearing each of us speaking this website can let you listen to all sorts of accents.

 

http://accent.gmu.edu/

 

My theater teacher showed it to us while we were going over accents. It has accents from around the world and a LOT of different regions around the US if you want to hear differences in American accents.

 

Great link! It's interesting to hear the different American accents.

 

This is an interesting thread. I have a question, though...there are several American accents that sound the same to me, and they are from totally different areas of the country (the west coast, midwest and a few on the east coast). To me, these sound "normal" (I live in the Pacific Northwest). I just wonder what *my* accent sounds like to other people. I used to assume that people from my area of the country don't have an accent, but I'm sure there's some way we pronounce things that sound different to people in other areas of the country. I just can't pin down the difference.

[Lovedtodeath]

Great link! It's interesting to hear the different American accents.

 

This is an interesting thread. I have a question, though...there are several American accents that sound the same to me, and they are from totally different areas of the country (the west coast, midwest and a few on the east coast). To me, these sound "normal" (I live in the Pacific Northwest). I just wonder what *my* accent sounds like to other people. I used to assume that people from my area of the country don't have an accent, but I'm sure there's some way we pronounce things that sound different to people in other areas of the country. I just can't pin down the difference.

Well... does cherry rhyme with chairy?

 

does king have a long e sound in it?

 

does bang have a long a sound?

 

does man have a different a sound than pad?

 

Those are some things that are very common to the way I speak, but apparently are not everywhere. (Indiana)

[funschooler5]

Well... does cherry rhyme with chairy?

 

does king have a long e sound in it?

 

does bang have a long a sound?

 

does man have a different a sound than pad?

 

Those are some things that are very common to the way I speak, but apparently are not everywhere. (Indiana)

 

 

Yes to all of those, except for man and pad, I pronounce both of those the same way. :001_smile: Do you pronounce man and pad differently?

[Lovedtodeath]

yes. man is like m, long e, long a, n I guess, but not drawn out. I have to work very, very hard to say man with a short a.

 

Oh, here is another one. pen and pin rhyme... or do they?

[Ibbygirl]

I once saw this questionnaire someone in Harvard made up that within 20 questions could tell you what region of the country you were from. It was fascinating. I'll have to see if I can find it and post it here.

[funschooler5]

yes. man is like m, long e, long a, n I guess, but not drawn out. I have to work very, very hard to say man with a short a.

 

Oh, here is another one. pen and pin rhyme... or do they?

 

Interesting! I say pen with a short e sound and pin with a short i.

 

Now that I think about it, there are a few things dh and I say differently. Dh pronounces the word crayon "crown", and I tend to mush it all together and say "cran". I also say the word album "alblum" (I have no idea why I throw that extra "L" in there, but I'm working on changing that :tongue_smilie:). I also say drawer "jroar" (I don't know if that comes across very well spelled out like that :lol: ) Now, I've always thought of those as just mispronunciations on my part, but now I wonder if there's anyone else in this region that pronounces those words that way?

[Ibbygirl]

I hope it's okay to post this here. If not mods please delete. I couldn't find the survey for taking anymore because they published the results already, but you can see the results of it and the maps of how things are said regionally. You have to click on each question in order to see the map of the answers, but it may prove interesting to some. Dunno. :) Here it is. :) http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/maps.html

[stripe]

There is an LA accent??

Knowing the OP wasn't referring to Los Angeles....

 

Uh...Spy Car will back me up on this one.... Like, totally! Especially in a certain region.

 

I had a friend from the San Fernando Valley when I was much younger who had a boyfriend from another country who didn't speak much English. I can honestly say she has the strongest Valley girl accent I've ever heard in real life. Anyhow, she taught him English. He learned her way.

 

!!

[stripe]

What I honestly dislike though are American accents in foreign languages.

! Shocking. Scandalous.

 

I think there is a huge difference between half-way decent attempts and people who want to make (especially something like Spanish or Italian) sounds just like they are disdainfully rating a Minnesota hot dish or something. But I don't like lifeless British mangling of those languages either. Speaking as if embracing the language (or any sort of enthusiasm for it) will cause moral corruption or something.

 

(Confession: I try really hard not to have a stereotypical American accent in other languages. At least my in-laws don't cringe when I talk. And my English speaking in-laws don't always understand me in English. How's that?)

 

What is it about the letter "R," anyway?

Edited February 16, 2010 by stripe

[Ester Maria]

What is it about the letter "R," anyway?

The anglophone world (and not only they) tends to transfer their R into the languages they learn, even though it's very clear that those languages don't have that kind of R. However, the problematic thing is that all languages that I know of (there might be exceptions I don't know, of course) don't employ that kind of R - they either "roll" it (such as in Italian, Spanish, Russian, etc.), either produce it more from the throat, and even though those throat Rs differ among themselves, they're basically variations of the same sound (such as in French, modern Hebrew, German R is closer to that too, etc.)

So you see, when you use your R, it's an automatic "I'm an English speaker" sign, because nobody other than English speakers will use that kind of R.

 

L is also problematic for some languages, Italian and Hebrew too, since both of them use very softer version of L (produced more from the middle part of your mouth than from the front) than the English has.

And like I said, vowels reveal a lot, that's also one of the points where the English speakers fail in most languages (and most foreign speakers in English too).

 

Basically, the whole accent thing should improve naturally if you're immersed in the language, and it's not impossible to remove the accent either. It doesn't have that big importance, if you can speak the language understandably, it's just more of an aesthetic thing. Also, some people actually prefer to have their accent and not sound like native speakers, while the others will work as hard as it takes to sound like natives. Both perspectives are okay, of course - like I said, I'm talking exclusively about the aesthetic component for *myself*.

[momto2Cs]

Just to let you know, the southern accent that most actors tend to use is...not true. Southerners tend to find it exceedingly annoying. It is WAY overdone. :D

 

 

I have found this to be true... working in a grocery store, you get all kinds of people, with all kinds of accents. I've been surprised before, asking for ID, to find out that the person I'm carding is from one of the Southern states, with little to no discernable accent (to my northern California ears).

 

However, I did have a lady from England (London area) tell me once that Californian accents are quite lovely. :)

[Sputterduck]

Knowing the OP wasn't referring to Los Angeles....

 

Uh...Spy Car will back me up on this one.... Like, totally! Especially in a certain region.

 

I had a friend from the San Fernando Valley when I was much younger who had a boyfriend from another country who didn't speak much English. I can honestly say she has the strongest Valley girl accent I've ever heard in real life. Anyhow, she taught him English. He learned her way.

 

!!

 

lmao That would have been interesting to hear!

[stripe]

The anglophone world (and not only they) tends to transfer their R into the languages they learn, even though it's very clear that those languages don't have that kind of R.

I agree this is an issue, but not just for anglophones. There also are several non-Romance languages (Japanese probably being the most well-known) with a different sort of "r". (Wangari Maathai has a similar "r"/"l" issue.) ... So I don't think it's necessarily some campaign to force the language to sound like English (or whatever one's native language is), but more a lack of ability in coming up with new sounds. The "th" sounds in English tend to give many trouble, including the French.

[woolybear]

Huh. Quack, quack, quack.

 

:lol:

[Lovedtodeath]

I have never heard of someone purposely keeping their American accent, but I know plenty that can't help it. We have a lot of friends who have learned foreign languages for their ministry. We tried attending a Spanish congregation for a while, but it got to be too difficult to translate everything with a toddler. I would love it if I could lose my accent and sound like a native speaker. Then again, they all have accents and different dialects too. Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Spain... Some are very very different and you can even offend by using the wrong dialect.

 

Interestingly, my niece who is a native Spanish speaker from Mexico (moved here when she was 9 and still speaks spanish with family) cannot roll her Rs. She sounds like she has a Japanese accent.

[Ester Maria]

The "th" sounds in English tend to give many trouble, including the French.

Tell me about it! I had to move to the US to get that one correctly. :lol: When I was a kid I either overemphasized it, either didn't pronounce it at all.

[3littlekeets]

So, if our accent is so appalling, please tell me WHY when people sing -- regardless of where they are from, THEY SOUND AMERICAN? :lol::lol:

[gardening momma]

My answers:

Well... does cherry rhyme with chairy? Yes

 

does king have a long e sound in it? Yes

 

does bang have a long a sound? Yes

 

does man have a different a sound than pad? No

 

Those are some things that are very common to the way I speak, but apparently are not everywhere. (Indiana)

 

yes. man is like m, long e, long a, n I guess, but not drawn out. I have to work very, very hard to say man with a short a.

 

Oh, here is another one. pen and pin rhyme... or do they? They do not. Pen has a short e, and pin has a short i.

[gardening momma]

The anglophone world (and not only they) tends to transfer their R into the languages they learn, even though it's very clear that those languages don't have that kind of R. However, the problematic thing is that all languages that I know of (there might be exceptions I don't know, of course) don't employ that kind of R - they either "roll" it (such as in Italian, Spanish, Russian, etc.), either produce it more from the throat, and even though those throat Rs differ among themselves, they're basically variations of the same sound (such as in French, modern Hebrew, German R is closer to that too, etc.)

So you see, when you use your R, it's an automatic "I'm an English speaker" sign, because nobody other than English speakers will use that kind of R.

 

L is also problematic for some languages, Italian and Hebrew too, since both of them use very softer version of L (produced more from the middle part of your mouth than from the front) than the English has.

And like I said, vowels reveal a lot, that's also one of the points where the English speakers fail in most languages (and most foreign speakers in English too).

 

I agree this is an issue, but not just for anglophones. There also are several non-Romance languages (Japanese probably being the most well-known) with a different sort of "r". (Wangari Maathai has a similar "r"/"l" issue.) ... So I don't think it's necessarily some campaign to force the language to sound like English (or whatever one's native language is), but more a lack of ability in coming up with new sounds. The "th" sounds in English tend to give many trouble, including the French.

I can't roll my Rs. I don't know how. I'd like to have my kids learn Spanish someday, and I want to learn it also; I just don't know if I'll get the hang of the Rs.

[Ester Maria]

I can't roll my Rs. I don't know how. I'd like to have my kids learn Spanish someday, and I want to learn it also; I just don't know if I'll get the hang of the Rs.

From my experience, very few people actually cannot produce that sound - and those people exist in the countries whose languages roll their Rs too. The Rs of those people are then different, usually pronounced more from the back of their mouth.

 

But still, the actual number of people who cannot produce the sound is significantly lower than the number of people who don't pronounce it because they learned language X as a foreign language and didn't practice enough. For the vast majority of the people it's doable, even if they learn languages as adults. :)

 

The thing is that, as every thing in life, it takes effort and practice. The easiest thing is to say right at the beginning that you'll never have French or Spanish R, so why bother, you'll pronounce the English one instead. And while pronouncing the English R won't cause any incomprehensibility, it's a shame that the people who think that way just rule out the option of succeeding after some work.

So I suggest you to just try, in a relaxed way. If you don't achieve it, it's okay too, and you'll know that you did your best. But you can always try and if you try hard enough, the chances are that you actually will make it sooner or later. Not that it's of crucial importance in order to be understood, but it's a nice detail.

[gardening momma]

From my experience, very few people actually cannot produce that sound - and those people exist in the countries whose languages roll their Rs too. The Rs of those people are then different, usually pronounced more from the back of their mouth.

 

But still, the actual number of people who cannot produce the sound is significantly lower than the number of people who don't pronounce it because they learned language X as a foreign language and didn't practice enough. For the vast majority of the people it's doable, even if they learn languages as adults. :)

 

The thing is that, as every thing in life, it takes effort and practice. The easiest thing is to say right at the beginning that you'll never have French or Spanish R, so why bother, you'll pronounce the English one instead. And while pronouncing the English R won't cause any incomprehensibility, it's a shame that the people who think that way just rule out the option of succeeding after some work.

So I suggest you to just try, in a relaxed way. If you don't achieve it, it's okay too, and you'll know that you did your best. But you can always try and if you try hard enough, the chances are that you actually will make it sooner or later. Not that it's of crucial importance in order to be understood, but it's a nice detail.

I'm not saying I won't do it, but that I don't know how. I took a Spanish class in my first year of college--it was supposed to be for people who had not had any Spanish or 1 year of Spanish in high school. But it was taught as if you had had 1 year of Spanish. Rolling Rs was never taught, just spoken. The professor never taught how to do it.

 

ETA: I would practice if I knew the mechanics of it--how to position/move my tongue, and so on.

Edited February 16, 2010 by gardening momma

[Ibbygirl]

I would love it if I could lose my accent and sound like a native speaker. Then again, they all have accents and different dialects too. Nicaragua, Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, Spain... Some are very very different and you can even offend by using the wrong dialect.

 

 

 

That is so true!! I have Spanish and Cuban relatives and it's so funny how a word can be harmless in Castillian Spanish but in Cuban Spanish it is a rude word and vice versa.

Edited February 17, 2010 by Ibbygirl

[muffinmom]

Sometimes the difference is shocking when you hear them speak out of character for the first time. To particular examples that come to mind is Lennie James from Jericho and Sayid from LOST. When I heard them in the special features I almost keeled over. While I generally love a Bristish accent, in those cases is just wasn't right.

 

:iagree: Hearing Sayid's real accent just killed me! I prefer him to stay in character! Sexier that way.