British vs American Accents

reply to post by studio500


australian accents are better than both.
and please dont judge it by what you see in the movies.

Originally posted by wigit
Did sumb'dy menshin a drunk Glaswegian.

That one needed subtitles... seriously, I couldn't understand one single thing he said.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


:

lol: Just for you.

hey, hey,
what's going on here?
what is going on?
what's the score?
what is the score here?
hey, you want to watch what you're doing with that thing
good god! you could kill somebody with that, you know
give a hand... give me a hand up there
hey, I'll tell you, you can have it back now I'm finished with it, and I'll tell you one thing, I don't envy him in the box, 'cos see that...that is not a patch on Slumberland by the way,

To the camera - you don't half fall asleep in some queer places when you're drunk, eh?

My local accent only sneaks out when I'm drunk.

british accents are simply put totally SEXY as is scots, welsh, and irish, lets not forget south african , new zealandisk and austailian -

Absolute classic video lol, I used to love watching Rab C Nesbitt

I often hear the Irish accent being mistaken for American too, perhaps it had a great influence during the founding days.

Come to think of it I often wonder when the first true sounding American accent came to be.

Talking of subtitles I heared that when singer Susan Boyle was interviewed by Oprah, the show had to be subtitled.

Originally posted by foxnewz
reply to post by studio500

 

australian accents are better than both.
and please dont judge it by what you see in the movies.

I wouldn't say any accent was better or worse than others in my own opinion but I have to say I think think the Australian accent is very cool.

Originally posted by Suspiria

My local accent only sneaks out when I'm drunk.

Suspiria, you have just given me a de ja vous moment lol.

I'm from Sutton Coldfield on the Northern outskirts of Birmingham and I had to drive 7 miles to Stafford on Wednesday to collect some machinery. When I got there I couldn't believe the difference between my accent and that of the local guy I was collecting from "Mi Duck", lol.

It got me wondering where the dividing lines are in each county or area relating to accents. Is there a middle ground where the populous sound similar. Is there such a thing as a Brummie / Stoke Hybrid so to speak?

In the same way I could travel say 12 miles to the Black Country and the accent again is so very different.

reply to post by alysha.angel


Now the South African accent, theres an authoritarian sounding accent in my mind.
It is instantly recognizable yet not heard very often at all.

Heres a few interesting Actors, well known in the USA but in fact they are British despite having great (IMO) American accents.

Jamie Bamber The adorable Lee Adama from Battlestar Galactica is actually British. The first time I heard him speak in his native tongue in the Razor special DVD I was completely floored. His American accent is spot on. Bamber, who grew up in London, wins first place for most convincing American accent in scifi.

Kevin McKidd Proof that the Scottish can master American grammar better than most Americans. McKidd grew up in Scotland and starred in Journeyman.

Hugo Weaving Agent Smith's hard 'Ah's in "Mr. Anderson" were like nails on a chalk board. The Matrix wouldn't have been the same without him and his weird stretched-out speech. Bravo, Hugo — you've mastered the annoying nasal "A" sound that I get teased incessantly about.

Ewan McGregor McGregor gets a gold star in the accent book for his work as Lincoln Six Echo and Tom Lincoln in The Island. Plus he does a pretty mean Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan.

Lena Headey British actress Headey nails it, nails it, nails it playing Sarah Connor in The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Her accent is flawless,

The list goes on, including ...Mel Gibson,Christian Bale,Heath Ledger, Emily Watson,Nicole Kidman,Hugh Jackman,Patrick Stewart, Clive Owen,James McAvoy, Michelle Claire Ryan.

The Best And Worst Fake American Accents From Scifi’s Army Of Brits

Originally posted by Suspiria

My local accent only sneaks out when I'm drunk.

good owd grandad piggot always used to listen to that on radio stoke before heading to school when i was a kid

reply to post by studio500


Sutton Coldfield? Awesome, I live about an hour's bus journey on the 71 away (trying not to give away exact location lol)

And yeah, you're right, I can go to other parts of the borough and outside of it into inner city Birmingham and the whole Black Country area and find it changes really quickly. From the Queen's English types to the Carl Chinn style accent and others in between, some that I can't understand at all.

What annoys me is when others around the UK try to make fun of Birmingham and Brummies in particular by trying to claim everyone who lives there are thick and then putting on an accent to prove it without realising that not all people from Birmingham talk like that and hell, they're even using the Dudley/West Bromwich accent and NOT a Brummie accent.

Like me putting on a Bolton accent to make fun of Scousers.

Lord only knows what people outside of the UK think but I was ok when I talked to two Australians and a Canadian I vacationed with a few years back (all of them female friends by the way and not total strangers, that'd be weird)

reply to post by studio500


Don't forget Dominic West (Jim McNulty) and Idris Elba (Stringer Bell) in 'The Wire'
(Dominic was really chilling as Fred West last night. If you didn't see it I recommend trying to catch a repeat)

I thought Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton) did a good southern accent in 'True Blood' but I've heard many Americans think it's little off. They all seem to agree Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse) is absolutely spot on and most never realised he was Australian.

reply to post by ridcully


Sounds like Trevor Goddard, he spoke with an Australian accent for his entire career and his portrayal of Kano in the Mortal Kombat movie was so popular, the game designers changed the character's origin to Australian in the games after the films release.

No one knew he was actually English until his untimely death.

I'm one of those people who kind of adopt the accent of wherever I am.

Most of the time, I speak pretty normal American. If I'm in my grandmother's neck of the woods though, I lapse into a Southern accent (although slight)...

When I was overseas, I had a lot of English teachers, so I spoke with a slight English accent for a time...took me months to lose it after coming back stateside...

I do find it sexy when a gal speaks in it though...most of my favorite actresses have that accent...

American accents can change by region. But usually stick to a city and its suburbs. Unless it is a very integrated city like DC, then there isnt an accent to speak off. Just accents from around the globe.

I grew up in Pittsburgh which is only 250 miles from Baltimore but a completely different accent, so much so that people had trouble understanding me here at first. We use different words.

Don't ever confuse a New Yorker with a Bostoner but they sound the same to most. There are places in the south with pleasant southern accents and others who were so strong I couldnt' understand a word they were saying.

Now when I moved to Arizona, I had a strong accent to the Arizonans, if I was angry they couldn't understand me at all. But they did not have an accent to me.... because its closer to california which basically has the neutral television american accent.

There is no British vs. American accents and its silly to compare. Both have changed so much that neither represent traditional British accent. There are still things we say in American that is an older form then in Britain.

How attractive someone finds an accent really depends on where they came from and what their native language is. British find the American southern accent more soothing because it is a derivitave of the northern British accents when the colonists came here.

It is hard for Americans to pick up accents because we use the back of our mouths a lot. We are hard on A and O. It is a very wide mouthed accent. So picking up a romance language, though lovely to us because of the British English, is not as easy to learn by using the front of our mouths. Just look how much trouble Americans have with teh rolling R.

I love accents and they are very interesting. I would like to go somewhere long enough to hear teh different dialects, but that takes time.

But it is true that the British do sound so prim and proper to Americans. I do love this bit about having a British Kid by Nick Swardson if you can find it.

Now for me, a man speaking real Italian makes me want to tear my clothes off.

reply to post by nixie_nox


Che ne pensi?



Seriously though, there are at least two pretty different British accents. The classy one (Elizabeth Hurley), and the trashy one (Spice Girls)...

Both equally work for me though...

I always wondered what the Austalians thought about the American dialect. Because to me it seems like auzzies and UK accents are almost the same but American sounds totally different. That made me wonder if Auzzies think Americans sound close to british accents or that Americans sound totally different than UK and Auzzies.

I love this thread! I'm in the states but have been shacking up with a Brit for the last couple of months when he comes here for his job. At first I couldn't understand a damn word they were saying, but it's funny, when I went out drinking with them I didn't have any trouble understanding them at all! They're from Cumbria and at first I thought they were Scottish. The guy I'm seeing gets a kick out of my attempt at a cockney accent.

reply to post by Swing80s


They are not the same at all, your just not trained to hear it. Same as with American and Canadian. To the UK we sound the same, but to each other it is not.