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American accents

TylerDurden

Well-Known Member
Hey All,
First of all, I don‘t mean to offend anyone. It‘s really just about initiating a constructive discussion. Earlier this week, I had to talk to someone from Arkansas. I usually don‘t have any issues understanding American accents, but in that case, I had a very hard time. Whime I know that there are different accents, I wouldn‘t be able to associate them with a particular geographic region.
With that being, are there any accents you are struggling with?
 

April Nicole

Well-Known Member
Tyler do you have an English (European) accent? I love English accents they sound very refined.

I struggle with some of the Cajuns around us. I can understand them, I guess cause I'm used to it. But I have to look at their mouth while they speak. It's funny cause in Louisiana we have many different accents. Some are heavy Cajun French. My grandmother spoke fluent French. And up north it is exactly like an Arkansas accent. We are in Southeast Louisiana which has a slightly different dialect than those in the southwest. And a whole different dialect than those in North Louisiana.
 

glen

Super Moderator
Staff member
I struggle with indian accents they pronounce my sirname wrong which makes me laugh, i used to struggle with scottish but used to it now as husbands family are all scottish, people say they struggle with mine but i dont think iv got an accent lol
 

TylerDurden

Well-Known Member
Tyler do you have an English (European) accent? I love English accents they sound very refined.

I struggle with some of the Cajuns around us. I can understand them, I guess cause I'm used to it. But I have to look at their mouth while they speak. It's funny cause in Louisiana we have many different accents. Some are heavy Cajun French. My grandmother spoke fluent French. And up north it is exactly like an Arkansas accent. We are in Southeast Louisiana which has a slightly different dialect than those in the southwest. And a whole different dialect than those in North Louisiana.

I think I have been "americanized" already, but they do teach british english at school. 4-5 years ago (prior to living here), I had to travel to Lake Charles, LA for business. Some people were easy to understand, while others I couldn‘t understand at all.
 

trg

Well-Known Member
I traveled a lot with people working on projects that we shipped around the world. Being from the Appalachian mtn’s and the people that would travel with me, it was always fun to watch. While in Mexico I often would have to translate (I have been so many times) between the Mexican staff and my staff, this was in English. But still with the dialect of the people from the Appalachian region it entertained me. The funniest one I witnessed is a guy who I worked with which had a strong southern accent ordering breakfast at McDonald’s in Toronto Canada. He would get so frustrated because they would say we can’t understand you. I would simple say he will have a number 3, they would say oh okay, thanks. He later got the nickname back at the shop of boomhauer ( from king of the hill). If you have not seen this tv show, it’s worth a quick YouTube search, just search boomhauer.

I agree with April, I can’t understand Indianan people on the phone either.
 

April Nicole

Well-Known Member
I traveled a lot with people working on projects that we shipped around the world. Being from the Appalachian mtn’s and the people that would travel with me, it was always fun to watch. While in Mexico I often would have to translate (I have been so many times) between the Mexican staff and my staff, this was in English. But still with the dialect of the people from the Appalachian region it entertained me. The funniest one I witnessed is a guy who I worked with which had a strong southern accent ordering breakfast at McDonald’s in Toronto Canada. He would get so frustrated because they would say we can’t understand you. I would simple say he will have a number 3, they would say oh okay, thanks. He later got the nickname back at the shop of boomhauer ( from king of the hill). If you have not seen this tv show, it’s worth a quick YouTube search, just search boomhauer.

I agree with April, I can’t understand Indianan people on the phone either.

Lol , we have Boomhauers too! "Dang ol' Dang ol' "
 

Bailey's Mom

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
Oh, also I struggle with understanding people from India etc... When calling for technical support or about a bill, I seriously can't understand them

I agree with you April! One time I had a problem with a program and I actually had to use the military phonetic to spell out and have her spell out what she was trying to say., ie, "Do you mean, Charlie Hotel Echo Charlie Kilo the Processor...Papa Romeo Oscar Charlie Echo Sierra Sierra Oscar Romeo?" I couldn't understand her at all...she had to do it word by word using the Military Phonetic to get anything across. Nightmare!
 

Bailey's Mom

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
I used to be a Court Reporter (back in the dark ages) and I had a great ear for accents, but actually looking at people's lips was half of the skill. Somehow it was an art, part listening and part lip reading. The worst one I ever had was one of "OUR" court interpreters (sigh) translating Vietnamese to English. I'm sure the Judge was waiting for my transcript so that he could make his decision....it was that hard to understand. At least I was able to listen to the tape over and over again to get it right.
 

April Nicole

Well-Known Member
I used to be a Court Reporter (back in the dark ages) and I had a great ear for accents, but actually looking at people's lips was half of the skill. Somehow it was an art, part listening and part lip reading. The worst one I ever had was one of "OUR" court interpreters (sigh) translating Vietnamese to English. I'm sure the Judge was waiting for my transcript so that he could make his decision....it was that hard to understand. At least I was able to listen to the tape over and over again to get it right.

You were a stenographer, that's such an interesting job. I bet you heard a lot of drama.
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
I have a hard time understanding thick accents... for about an hour... then I start to assimilate and MY accent shifts to be more like the other person.
I can't spend more than a few days in the South without assimilating the local accent.
Many people have asked "where are you from? I can't place your accent"... because it's such a mangled mix of everywhere I've been lately (and changes based on where I've been). LOL.
 

Jarena

Well-Known Member
I feel like I don’t have an accent. I have always been kind of curious about it though. Do I not have an accent? Or is my non-accent, an accent?? Oh I don’t know.
I live in the northern part of my state, but further south, many people do have a bit of a southern accent.
I feel like I’m pretty good at understanding everyone. Like Baileys Mom said, it seems to be much easier if you can look at the lips when they speak. Over the phone is a little harder sometimes.
 

April Nicole

Well-Known Member
I feel like I don’t have an accent. I have always been kind of curious about it though. Do I not have an accent? Or is my non-accent, an accent?? Oh I don’t know.
I live in the northern part of my state, but further south, many people do have a bit of a southern accent.
I feel like I’m pretty good at understanding everyone. Like Baileys Mom said, it seems to be much easier if you can look at the lips when they speak. Over the phone is a little harder sometimes.

A lot of people from California don't seem to have an accent. I've spoken to people from Indiana and they seem to speak somewhat like folks from California.
 

TylerDurden

Well-Known Member
Thank you all for the feedback. It‘s interesting to see how different English can be. Again, I can‘t tell accents within the US apart, but some are definitely harder to understand. Ultimately, I can‘t complain because some people might complain about the way I talk.
 

Smokeycat

Well-Known Member
I feel like I don’t have an accent. I have always been kind of curious about it though. Do I not have an accent? Or is my non-accent, an accent?? Oh I don’t know.
I live in the northern part of my state, but further south, many people do have a bit of a southern accent.
I feel like I’m pretty good at understanding everyone. Like Baileys Mom said, it seems to be much easier if you can look at the lips when they speak. Over the phone is a little harder sometimes.
Everyone has an accent to someone.
For me it isn't a persons accent that causes problems as I can usually understand most people but the fact that words can mean different things.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
I feel like I don’t have an accent. I have always been kind of curious about it though. Do I not have an accent? Or is my non-accent, an accent?? Oh I don’t know.
I live in the northern part of my state, but further south, many people do have a bit of a southern accent.
I feel like I’m pretty good at understanding everyone. Like Baileys Mom said, it seems to be much easier if you can look at the lips when they speak. Over the phone is a little harder sometimes.

I grew up in southeast Iowa and moved to Indiana when I was 22. I've been told that I don't have an accent. Well, my in laws from Calumet City think I do. They hear me say "maw" instead of "ma" and "doe-lar" instead of "dollar." But they DO have an accent. They're nasal with their o's and their a's. My older daughter was a speechy and went to nationals her senior year and she was told that she didn't have an accent by many competitors from all over the country. Her husband, who is from southern Indiana definitely does have an accent. Just a hint of south in his voice.

I started out as a journalism major in college and one of my classes was linguistics. There was discussion about "Generalized American" speech. It was interesting and an attempt to explain why all newscasters sound the same - that they're taught to speak like midwesterners - more specifically - people from Nebraska. At least that's what we were taught in Liguistics.