Can you recognize accents?

yo'ma

Mon, May 03 2010, 10:13 am

I remember once when I was in J2 with my dh, the one on J, and this woman started speaking spanish to the guy giving pizza, he said that she's from Mexico. Spanish is his first language, but I can't tell one accent from the next, kind of. I can recognize some. When people speak english, but with an accent of another language, I can't tell what it is. With english itself, sorry, but I tell the difference between a South African and British accent. I could tell for the most part different parts of the states.

The reason why I even ask is because I was in starbucks the other day and the woman behind the counter asked where I was from. She spoke english, but she was from colombia. To me and american accent sounds american, but that's because I am an american Rolling Eyes

lizard8

Mon, May 03 2010, 10:26 am

I can recognize accents, but the problem is I end up imitating them! If I speak to an english person, I get their accent, and when I speak to a southern american I tend to drawl a bit. I don't do it on purpose, I hope they never get offended!
Personally, I myself have a weird accent. My theory is that I learned how to talk from americans, canadians, english morah, and Philippino help! I never notice it but people are always asking where im from.

Chana Miriam S

Mon, May 03 2010, 11:00 am

I am very good at recognizing accents of english speakers from the most of canada, the us, uk, australia, south africa, scotland and ireland. ironically, I have screwed up newfoundland and nova scotian accents because I just don't hear them that much and they are very much like mixes of other accents.

Ruchel

Mon, May 03 2010, 11:07 am

Out of France I'm told I have a French accent and that's certain.

In France my accent puzzles a lot of people. My husband who is very good with this accent stuff tried to analyze me LOL

and says my accent is a unique mix of Parisian, something non definable coming from the Eastern suburbs of Paris that he found in my friends too, some Yiddish inflexions from my father, some Belgian inflexions from my mother, and he says over time I caught a tiny tiny bit of his accent (that he defines as a mix of Swiss/Yiddish/Italian). Twisted Evil

miriamnechama

Mon, May 03 2010, 11:08 am

yes definately.. I've actually changed alot since livinginisrael

alot of brits think I'm american as my accent has changed alot.

one of my teachers thought I was canadian and she's californian

another thought I was israeli born....

people are shocked when I say I'm british... I don't sound it any more.

alot of americans also tell me that...

Israeli Mother

Mon, May 03 2010, 11:10 am

Now I am very good at recognizing accents in both English and Hebrew. I can generally recognize very subtle shades of difference. As a child, however, I never "heard" accents at all, just knew that some people said words differently.

I think that the ability to recognize accents comes from hearing many different accents from many different places and learning the subtle differences between how people pronounce different sounds. It is more a question of exposure and careful listening than anything else.

There is a doctor here at the kupah that was shocked that I knew right away that he is from Rumania; he said that most people just think that he is Russian -- TOTALLY different accent.

Raisin

Mon, May 03 2010, 11:12 am

I can recognise different english accents from most parts of england, ireland. scotland and wales. I tend to confuse northern irish and scottish. Also from (some) different parts of America, Australia, South Africa. Also people from different parts of Europe and the world speaking english.

Sometimes people just have weird accents, or pick up accents very easily so it can be hard to tell where they are from.

I dislike the south african and australian, and scottish accents. Nothing personal, just find it harsh.

hadasa

Mon, May 03 2010, 12:10 pm

I'm not too good at it. I can usually distinguish American, British, SA and Aussie, though I may mix up the last two occasionally. No idea how to differentiate Canada from US. Within US, my recognising abilities are limited to heavy Brooklynese, Southern drawl and the occasional Californian.

As for other accents, the only ones I can recognise with any certainty are Israeli when speaking English, French and from my hometown when speaking Hebrew. At least twice I've accosted people in Israel asking if they're from my hometown, based on their accent - and I was right. Yet nobody as far as I remember has ever guessed correctly where I'm from based on my accent. I'm really international.

And I plead guilty to assuming any Eastern european accent is Russian.

benchwarmer

Mon, May 03 2010, 1:26 pm

Cool thread! I love accents and my ears are contagious. I have found that if I even read a book written by a Brit I will start talking with the accent. So hearing it in my head is enough to catch it lol. If I watch a movie with a southern twang same thing happens, it really makes me nuts, I wonder why my own accent gets moved aside like that. I think my accent is Long Island'ish. I can tell when I hear someone who grew up frum in Brooklyn, when they say words like 'important', the ending 'tant' gives it away. I can tell when someone is from Chicago also. I can detect economic class from secular non Jewish and Jewish Americans in Long Island and the five boroughs, oh I feel yucky saying that, but it's true, ie. aks instead of ask. I can also detect when I hear a person from Russia or Poland. I can differentiate although they are often similar, bec. my dh's family is native Russian and a lot of housekeepers I've met here are Polish lol. I also can tell the difference between a London British accent and a more cockney one, I'm sure most people could. I can imitate the following accents: Australian, South African I'm not as good at, English both London and cockney, spanish accent, Israeli, French, Russian, this one drives my dh batty when I imitate his mom lol.

I used to put people on and do accents and fool them it was my evil little hobby when I was in my teens Twisted Evil

benchwarmer

Mon, May 03 2010, 1:30 pm

I know where I'm weak with differentiating accents. I can't differentiate between the various Asiatic countries. I'm just not familiar enough. I think I could spot when Chinese is being spoken but not differentiat their accented English as compared to Korean, Philipino, Vietnamese or Japanese.

joy613

Mon, May 03 2010, 3:06 pm

Raisin wrote:

How interesting that you think that. Are you British? I think the opposite. I find that the British accents are more harsh than the South african and australian. I think they're both (s.a. and australian) so flowy and smooth, while British (especially london british) is more straight, and harsh. and always sounds like the person is so serious and stern. At least to me it sounds like that.
But not to worry, I really like all the Brits that I know.

imamama

Mon, May 03 2010, 3:17 pm

Quote:

Canadians often talk "aboot" the 7th day of the week which is "Shubbis". We follow the laws of the "Tawra", and I am really "soary" if I am generalizing here.

Also, they may ask you if you're making any pro-gress on your pro-ject.

After living in Israel, I've become very good at differentiating between an English, South African and Australian accent. I'm sure the Imamothers from those countries think this isn't such a big deal, but for a dumb American like me, it's no mean feat. Smile

I can hear a French accent in someone speaking Hebrew, but in English (don't shoot me, Ruchel!) I have a hard time differentiating between a French and Israeli accent!

joy613

Mon, May 03 2010, 3:41 pm

Nuts wrote:

I love this topic! Accents a always fascinated me. I think the British and Aussie accent are quiet similar. Am I wrong?

If you hear them both being spoken constantly, you can tell which is which very easily. Could be they're a little similar but there's definitely plenty of differences.

sequoia

Mon, May 03 2010, 3:48 pm

French: I was watching a French interview with Celine Dion and I really had to concentrate to understand. The Quebecois accent is really different! Can't really distinguish a Belgian accent.

English: I can pick up on RP, Cockney, Irish, Scottish, Australian, South African, and Canadian. My favorite accent is Irish. When it comes to various English accents I can't tell if someone's from Bradford or Liverpool.

Russian: I'm from Kiev so I love we way we speak, it's softer and more "rounded." The Russian Russian, especially Moscow accent, sounds much more clipped and harsh.

Rollerblades

Tue, May 11 2010, 10:58 pm

Ahahah, love this thread.

Always get asked where I'm from. I like to drive people nuts so I have a different story every time.

Will never forget the time in eighth grade that I spent six months doing a british accent in a new teacher's class and my whole class played along. She was obsessed with me (what is it with people and loving foreign accents????) and when she asked me where I was born I just told her "a hospital" and blushed. Very Happy

My son also has funny inflections in his speech, but nothing similar to mine. I wonder where he picked his up from and what he'll tell people when they start asking him about his nationality. Wink