Which English accent (from English speaking countries) do you like the most?

[doraemon]

I can't seem to tell the difference between the American accent and Canadian accent, but many people claim they're not exactly the same. Is this true? If so, in what ways?

PS: I think the Australian accent sounds the best. It might be because I've grown up speaking it, but when compared with all the other accents, I still like it the most.

[AdamD]

I don't mean to be picky, but for my money Welsh and South African (Afrikaner) smash just about everything in your list.

[isela]

How can this work when we have the voting population coming from all over the world and who make fun of each others' accents? Shall we just count the number of users by nationality?

[xianhua]

You may have confused British with English here (as many do). Since the British nationality encompasses those who descend from Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland*, either a breakdown of each, or one category for British, would suffice.

it is the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly [the two governments] confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland. (Wikipedia)

[gato]

I can't seem to tell the difference between the American accent and Canadian accent, but many people claim they're not exactly the same. Is this true? If so, in what ways?

Ask the person to say "about". If it sounds like "a boat", then she or he is a Canadian.

[HashiriKata]

Shall we just count the number of users by nationality?

I think you're right there, isela, the beauty of an accent, or a language, is largely determined by the degree we're familiar with it.

[doraemon]

Sorry, I left out the South African accent. I kind of forgot about it when I made this poll. So what does the Welsh accent sound like anyway? Don't Welsh people have their own language or something?

PS: Yeah, I did confuse Britain with England. Sorry.

[renzhe]

The poll is quite misleading, though.

There are dozens of British accents. The thing that is most commonly referred to as "British English" is the Received Pronunciation, known also as Queen's English or BBC English.

It is very special in the sense that nobody actually speaks it.

[Meng Lelan]

I don't know what you mean by an English accent. Everything sounds the same to me in English.

[Brian US]

Being an American I had to go for the many accents of England. I couldn't believe how different they were from different towns. Do people go out of their way to pronounce words different from those 20 km away? Anyway, I was stricken when last month a girl asked me if I wanted more tea in her Welsh accent and I just burst into laughing.

Being from Michigan I would like to think I can tell the Canadian accent apart. Just think of it as a toned down Fargo or watch an episode of Ice Road Truckers from Canada. Of course saying "Eh" is a dead giveaway.

[heifeng]

ahh a fellow Michigander! I grew up about 15 minutes from Canada and let me tell you as soon as one of 'em Canadians wandered across the river and said something like aboot, oot, prooocess, serviette, added a 'eh' etc. the jig was up! Yeah, some of them totally have a midwestern twang too wahahhaahahaa (All you have to do is listen to Da Shan speak and listen to his accent for an example too:mrgreen:) Hmm, this reminds me...I miss randomly finding Canadian pennies in my wallet....sigh.....memories.....

oh yeah, back to the subject at hand:

I like Caribbean English and that is not on the survey so boo that:-?

Edited December 6, 2009 at 06:17 AM by heifeng
omg why do I always misspell wander...ugh why ask why anymore...

[roddy]

Sorry, I left out the South African accent.

Given that the poll is about accents that are liked, it's probably a safe omission.

Do people go out of their way to pronounce words different from those 20 km away?

Only when there's an American passing

You do get different accents across very small areas. Here's a sample of Scotland's.

[anonymoose]

Here's a sample of Scotland's.

That's a great site, Roddy.

Fife is quite nice, or maybe it's just the girl is sweet.

Edinburgh's horrible. (Sorry, Roddy, if you're from Edinburgh.)

[imron]

I like Caribbean English and that is not on the survey

That problem can be solved

[xianhua]

I like Caribbean English and that is not on the survey

Caribbean is still not on the survey.

Do people go out of their way to pronounce words different from those 20 km away?

Why only the other day, I had to ask a scouser (one who comes from Liverpool) to repeat something three times before I knew what he was talking about. I usually find it's a case of tuning into the accent first.

[chrix]

Don't wanna rain on anyone's parade here, but there's plenty of distinctly different regional accents in England proper and the continental US as well, besides whatever approaches their respective national standards. Not so sure about regional accents in Australia and New Zealand, but I'm sure our resident Aussies and Kiwis (er, I meant Australians and New Zealanders ) will not hesitate to enlighten us

And Doraemon, I had a hard time first distinguishing between American and Canadian English, but never ever tell a Canadian it's all the same For me, one give-away is the "ou" sound as in "house". When Peter Jennings died, NPR aired an interview with him, and he kept pronouncing it like Canadians do, and later I asked the Google and sure enough he was from Canada. (of course not all Canadians do it like that, I think there's also an East-West difference in Canada)

[heifeng]

Oh my, Roddy that's a great link! It's causing me to waste my whole weekend listening to the accents but it's worth it and a cure for homesicknesses! !

[imron]

Caribbean is still not on the survey.

Heh, oops

[atitarev]

I like the Australian standard general accent (used by educated people, TV anchors), not the ockering (broad) accent. The Australian standard accent is not too different from the British non-rhotic accent as used in the media but it's more evenly spread across Australia.

New Zealand accent is very similar to Australian but some New Zealanders pronounce e/i differently creating the notorious mix up (six/sex, rest/wrist, etc).

I don't mind other accents (e.g. General American) as long as they are clear.

Edited December 7, 2009 at 03:02 AM by atitarev

[wushijiao]

Don't wanna rain on anyone's parade here, but there's plenty of distinctly different regional accents in England proper and the continental US as well, besides whatever approaches their respective national standards.

I echo that....some of my favorite accents: American Southern accents, Scottish accents, northern English accents, deep (broad) Australian accents...