Favorite accents of English?

[Jimmy_Q]

Do you have any favorite accents of English? And what accent do you try to incorporate in your own speech?

I'd say that my speech is the closest to the Midwest American English. But then again, I'm not an expert...

I'm a bit of a freak on accents, I like differences in the way the British and the Americans speak. I'm currently interested in the Boston accent - the non-rhotic accent. I think it's a cool accent. Note that I'm not considering vocabulary here (in that case, we'd be speaking of dialects), I'm talking about phonetic things here.

What accents do you like most? I like London's Cockney, Irish accent (republican) and New York accent in particular.

Any other accent freaks like me out there? ;)

[thedaffodils]

I'm not a fanatic of accents. Any accents of English are fine to me if I can understand the speakers' well. I think I just can distinguish the accents bwtween Americans and Britons, and I am not familiar with other accents.

Personally, I prefer the accent of the Queen's English, but many Chinese love American accent more.

It is very hard for many of us Chinese to understand Indian accent of English. I was also discouraged by a kind of Australian accent. My supervisor who is a Chinese understood him well but I failed during our meeting. The only word I caught from his speech was container, which that Australian pronounced as 'con [kon]-ta[ta:]-ner. But I understand speaking of other Australians' well.

[~~Dua~~]

i like british accent that sounds pretty cool...
and..spanish accent too..but i always fail to understand what they say they talk really fast..

[tweeks]

Well, considering I am from the South, I love a good Southern accent. Especially the Savannah accent ( a very good non-rhotic example). I have a Southern accent. Once when my cousin and I went to Arizona, a cashier kept asking us questions just to hear us talk.

I like Scottish accents and Australian. Also the Appalachian accent. My grandma is from Tennessee and has the most interesting way of speaking.

But I dislike certain accents as well.

Most notably the more western accent and those spoken in places like Wisconsin and Minnesota.

[acecrystal]

I'm fascinated with British English accent.I'm also used to it,one of our language center co teachers is British. I also,just like any other students learn from him.

[Ouisch]

Originally Posted by tweeks

Well, considering I am from the South, I love a good Southern accent. Especially the Savannah accent ( a very good non-rhotic example). I have a Southern accent. Once when my cousin and I went to Arizona, a cashier kept asking us questions just to hear us talk.

My husband was born and raised in Georgia (near Athens), and it has always amazed me how there is such a range of different accents just within his immediate family. He and his mother have subtle Southern accents similar to Julia Sugarbaker on Designing Women. His older brother has a stronger Southern accent, sort of like Jeff Foxworthy, but is still easily understandable. His father and middle brother, though, have extremely strong Southern accents and sometimes it seems as if they barely open their mouths when they speak. Sort of like Boomhauer on King of the Hill. I have to struggle to understand them. But my Mom, who was born and raised in Detroit, loves to hear any of them talk (just like your Arizona cashier).

I love most UK accents, although I have friends from Birmingham, England, and Glasgow, Scotland, that I see usually once per year and their accents are so....unusual? heavy? thick? .... that after all these years I still have to listen very carefully and study their faces and body language in order to understand them.

It's interesting the way regional accents can stereotype people....you could have a PhD in biochemistry and discover a cure for cancer, but if you have an Alabama accent, people's first impression when you speak is that you're a backwoods hillbilly.

[stuartnz]

I'm probably biased by background, but I love Indian English. Not just the accent, although that is delightful, but the variant as a whole. Of course, preference for accents in a language is somewhat analagous to a fondness for certain smells, in that is the evocations that one is likely most fond of. More than the accent itself, it is the people, places or other memories conjured up by hearing the accent that creates the fondness. Thaty's my take on it, anyway.

[SeseinAsia]

Well, based on where I live and have grown up, I have the Canadian accent of English.

Since the Canadian accent is very similar to an American accent, I find Americans very easy to understand, except for some of the southern accents. My boyfriend is from California and I notice that when I'm talking with him, he sounds like he has a strong accent, but it's only the Californian accent.

I really enjoy the Australian accent. Yesterday in one of my classes our British professor had invited an Australian guest speaker. I liked her accent much more than his, especially how she pronounced "who".

[konungursvia]

My fave is when a Scotsman sounds gruff but is actually very kind and gentle.

[teacherbrazill]

When in active service working for civil aviation within the U.S. I have noted many forms of accents.

The monst notorious ones were in New York City area ,
even within a very small territory which is the Manhattan Island there are many types of pronunciation , the 5th Avenue which separates the east and
the west part of Manhattan, people speak in funny ways , in some cases .

Am saying anything silly ?