What does your English-speaking accent sound like?

[aussiemum]

Do you have a blend of accents, or have you retained the accent that you grew up with? Or maybe you were raised in lots of places around the world, & have more global accent? Or do you speak English as a second language, & does that influence your accent now?

I'm just curious, & also kind of wondering what kind of language backgrounds we all have....

After 9+ years in Aus, I have an American-Australian accent, but people sometimes think i'm more global than that- for instance, sometimes people think I'm Irish. Twelve years ago I visited Ireland for 2 weeks, but obviously I am not Irish!

Also, do you think people treat you differently if you have a 'foreign' accent? I used to cop a bit of shit, but now most of the people that I know also know my background, & it's not an issue. WHen I first moved overseas, it certainly felt like a big deal.

ANyway, just wondering what others might think about this topic, & how it maybe has influenced your life........

[BunniMummi]

Hard to judge my own voice I think. I mostly sound the same (from Upstate NY) but after 6 years in Norway it's not 100%. I have picked up a lot of British slang and find myself thinking fairly often things like "Can I say it like that in English/Am. English?". I know my English is a little accented if I'm speaking with a lot of Norwegian mixed in. I think my mother would probably say my accent has changed a bit but I have a hard time nailing down just what has changed.

It's terribly difficult for the first couple days when we travel back to the US. I feel completely uncomfortable with speaking English to people I don't know and it comes out really unnaturally even though I speak plenty of English here in Norway. I've just been reprogrammed to default to Norwegian with strangers.

[Alcyone]

It depends who I'm around. I grew up in the south and when I'm visiting my parents or on the phone with my mom, I'll relapse into a drawl. I spent more than a decade in Minnesota, and with my friends from there, I get my Minnesota accent back. Around my in-laws, I pick up their horrible English. It's not something I do consciously, and it's kind of annoying!

A few months, I hosted a dinner with a Japanese man, an Irish woman, two Canadians, a Dane, another American, and a Romanian. The Irish woman, who had never met me before, commented that she couldn't figure out where I was from because my accent was so strange. I hadn't even noticed!

[raeinparis]

a blend of neutered american and irish. i'm interested to see what kind of accent ds1 will have -- he already knows that some relations say some things differently than we do (gah-rahge rather than garage) -- and dp has taught him a rhyme with a very broad dublin accent and he repeats the rhyme with the same accent.

people generally don't know where i'm from. and the french think i'm dutch.

[EuxJai]

Most people are unable to recognize my first language from my accent. I have heard ridiculous things such as Russian or Swedish... whereas I grew up in a French & Czech speaking household : !

[grumpybear]

My husband says that I don't have an accent at all.
When I talk to Americans and tell them that I've only been in the country (US) for 4 years, they are surprised because of the way I speak. They usually think I was raised here.
Interestingly though, when I am back home (Philippines) and I speak in English, I start having an accent. It is very unintentional (speaking English with an American accent or speaking English with a Filipino accent). I think it has something to do with what my tongue is used to and what I hear.
When I am in the US, I talk to Americans mostly and my tongue gets softer. Whereas if I am in the Philippines, I switch between Tagalog and English and Tagalog is spoken with a much harder tongue so when I switch to English, the accent comes out.

[skai]

English is my third language. I used to sound vaguely British to Americans, because that is the accent I learned at school, but now I have a "foreign" accent and keep mixing in Dutch words (I study and work in a Dutch-speaking environment and am trying to learn the language).

[purplegirl]

My dh who is originally from the Caribbean has a beautiful blend of accents. At times I can hear a british influence and then his Brookyn accent kicks in. It's really so lovely to me but he tries hard to disguise his accents so as to fit in with Americans. I keep trying to explain to him that Americans have accents too.

[Dauno]

A blend of Spanish - Irish accent, i have some rolling "r's" still and people think I'm Russian but that i have been living in Ireland for sometime already.

[east carolina]

I still have a very "neutral" American accent, but I think it's funny that when I tell people that my parents are Czech some people have told me "oh yeah, I can hear your accent now". I have a slight accent in Czech, but it's not a typical American one, so most people can't guess where I'm really from when I speak Czech.

My DH speaks English as a second language, and though you can hear it, I would say it's typical Czech or Slavic accent.