Favorite accentss, including both native and non-native speakers of a language? I'm also curious about non-English inter-linguistic accents-say Provençal.
Virginia
Welsh
French ( I :wub: Bretons)
Japanese
Quote from: Queequeg on March 23, 2013, 01:32:41 PM
Favorite accentss, including both native and non-native speakers of a language? I'm also curious about non-English inter-linguistic accents-say Provençal.
Virginia
Welsh
French ( I :wub: Bretons)
Japanese
South Walian accent, specifically Swansea area, on a woman obviously.
Most Bristol variants and related Somerset, also the right authentic Liverpudlian or a proper Brummie accent, women again.
On men, Wolverhampton/Birmingham, West Dorset, Geordie and that unaffected slightly upper class Hampshire accent are fine.
Mancunian, Essex, fake Estuarine, most posh, though not RP, tend to grate on me.
Lowland South Carolina is my favorite American accent.
I like the way the Dutch sound, both when speaking English and when speaking Dutch.
Afrikaaners sound cool in English too.
Unique among the Slavs, Czechs sound cool in English. At least Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova do.
Carribean variants of English are very pleasant.
Of course, if a woman is attractive, almost any kind of foreign accent is going to sound sexy.
I do prefer the lilting Carolinian accent in America. The rest of our accents sound like shit.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 23, 2013, 01:54:22 PM
Of course, if a woman is attractive, almost any kind of foreign accent is going to sound sexy.
Pretty much, yeah.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on March 23, 2013, 02:00:38 PM
I do prefer the lilting Carolinian accent in America. The rest of our accents sound like shit.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 23, 2013, 01:54:22 PM
Of course, if a woman is attractive, almost any kind of foreign accent is going to sound sexy.
Pretty much, yeah.
I don't think I go ever get past an Essex accent.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on March 23, 2013, 02:00:38 PM
Pretty much, yeah.
I wonder if it works in reverse. Do Italian and French Eurail Lotharia's bubble over with ecstasy when an American girl starts honking away in Jersey-accented Italian or French?
SC. Women only. Preferably from Charleston.
Kentucky. but only from UK and Berea college students
French. Only the women.
Agree about Kentucky, as long as you stay in the middle of the state.
I get the same impression about Tennessee, though i haven't spent as much time there as i have in Kentucky.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 23, 2013, 02:06:55 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on March 23, 2013, 02:00:38 PM
Pretty much, yeah.
I wonder if it works in reverse. Do Italian and French Eurail Lotharia's bubble over with ecstasy when an American girl starts honking away in Jersey-accented Italian or French?
lol, Parlay voose, fughedabboudit!
I dunno how it works on the chick side but from what I understand, and only by anecdote but multiple independent sources, Aussie chicks can dig American accents.
Basque
Scottish
Czech
Philipino
Alsace
Khosa
Lebanese
And I'm spent.
I'm partial to Irish and Scottish accents. And sexy Scandinavian women speaking German.
Not into accents.
What do Basque accents sound like? How is Lebanese different from other Arab accents?
My favourite English accent is a West African one.
I also like an Anglo South African accent.
Yorkshire and Liverpudlian accents - when not strong - are also very easy on my ears.
Circumflex. Aigu is nice as well.
L'accent circonflexe.
You're Blek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v4CFjrjBxc
French, easy.
Ogre.
I like the Swedish accent, its a shame so many Swedes don't have it and those that do are ashamed of it.
French and Italian are of course always winners in women.
Thinking natively, certain brands of light Irish are nice.
What kind of accent do those other Swedes have? :huh:
Scottish.
Weirdly, I think Japanese can either be cool and commanding (say Watanabe) or effeminate and grating. That seems true of several East Asian accents.
I can't decide if I like the Kiwi accent or just like Kiwis.
German accents always sound odd to me. The Germans I've spoken to sound like they are speaking a very precise form of English. It might be a North German thing. I'm told Southern German has a sing-song quality.
Also I can't tell the difference between a genuine Russian accent and someone just mumbling and slurring their word together like they are drunk. I wonder if there is a difference.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 24, 2013, 08:19:23 PM
What kind of accent do those other Swedes have? :huh:
Off-American.
Most Dutch people seem to have that too these days.
L'accent tonique. :smarty:
Quote from: Tyr on March 25, 2013, 02:59:14 AM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 24, 2013, 08:19:23 PM
What kind of accent do those other Swedes have? :huh:
Off-American.
Most Dutch people seem to have that too these days.
:showoff:
Quote from: Razgovory on March 24, 2013, 10:17:34 PM
German accents always sound odd to me. The Germans I've spoken to sound like they are speaking a very precise form of English. It might be a North German thing. I'm told Southern German has a sing-song quality.
No, it's pretty much all guttural with a lot of spitting.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 24, 2013, 08:19:23 PM
What kind of accent do those other Swedes have? :huh:
It's like the Dutch. If you're Dutch and have a clear Dutch accent when speaking English it's sort of looked down on (especially if you do the 'sch' thing). Lots of Scandis and Dutch have almost negligible accents when speaking English; you hear a slight foreign-ness but it's not identifiably Scandi or Dutch. Which is a shame because the Scandi and Dutch accents are awesome.
Quote from: Sheilbh on March 26, 2013, 09:31:04 PM
It's like the Dutch. If you're Dutch and have a clear Dutch accent when speaking English it's sort of looked down on (especially if you do the 'sch' thing).
Looked down on by whom? Other Dutch?
QuoteLots of Scandis and Dutch have almost negligible accents when speaking English; you hear a slight foreign-ness but it's not identifiably Scandi or Dutch. Which is a shame because the Scandi and Dutch accents are awesome.
I'm usually pretty good about placing accents, but a Danish dude I met a few years ago sounded vaguely Australian to me.
Quote from: Sheilbh on March 26, 2013, 09:31:04 PM
It's like the Dutch. If you're Dutch and have a clear Dutch accent when speaking English it's sort of looked down on (especially if you do the 'sch' thing). Lots of Scandis and Dutch have almost negligible accents when speaking English; you hear a slight foreign-ness but it's not identifiably Scandi or Dutch. Which is a shame because the Scandi and Dutch accents are awesome.
That lisp is the best part. :(
Quote from: derspiess on March 26, 2013, 09:41:57 PM
Looked down on by whom? Other Dutch?
Yep. I've a friend living in the Netherlands and have known a couple of Scandis. They've all said that too strong a Dutch or Scandi accent when speaking English is seen as a bit ill-educated. I think everyone has it to some extent, that you don't want to sound too ridiculously English or whatever when speaking a foreign language. But because the Dutch and Scandis are so good at English it's taken to a ridiculous level.
Whereas, to use Ta-Nehisi Coates's line, I view anyone who can speak another language as some variety of mutant or super-hero.
Oddly a lot of foreign people have told me they find it annoying how few people in England correct them. If we can understand them then that's enough for us and correcting them would be somehow rude. They've all said they actually want to be corrected because they're here to improve their English, but English people just let them make mistakes all the time :lol:
Despite that I still don't correct anyone :blush: :bowler:
Quote from: derspiess on March 26, 2013, 09:41:57 PM
I'm usually pretty good about placing accents, but a Danish dude I met a few years ago sounded vaguely Australian to me.
My greatest achievement in accent placement was a Finnish girl :w00t:
On the other hand I often think Russians - or certainly Russians who've lived in the US - sound Brazilian. I never get it.
Quote from: Sheilbh on March 26, 2013, 09:50:24 PM
Quote from: derspiess on March 26, 2013, 09:41:57 PM
Looked down on by whom? Other Dutch?
Yep. I've a friend living in the Netherlands and have known a couple of Scandis. They've all said that too strong a Dutch or Scandi accent when speaking English is seen as a bit ill-educated. I think everyone has it to some extent, that you don't want to sound too ridiculously English or whatever when speaking a foreign language. But because the Dutch and Scandis are so good at English it's taken to a ridiculous level.
Whereas, to use Ta-Nehisi Coates's line, I view anyone who can speak another language as some variety of mutant or super-hero.
Oddly a lot of foreign people have told me they find it annoying how few people in England correct them. If we can understand them then that's enough for us and correcting them would be somehow rude. They've all said they actually want to be corrected because they're here to improve their English, but English people just let them make mistakes all the time :lol:
Despite that I still don't correct anyone :blush: :bowler:
Well I'm in the same boat as you, Shelf. And I would never correct their use of English, so rude.
Indeed, I have an very annoying habit of shifting to idiomatic English, when chatting with some one who doesn't have English as their first language. :blush:
I took Latin so I wouldn't be expected to speak to anyone in another language. It does seem odd that nearly everyone in Scandinavia and the Netherlands speaks English.
Quote from: Sheilbh on March 26, 2013, 09:50:24 PM
Yep. I've a friend living in the Netherlands and have known a couple of Scandis. They've all said that too strong a Dutch or Scandi accent when speaking English is seen as a bit ill-educated. I think everyone has it to some extent, that you don't want to sound too ridiculously English or whatever when speaking a foreign language. But because the Dutch and Scandis are so good at English it's taken to a ridiculous level.
The general proficiency they have is pretty impressive. In the Netherlands I didn't really feel like I was in a foreign country a lot of the time, which was comforting in some ways but a bummer in others.
QuoteWhereas, to use Ta-Nehisi Coates's line, I view anyone who can speak another language as some variety of mutant or super-hero.
Yep-- I almost regret the universality of English. I love foreign languages & would've welcomed more "sink or swim"-type situations.
QuoteOddly a lot of foreign people have told me they find it annoying how few people in England correct them. If we can understand them then that's enough for us and correcting them would be somehow rude. They've all said they actually want to be corrected because they're here to improve their English, but English people just let them make mistakes all the time :lol:
Despite that I still don't correct anyone :blush: :bowler:
You're all just too polite. In the US we don't usually correct non-English speakers-- we usually mock them in some manner. I've coached my wife on her English for 13 years and I kinda miss the cute mistakes she used to make.
In Argentina I'm relentlessly corrected by my wife's family (though only the women). It gets frustrating for me if they can't tell me why something I say is wrong, and a lot of the time it's simply differences in the dialect I learned vs. their own.
I just sort of realized that I learned 'proper' Spanish as spoken in parts of Spain, and my wife learned the Queen's English in her school run by British nuns. So we both learned each other's languages the way they're spoken in the mother countries and have had to adjust accordingly.
I've the opposite experience. I learned Spanish (as much as I have) in Argentina. I can understand Argentines (and other South Americans) very well. Put me in a room with two Andalucians and it's like someone scratched the disc and is fast-forwarding :lol: :bleeding:
Quote from: Sheilbh on March 26, 2013, 10:39:22 PM
I've the opposite experience. I learned Spanish (as much as I have) in Argentina. I can understand Argentines (and other South Americans) very well. Put me in a room with two Andalucians and it's like someone scratched the disc and is fast-forwarding :lol: :bleeding:
Don't feel bad. Sometimes my wife gets lost speaking with people other Spanish-speaking parts of the world that they both have to move the conversation to English.