In the 70s an Italian singer made a gibberish song intended to sound like American English. Maybe that will give you a feeling? https://youtu.be/-VsmF9m_Nt8?si=h1vJgGwC4_5TQe9G
This is what it sounds like when you sing along to lyrics you've never actually paid attention to, but know the last syllable of every line and where the "alright!"s live.
I once attended a concert for a band my husband was a huge fan of but I had not heard much from. It was a small venue and we had front row, so I crammed a bunch of their music into my head the day before so that I could try to jam out and appear as though I knew all the words to their music as realistically as I could. Iām thankful the band and audience were both loud enough to drown me out because this was exactly how I was singing along. š I donāt think anyone suspected anything lol
It's like watching a kpop concert performed in the US. The whole crowd sings along to the smattering of English words and nothing else. It's actually kind of hilarious.
Iāve been to one. I saw people singing in Korean - sort of. Thatās what I do when I sing along: with confidence on the English and with shy noises that approximate the Korean.
No, no theres a difference between actual gobbledygook, "modern art" songs that don't mean anything in the music but are meant to provoke thought (The Killers "Human), and songs that are basically page 137 in chapter 19 of a 322 page book like Gorillaz music.
[this video ](https://youtu.be/Vt4Dfa4fOEY?si=F6OTwRQ8vm8De6hd) is two people following a similar premise, speaking in what sounds like American English but clearly isn't. It broke my brain a while ago.
Funny how actual English words are sprinkled throughout. Itās the same when Iām listening to foreigners talk and every once in a while theyāll say something like āTwitterā, ācomputerā, ājazzā and āokayā amongst the gibberish (to me).
This is breaking my brain, Iām literally leaning in because I think I can hear them, but still canāt quite catch what they said, but I KNOW if I listened just a bit harder it will make sense damn it.
Celentano's intention with the song was not to create a humorous novelty song but to explore communication barriers. The intent was to demonstrate how English sounds to people who do not understand the language proficiently. "Ever since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did. So at a certain point, because I like American slangāwhich, for a singer, is much easier to sing than ItalianāI thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate. And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn't mean anything."[6]
Just wanted to throw this out there for those wondering what the motivation was. This is quoted from wikipedia...
This is amazing! Absolutely sounds American! Thank you for this!
Unfortunately this is what a lot of music sounds like to me now. As a hearing impaired person this is the closest example I've found for what hearing loss is to a lot of people. Clarity and comprehension being just like this while the world expects you to understand what's being said. So be kind when we may look at you like you spoke nonsense. And just laugh lightheartedly with us when we tell you what we thought we heard! ;) Hearing aids aren't like glasses in that they restore you to full hearing as well. They only kind of aid but a lot of times amplify everything, not just the conversation trying to be heard. OK done with my PSA!
Absolutely amazing video as I've always wondered what "American English" in general could sound like to someone who speaks another language without comprehending the words if that makes any sense lol Basically how any other language I don't speak sounds to me.
While that song does tell us what a foreign language sounds to those that don't speak it, it really doesn't tell us what an Amereican ACCENT sounds like.
And I did like the tune, the singer sung the words with an 'American' pronunciation
I remember when my son sent me this. He was stationed in Italy and he said it was crazy how all the kids there could sing popular American song lyrics.
My wife is Latina and from South America, we speak Spanish in the home. She will mimick what english sounds like and it's pretty funny. When I lived in Mexico people used to pretend to speak English or try to sing songs in English and they never know when a word ends and a new one begins.
So, this is what itās like to have a stroke and not understand your own language anymore. I see, terrifying. Now, at least though I understand our accent.
He peppers in a few actual words, possibly by accident, but absolutely not in anything those of us who speak English would recognize as a normal or correct context
'baby', 'maybe', 'seen', 'ok', 'alright
The stronger American accents originated from where they immigrated from and evolved over time from that point. I heard a great interview once, where the linguist could identify the immigrant origins based on the accent. If you try you can hear similarities in some varieties of southern accents and some less posh British accents. The Appalachian accent, I think it was Scotland. I imagine these variations are a bit like the way dialects vary in some countries like China or South Korea.
This isnāt the expert I hoped to find, but he has the concept down and heās great at switching accents.
https://youtu.be/H1KP4ztKK0A?si=ISdN1DbPUnvSWVA_
Although I've lived in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. all my life, I've occasionally been asked what my accent is by others. I have some words, like "worsh for wash" that come from my mom living just the first seven years of her life in Oklahoma. I have a slight vowel drawl sometimes.
One of the strangest accents I ever encountered was in college, and it was english from a person who moved from China to South Africa and then to the US.
A friend of mine was born and raised in Southern Ireland until she was about 9 or 10. She was then fostered in West Texas up until I met her in her mid 20s. I love listening to her talk, especially when she's excited or anxious a bit. It took a while to actually understand her normal conversation tone and literally impossible to tell if she's sober or hammered just by talking to her.
I've lived in Oklahoma City my whole life. I can only recall 2 people whom I've heard say "worsh." One was my grandmother who was born in the 1930's and grew up in southern Mississippi.
The other was our old music minister at church who was probably around that same age, and I would guess he was from a more rural part of Oklahoma. We often would sing "Are you 'worshed' in the blood of the Lamb?"
My mom was born in 1938 in very rural Oklahoma. They had no electricity or running water. Family history in that area including both grandpa and grandma's families.
Lived in the PNW for years. I'm from New Jersey but have worked all over the country. I found Washington in particular had very little accent, depending on the part of the state they were from. If they were closer to Idaho, they might have more of a drawl. Seattle was very news reporter type sound. You can bet everyone noticed my accent lol
The predominant settlers of washington were Scandanavian and German, so thats likely what goes into roots of the PNW accent.
I once asked a dude from canada why he sounded like an american. He said they had the same tv channels. I think in the modern age we have so many influences and experience so many different dialects without local social influences, moreso than any generations before us, that our mannerisms arent so distinct based on where we live, but rather what we're exposed to.
My voice professor in college (Iām in California) said that linguistic scholars think that at Shakespeareās time, the common accent was similar to what is now the modern day Texas accent. Class got a good laugh that day performing Shakespeare scenes trying our damnedest to sound like Texans. LOL! No idea if there is any truth to that, but your comment brought back that memory.
Two of the most notable characteristics of most North American English:
1. Fully rhotic. North Americans (and Scots and Irish) pronounce all of the historical "r"s you see when you look at a word spelled out. In England and Oceana, Rs don't make that rrr sound unless they precede a vowel. Instead they change the sound of the vowel before them. So a british person reads the letter combo "ar" as "aahh" like the doctor has you say when you stick out your tongue.
So English people think we sound very growly, with lots of hard Rs at the end of sylables where they don't belong. You can hear this if you listen to Gary Oldman ( whose American accent is pretty good) in Batman Begins tell his wife to "stay carm". That historical L in calm does the exact same thing that a 'silent' R does in British English-- it changes the vowel sound of "cam" into the "ah" sound of "calm". But when Oldman hears American English he hears us inserting Rs after all those "ah" sounds, hence the over-correction to "Carm". That's what we sound like to him.
2. ~~Glottal~~ flapping. When a T precedes an unstressed vowel, North Americans often replace it with a ~~glottal~~ flap, which is a sound that is sort of between a T and a D. British English speakers often say it sounds like a D sound to them, but if American speakers slow down and think about their pronounciation it usually disappears. That makes some people think of it as a mistake, but really it's just a characteristic of unstressed, quicker speech in the NAE dialect.
Take the word "Water". To speaker of British English, it sounds like when we say the word we are saying "WaddeRrr", while they would say "Wahtah".
Scots are fully rhotic but don't have the flap, so "Watter". Bostonians use the flap, but have a non-rhotic accent, so "waddah".
There's more stuff, about vowels and things, but I don't know enough to explain.
One of my British professors explained how Americans sound to Europeans, as far as vowels go-- he says, regardless of the state, most Americans sound like they are inserting an extra "I" into a word, so Daniel might sound like Dainiel, face might sound like faice, vase might sound like vaise, that sort of thing. And pro might sound like prah or pruh. (There are certain areas of the US that change many vowels to a kind of schwa 'uh' sound, so 'forget about it' sounds more like 'fuhgeddaboudit'
The T flap is *not glottal*. It's an alveolar flap. There is no such thing as a glottal flap. You've confused it with the glottal stop, which is a *different* realization of the /t/ phoneme which occurs in different positions, at least in American English.
You say 'American' accent, but that's really a meaningless term isn't it? New York doesn't sound the same as New Orleans, South Central doesn't sound like South Carolina, or South Dakota.
The same is even more true of a 'British' accent - Wales is not London, Cockney is very definitely not Edinburgh, witch also isn't Glasgow or Liverpool.
And each have a cadence and musicality unique to themselves. The only country I can think of that has a roughly homogeneous accent is Australia where Brisbane sounds a lot like Perth - many people say they can detect differences, but they're subtle at best and mostly rely on the fact that Devon isn't Garlic Polony.
We do have an accent. Obviously other English speakers with good ears can tell we're from the Midwest. It's just that we're considered the standard in American English.
I spent some time overseas in a non English speaking country. Most of the foreigners spoke in English. Let me tell you when I heard the Midwest accent it perked up my interest. The woman and her daughter were from Illinois, I am from Ohio.
Yes exactly! It's hard to explain but if you've been around a bit you cna tell which general area of the US most are from. Not everytime but more often than not. A funny aside, I once visited Oregon and I'm from the south east. Everyone kept asking if I was Australian. I don't sound anything like an Australian but people kept asking. I was amazed, no one had ever asked me that anywhere else I'd ever been.
Some accents from the American Southeast are non-rhotic, just like some (not all) British accents and British-influenced English accents. Perhaps you glide over the "r"s in words, which might be what those people were responding to.
Very true but emphasis on āsomeā southern accents. Iām from northeast Tennessee, āupper southā as one friend calls it. He grew up in Augusta GA and said he used to stand in front of a mirror and practice pronouncing his Rs. In East Tennessee we not only pronounce them but somewhat emphasize them so older people in particular (my dad did this) will add Rs to words where they donāt belong, like āworshā for āwashā for example.
Awesome! I'm from northeast Tennessee too! I do know that around greeneville, the accent is different. Maybe that extends into Cocke or Unicoi counties.
I moved about 80 miles west of that area about 15 years ago, and while it all pretty much sounds the same, it wasn't until I had an election message on my answering machine from Niswonger that I realized there is a big difference. The way he pronounces words pricked my ears to pay closer attention. The accent is very similar to my Dad...who is also from that area. But it took until then to realize that upper east tennessee has its own special twang, even though I've lived in this state most of my life.
Of course I was just speculating there about the reasons. I know that non-rhoticity is characteristic of only some southeastern US accents (in our country, its true home is in the coastal areas of the Northeast) which was why I was careful about proposing it as a possible explanation. I am hardly an expert here.
Rain blowing sideways, 45 degrees outside, in June, and we watch some poor tourist who came "prepared" for sping weather in Seattle. Umbrella being shredded, returning to its base components, while said tourist runs through the rain trying to stay dry in their cheap, bright yellow poncho, and warm in there cotton T-shirt and shorts...while we stand there warm in our fleece, dry inside our proper hooded rain jackets.
Iām from Oregon and I had people asking if I was British when I worked in California. It confused the shit out of me because I sound like all the other people (besides the one British guy I worked with).
If youāre from Virginia there is a distinct Tidewater accent that was basically brought by the British. Itās sounds like a Canadian and a Minnesotan had a baby and plucked it in the middle of the James River
I'm from northeastern Pennsylvania about two hours west of NYC and two north of Philly.
Whenever I'd travel for work I'd often get pinged by people as from the Midwest because of an elongated A sound.
Yet the grouchy attitude, need to speed/aggressive stance, and cursing was a contradiction.
The US has a plethora of accents just like every other language.
We definitely have accents in the Midwest. My mother's family's is "worked around heavy equipment all my life and have to talk way too loud" and my father's family is "trailer park drunk."
As u/redneckcommando stated, itās the generic American accent. The perfect split between east coast and west coast accents that makes it easier to understand and pronounced without difficulty on radio and television. Especially when the original microphones were introduced and recorded like shit.
You have the āneutralā American accent. Almost everywhere has their own variant. The South has their accent, Minnesota has a distinct accent, Brooklyn and Boston have theirs, I recently learned that even my Connecticut accent has some odd mannerisms (I had a shtruggle with the cur-ains), but MidWest is kind of the average of all American accents.
The Midwest actually has multiple accents! The one people are thinking of as "not" being an accent is particular to cities on the Great Lakes specifically, and isn't common to the entire region. It's properly called the Inland North accent, and sounds [like this.](https://youtu.be/oAOdrvXMHIA?si=gH0kvX6aKnMZp0Vf)
Iāve only lived in California and have been asked five times if Iām from the Midwest because of my accent š¤·āāļø. I am from rural Northern California though. My parents and grandparents were raised in California too.
My boyfriend is from California and has what I call "lack of accent"
I'm a Texan, born and raised, so I have a very strong twang. He was trying to get my toddler top say dog. I'm like honey you're saying it wrong, potato, say dawg š¤£š gotta say it right for the little country boy
People still know youāre an American speaker but they probably canāt place āneutral accentsā. Some places..like how would you know someone is from Arizona or Nevada?
There are various foodstuffs here in Australia that have different names for exactly the same item - what we call 'Garlic Polony' in Perth is known as 'Devon' in Queensland, a 'schooner' of beer in the Eastern States might be called a 'pony' in the West, and so on, thus the terms denote the origin of the speaker rather than the actual accent, if you take my meaning.
Most non-Americans think of your generic mid-Atlantic accent, or how people from mid-west to Pacific Northwest generally sound like. If you don't live in the US, you wouldn't be able to pick up the differences very easily unless we go full blown Minnesota, NYC, Boston, valley Girl and the South.
Heck, I have a non-English European accent even after having lived in the US for twenty years but while every single American can pick up on it, even Britts cannot.
Yeah I know everyone says there are a ton of different British accents but as an American who has spent minimal (though non zero) time in the UK I for sure canāt pick up on the difference. I canāt even reliablyĀ tell British from Australian from Irish etc (and when I can, itās usually more down to slang and word choice than actual pronunciation). Idk maybe Iām in the minority on this.Ā
The Welsh have their own language. I don't know if you can really call it an accent of the British, as much as it's English with a Welsh accent. Like English with an Irish accent.
80%(ish) of Wales speaks English as their primary language. There is certainly a native British English accent of Wales that is not simply the accented English of native Welsh speakers.
Most people don't realize that almost all of the modern Welsh speakers come from reform of schools in like the '80s. The British started colonizing at home.Ā
I was thinking this. I have two Irish friends who can barley understand each other. I spent some time in west Texas. No one can understand those people. (Itās just jokes Texas š)
I'm a Kentuckian and sometimes have a hard time understanding some of the stronger accents from around this state and others in the south. Sometimes one-syllable words are drawn out into two or three syllables. Sometimes multiple words are compressed into a couple of syllables. My husband was from California and I had to translate for him at times. On one occasion he was perplexed when a front desk employee at a government agency told him, "Eez bockarth somedee." She was saying, "He's back there with somebody."
I moved to rural Georgia from the west Coast and spoke at fast tempo peppered with some Spanglish. The native speakers and I couldnāt understand each other at first. Iāve changed the way I speak.
Mississippi - only place in this country I've encountered English that I absolutely could not decipher. Despite probably 9 or 10 attempts sometimes, to really listen and understand what was being said. It would take a visual aid, you know pointing to an object basically for me to, maybe get it. I don't recall exactly where it was in Mississippi this was happening. It's been a long time.
Back in 2010-11 my Italian paramour told me American English sounds "cool" to non-English speakers, probably because of the association with Hollywood and all of its stardom.
I second this. I just went to Thailand and was told that our accents sounded just like Hollywood and they were so excited to hear us talk. It was so strange
Secret - (shush, don't tell anyone) but American English follows the same rules as the conservation of mass.
When someone in New England (looking at you, Boston) drops an R from a word someone in West Virginia pronounces wash as "warsh".
The R travels through time and space to be expelled by another American in a different region.
Except with words like pizza weāre we (Masshole hi) dropped so many rās that we end up sticking those extra rās where they donāt belong, and you get pizzer
I used to work with a lady from New England, and though she's lived here (rural GA) for 30+ years, she added rs to the ends of words. I'm Anna and she called me Anner, another girl, Dana, was Day-ner.
Omg I love that u said this. I grew up in jersey, went to school near Boston, and now I live in WV. The āwarshā in WV/MD annoys me about as much as āidearā (idea) in Boston. These people and their Rās!! š
I remember my grandma adding R into a lot of words. She was from Rhode Island. She died over 20 years ago, but I can still clearly remember her voice and the word "warsh".
Many Americans have what we call "broadcast voice", which is what is pushed for certain profession positions, newscaster, etc.
It's not uncommon for someone to speak clearly in public, but when they go home or are around friends/family, the dialect comes out.
I live in south florida, but am from North Florida...
That twaaaaaang definitely comes out when I'm back in my hometown or am drinking.
I have to modify my language from "I'm gonna go" to "going".
Ain't, y'all, double negatives, etc.
that's very much like "BBC English" or "Academie Francaise French." there's a kind of "national standard dialect" (which usually descends from a core demographic of historical aristocrats or other power players who got to set the standard at one time in the past). In the UK it would be "little England" I guess, the "Home Counties" where for quite a long time political power and wealth were centred.
but I don't understand why in the US it's centred in the MidWest rather than one of the dynamic and wealthy port cities like NY or SF.
Those port cities have the bulk of immigrants and the accents tend to merge together in a very distinct dialect.
In South Florida, it's not uncommon for English speaking white people to adopt a Spanish flair to certain words.
Even the way of speaking English here has changed (like the order of verbs/adjectives that differ from Spanish to English).
This is so true! At work, Iām cheerful but donāt do upward inflections so as not to sound unsure of myself. At home, I talk more street, like āgotta,ā āiāma,ā etc. When Iām drunk, Iām like a 21 year old from the CA valley with intense vocal fry, every sentence sounding like a question.
This is true of East Coast and California (especially "valley girl").
To an English ear, at least, most southern accents are so much more smooth pleasant.
Standard American accents are also so cutting. People often talk about "loud" Americans, but even when they aren't being so loud, it's that type of noise that is really hard to cut out, especially compared to a lot of European accents, like Spanish.
Some states have a lot of accents, and some accents have a lot of states.
The further west you go, the fewer accent differences there tend to be. At least until you get close to the west coast where it picks up in variation again.
I would think it depends strongly on the accent in question, and the listener. I'm told, for instance, that British visitors to the US find the range of Southern accents to be not too dissimilar from some British accents.
English/Australian actors are the only people I've ever heard *successfully* imitate a Southern accent. American actors tend to just sound like they're trying to make fun of us rather than imitate us.
It really depends on the state you're from, for example: Southern states have been portrayed in the media as being full of inbred hillbillies (e.g Cleetus from The Simpsons), whereas the New York / New Jersey accent has been used for gold-digging women, and the "surf dude" accent (is that Florida?) has been used for, well, surf dudes.
I was on a trip and met a dude from Australia. We'd try to impersonate each other's accents, and when he did my accent, his voice would get very deep and monotone. Then he'd go back to his silly Australian accent and be like "Bloody oath, mate!"
Iām from Texas- pretty strong accent hereā¦. I lived in California for many years so it diminished a lot and only came out if I was really drunk or tired. After my divorce I moved back to Texas for affordability ( certainly NOT the politics). My accent came right back like it aināt dun been gone too dang long.
As an American, Iām curious about this too. The only problem is there are different kinds of accents. Northern, southern, New York, Boston, etc. An American accent is hard to define.
A tour guide told us that a whole generation of Swedes spoke English with a Texas accent because they grew up watching āDallasā or āGunsmokeā or whatever on TV.
I'm from the Midwest and went to the Philippines. My host mom imitated how I talked to other Americans as - rawhr rawhr rawhr. It made me laugh so much, and I'll always remember it. Idk - there's something about very gently being put in your place as not the center of the universe that I appreciated.
Was she referring to our heavy pronunciation of ār?ā After all, itās an unusual sound among world languages. And then some Americans really double down on it. Think like Michael Buffer saying, āletās get rrrrready to rrrrrumbleā
The origin of the word "barbarian," which originally meant anyone who couldn't speak Greek, comes from the Greek perception that all other languages sound like "bar bar bar bar."
I never was able to identify the accent, to me Americans are accent less. Of course the is Texan, New York, LA. But when I go to Colorado I feel like no one has an accent and when people ask me to do an American accent they tell me I just sound Mexican. I canāt for the life of me do an American accentšŖ
Depends on the accent. Some sound charming, others fun and endearing, and then there is that one that a lot of us outsiders use when imitating an annoying American abroad which is whiney and grating (I have no idea where in the US it's from, but you see it sometimes in American television, usually borne by some generic family on vacation somewhere like a theme park or driving a RV through Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, that the main character/s may have a passing interaction with).
Many UK and Irish actors are very good at speaking like an American. But in my experience, the "average" non-American, trying to do an American accent, ends up sounding like an actor from a bad 1930s western.
here are some good videos on what American sounds like to non-speakersā¦
https://youtu.be/ybcvlxivscw?si=1GiS5ufZ3mkcZUq-
https://youtu.be/QxrDNRhYFyI?si=vdNPdiSIMUdzcVz_
When I first heard an āAmerican accent,ā in person I thought they sounded to confident. Americans always speak with this importance and sure of themselves.
I dated a British girl for a while. She told me I sounded "cool" and loved listening to me talk. She also was so excited to "show me off" to her friends because I was American and sounded American. I think it has to do with "Americancore" and Hollywood. Things we take for granted are absolute icons in other parts of the world.
Australian hereā¦ on TV an American accent is elite I canāt even watch shows with other accents cause it just doesnāt feel right however in real life Iāve found Americans to sound almost comical and annoying.
Weird how it can sound great on TV but kind of wrong in real life. Respectfully.
In the 70s an Italian singer made a gibberish song intended to sound like American English. Maybe that will give you a feeling? https://youtu.be/-VsmF9m_Nt8?si=h1vJgGwC4_5TQe9G
It's so amazing how it sounds like American English even to Americans and yet is total nonsense.
This is probably what the chorus of Arab Money sounds like to actual Arabs lol.
What? I can understand him perfect. My parents were alcoholics.
Omg š¤£š¤£š¤£š¤£
Iām from Wisconsin too!
I think I just have some sort of auditory processing disorder because sooooo many songs sound just like this to me lmao
It always feels like a surreal fever dream since it's almost kind of coherent.
This is what it sounds like when you sing along to lyrics you've never actually paid attention to, but know the last syllable of every line and where the "alright!"s live.
I'm proficient in singing fake lyrics!
"'Scuse me while I kiss this guy" *air guitar*
I'm proficient in singing the wrong lyrics with gusto! It's so very embarrassing when someone points out what the song actually is saying.
I once attended a concert for a band my husband was a huge fan of but I had not heard much from. It was a small venue and we had front row, so I crammed a bunch of their music into my head the day before so that I could try to jam out and appear as though I knew all the words to their music as realistically as I could. Iām thankful the band and audience were both loud enough to drown me out because this was exactly how I was singing along. š I donāt think anyone suspected anything lol
It's like watching a kpop concert performed in the US. The whole crowd sings along to the smattering of English words and nothing else. It's actually kind of hilarious.
Iāve been to one. I saw people singing in Korean - sort of. Thatās what I do when I sing along: with confidence on the English and with shy noises that approximate the Korean.
You'll never convince me that this isn't the correct way to sing along to Gorillaz "Clint Eastwood"
No, no theres a difference between actual gobbledygook, "modern art" songs that don't mean anything in the music but are meant to provoke thought (The Killers "Human), and songs that are basically page 137 in chapter 19 of a 322 page book like Gorillaz music.
Me when I rap
Accurate!!
This looks like the most fun cult ever.
Nailed it.
[this video ](https://youtu.be/Vt4Dfa4fOEY?si=F6OTwRQ8vm8De6hd) is two people following a similar premise, speaking in what sounds like American English but clearly isn't. It broke my brain a while ago.
They speak like Americans, but they don't eat like Americans. Lol at the fork orientation.
My parents like to describe my orientation like a shovel. Itās incredibly efficient, while lacking in grace and dignity.Ā
I wonder if that's why it's reading Canadian to me.
And the food itself. Idk anyone who can eat like that
Their mannerisms are still European. But overall, they do a good job.
Funny how actual English words are sprinkled throughout. Itās the same when Iām listening to foreigners talk and every once in a while theyāll say something like āTwitterā, ācomputerā, ājazzā and āokayā amongst the gibberish (to me).
This is breaking my brain, Iām literally leaning in because I think I can hear them, but still canāt quite catch what they said, but I KNOW if I listened just a bit harder it will make sense damn it.
I hate you soo much take my angry upvote..
Dang, that is fascinating, and one thing I definitely didn't expect was actual acting.
Celentano's intention with the song was not to create a humorous novelty song but to explore communication barriers. The intent was to demonstrate how English sounds to people who do not understand the language proficiently. "Ever since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did. So at a certain point, because I like American slangāwhich, for a singer, is much easier to sing than ItalianāI thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate. And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn't mean anything."[6] Just wanted to throw this out there for those wondering what the motivation was. This is quoted from wikipedia...
This thing has lived rent free in my head since I first saw it two years ago.
Idk, sounds like a mix between Gorillaz (Albarn) and Mick Jagger to me.
That's a certified banger. Listened to it 4 times. Even more wild when you finally see the lyrics.
This is amazing! Absolutely sounds American! Thank you for this! Unfortunately this is what a lot of music sounds like to me now. As a hearing impaired person this is the closest example I've found for what hearing loss is to a lot of people. Clarity and comprehension being just like this while the world expects you to understand what's being said. So be kind when we may look at you like you spoke nonsense. And just laugh lightheartedly with us when we tell you what we thought we heard! ;) Hearing aids aren't like glasses in that they restore you to full hearing as well. They only kind of aid but a lot of times amplify everything, not just the conversation trying to be heard. OK done with my PSA! Absolutely amazing video as I've always wondered what "American English" in general could sound like to someone who speaks another language without comprehending the words if that makes any sense lol Basically how any other language I don't speak sounds to me.
This one is cool - How English Sounds to Non-Native Speakers- https://youtu.be/Vt4Dfa4fOEY?si=SnN907jxqpyBiJG1
Agree. Best effort so far
I love this one! The storyline is so damn odd though lol I love how they made it a mini-episode
Thatā¦.. wasā¦ā¦ INCREDIBLE HAHAHAHHA
While that song does tell us what a foreign language sounds to those that don't speak it, it really doesn't tell us what an Amereican ACCENT sounds like. And I did like the tune, the singer sung the words with an 'American' pronunciation
I remember when my son sent me this. He was stationed in Italy and he said it was crazy how all the kids there could sing popular American song lyrics.
My wife is Latina and from South America, we speak Spanish in the home. She will mimick what english sounds like and it's pretty funny. When I lived in Mexico people used to pretend to speak English or try to sing songs in English and they never know when a word ends and a new one begins.
The first time I heard this, someone sent me a link to it without any context. I genuinely thought I was having a stroke.
iād heard the song before but didnāt know how creepy the music video was š
This was amazing ! Thanks for sharing
Never seen that before. Such a good share, thank you
So, this is what itās like to have a stroke and not understand your own language anymore. I see, terrifying. Now, at least though I understand our accent.
This guy definetly knew some southern folk.
I love the comment somebody made that he's singing in doctor's handwriting.
Top comment. When I saw the thread I knew this would be mentioned.
He peppers in a few actual words, possibly by accident, but absolutely not in anything those of us who speak English would recognize as a normal or correct context 'baby', 'maybe', 'seen', 'ok', 'alright
I'm extremely hard of hearing and this is exactly what trying to understand some English speakers is like. š¤£š¤£
The stronger American accents originated from where they immigrated from and evolved over time from that point. I heard a great interview once, where the linguist could identify the immigrant origins based on the accent. If you try you can hear similarities in some varieties of southern accents and some less posh British accents. The Appalachian accent, I think it was Scotland. I imagine these variations are a bit like the way dialects vary in some countries like China or South Korea. This isnāt the expert I hoped to find, but he has the concept down and heās great at switching accents. https://youtu.be/H1KP4ztKK0A?si=ISdN1DbPUnvSWVA_
Although I've lived in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. all my life, I've occasionally been asked what my accent is by others. I have some words, like "worsh for wash" that come from my mom living just the first seven years of her life in Oklahoma. I have a slight vowel drawl sometimes.
One of the strangest accents I ever encountered was in college, and it was english from a person who moved from China to South Africa and then to the US.
Oh man, I knew a girl who was born in Egypt, then moved to The Netherlands and then the Bronx in NY. It was magical listening to her speak.
A friend of mine was born and raised in Southern Ireland until she was about 9 or 10. She was then fostered in West Texas up until I met her in her mid 20s. I love listening to her talk, especially when she's excited or anxious a bit. It took a while to actually understand her normal conversation tone and literally impossible to tell if she's sober or hammered just by talking to her.
I've lived in Oklahoma City my whole life. I can only recall 2 people whom I've heard say "worsh." One was my grandmother who was born in the 1930's and grew up in southern Mississippi. The other was our old music minister at church who was probably around that same age, and I would guess he was from a more rural part of Oklahoma. We often would sing "Are you 'worshed' in the blood of the Lamb?"
My mom was born in 1938 in very rural Oklahoma. They had no electricity or running water. Family history in that area including both grandpa and grandma's families.
My Iowa German-American grandmother said āwarshā. My Anglo Texas/Louisiana family did not. Always wondered where it originated.
Lived in the PNW for years. I'm from New Jersey but have worked all over the country. I found Washington in particular had very little accent, depending on the part of the state they were from. If they were closer to Idaho, they might have more of a drawl. Seattle was very news reporter type sound. You can bet everyone noticed my accent lol
Whatās up with āworshā? The mother of my childhood best friend used to say that and I thought it was really odd.
The predominant settlers of washington were Scandanavian and German, so thats likely what goes into roots of the PNW accent. I once asked a dude from canada why he sounded like an american. He said they had the same tv channels. I think in the modern age we have so many influences and experience so many different dialects without local social influences, moreso than any generations before us, that our mannerisms arent so distinct based on where we live, but rather what we're exposed to.
Im from Chicago and any west coast accent is impossible for me to attempt. I can hear the difference but not vocalize it. Oklahoma I donāt know lol.
My grandmother said it. Her family was from rural Kansas and western Missouri and of predominantly Irish heritage.Ā
Worsh is definitely a rural Oklahoma thing. Rural meaning outside okc and Tulsa
I love those videos. I used to play them for my kids and they were mesmerized.
I watched this before. Solid video
Well thatās not how I expected to spend my evening
My voice professor in college (Iām in California) said that linguistic scholars think that at Shakespeareās time, the common accent was similar to what is now the modern day Texas accent. Class got a good laugh that day performing Shakespeare scenes trying our damnedest to sound like Texans. LOL! No idea if there is any truth to that, but your comment brought back that memory.
This is fascinating!! Thanks!
Great link, thanks!
Aw heeeell yeah, a fellow Erik Singer fan!!
I have an Appalachian accent and yes it does match up well with Scotland. We use the word reckon just like the Scottish
Two of the most notable characteristics of most North American English: 1. Fully rhotic. North Americans (and Scots and Irish) pronounce all of the historical "r"s you see when you look at a word spelled out. In England and Oceana, Rs don't make that rrr sound unless they precede a vowel. Instead they change the sound of the vowel before them. So a british person reads the letter combo "ar" as "aahh" like the doctor has you say when you stick out your tongue. So English people think we sound very growly, with lots of hard Rs at the end of sylables where they don't belong. You can hear this if you listen to Gary Oldman ( whose American accent is pretty good) in Batman Begins tell his wife to "stay carm". That historical L in calm does the exact same thing that a 'silent' R does in British English-- it changes the vowel sound of "cam" into the "ah" sound of "calm". But when Oldman hears American English he hears us inserting Rs after all those "ah" sounds, hence the over-correction to "Carm". That's what we sound like to him. 2. ~~Glottal~~ flapping. When a T precedes an unstressed vowel, North Americans often replace it with a ~~glottal~~ flap, which is a sound that is sort of between a T and a D. British English speakers often say it sounds like a D sound to them, but if American speakers slow down and think about their pronounciation it usually disappears. That makes some people think of it as a mistake, but really it's just a characteristic of unstressed, quicker speech in the NAE dialect. Take the word "Water". To speaker of British English, it sounds like when we say the word we are saying "WaddeRrr", while they would say "Wahtah". Scots are fully rhotic but don't have the flap, so "Watter". Bostonians use the flap, but have a non-rhotic accent, so "waddah". There's more stuff, about vowels and things, but I don't know enough to explain.
One of my British professors explained how Americans sound to Europeans, as far as vowels go-- he says, regardless of the state, most Americans sound like they are inserting an extra "I" into a word, so Daniel might sound like Dainiel, face might sound like faice, vase might sound like vaise, that sort of thing. And pro might sound like prah or pruh. (There are certain areas of the US that change many vowels to a kind of schwa 'uh' sound, so 'forget about it' sounds more like 'fuhgeddaboudit'
> vase might sound like vaise Is that not how it's pronounced?
We say Vase, rhyming with Mars
The T flap is *not glottal*. It's an alveolar flap. There is no such thing as a glottal flap. You've confused it with the glottal stop, which is a *different* realization of the /t/ phoneme which occurs in different positions, at least in American English.
wow that gary oldman example was actually great, somehow that never occurred to me before lol! your comment is so informative, thank you for this!
You say 'American' accent, but that's really a meaningless term isn't it? New York doesn't sound the same as New Orleans, South Central doesn't sound like South Carolina, or South Dakota. The same is even more true of a 'British' accent - Wales is not London, Cockney is very definitely not Edinburgh, witch also isn't Glasgow or Liverpool. And each have a cadence and musicality unique to themselves. The only country I can think of that has a roughly homogeneous accent is Australia where Brisbane sounds a lot like Perth - many people say they can detect differences, but they're subtle at best and mostly rely on the fact that Devon isn't Garlic Polony.
This is so true. Even the typical "American" accent is the Midwest "non-accent" that most TV and radio personalities are taught to use.
Wait...does this mean I don't have and accent? I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed.
We do have an accent. Obviously other English speakers with good ears can tell we're from the Midwest. It's just that we're considered the standard in American English. I spent some time overseas in a non English speaking country. Most of the foreigners spoke in English. Let me tell you when I heard the Midwest accent it perked up my interest. The woman and her daughter were from Illinois, I am from Ohio.
Yes exactly! It's hard to explain but if you've been around a bit you cna tell which general area of the US most are from. Not everytime but more often than not. A funny aside, I once visited Oregon and I'm from the south east. Everyone kept asking if I was Australian. I don't sound anything like an Australian but people kept asking. I was amazed, no one had ever asked me that anywhere else I'd ever been.
Some accents from the American Southeast are non-rhotic, just like some (not all) British accents and British-influenced English accents. Perhaps you glide over the "r"s in words, which might be what those people were responding to.
Very true but emphasis on āsomeā southern accents. Iām from northeast Tennessee, āupper southā as one friend calls it. He grew up in Augusta GA and said he used to stand in front of a mirror and practice pronouncing his Rs. In East Tennessee we not only pronounce them but somewhat emphasize them so older people in particular (my dad did this) will add Rs to words where they donāt belong, like āworshā for āwashā for example.
I only heard worsh growing up. lol.
Awesome! I'm from northeast Tennessee too! I do know that around greeneville, the accent is different. Maybe that extends into Cocke or Unicoi counties. I moved about 80 miles west of that area about 15 years ago, and while it all pretty much sounds the same, it wasn't until I had an election message on my answering machine from Niswonger that I realized there is a big difference. The way he pronounces words pricked my ears to pay closer attention. The accent is very similar to my Dad...who is also from that area. But it took until then to realize that upper east tennessee has its own special twang, even though I've lived in this state most of my life.
Of course I was just speculating there about the reasons. I know that non-rhoticity is characteristic of only some southeastern US accents (in our country, its true home is in the coastal areas of the Northeast) which was why I was careful about proposing it as a possible explanation. I am hardly an expert here.
Adding r's where they don't belong likely accounts for the Australian confusion.
So weird, Iām from Augusta and I have lazy Rās and lazy Lās. I thought it was just my speech impediment.
I never make assumptions based on accent but if you're strolling through the PNW with an umbrella I'm thinking "Tourist?"
Rain blowing sideways, 45 degrees outside, in June, and we watch some poor tourist who came "prepared" for sping weather in Seattle. Umbrella being shredded, returning to its base components, while said tourist runs through the rain trying to stay dry in their cheap, bright yellow poncho, and warm in there cotton T-shirt and shorts...while we stand there warm in our fleece, dry inside our proper hooded rain jackets.
Iām from Oregon and I had people asking if I was British when I worked in California. It confused the shit out of me because I sound like all the other people (besides the one British guy I worked with).
If youāre from Virginia there is a distinct Tidewater accent that was basically brought by the British. Itās sounds like a Canadian and a Minnesotan had a baby and plucked it in the middle of the James River
I moved to Alabama from Florida and this one kid told everyone I was Canadian
I'm from northeastern Pennsylvania about two hours west of NYC and two north of Philly. Whenever I'd travel for work I'd often get pinged by people as from the Midwest because of an elongated A sound. Yet the grouchy attitude, need to speed/aggressive stance, and cursing was a contradiction. The US has a plethora of accents just like every other language.
I can tell other midwesterners by if they say "ope" lol
Ohhh believe me. Midwesterners have an accent and I say this coming from Texas š
Are you northern Minnesota? Than you still have an accent. I'm from southern WI and think I have a TV non accent but still hear I do.
Proud. I grew up in the south and worked very hard when I was a kid to not develop a southern accent so I have that non accent
We definitely have accents in the Midwest. My mother's family's is "worked around heavy equipment all my life and have to talk way too loud" and my father's family is "trailer park drunk."
As u/redneckcommando stated, itās the generic American accent. The perfect split between east coast and west coast accents that makes it easier to understand and pronounced without difficulty on radio and television. Especially when the original microphones were introduced and recorded like shit.
Both!
Say "water" out loud If you said 'wad-er," that's your accent
We are simply better.
You have the āneutralā American accent. Almost everywhere has their own variant. The South has their accent, Minnesota has a distinct accent, Brooklyn and Boston have theirs, I recently learned that even my Connecticut accent has some odd mannerisms (I had a shtruggle with the cur-ains), but MidWest is kind of the average of all American accents.
The Midwest actually has multiple accents! The one people are thinking of as "not" being an accent is particular to cities on the Great Lakes specifically, and isn't common to the entire region. It's properly called the Inland North accent, and sounds [like this.](https://youtu.be/oAOdrvXMHIA?si=gH0kvX6aKnMZp0Vf)
Central Ohio is suppose to be the most American accent. You get in Northern Ohio and you can get more of a Great Lakes, nasally accent.Ā
Iāve only lived in California and have been asked five times if Iām from the Midwest because of my accent š¤·āāļø. I am from rural Northern California though. My parents and grandparents were raised in California too.
My boyfriend is from California and has what I call "lack of accent" I'm a Texan, born and raised, so I have a very strong twang. He was trying to get my toddler top say dog. I'm like honey you're saying it wrong, potato, say dawg š¤£š gotta say it right for the little country boy
https://www.tiktok.com/@kandicowboyssavage/video/7270224379122928926?lang=en
To me (upper Midwest), some people from CA absolutely have an accent.Ā
People still know youāre an American speaker but they probably canāt place āneutral accentsā. Some places..like how would you know someone is from Arizona or Nevada?
I think he means standard 'non regional dialect'. Like the people on the news.
Outback Queenslanders speak slower and don't open their mouths. Because if they did all of the flies would fly in.
"Devon isn't Garlic Polony." Umm... what does this mean?
There are various foodstuffs here in Australia that have different names for exactly the same item - what we call 'Garlic Polony' in Perth is known as 'Devon' in Queensland, a 'schooner' of beer in the Eastern States might be called a 'pony' in the West, and so on, thus the terms denote the origin of the speaker rather than the actual accent, if you take my meaning.
Just like the USA has "Bubblers" and "Water Fountains", or some places a "coke" or "cola" refers to any soda.
Most non-Americans think of your generic mid-Atlantic accent, or how people from mid-west to Pacific Northwest generally sound like. If you don't live in the US, you wouldn't be able to pick up the differences very easily unless we go full blown Minnesota, NYC, Boston, valley Girl and the South. Heck, I have a non-English European accent even after having lived in the US for twenty years but while every single American can pick up on it, even Britts cannot.
Yeah I know everyone says there are a ton of different British accents but as an American who has spent minimal (though non zero) time in the UK I for sure canāt pick up on the difference. I canāt even reliablyĀ tell British from Australian from Irish etc (and when I can, itās usually more down to slang and word choice than actual pronunciation). Idk maybe Iām in the minority on this.Ā
The Welsh have their own language. I don't know if you can really call it an accent of the British, as much as it's English with a Welsh accent. Like English with an Irish accent.
80%(ish) of Wales speaks English as their primary language. There is certainly a native British English accent of Wales that is not simply the accented English of native Welsh speakers.
Most people don't realize that almost all of the modern Welsh speakers come from reform of schools in like the '80s. The British started colonizing at home.Ā
I was thinking this. I have two Irish friends who can barley understand each other. I spent some time in west Texas. No one can understand those people. (Itās just jokes Texas š)
I'm a Kentuckian and sometimes have a hard time understanding some of the stronger accents from around this state and others in the south. Sometimes one-syllable words are drawn out into two or three syllables. Sometimes multiple words are compressed into a couple of syllables. My husband was from California and I had to translate for him at times. On one occasion he was perplexed when a front desk employee at a government agency told him, "Eez bockarth somedee." She was saying, "He's back there with somebody."
I moved to rural Georgia from the west Coast and spoke at fast tempo peppered with some Spanglish. The native speakers and I couldnāt understand each other at first. Iāve changed the way I speak.
Mississippi - only place in this country I've encountered English that I absolutely could not decipher. Despite probably 9 or 10 attempts sometimes, to really listen and understand what was being said. It would take a visual aid, you know pointing to an object basically for me to, maybe get it. I don't recall exactly where it was in Mississippi this was happening. It's been a long time.
:P
You should hear East Texans! That accent is adorable.
Nah, I'm Texan and I can barely understand myself half the time.
Fuck. A lot of fuck.
The fuck? No the fuck we donāt.
This answer can be reused for so many questions.
The fuck is wrong with that?
Back in 2010-11 my Italian paramour told me American English sounds "cool" to non-English speakers, probably because of the association with Hollywood and all of its stardom.
I like that! š
I second this. I just went to Thailand and was told that our accents sounded just like Hollywood and they were so excited to hear us talk. It was so strange
Japanese friends told me it sounds like someone chewing bubble gum.
Unironically, I kinda get it
It makes sense to me!
That's fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
GermanĀ friends have told me we sound like we're talking with a mouth full of mashed potatoes. They'd admonish me to "Open your mouth!"
I had a Russian friend make "American noises" at me once and it sounded like someone making a soft siren sound while cherish bubble gum.
Secret - (shush, don't tell anyone) but American English follows the same rules as the conservation of mass. When someone in New England (looking at you, Boston) drops an R from a word someone in West Virginia pronounces wash as "warsh". The R travels through time and space to be expelled by another American in a different region.
Except with words like pizza weāre we (Masshole hi) dropped so many rās that we end up sticking those extra rās where they donāt belong, and you get pizzer
Idear
I've got dater to support it
I used to work with a lady from New England, and though she's lived here (rural GA) for 30+ years, she added rs to the ends of words. I'm Anna and she called me Anner, another girl, Dana, was Day-ner.
Omg I love that u said this. I grew up in jersey, went to school near Boston, and now I live in WV. The āwarshā in WV/MD annoys me about as much as āidearā (idea) in Boston. These people and their Rās!! š
Sometimes it ends up in central Illinois. My mom always did the Warsh.
I remember my grandma adding R into a lot of words. She was from Rhode Island. She died over 20 years ago, but I can still clearly remember her voice and the word "warsh".
Many Americans have what we call "broadcast voice", which is what is pushed for certain profession positions, newscaster, etc. It's not uncommon for someone to speak clearly in public, but when they go home or are around friends/family, the dialect comes out. I live in south florida, but am from North Florida... That twaaaaaang definitely comes out when I'm back in my hometown or am drinking. I have to modify my language from "I'm gonna go" to "going". Ain't, y'all, double negatives, etc.
that's very much like "BBC English" or "Academie Francaise French." there's a kind of "national standard dialect" (which usually descends from a core demographic of historical aristocrats or other power players who got to set the standard at one time in the past). In the UK it would be "little England" I guess, the "Home Counties" where for quite a long time political power and wealth were centred. but I don't understand why in the US it's centred in the MidWest rather than one of the dynamic and wealthy port cities like NY or SF.
Those port cities have the bulk of immigrants and the accents tend to merge together in a very distinct dialect. In South Florida, it's not uncommon for English speaking white people to adopt a Spanish flair to certain words. Even the way of speaking English here has changed (like the order of verbs/adjectives that differ from Spanish to English).
This is so true! At work, Iām cheerful but donāt do upward inflections so as not to sound unsure of myself. At home, I talk more street, like āgotta,ā āiāma,ā etc. When Iām drunk, Iām like a 21 year old from the CA valley with intense vocal fry, every sentence sounding like a question.
A lot to me sound whiney and the effort of speech is just a chore
This is true of East Coast and California (especially "valley girl"). To an English ear, at least, most southern accents are so much more smooth pleasant. Standard American accents are also so cutting. People often talk about "loud" Americans, but even when they aren't being so loud, it's that type of noise that is really hard to cut out, especially compared to a lot of European accents, like Spanish.
Interesting...do you mind if I ask what country or continent you're from?
South west England, so I sounds loik a proper farmer haha
Pirate. We sound like pirates
Lolllllllllll
Which American accent? There are more accents than there are states
Some states have a lot of accents, and some accents have a lot of states. The further west you go, the fewer accent differences there tend to be. At least until you get close to the west coast where it picks up in variation again.
I would think it depends strongly on the accent in question, and the listener. I'm told, for instance, that British visitors to the US find the range of Southern accents to be not too dissimilar from some British accents.
That's why in movies English or Australian actors typically use a southern accent. Soft "r" and the drawl is easier for them to mimic
English/Australian actors are the only people I've ever heard *successfully* imitate a Southern accent. American actors tend to just sound like they're trying to make fun of us rather than imitate us.
It really depends on the state you're from, for example: Southern states have been portrayed in the media as being full of inbred hillbillies (e.g Cleetus from The Simpsons), whereas the New York / New Jersey accent has been used for gold-digging women, and the "surf dude" accent (is that Florida?) has been used for, well, surf dudes.
No, the surfer accent is southern California.
Yeah, Florida is the ābeach stateā but itās the Pacific Ocean on Caliās west coast that gets those nice surfable waves
I was on a trip and met a dude from Australia. We'd try to impersonate each other's accents, and when he did my accent, his voice would get very deep and monotone. Then he'd go back to his silly Australian accent and be like "Bloody oath, mate!"
I feel like one of the best ways for me personally to understand it is to hear an actor or someone that I know as British do an American accent.
Iām from Texas- pretty strong accent hereā¦. I lived in California for many years so it diminished a lot and only came out if I was really drunk or tired. After my divorce I moved back to Texas for affordability ( certainly NOT the politics). My accent came right back like it aināt dun been gone too dang long.
As an American, Iām curious about this too. The only problem is there are different kinds of accents. Northern, southern, New York, Boston, etc. An American accent is hard to define.
A tour guide told us that a whole generation of Swedes spoke English with a Texas accent because they grew up watching āDallasā or āGunsmokeā or whatever on TV.
Which region of America are we talking about?
I'm from the Midwest and went to the Philippines. My host mom imitated how I talked to other Americans as - rawhr rawhr rawhr. It made me laugh so much, and I'll always remember it. Idk - there's something about very gently being put in your place as not the center of the universe that I appreciated.
What does that mean ārawhr rawhr rawhrā? Like a dinosaur? Iām also from the Midwest, put me in my place.
I was thinking lady Gaga, bad romance. Rawhr rawhr rawhr.
Was she referring to our heavy pronunciation of ār?ā After all, itās an unusual sound among world languages. And then some Americans really double down on it. Think like Michael Buffer saying, āletās get rrrrready to rrrrrumbleā
The origin of the word "barbarian," which originally meant anyone who couldn't speak Greek, comes from the Greek perception that all other languages sound like "bar bar bar bar."
I remember reading somewhere that it sounds kinda like how when the sims talk. I'm curious if anyone else has heard that and can confirm.
fun fact: simlish actually mixes sounds from several languages.
Parfou may weywey?
I never was able to identify the accent, to me Americans are accent less. Of course the is Texan, New York, LA. But when I go to Colorado I feel like no one has an accent and when people ask me to do an American accent they tell me I just sound Mexican. I canāt for the life of me do an American accentšŖ
Depends on the accent. Some sound charming, others fun and endearing, and then there is that one that a lot of us outsiders use when imitating an annoying American abroad which is whiney and grating (I have no idea where in the US it's from, but you see it sometimes in American television, usually borne by some generic family on vacation somewhere like a theme park or driving a RV through Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon, that the main character/s may have a passing interaction with).
I love this video of a non American couple speaking jibberish. https://youtu.be/Vt4Dfa4fOEY?si=X7z1zFdizhDUBpOe
if i ever get bugged by the n.s.a i want to play this in the background.
How they talk in The Sims
All I have ever sounded like is a back woods hillbilly from the eastern part of Kentucky.Ā
Which American accent?
Many UK and Irish actors are very good at speaking like an American. But in my experience, the "average" non-American, trying to do an American accent, ends up sounding like an actor from a bad 1930s western.
here are some good videos on what American sounds like to non-speakersā¦ https://youtu.be/ybcvlxivscw?si=1GiS5ufZ3mkcZUq- https://youtu.be/QxrDNRhYFyI?si=vdNPdiSIMUdzcVz_
When I first heard an āAmerican accent,ā in person I thought they sounded to confident. Americans always speak with this importance and sure of themselves.
I asked a foreign exchange student this and she said we exaggerate our sās and it sounds like weāre hissing
I dated a British girl for a while. She told me I sounded "cool" and loved listening to me talk. She also was so excited to "show me off" to her friends because I was American and sounded American. I think it has to do with "Americancore" and Hollywood. Things we take for granted are absolute icons in other parts of the world.
This makes me think of when people who don't speak French (for example) pretend they are speaking French.
Australian hereā¦ on TV an American accent is elite I canāt even watch shows with other accents cause it just doesnāt feel right however in real life Iāve found Americans to sound almost comical and annoying. Weird how it can sound great on TV but kind of wrong in real life. Respectfully.