Accent

I'm from America and can easily tell where people are from by their accents. I took it for granted that all English speakers could tell the difference. I learn something new every day.

Tomboy, can you tell the difference between an Australian accent and NZ, or South African, or Cockney?

I was talking to a Japanese (native) interpreter a while back, and I commented that she had learned her English in England. I also picked that she learned her English in Brighton.

I'm pretty much an all-American and only know USA accents. But I also know asian accents and can spot them pretty easily.

I think part of the 'problem' nowadays with discerning between different accents for English is due to globalization and increased international awareness. Having moved arond a lot when I was a kid, I picked up an American accent when I went to an American school. I think although you could hear my accent was distinctly American with soft consonants like "budder" instead of "butter", I doubt anyone could have picked which state it was from. Later I developed a slight Australian accent when I moved to Australia. At least, all my American friends thought I had a British accent just because I pronounced my Ts and all my Australian friends thought I still had an American accent. And perhaps some people are very gifted at picking the subtle differences in accents, but I really have come across at least ten Americans who cannot hear the difference between someone from NZ, England or Australia.

That said, in Japanese, I do think there are different accents, not just dialects. Some people definitely say 'ga' but others say it more like 'nga'.

I tend to be more aware of the suprasegmentals than anything else. It's also more fun to learn and easier to describe a language using suprasegmentals. Also, if the suprasegmentals of a language are mastered, that person will sound more like a native than one who just knows the segmentals.

Stern, how about explaining to those of us that have English as a 3rd or 4th language what the heck is a suprasegmental? and dearie, do please give examples?

have something to do with supercalafragalisticexpialladocious

LOL Sira's family's in QLD and NSW but he can't tell the difference of accents? What city in QLD and NSW mate? I been to many cities in QLD and lived in Sydney before too. Don't need to look anywhere far, just the capital of these 2 states, you go to Brisbane and go to Sydney you hear different accent already. Only a deaf people cannot tell the difference. LOL And it's clearer when you go deeper in QLD. Next to QLD, it's Toowoomba and Warwick, then they have stronger QLD accent already. Then you go deeper to Roma and etc. Try going and mix around with people there before saying. LOL (another Aussie mate here above can witness I reckon) But well, if you really can't tell the difference maybe you can't tell any difference of any accents in the world at all, and I reckon even Japanese and English or Chinese would still sound the same to you, and in that case I have no more to say mate. Have a good day.

kokura boy, no need to be so rude and condescending, I don't think I deserved that kind of response at all for admitting I haven't noticed differences between those accents.

Still you haven't been able to tell me exactly what those differences are- can you provide some examples of different sounds, please, so I can listen out for them?

I have relatives on the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Sydney and also Adelaide, who I have visited a few times. My relatives are New Zealanders and still have a Kiwi accent, so they don't provide me with any examples of particular accents. Sydney is full of people from other states and countries, so the accent there is likely to be a complete mish-mash- it's like talking about an Auckland accent. Auckland is so diverse, no such accent exists.

I have noticed some minor differences with the SA accent, but I don't think the fact that so far I haven't noticed any major (emphasis on major) differences between a Queensland and a NSW accent is a reason to be rude to me. It's pretty well known that you are more likely to be able to hear subtle- and the differences you refer to are subtle- differences between accents in your own country than a foreign country, which Australia still is to me.

I didn't make a study of the accents while I was there, and they aren't really that obvious to a non-Australian, no matter what you might like to think.

As mentioned above, most Americans can't distinguish between Australian, UK, and NZ accents, even though we think they are very different- why should they be able to? They just haven't heard them all that much. It's nothing to be critical of.

Can we leave it at that, mate?

Incidentally, I am female.

Didn't really mean to be rude to a female. Sorry indeed if I offended you.

I am not able to explain by text here how differences they are. For instance, "you're off mate?", then a boy from Mauree in NSW speak with one accent, and another boy from Toowoomba in QLD speak with another accent, and another boy from Adelaide in SA speak with another accent. I really don't know how to show you that. (maybe only way to do that is to call you on phone and let you hear it by yr own ears - so difficult to explain by text).

Btw, I'm not the expert about English accents. My first language is still Japanese, but I only had a chance to study and live in Australia and the USA, that's it.

Sorry again. Really no mean. Just the way I say like that. Looking back I agree it's too harsh, and it's my fault.

The differences in Australian accents are more related to strength or weakness of the accents (said to be a "broad" accent, generally more nasal) Australia is a young country so the accents are not all that different. SA has the most obvious difference from the other states, where their "A" vowels are softer. e.g. "grahnt" instead of "grant".

But there are more obvious differences. For example, there is a "woman's" accent, that probably 40% of young women use. And then there is a slight inflection used by people born in Australia, but of southern European parents.

http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/linguistics/russell/1...

Here's a link. Teaching suprasegmentals is the trend in teaching pronunciation to language learners.

It's not from the Sound of Music, but from the Sounds of English? :)

Reading all of these responses has really helped me. Thank you everyone so much! And just to add, I do realize that the age of the country sort of determines how many dialects and accents it has...and that America is a really young country compared to most others...but also...think about how vast we are. America is a really large country, and I think that that accounts for most of the accents. I think the typical American accent (the accent that comes to mind anyway...) is the Californian accent. It's very clean sounding, and this is what most people come to understand as American-English accent. I was raised in Virginia and moved to Georgia and the made fun of the way I said yellow, I say it more like "yahllow" and the further south you go it becomes
"yehllow". Or...further south, they say "kin" instead of related to. My mother is from Kentucky, and she says" tar" instead of "tire".

Sorry...kinda rambled there. But needless to say, accents and dialect vary in Japan as much as anywhere else. If anyone has anything else to say...about the difference of accents anywhere really, I'm more than interested to hear.

I'd like to know about differences is slang, in particular, if anyone has any information.

Sorry about the double post!

But also consider the fact that America has had a lot of immigrants from many different countries that have helped settle and have flourished certain regions of our country. In Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, and Tennessee it was a large mixture of Irish, Scottish, and English settling there and so the accents developed from those. Further south, it was a lot of French people, along with some of the previous, so the accent is very different. Think about Louisiana-Cajun accent. Further west, in the cases of places like Oklahoma and Wisconsin and states around that area, there were a lot of German settlers, and they have a very terse way of speaking, saying "Minnesoota" instead of "Minnesota" and things like that. California is sort of where everything softens, it's like the "typical" American accent, although there are some variations.

Slang is very different too, in places like Massachusetts, they say things like "wicked" or "pisser" when describing some thing good are bad. Down here it's "cool" or "that sucks". Up north it's "couch" instead of "sofa" or up north they say "pop" instead of "soda.

But onto the real topic...I'm sure there are examples of the sames things in Japan...does anyone have any info on it? I
ve tried looking it up...but I'm not getting a really good idea of what it truly is.