What is your accent?

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djblackett
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Post by djblackett »

Hi guys. I'm relatively new here (did 3 chapter readings and a 4th on the way), and something I realize I don't know a whole lot about is the names of various accents. There are the obvious big ones like which country you are from, and I know the regional accents in my corner of the world. I thought it might be cool if people could post a link to one of their readings (if they're a reader, that is) and say what accent that would be considered. I would start... but I actually don't know what my accent would be to others. I have a specific regional accent when I talk at home, but I like to think it disappears somewhat or becomes more generic when I am narrating (I could be completely deluded about this... :lol: )

Now because none of the books I've contributed to on Librivox are finished yet, there's no high bandwidth link to share. If it isn't a problem, my most recent narration was for an open-source computer network textbook that I put on youtube. Not exactly riveting stuff, but could anyone do me the favour of listening to a few seconds and sharing where you think I sound like I am from. If this is not allowed or frowned upon for some reason, my apologies in advance. The link is: https://youtu.be/hNbvZ2mu-RU

I know there are lots of those 20 accents in 2 minutes kind of videos on youtube, but I know for a fact that many about my area are not very accurate. This approach should be much more accurate 8-)
mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

Here is a (now-defunct) litle side project we used to have going, where people could fill in information about their accent and everything was displayed in a table: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=17015 It turns out not to have been much use, so we eventually let it fall to the wayside, but it is kind of fun to look and see what all was represented.
CSCO
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Post by CSCO »

I suppose any accent is acceptable. We welcome your accent.

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RSlabaugh
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Post by RSlabaugh »

I listened a bit, and at first I thought Ohio. But then you got to the word 'out', and I decided, "Nope, Canada!" So I checked your location to see if I was correct. :lol: Not being Canadian myself, I don't know if there's a distinct difference from one region to the next. But I'd say you probably have a less distinct Canadian accent than many I've heard.
~Rosebud
Rapunzelina
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Post by Rapunzelina »

I've no idea about regional accents!

As for myself, I am not a native English speaker, and I don't have a standard accent. Probably a mutant mix of accents I've picked up from watching movies and travelling.

Sometimes you can tell the Nationality of a non native English speaker by their accent, because they speak English with a distinct accent. I don't think that's possible with me 8-) I have to try to speak English with my nationality's accent.
djblackett
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Location: Canada

Post by djblackett »

Rapunzelina wrote: October 30th, 2020, 10:28 am I've no idea about regional accents!

As for myself, I am not a native English speaker, and I don't have a standard accent. Probably a mutant mix of accents I've picked up from watching movies and travelling.

Sometimes you can tell the Nationality of a non native English speaker by their accent, because they speak English with a distinct accent. I don't think that's possible with me 8-) I have to try to speak English with my nationality's accent.
My family has actually been hosting international students for a few years now, so we've had lots of different English accents in our house. We can usually narrow down where they are from by their accent, but not always to their specific country. Certain languages sound similar when you don't know them. For example, Japanese and Korean speakers sound similar when speaking English, but very different from the tonal Asian languages. Or maybe guess they are a French speaker, but can't tell if they're from France or Belgium. Italians stand out like a sore thumb though :lol:
KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

Your accent is known as the Bland North American Accent. The BNAA. Bland here is not meant as an insult or a mark of disrepute. My accent is BNAA, I think, but people often ask me from where I come. Bland means, here, simply free from any regional variations. It is a kind of lingua franca of the accent world.

P.S. Never take me too seriously.
annise
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Post by annise »

I don't have an accent - everyone else does :D Anne
KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

annise wrote: October 30th, 2020, 2:12 pm I don't have an accent - everyone else does :D Anne
Hahaha! That's true for all of us!
djblackett
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Post by djblackett »

RSlabaugh wrote: October 30th, 2020, 8:50 am I listened a bit, and at first I thought Ohio. But then you got to the word 'out', and I decided, "Nope, Canada!" So I checked your location to see if I was correct. :lol: Not being Canadian myself, I don't know if there's a distinct difference from one region to the next. But I'd say you probably have a less distinct Canadian accent than many I've heard.
Interesting! I had to look up the Ohio accent. But you're right. "Out" is a dead give away. In fact, when I try to sound like an American I usually say "out and about." I assume you read that in an American accent, but for me, it normally sounds like "oat and a boat."



KevinS wrote: October 30th, 2020, 1:57 pm Your accent is known as the Bland North American Accent. The BNAA. Bland here is not meant as an insult or a mark of disrepute. My accent is BNAA, I think, but people often ask me from where I come. Bland means, here, simply free from any regional variations. It is a kind of lingua franca of the accent world.

P.S. Never take me too seriously.
Well, I'll take this as a compliment because it is essentially what I am aiming for. I'm from Atlantic Canada and we are known for having strong accents. So being called "bland" in this case is great :lol: In case you want to know what we sound like in our natural habitat, this video is surprisingly accurate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXkamp46eZI&ab_channel=CBCComedy



mightyfelix wrote: October 29th, 2020, 10:18 pm Here is a (now-defunct) litle side project we used to have going, where people could fill in information about their accent and everything was displayed in a table: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=17015 It turns out not to have been much use, so we eventually let it fall to the wayside, but it is kind of fun to look and see what all was represented.
Cool, I'll check it out! thanks
KevinS
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Post by KevinS »

Re: the video.

That one fella sounded more Irish to me.
djblackett
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Post by djblackett »

KevinS wrote: October 30th, 2020, 2:55 pm Re: the video.

That one fella sounded more Irish to me.
Funny you say that. My dad had an AirBnb guest from Ireland a couple of years ago and the guy thought everyone was mocking him at first by trying to imitate his accent. It was only after travelling around the local area for a couple of days that he realized we just talk like that too. They had a good laugh about it afterwards.

I also had an Irish colleague a few years back. I remember being really surprised that he wasn't a local.
commonsparrow3
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Post by commonsparrow3 »

LibriVox has done two projects called Celebration of Accents and Dialects, (Vol 1 & 2). In each project, readers were invited to record a short Aesop's Fable in their natural accent. The readers decided for themselves how to name their own accent, and that's how it was listed when the project was cataloged. The two projects provide a fascinating little snapshot of some of the variety of voices we have here at LV. (I contributed a reading for Vol 2 in a "US Great Lakes accent", as is commonly heard in the region around Rochester & Buffalo NY and Cleveland OH.)
SonOfTheExiles
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Post by SonOfTheExiles »

Some of us have a lot of variation within our own individual accents, depending on what we're reading.

If I'm reading something respectfully, like say, a religious sermon or poetry, I'll dial back my Australian accent considerably, and you might not be able to pick its national origin.

If I'm reading for a slimy conman, such as I've done in a recent DR play or two, my Australian accent gets cranked up to eye-watering levels.

But if you want to hear what my normal speaking voice sounds like, you'd need to listen to me in a podcast, for example, starting about thirty seconds into this one.

https://ia800702.us.archive.org/12/items/librivox_community_2013/librivox_community_podcast_149.mp3

Cheers,
Chris
Currently on sabbatical from Librivox
annise
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Post by annise »

We were expected at school to use a more "refined" accent when reading aloud than our normal playground talk and I still have a tendency to do it.
Those projects were quite fun - we used the fable of the wind and the sun which according to Wikipedia is a good one to use. Maybe sometime I'll set up volume 3 :D

Anne
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