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I recently came across this fun little quiz involving language, and it seems to be pretty accurate based on the comments from people in the forum where I originally saw it. Also, it listed me correctly as being from the Mid-Atlantic region. (Apologies for slighting our international forumites, but give it a try anyway, I'm curious to see how the quiz handles non-American accents.)
What American accent do you really have? Your Result: Mid-Atlantic You have the accent of Philadelphia, south Jersey, and Baltimore. Everyone around there knows what a Philly accent is but not enough outsiders can ever recognize it. Result Breakdown: 92% Mid-Atlantic 83% Northeastern 83% Northern 81% Midland 67% Southern 46% Northeast New England 46% Western 38% North Central
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:- The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
They got mine correct as mid-atlantic, too, although they did paint it with a broad brush. There's a huge variety here in the tri-state area, but because of my training as a speech therapist, I actually speak standard American English. ( Yes, there really is such a thing.)
"Where is the fountain that throws up these flowers in a ceaseless outbreak of ecstasy?"
Western New England is more appropriate considering the recognizable speech patterns of far eastern New England, i.e. eastern Maine, Boston and eastern Rhode Island.
Give a man a fish: He will eat for a day.
Give a man a rod: He will sit on a boat and drink beer all day. - USA Network
Posts : 1313 Joined: 28 OCT 2011 Location: BE, Antwerp
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What American accent do you really have?
Your Result: Northeastern
Your accent is basically what people speak with around the Tri-State area (New York City, north Jersey, Connecticut) and Rhode Island. If New York City is the greatest city in the world, it's not too much of a stretch to say you have the greatest accent in the world!
Well shiver me timbers! They reckon I'm northeastern. Ha. No one would ever mistake my Liverpudlian accent for American. But it was fun and rather difficult at times. How on earth can one pronounce ride with a 'aa' vowel sound without making it an entirely different word?
Now that's interesting, because I was born and raised in SOCAL -
What American accent do you really have?
Your Result: Western
This is what they speak in the western half of the US, which is a pretty huge area. Like Midland, it is considered a neutral accent, so most people you meet probably think you don't have an accent (unless you're from the California coast).
This is what they speak in the western half of the US, which is a pretty huge area. Like Midland, it is considered a neutral accent, so most people you meet probably think you don't have an accent [size= medium](unless you're from the California coast).
Hmm, not sure I agree with the results. If anyone ever heard me talk I have a very very noticeable southern accent, I just don't say the words (in) correctly as my teachers taught us lol.
On the quiz though I got:
What American accent do you really have?
Your Result: Midland
(not "Midwest") The Midland is the neutral zone between the North and the South: Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri (roughly). Since it's the neutral zone, its accent is fairly neutral. And since the accent is neutral, there are millions of people with Midland accents who have never lived anywhere near the Midland (Floridians, for example). There are a lot of newscasters who talk like you.
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What American accent do you really have? Your Result: Western
This is what they speak in the western half of the US, which is a pretty huge area. Like Midland, it is considered a neutral accent, so most people you meet probably think you don't have an accent (unless you're from the California coast).
I was born in Florida, live in Florida and talk like a Floridian (however that is). Sometimes, I walk like an Egyptian as well.
But it did say: Some places like Florida don't have their own accent so people from there usually get something like "Midland" or "Western."
So it was accurate.
People used to ask me if I was from New York City. I told them no, but I was raised in a city full of New Yorkers who were either tourists or had moved here, and the accent rubbed off.
There are few native Floridians in Florida. This begs the (rhetorical) question: if Florida is supposed to be such a great place to live, why do most of the people who are born here leave?
Just so you guys know the truth: there is no 'neutral' American accent. You either have one or you don't. Certainly the rest of the world can recognise an American accent instantly even if we are unsure of which state it comes from. Of course every Canadian who travels overseas quickly discovers that the entire planet thinks their accent is American too.
Our relatives who moved to California now speak like native Americans whereas after 30 years, I still sound very English and I have my theories about why it's so much easier to speak 'American' when you're surrounded by them, than it would be for an American to acquire an English accent should they move across the pond.
I like all the American accents and I imagine it's very like the English accents - we all sound the same to foreigners but to native speakers, slight differences will give away birth location very easily.
For me, the most easily recognisable regional accents are those that predominate in the movies, New York's blunt nasal tones with shortened syllables, the Dolly Parton variety of soutern drawl and the Californian accent. I also know a chap with an incredibly sexy New Jersey voice: clipped, clearly enuciated vowels and word ending - a total joy to listen to although I do wonder how much conscious control he exercises over his diction.
Your accent is basically what people speak with around the Tri-State area (New York City, north Jersey, Connecticut) and Rhode Island. If New York City is the greatest city in the world, it's not too much of a stretch to say you have the greatest accent in the world!
I've got a very very eastern accent that hails from over the pond! I couldn't identify what state in the US someone comes from by their accent but I can recognise the difference between a 'New York' (& that sort of area) & that of someone from a more southern state!
Originally Posted By Caroline (10 JUL 2012 12:02am)
Just so you guys know the truth: there is no 'neutral' American accent. You either have one or you don't. Certainly the rest of the world can recognise an American accent instantly even if we are unsure of which state it comes from.
I have to admit this came as a shock to me when I first started reading Agatha Christie and read about a character described as having an American accent. I had no idea what she was talking about at the time, I was certain I had no accent!
Originally Posted By loobiloo (10 JUL 2012 2:04pm)
I've got a very very eastern accent that hails from over the pond! I couldn't identify what state in the US someone comes from by their accent but I can recognise the difference between a 'New York' (& that sort of area) & that of someone from a more southern state!
I've spent quite a time on & off in California (where one of my daughters & family live).and its surrounding States.
And have travelled but more superficially throughout more or less the whole of the northern half of the USA.
I have not got a good ear for languages, dialects, or accents although two of my closest female relatives are speech therapists – one in USA and one in UK --- but I would be hopeless at that profession.
Maybe that's why I have noticed no REAL differentiation between the accents of North & South, East & West (of the Northern half only of the USA). I suppose I WOULD be very aware of the difference between a Bostonian accent (Spent some time in Hyannis where my son worked for 4 years) and somebody from the deep South
where I have never visited !
But what a difference in the UK where I was born and grew up !
Great Britain is infinitely smaller than the USA.
If I am not mistaken, and rounding the figures off, the total area of the United Kingdom is approximately only **ONR THIRD** of that of the **STATE OF TEXAS** alone.
If it were a computer game, you could place the map of England, Wales, & Scotland together onto that of Texas alone side by side about three times.
Texas itself is very roughly in the shape of a square whose sides are around 780 miles in length.
But go westwards from London for say a mere 160 miles and you'll find yourself in the heart of Wales with an accent that some Londoners cannot understand (and I; talking about their ENGLISH not their special WELSH language.
Or go a 'much' longer distance, say 770 miles (about the length of one of the 'sides' of Texas and in the heart of the extreme north of the UK i.e. Scotland and you can have great difficulty in deciphering the broadest Scottish accent.
And there are many variations in between ! And there hangs an interesting true life short anecdote featuring some fairly /important' English folk that I knew well ! – but not now !!!
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:- The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
BTW - I am not referring to the marvellous English accents of Welsh born Richard Burton or Anthony Hopkins or the mild Scottish accent of Sean Connery !
I mean the hoi Polloy in the small villages in Wales & Scotland or thhe British Midlands or North !!!
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:- The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Originally Posted By Len Green (11 JUL 2012 6:11am)
But what a difference in the UK where I was born and grew up !
Great Britain is actually a tiny country.......
But go westwards from London for say a mere 160 miles and you'll find yourself in the heart of Wales with an accent that some Londoners cannot understand (and I; talking about their ENGLISH not their special WELSH language.
Or go a 'much' longer distance, say 770 miles (about the length of one of the 'sides' of Texas and in the heart of the extreme north of the UK i.e. Scotland and you can have great difficulty in deciphering the broadest Scottish accent.
And there are many variations in between ! And there hangs an interesting true life short anecdote featuring some fairly /important' English folk that I knew well ! – but not now !!!
I agree there is such a diversity of accent in GB! & I'm not too bad at pinpointing an accent to a general area i.e. l I can tell the difference between a Northern & Southern Irish accent, Welsh accent (but not regions) & Scottish - there's a definite difference between the 'harsh' Glaswegian accent & the softer tones of other Scottish areas including the islands. In England accents from or surrounding areas of London, Liverpool, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Newcastle, Birmingham, Midlands, West Country & the South coast (to name but a few) are very distinctive & spoken quickly in the thickest brogue can be difficult to understand!
Originally Posted By loobiloo (11 JUL 2012 1:10pm)
Originally Posted By Len Green (11 JUL 2012 6:11am)
But what a difference in the UK where I was born and grew up !
Great Britain is actually a tiny country.......
But go westwards from London for say a mere 160 miles and you'll find yourself in the heart of Wales with an accent that some Londoners cannot understand (and I; talking about their ENGLISH not their special WELSH language.
Or go a 'much' longer distance, say 770 miles (about the length of one of the 'sides' of Texas and in the heart of the extreme north of the UK i.e. Scotland and you can have great difficulty in deciphering the broadest Scottish accent.
And there are many variations in between ! And there hangs an interesting true life short anecdote featuring some fairly /important' English folk that I knew well ! – but not now !!!
I agree there is such a diversity of accent in GB! & I'm not too bad at pinpointing an accent to a general area i.e. l I can tell the difference between a Northern & Southern Irish accent, Welsh accent (but not regions) & Scottish - there's a definite difference between the 'harsh' Glaswegian accent & the softer tones of other Scottish areas including the islands. In England accents from or surrounding areas of London, Liverpool, Cumbria, Yorkshire, Newcastle, Birmingham, Midlands, West Country & the South coast (to name but a few) are very distinctive & spoken quickly in the thickest brogue can be difficult to understand!
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I can DIFFERENTIATE between aWelsh, Scottish, Irish, Manchester, Liverpool, Midlands, accents.
But when they are VERY broad e.g. in the very small villages, I spmetimes find it hard to follow EXACTLY WHAT they are saying !!
Maybe because I have lived mainly away from the UK for well over 60 years.
Also people seem to speak faster than they used to decades ago in several countries - maybe the advent of 'universal' TV ???
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:- The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
I remember when The Story of English aired on public television here. They used subtitles for some of the accents because they were so broad. If I remember correctly, Yorkshire was one of them.
"Where is the fountain that throws up these flowers in a ceaseless outbreak of ecstasy?"
I had an uneasy feeling in my guts tjhat I had made a mistake !!
"Or go a 'much' longer distance, say 770 miles (about the length of one of the 'sides' of Texas and in the heart of the extreme north of the UK i.e. Scotland and you can have great difficulty in deciphering the broadest Scottish accent."
NOT 770 miles but only about 340 miles =-i.e. less than a half of one of the 'sides' of the roughly square shape o Texas !!!
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Awaits alike th' inevitable hour:- The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
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Originally Posted By Lady Kestrel (11 JUL 2012 7:00pm)
I remember when The Story of English aired on public television here. They used subtitles for some of the accents because they were so broad. If I remember correctly, Yorkshire was one of them.
I heard from a person from Denmark that I used to play online games with that they usually use subtitles for everyone who does not have a Copenhagen accent there. Then again, Danish is notoriously hard to understand
Here they just use subtitles for people from Skåne (very far south of Sweden) & the king...
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