Worst impressions of foreign accents
- Thread starter caitlin1214
- Start date
I'm British but I have to say Britain has the most accents in the English speaking world. They're all wildly different - not as homogenous as in other English speaking countries. I have American, Canadian , Australian friends who live here and they find it quite difficult sometimes - not like their own country where there are far fewer accents. Each area and city in the U.K. will have it's own very different accent, dialect and words and often if you speak to someone from a different city - it can be hard to initially understand what they're saying. I think foreigners generally do OK when "pretending" to be English on screen. 
My dad can tell which part of England someone came from by listening to their accents.I'm British but I have to say Britain has the most accents in the English speaking world. They're all wildly different - not as homogenous as in other English speaking countries. I have American, Canadian , Australian friends who live here and they find it quite difficult sometimes - not like their own country where there are far fewer accents. Each area and city in the U.K. will have it's own very different accent, dialect and words and often if you speak to someone from a different city - it can be hard to initially understand what they're saying. I think foreigners generally do OK when "pretending" to be English on screen.
I'm British but I have to say Britain has the most accents in the English speaking world. They're all wildly different - not as homogenous as in other English speaking countries. I have American, Canadian , Australian friends who live here and they find it quite difficult sometimes - not like their own country where there are far fewer accents. Each area and city in the U.K. will have it's own very different accent, dialect and words and often if you speak to someone from a different city - it can be hard to initially understand what they're saying. I think foreigners generally do OK when "pretending" to be English on screen.
i totally agree!
when i went down to london last summer alot of people couldnt understand my scouse accent! although its not too strong because i dont live in liverpool i live on wirral they still couldnt understand!
when i go abroad though, thats it! no chance! and whenever i leave wirral my scouse accent gets stronger and much more scouse so i dread to think what ill sound like when i move over the water in a few months for uni
Why do actors from the UK and Australia do the standard American accent so well, and it is apparently harder for American actors to do a British accent well?
Having recently moved from the Midwest to the South, sometimes I have trouble in NC, SC, etc. if the accent is heavy. I'm hopeless in my native language.
Having recently moved from the Midwest to the South, sometimes I have trouble in NC, SC, etc. if the accent is heavy. I'm hopeless in my native language.
Not a foreign accent, but I am so irritated by Jessica Simpson's fake southern accent in Dukes of Hazzard and the accompanying stupid DirecTV commercials. If you are from Texas and can't do a convincing southern accent, that's just sad!!
i think Renee Zellweger did very well with her British accent in the Bridget Jones movies, and Brad Pitt's Irish accent was in the movie Snatch (i LOVE that movie 
!), which didn't sound too bad
Ralph Fiennes's American accent was awful in Maid in Manhattan, though. as for Nicole Kidman's accent in The Interpreter, i don't think she was putting it on; she's Australian, and that's how she sounds when i watch her appearances on the red carpet
!), which didn't sound too badRalph Fiennes's American accent was awful in Maid in Manhattan, though. as for Nicole Kidman's accent in The Interpreter, i don't think she was putting it on; she's Australian, and that's how she sounds when i watch her appearances on the red carpet
This is possible, you don't loose the ability to learn and be influenced just because of age.
Possibly because of the number of american series/shows/radio/songs going from the US the the UK versa the number of media going the opposite way?
lol i was just about to say this! it is verrrry bad! also have u heard Joss Stone speak lately, shes from Devon, but speaks with a wannabe American accent lol
I have a broad lancashire accent, and my cousins from down south think its posh and they dont understand me either! lol, let me tell you its not posh
The other day me and mum were in stiches, we were watching E! news and Noel Gallagher was on it ( mancunian singer ) he was talking about something or other and it had SUBTITLES up, i just thought it was hilarious that no-one would be able to understand what he was saying, but obviously some people cant! lol
I also think Joely Richardson does a good American accent in Nip/Tuck i sometimes forget shes English, id like to think what the American people on here think about her though because i obviously cant really say what a 'good' American accent is!
You develop an accent when you live in a different country when you're a child, not when you're an adult.
(I had a slight British accent when I lived in England from when I was three till when I was five.)
I agree with Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones's Diary.
I also thought Kate Winslet did a wonderful American accent in Titanic.
Sorry Caitlin - although I always love your posts I have to disagree with you on this one. I'm quite susceptible to picking up accents and mine has changed even as an adult in my twenties and thirties - even though I tried not too !!
