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So I got accused of having a "strong accent" the other day. We all know that there are varying degrees of British, Aussie, etc. accents. Americans have several distinctive accents (N.Y., Boston, Texan, etc.). In Canada, we have 3 or so distinctive (French, Maratimer and then the rest). My manner of speaking would be "the rest"...so the vast majority of the Canadian population, and a generous portion of the U.S.

When considering the English language in North America, you would have an extremely hard time telling the difference between someone from Toronto, Canada, and someone from Seattle, in the US (a distance of about 2200 miles). Unless you have one of those distinctive drawls, you could never tell where the person is from, so my question is: if we say that between Canada and the US, 175 million people (out of a combined pop. of about 330 mil.) have a similar manner of speaking, would that not be considered the "common dialect", ergo, other English speakers' accents would be gaged by this?

I have always considered Canadians and the majority of Americans "accent neutral" due to the sheer number of people that sound the same. Am I wrong? I know we all can struggle at times with what I would call "strong accents"...Scots, excited Aussies, some Brits, and those with regional accents like "Newfies" in Canada, as well as Cajuns from Louisiana in the US can be tricky.

This is more of a curiosity thing and people's perceptions. Don't get me wrong...when I am in Australia with the in-laws, they love having a go at me because of my "accent"...but that is simply because I speak differently to them and everyone else in the country. In Australia, I would say I have an accent, yes.(and they can't mimic it to save their lives!)

Also, I know the Brits were speaking English long before North Americans, so save that one. Essentially, when you meet a Canuck or a Yank with that neutral "where-the-hell-are-they-from?" accent, do you think after "what the hell were they saying, it was all pops and squeaks"?

I think some people have no perception of distinctive accents, I have had people confidently ask me "where in the UK are you from?" I mean, c'mon!

P.S. Canadians all don't say "oot and aboot". (Although I do at times)

Going on the basis of Popuation,according to IJUOI study reports there are only 2 accents in the world. Indian and rest of the world. Very few Chinese speak english, so they were not considered. 'lound the lugged lock the laskel lan'.

St.Lucifer wrote:Going on the basis of Popuation,according to IJUOI study reports there are only 2 accents in the world. Indian and rest of the world. Very few Chinese speak english, so they were not considered. 'lound the lugged lock the laskel lan'.

Does the Indian or the Chinese dominate the current population?

BabyDoll wrote:

St.Lucifer wrote:Going on the basis of Popuation,according to IJUOI study reports there are only 2 accents in the world. Indian and rest of the world. Very few Chinese speak english, so they were not considered. 'lound the lugged lock the laskel lan'.

Does the Indian or the Chinese dominate the current population?

IJUOI is working on it.. their report says its difficult to find out the exact no. of elderly chinese dying and the no. of indian newborns. But one thing is sure, we are strong allies so we've no competition within us. We are Bhai - Bhai.. (brother -blothel) See the similarity in names... Malayalee -Bruce Lee

reminds me of what my uk buddies always made sure i understood ..."we speak english;you speak 'american'" haha

ps - there are still more people in china, but the higher birth rate in india means it will have more people in a couple of decades. i am pretty sure this is roughly correct

St.Lucifer wrote:

BabyDoll wrote:

St.Lucifer wrote:Going on the basis of Popuation,according to IJUOI study reports there are only 2 accents in the world. Indian and rest of the world. Very few Chinese speak english, so they were not considered. 'lound the lugged lock the laskel lan'.

Does the Indian or the Chinese dominate the current population?

IJUOI is working on it.. their report says its difficult to find out the exact no. of elderly chinese dying and the no. of indian newborns. But one thing is sure, we are strong allies so we've no competition within us. We are Bhai - Bhai.. (brother -blothel) See the similarity in names... Malayalee -Bruce Lee

HA HA

malayee u mean chuce lee

St.Lucifer wrote: But one thing is sure, we are strong allies so we've no competition within us. We are Bhai - Bhai.. (brother -blothel) See the similarity in names... Malayalee -Bruce Lee

I think so too...

dubaidog wrote:So I got accused of having a "strong accent" the other day.
P.S. Canadians all don't say "oot and aboot". (Although I do at times)

what is "strong accent"? Something that is pleasant or unpleasant to ear, something very different to Posh english, something that sounds "rough" like russian accent.

I, being non-native english speaker with "strong" russian accent, would most probably call an accent "strong" if it is impossible to understand a person attemting to speak english.

Others (Australian, Scottish, Jamaican, Kiwi etc) are JUST accents . ...

JMK wrote:

dubaidog wrote:So I got accused of having a "strong accent" the other day.
P.S. Canadians all don't say "oot and aboot". (Although I do at times)

what is "strong accent"? Something that is pleasant or unpleasant to ear, something very different to Posh english, something that sounds "rough" like russian accent.

I, being non-native english speaker with "strong" russian accent, would most probably call an accent "strong" if it is impossible to understand a person attemting to speak english.

Others (Australian, Scottish, Jamaican, Kiwi etc) are JUST accents . ...

I would say for example, if you, personally, have a "strong" accent when speaking English, you most likely learned it later in life, or do not speak it that often. If Russian was your first language, then say you moved to a native-English speaking country when you were a child...you would most likely have a "mild" accent. Kids can lose their accents as they grow up in the new country, and likewise adopt the local accent. (I have seen that here).

As far as a "strong accent" goes....I speak like the people you see on American-produced TV shows/movies. The sort of generic North American accent lets call it. Or say like a news presenter would on CNN or whatever (in North America, a dialog coach or voice-over artist would call my accent "neutral"...no regional accent)

I was surprised when an Aussie friend said my "accent" was strong, when she clearly would be identified as "having an Aussie accent". I just haven't heard of people in Dubai referring to Canadians as having a "Canadian accent". Maybe because I annunciate every letter (i.e. say PARK THE CAR vs. PAHK THE CAA) it is perceived as being harsh? I dunno I thought it was pretty common, myself.

The other accents you mentioned are generally considered to be identifiers of an English accent. Australian, Scottish, Jamaican. Kiwi, etc. but there are degrees of that accent as far as perception. A "strong" Jamaican accent could pretty much be considered another language, whereas a Jamaican that is educated in Canada or the UK, will most likely have a"softer" accent later in life. The same goes for my Australian family....my wife has a "mild/mellow" Aussie accent, whereas her parents sound like Eric Bana in "Chopper" or the family from "The Castle"...more of a "strong" accent.

JMK, you are a perfect person to ask...I am just wondering if you detect degrees of accent (harsh/soft/strong/whatever) in the Canadians or Americans you meet here? Or, other than the regional accents in the US that might be present "for effect", if you watch an American movie or TV show, do you hear an array of accents? (kind of like in the UK, people can have dramatically different accents in different parts of the same city, never mind diff. cities altogether)

dubaidog wrote:

JMK wrote:

dubaidog wrote:JMK, you are a perfect person to ask...I am just wondering if you detect degrees of accent (harsh/soft/strong/whatever) in the Canadians or Americans you meet here? Or, other than the regional accents in the US that might be present "for effect", if you watch an American movie or TV show, do you hear an array of accents? (kind of like in the UK, people can have dramatically different accents in different parts of the same city, never mind diff. cities altogether)

to be honest - no, I can't detect, unless of coz the American talking to me is from Texas and talks really really really a lot .. .I met one Canadian guy and thought he was from US until he told me that he is Canadian....

but of coz I am able to differentiate "regional" accents, except for Kiwi and Australian accents sometimes...

i know only a few words in russian, which i picked up here in Dubai by the way, yet a lot of people ask me if i'm russian/speak russian, because according to them i have russian accent...
its even funnier when after i tell them i'm hungarian, they ask if we have a language of our own

raidah wrote:i know only a few words in russian, which i picked up here in Dubai by the way, yet a lot of people ask me if i'm russian/speak russian, because according to them i have russian accent...
its even funnier when after i tell them i'm hungarian, they ask if we have a language of our own

I know .... I gave up long time back and just say "yes yes I am Russian and we are all Russians" .. ..

JMK wrote:

raidah wrote:i know only a few words in russian, which i picked up here in Dubai by the way, yet a lot of people ask me if i'm russian/speak russian, because according to them i have russian accent...
its even funnier when after i tell them i'm hungarian, they ask if we have a language of our own

I know .... I gave up long time back and just say "yes yes I am Russian and we are all Russians" .. ..

i have one regret thou. in my previous work place there were several situations when a russian speaking person was needed and nobody was around. who was their 1st pick? moi. and that, after all have been told many times i did not speak the language. so my regret is, that one of those times they required my russian knowledge, i didn't say yes, bring on the client and then in say sorry... maybe that way, they would have learned and left me alone.

Some of the above-stated points are so true and a great example of ignorance. If you are not used to the accent, a mistake can be made, but when people figure Russian/Hungarian, same thing, or that Kiwis and Aussies are the same (like us Canadians and our neighbours to the south) it gets to be a little much.

Although Canadians are just un-armed Americans with health care, right?

Having worked with both Russians and Hungarians on staff, I can tell the difference easily, but some have real difficulty. To me it is obvious as the difference between Aussies and Brits, but some dolts don't hear a difference there either!

I used to work with a Bulgarian guy who would take every opportunity to correct people when they assumed he was Russian....repeatedly!

what accent is ? some sort of perfume ?

Arnie speaks really bad english , it takes efforts to understand him. I thought he was speaking phusto (the language of pathan) .

Brit ruled over countries for more than 100 years but they culdnt tranfer their hard to get accent to us .

Fayz speaks good english .

Concord is just okay like me .

Ian can undertsand english.

scarlet wish she speaks like HP

Dubai knights eats lot of words when he speaks english.

I can understand the frustration one has to go through when asked where you're from because of the accent difference. Like Scottish accent is way different than British accent and there was this consultant who was from Scotland came to my dad for some work and all. My dad politely asked him which part of Britain are you from and he got pretty pissed and said he was from Scotland.

Thing is people gotta realise the fact that U.A.E had very few British expats here long time back while the leaving aside all the arabs, it as filled with mostly sub continent asians like Indians, Pakisatanis, Bangladeshi's and so on. So for us Asians and Arabs its natural for us to think that probably the guy is from Britain mostly. Not the migrated Asians living there. It's just that not all people can differ the accent so we tend to guess by asking the question rather than totally assuming. But the question should be put in an appropriate manner.

I agree with the fact not only in Dubai but people who have migrated outside of Dubai catch on the accent of the place they are either staying or studying. But again its hard to differentiate a person's originality from where they exactly are from by their accent. Just like my younger brother studying in canada. His accent has pretty much changed.

Same can be given by the case for me. I am very fluent in Hindi and Urdu because of natural upbringing with the crowd mostly pakistanis and Indians as my surrounding crowd in school and besides the point my mom crazy about Indian films and Pakistani dramas. hehe. Well whenever I sit in a taxi. The guy firstly assumes I speak hindi or urdu because I am from sub continent. So he keeps on yapping and all and I keep on speakin to him in urdu or hindi and then when he reaches the point he goes like which part of India or Pakistan are u from. Some even went to extent saying I was from Iran. But when I say I am from Bangladesh. They are in a state or shock because in their entire life they have not found a single Bangladeshi speaking so fluent Hindi or Urdu.

Give it time and people will understand. Thats all I can say!!