Vat Zid Yew Say?

Whether it’s for acting a specific foreign character in a movie, television show, play, or if it’s doing silly impressions just for fun with your friends, I’m sure most of us have tried to put on a foreign accent while speaking English. For example, pretending to be German but not actually knowing how to speak the language so we just try to put on an accent that would sound German. In today’s blog post, I’d like to look into some foreign accents from Europe, such as the German accent and the Russian accent. Here we go.



For starters, with the German accent, we pronounce some letters different than us due to the influence of their language: d’s become t’s (“drinking” sounds like “trinking”), w’s becomes v’s (“where” changes to “vere”), v’s sound more like f’s (fast sounds like “vast”), and th sounds like a z (“that” becomes “zat”). There are a lot more different pronunciations they make opposed to ours, but these are the most common. Now if you put all of it together, you can translate a random phrase to it sounding a little more German, for instance “I understand that you are from this country” to “I ahnderstand zat yew ahre from zis cahntry”.



Now for the Russian accent, it is known for sounding more aggressive. I feel as though it has numerous similarities with the German accent, such as hearing a lot of v’s and z’s. While speaking in English with a Russian accent, you have to remember that whatever character you’re playing doesn’t speak it very well since it’s not their mother tongue so the sentences would sound shorter due to ignoring the articles and prepositions, like the, to and a, before words. For example, “I’m going to the store to get a light bulb” would sound like “I go to store get light bulb” with a Russian accent.



Sources:

https://sites.google.com/site/lrnthaccnt/how-to-do-a-german-accent
https://sites.google.com/site/lrnthaccnt/how-to-do-a-credible-russian-accent

Bonjour

Bienvenue à toutes et à tous!

No, my blog will not be written in French, but it will be talking about the various aspects of the French accent. Now for starters, the most common regional French accents are from France (of course), Canada, Haiti, Africa, Caribbean, and Louisiana. However, I’d like to talk about the French accents I’ve heard over the years, such as French from France, Canadian French, and African French, so as I will be able to share my personal take on all three.

France

I’ve always admired the French accent from France because I feel like the accent makes French sound cool. For example, French rap from France sounds a lot like American rap, just in a different language. Although the country consists of various regional accents, its population generally uses the Metropolitan French, which is considered as standard and is basically the stereotypical French accent from Paris. I’ve noticed that this French accent isn’t too keen on articulation since it looks like French people barely open their mouths when they speak.

Canada

When it comes to French, Canada is widely known for their Quebec accent. Nonetheless, we can’t forget about the Acadian French accent, as well as our very own here in Ontario! The Canadian French accent highlights the vowels in words and tends to linger on the t a lot more. For instance, tu would sound like tsu.

Africa

French is very common in Africa since there are 31 countries that speak it as a first or second language, which makes it the continent with the most French speakers in the world! The accent is very much influenced by the African languages, which gives an aggressive approach it. It is also known to be heard with voices that are deeper than the usual.

Here are some funny clips on the stuff Parisians say, as well as what French Canadians (Québécois) say, according to stereotypes. *Warning: Contains French Curse Words*

All of these three have an immense influence on the accent I have today. Going from a Belgian accent (which is basically identical to the French accent) to obliviously adopting the Canadian French accent due to the change of my residence, as well as genetically having the African French accent in my blood, it makes me confused on which of the previous categories I belong to. Regardless, I love all three of these accent et pis chui fière d’être francophone!

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varieties_of_French#European_dialects

Ay Good Day Mate!

As you can probably already assume from the title of this post, I’ll be talking about the Aussie accent, but I’d also like to explore the Kiwi accent, which is from New Zealand, and sounds almost identical to the Australian accent. Keep in mind that I will only be generally speaking when explaining about these accents.

The Australian accent has always truly fascinated me. At first, I thought the Australian accent sounded really weird and it was hard for me to imitate it. However, the more I listened carefully and repeated after I heard the pronunciation of how certain Australians talk (aka Cody Simpson), I started to genuinely love the accent and it is now one of my favourite English accents in the world! The most important thing to know about this accent is to never pronounce the r in words, so words like car is pronounced as cah.

Now for the Kiwi accent, I haven’t heard a lot about this one but I do find it very interesting. While I was browsing on Youtube, watching different videos made by New Zealanders, I have come to the conclusion that the accent sounds not only like the Aussie accent, but it has a hint of Scottish and Irish in there sometimes. The thing that came out the most while studying the Kiwi accent is how the vowel “e” in the middle of words sound more like the vowel “i”. For example, yes would sound like yis, let’s would sound like lit’s, and dress becomes driss. I’ve realised that this makes them sound quite inarticulate, but it makes it more fun when it comes to mimicking the accent.

Although it’s hard sometimes to tell these two accents apart, they do have their differences. I’ve learned that the Aussie accent over pronounces words and the Kiwi accent is more likely to under pronounce them. No matter how ridiculous these accents may sound sometimes, they’re both definitely on my I-Wish-I-Had-This-Accent list.

Sources:

http://dialectblog.com/2011/05/04/south-african-kiwi-aussie/

http://www.felixexi.com/how-to-speak-with-an-australian-accent-for-american-dummies/

Cheerio!

Welcome back ladies and gents to a new post on my accents blog!

I’m excited to be exploring the many different British accents in this post. Now for starters, the United Kingdom is a country of countries. I know, weird eh? Don’t ask me how or why because I’ve researched it and I’m still confused... Anyway, the UK consists of four countries: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. All four countries have accents that sound completely different that I would love to talk about. However, I will also be talking about accents from London and New Castle, which are present in England.

      
      London: The stereotypical British accent, also known as Queen's English, is known to be heard in the country's capital city, as well as in South England and a bit in Wales. The Standard British accent is also known for its formal vocabulary and correct grammar in the language. However, it is rare to hear it in the modern-day in the United Kingdom. The cockney accent is basically the second most famous British accent in England, which originated in the East end of London. One of the most common observations of the Cockney accent is the pronunciation of the th in words, such as “mother” becomes muhvah or “thing” becomes fing, as well as ignoring the h so “hello” become ello and “Harry” becomes Arry.

      New Castle: Every British person knows the region around New Castle is famous for their Geordie accent. I discovered the Geordie accent when I stumbled upon a show called Geordie Shore. The show is basically a British version of Jersey Shore. The accents are quite funny and amusing. I’ve noticed that people with Geordie accents tend really breathe out their words. 

   

      Wales: The accent from this region is heavily influenced by the Welsh language, which remains still widely spoken across the country. The letter r is more pronounced in words when speaking with a Welsh accent.

      Scotland: When it comes to the Scottish accent, people usually think about pirates. I have to be honest and agree sometimes it seems as though the Scottish speaker is talking with his mouth full. The words sound really short, for example “goat” is pronounced as got.

      Northern Ireland: People with a Northern Irish accent have the tendency to raise the pitch at the end of a sentence, even when they’re not asking a question. Also, they’re likely to insert a y sound after certain consonants. For instance, “car” sounds like cyar and “garden” sounds like gyarden.

The one thing I love the most about the British accents is the slang that comes along with them. I found a video of 4 out of the 5 members of One Direction that explain… well… “try” to explain some words that are most common in the British slang. Enjoy! :)

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom

http://www.wikihow.com/Speak-in-a-British-Accent

http://dialectblog.com/british-accents/

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/find-out-more/northern-ireland/

'Merica

Ah! America; the land of the free!

The United States of America possesses various regional accents and not just the typical Californian accent that we probably hear the most. Today I will explore the accents that are the most common to hear, but keep in mind that these are only generalizations, for there are numerous accents that can exist in each state. 

East coast
The Mid-Atlantic accent is known to be heavy and dominant, such as in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Unlike general Americans, these people tend to pronounce the r only before a vowel, but other than that you can’t really hear it in certain words. For example, the word card in a New York accent would sound like “cads”. New Yorkers tend to really exaggerate and stretch their vowels. They would also replace the th as in there with a d.

West coast Some people believe the Standard American English comes from the West coast, such as California, Washington, and Oregon. Like almost every North American accent, they have the habit of pronouncing their t’s as d’s. Another thing that I have noticed from the accents in the Mid-West, for example Minnisota, when they talk, it seems like their mouths are stretched really wide while pronouncing their vowels, unless for the vowel o which makes it sound short.

Southern
I never really thought there were different southern accents until recently. I have discovered that some sound really thick while others are barely noticeable. Also, there are many southern accents that will pronounce the r, but there are others where it is silent. Although, there is one thing for certain that most have the habit of using y’all in almost all their sentences, which stands for “you all”. The standard southern accent focuses more on emphasizing the vowels to make them longer.

I know it’s not easy understanding the different pronunciations through reading rather than hearing it so I put up a clip below that may help. You may recognize the woman, Amy Walker, from a video I have posted in a previous blog post. She is extremely talented in mimicking a variety of accents and even teaches lessons to others who are open to learn her ways.

Sources:

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-do-a-new-york-accent

O Canada

“Us, Canadians, we don’t really have an accent.”

Oh, but yes, we do!

We don’t notice it because we’re used to it. It is expected of people to only notice other accents apart from their own. To be quite honest, I had to do a bit of research to know more about the Canadian accent because even I, had difficulty recognizing my own accent apart from others.

Even though it was the British that were one of the first to explore our country, the Canadian accent is very similar to the typical American accent. Perhaps it’s the fact that we’re neighbours, but we do have our differences. What are the differences you may ask? Well generally speaking, Canadians are known to pronounce the “ou” differently in certain words such as “about” and make it sound like “aboot” or “aboat”. 

This resembles the Scotland dialect, as well as the Geordie accent from Northern England. Another thing is the pronunciation of the letter ‘Z’ as “zed” is more common here than “zee” like the way our fellow American neighbours pronounce it. Apparently, we also pronounce words like “milk” and “miss” differently to make it sound like “melk” or “mess”. Weird, eh?

This brings me to my next point. Why do Canadians say “eh”? Where does it come from? It is not sure where the famous expression originated from but we do know for a fact that it is part of our dialect. It is just a different, and a more polite, way of saying “huh”.

On the other hand, our accent isn’t the same throughout the entire country. The Maritimes, Quebec, and other areas that have a high population of French speakers have more of a Europian accent when it comes to speaking English due to the influence of their native language being French.

The first time I truly grasped the concept of the Canadian accent was when I saw Russell Peters’ stand up performance talking about it on Youtube. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen because it was so true, but a little too exaggerated of course. Check it out it by clicking here. (Warning: Coarse Language).

I must say I am guilty of some of these previous pronunciations and I have heard others say it as well, but I think most people exaggerate it way too much when imitating our accent. Next week I would love to explore the various accents throughout the United States so stay tuned!

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_English

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eh

Introduction

Have you ever been fascinated with the way someone speaks? Or maybe how there are various pronunciations of just one word? Well if you’re like me and love hearing accents (and no, not just on boys) you are on the right blog!

Join me and explore the different accents of the world. Not just associated with the English language, but as well as French and many other languages. On this blog, I will talk about their origins and how they are linked to each other. Also, the stereotypes behind some of them, as well as prejudice and discrimination.

Once you hear a person’s accent, you could assume what area he/she is from. But it can very well change over time by moving to another location. For example, I spent my early childhood in Belgium so I adopted a Belgian accent in French. After moving here in Canada, my friends from Belgium told me I sounded different when we spoke over the phone. They said Canada had “changed” me. How could an accent possibly change who I am? My friends failed to realize that I simply was forced to adopt a new culture because I was living in a completely different environment. An accent is somewhat part of someone’s culture, and when you change locations or communities, there is a chance for you to embrace a new one.

Here is a clip of a woman speaking with 21 different English accents:

It’s funny how two people could be speaking the same language, even reside in the same country, but not understand each other clearly. That shows how diverse accents can really be. They are usually created with the combination of different languages or even different accents together.

I hope you like my blog enough to stick around and accompany me on this cultural experience around the world. :)