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/