Accents 'round the world

@OmSigDAVID,

She was pretending to be someone different- as she was when she adopted every different accent and persona on the tape.

But I'd still like to know why New Zealanders pronounce words similarly to South Africans (since this thread is about accents).

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@aidan,

That country means nothing to me,
but I saw that it was singled out.

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@OmSigDAVID,

Yeah - like she singled out the sort of loud rude behavior for Brooklyn - so maybe it does mean something....New Zealanders might be sort of spacey and laid back -living on an island and all that.

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@aidan,

aidan wrote:

Yeah - like she singled out the sort of loud rude behavior for Brooklyn -
so maybe it does mean something....New Zealanders might be sort of spacey
and laid back -living on an island and all that.

I will not dispute her qua Brooklyn.
In NY, we don 't hear quite so much in the way of accents anymore.

I cannot judge New Zealanders, for paucity of information.
I have never met one in the real world,
so far as I remember.

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@OmSigDAVID,

I have and every single time, I can't decide if they're New Zealanders or South Africans - based solely on their accents initially. I have to really listen carefully and use contextual clues or ask them.

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@aidan,

I was referring to the native intelligence of New Zealanders,
which has been impugned, in that thay purportedly cannot
even remember how old thay r.

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@OmSigDAVID,

I know David - I'm just obsessing about how interesting accents are and how they turn up sounding similar in the most unlikely places.

It's on my mind because the other day a Brit told me he couldn't decide if I were Australian or from New Zealand - based on how I spoke - which I think is pretty typically unaccented American English - most like Seattle Washington accent, if I had to choose one from this video.
Anyway - then we got into a long discussion about it and that's what I'm still thinking about when someone says the word 'accent'.

I don't know anything about how native intelligence of New Zealanders and their reputation for that compares to anyone else in the world - sorry - maybe someone else can come along and help you out with that.

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@TTH,

TTH wrote:

chai2 wrote:
So, I'm curious. When she got to "your" accent, do you think she did it justice?
Yes, she sounded like someone from WA.

That's funny.
Listening to an interview she was giving on another clip, that's where she's from!

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Something that might be of interest, was reading about "The Nanny" a few nights ago, because the butler at times sounded a bit southern to me....he normally speaks with a sorta generic Brit accent...he also used the same accent in the movie "The Prestige".....so anyway, I looked him up...he's from Arkansas....so at home, he probably sounds more like Billy Bob and Levon Helm...or me.

The tall blonde, CC is also a southerner, Texan.

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@aidan,

aidan wrote:

Quote:
Did Amy insult the I.Q.s of New Zealanders ?

I took it to indicate that they were 'laid back'.

But this reminded me that I find it curious that New Zealanders and South Africans (white south africans speaking English) employ similar pronunciation on certain words. Sometimes, I get them mixed up - and that just seems so strange to me - that a country in Africa somehow has a somewhat similar accent to a totally unrelated island nation - weird.

I find it odder that the US and Canada (which most people from outside the US and Canada find too similar to distinguish from one another, speaking broadly....I mean, one would not not confuse Noo Joiseyers with Canadians, for example) have such different accents, speaking over generally, of course, from the other major English invaded countries.

I think the Oz, New Zillun, and South African accents have more in common with each other than they do with the North American accents.

South Africa is, of course, more affected by the Dutch accents than the others.

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@dlowan,

I thought she did the Australian accent the worst, did it sound good to you?

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@dlowan,

Quote:

I find it odder that the US and Canada (which most people from outside the US and Canada find too similar to distinguish from one another, speaking broadly....I mean, one would not not confuse Noo Joiseyers with Canadians, for example) have such different accents, speaking over generally, of course, from the other major English invaded countries.

I've always wondered about that myself. Especially since I grew up in a family where the parents were southern, born and raised, so they both pronounced the word 'water' as wah-der, while all of us children raised in New Jersey said - 'wawder'- and then I moved to England where they say Wo-tah- which is what my ancestors said - but we in America certainly don't (anymore at least).

I was telling my helper Katrina today - I wish I could say Wotah and buttah instead of wawder and budder - but I think the Brits will feel that I'm making fun of them if I do- and I'm NOT - I think those words sound better as Wotah and Buttah than the way I instictively say them with their blunted consonants and flatter vowels.

Quote:

I think the Oz, New Zillun, and South African accents have more in common with each other than they do with the North American accents.

Yes, I do too.

Quote:

South Africa is, of course, more affected by the Dutch accents than the others.

But in my experience, the Dutch people seem to speak the most unaccented English of all the European countries - maybe that's why the South Africans sound more like Australians and New Zealanders.

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@dlowan,

Personally, I don't think I could tell an Oz accent from a NuZillund one. The only difference I find between Canajun and US Midwest accents is that the Canajuns will say 'eh'!

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

I thought she did the Australian accent the worst, did it sound good to you?

I didn't think much of it.

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I think the big New Zealand age mix up was not an insult but was an attempt to give you a taste of how the Kiwis say their numbers... seven - sivin...
Canada was very Toronto/Ontario rural cartoonish but she was right on the money with the rising lilt of our sentences...

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@Merry Andrew,

Merry Andrew wrote:

Personally, I don't think I could tell an Oz accent from a NuZillund one. The only difference I find between Canajun and US Midwest accents is that the Canajuns will say 'eh'!

Precisely.

That's what I am saying....you have three countries who kind of took one accent route, as it were....and two others who took another.

I only REALLY got to "hear" how similar Oz, New Zillun and South African accents are by being in other countries, and hearing them spoken.

Most Americans I have met away from Oz think me English, by the way.....mainly because I think the dominance of American produced TV and films means most English speakers are familiar with American English....and can even hear some different regional accents (though I still find some American regional accents hard to understand if spoken quickly)....but Americans are not similarly exposed en masse to English as it is spoken in other countries.

I think Australians have to speak like Paul Hogan to be identified as Australian in the US......except by people who have travelled or see media from other English speaking countries.

I speak with a broader Oz accent than I did as a kid.....but I take on others' speech mannerisms quite quickly. I found it very funny that, after being in England a couple of weeks, the Brits I was speaking with couldn't tell I was Australian! They were forever asking where I was from, because they couldn't peg my regional accent, but they really thought I was a Brit. And Brits can usually tell an Oz accent a mile off.

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@dlowan,

I don't take on speech mannerisms quickly - but here in England - I am about evenly as likely to be identified as either Australian or Canadian - NEVER American - and certainly never an American who grew up in New Jersey- and I have no idea why - except that people say my accent for an American (when they finally believe I really am an American) is what they describe as 'soft'. I don't even really know what they mean by that.

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@aidan,

By soft, they probably mean it's not that distinct...your speech patterns must blend in nicely....as apposed to a strong or thick accent.

Accents are somewhat sterotypical...just because someone is from Jersey, doesn't mean they sound like the actors from the Sopranos....likewise all backwood {the real ones} southerners don't sound like the characters from the Squidbillies.

A few years ago I spent an entire day in Memphis, meeting and talking to many people, it was only just before leaving that I actually heard a southern accent...if I had not known where I was, I could have easily been in St Louis or Louisville, accent wise....which are not "southern" towns. Nashville has become much the same, and I assume many other large metro areas are similar.

TKO, Squinney, and myself are all from MO, but I'd bet that we all three sound quite different, perhaps not to someone from France....but any insider would be able to hear a great deal of difference.

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@aidan,

New Zealanders aren't spacey, or unable to remember how old they are. We can hold our own, even if we are laid back. They are two different things- one implies that a person is a spectator to the rest of the world. The other implies an acceptance of the rest of the world. Also, I fail to see how living on an island is relevant to our attitudes towards life.

Personally- and I think this has been mentioned here somewhere- I think that it wasn't a dig at New Zealanders so much as a demonstration of how we pronounce our words differently. Or at least I would like to think so...

Apart from that, it was pretty much spot on, even if it sounded a bit Australian! Razz

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A few of my family members and myself were discussing accents today, they were asking me about one of my aunts, my mom had just talked to her on the phone, and they were trying to figure out what accent she had picked up...she's spent the last 20 odd years in Utah....and "she sounds really funny"....it's not that shes picked up anything, just simply lost most of her Arkansas accent, and now has a generic middle American sound.

Then one of my aunts asked me if I knew there was a boy on "America's Got Talent" that is from our area....Mayfield Ky, which is across the river a bit...a local boy. I rarly watch tv, so she filled me in on the whole thing....basically everyone was laughing at his appearance and accent, until he started to sing, then they shut up real quick. I came home and looked the guy up, and I'll admit that he is very country, but nothing out of the ordinary for these parts...I know a great deal of guys that sound, act, and look that way.

Anyway, made me very proud that he put up a good showing, especially after being poked fun of....as I've been in the same situation many times. Depending on where I am, I've learned to hide my accent....but to my wife and kids my fake accent is funnier than the real one....but to anyone that doesn't know me it sounds fine. Think Richard Pryor { or any black comedian} doing a white guy voice...dorky, hokey....well golly jee willikers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzul5rxd-i8&feature=related

1 Reply

Accents 'round the world

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