What does my accent tell about me?

Guy44   Sat Mar 15, 2008 7:33 pm GMT
You can listen to me read "Comma gets a cure" here:

http://www.driveway.com/b0q9v9v9w5

Please tell me what my accent tells you about me.

The text I'm reading is the following:

Copyright 2000 Douglas N. Honorof, Jill McCullough & Barbara Somerville. All rights reserved.

Well, here's a story for you: Sarah Perry was a veterinary nurse who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the territory, so she was very happy to start a new job at a superb private practice in North Square near the Duke Street Tower. That area was much nearer for her and more to her liking. Even so, on her first morning, she felt stressed. She ate a bowl of porridge, checked herself in the mirror and washed her face in a hurry. Then she put on a plain yellow dress and a fleece jacket, picked up her kit and headed for work.

When she got there, there was a woman with a goose waiting for her. The woman gave Sarah an official letter from the vet. The letter implied that the animal could be suffering from a rare form of foot and mouth disease, which was surprising, because normally you would only expect to see it in a dog or a goat. Sarah was sentimental, so this made her feel sorry for the beautiful bird.

Before long, that itchy goose began to strut around the office like a lunatic, which made an unsanitary mess. The goose's owner, Mary Harrison, kept calling, "Comma, Comma," which Sarah thought was an odd choice for a name. Comma was strong and huge, so it would take some force to trap her, but Sarah had a different idea. First she tried gently stroking the goose's lower back with her palm, then singing a tune to her. Finally, she administered ether. Her efforts were not futile. In no time, the goose began to tire, so Sarah was able to hold onto Comma and give her a relaxing bath.

Once Sarah had managed to bathe the goose, she wiped her off with a cloth and laid her on her right side. Then Sarah confirmed the vet's diagnosis. Almost immediately, she remembered an effective treatment that required her to measure out a lot of medicine. Sarah warned that this course of treatment might be expensive-either five or six times the cost of penicillin. I can't imagine paying so much, but Mrs. Harrison-a millionaire lawyer-thought it was a fair price for a cure.
Guy44   Mon Mar 17, 2008 3:20 pm GMT
Hey ladies and gentlemen, would someone be so kind as to answer...pleeease :)
RayH   Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:51 pm GMT
I know I'm late to the game here but your accent sounds distinctly Germanic to me but with some other influences I can't really put my finger on. I know this is rather vague but it's the best I can do.
Guy44   Wed Mar 19, 2008 8:24 pm GMT
It's not late, thanks for answering!
It would be great if others did as well! :D
What exactly do you mean by Germanic? Like as if I were German or Swedish or the like?
Gabriel   Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:36 pm GMT
Going by that recording, I'd say that you're a non-native and that your L1 is not at all transparent to me. You know English pretty well, it's easy to understand you and you have a pleasant accent. All the phonemic distinctions of a native speaker are made. Some words you pronounce in unusual ways ("working"). What's your L1?
RayH   Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:22 pm GMT
<Like as if I were German or Swedish or the like?

Exactly.
Guy44   Wed Mar 19, 2008 11:40 pm GMT
Thanks for your answers.
More are welcome.
If I get a lot of opinions, maybe I'll start answering questions :D
All I can say at this point is that I have nothing to do with Germanic languages besides English. I haven't even been to a country where languages like German are spoken. The first commenter (whose comment got moderated) said that I sounded to him as a Thai. I'm not from the Far East.
Guest   Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:18 am GMT
<<Please tell me what my accent tells you about me.>>


National Origin: Brazil


Sex: Male


Age: Early-twenties


Orientation: Homosexual


It also sounds like you studied British english, and are trying to immitate their pronunciation.
Guy44   Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:30 am GMT
Guest, this is very interesting, you're the second person who thinks that I'm homosexual. I'm not (believe me or not, I really don't care :D). But be careful because the first commenter got moderated for saying that :D I'm not from Brazil, either (not anywhere from the South American continent). Oh, and, guys and girls, it'd be great if you would give REASONS for your judgements (especially those of you who know phonetics), e.g. what is Germanic about my accent (I don't have final "fortising" for example).
Xie   Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:52 am GMT
Not at all German, at least, or Russian. (My wild is that you don't even know any Germanic and Slavic languages except English)

Your accent is slightly similar to a Mandarin accent, but my ears could tell your L1 shouldn't be Hungarian, Hindi/Urdu, Persian, any of the CJK languages, French or Mexican Spanish (or may I call?). I guess your L1 doesn't have as many diphthongs as, hm, English or Chinese.

I haven't listened to other accents. So, my exhaustive guess would be: your L1 could possibly be Portuguese, Greek or Romanian. I can't think of other alternatives since I'm not exposed to that many accents. :)
Estel   Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:13 am GMT
Sounds like you have problems speaking. It's almost like there's something in your throat. That was just my first impression.

You seem to enunciate your r's too much. It doesn't sound like you're from Latin American, because you don't have their sexy intonation. And you're not from Asia either because you get your consonants correct. It sounds to me like you're immitating American accent with a sqeaky voice like you're from Seattle, but you dont have 'c-c' merger, therefore you're not from Seattle. With all that I can think of, I still don't know where you are from.

:P
Guy44   Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:25 am GMT
Estel: You have a good ear!
Guy44   Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:55 am GMT
Anyone, please comment!
Other people who wanted comments about their accent got much more replies :(
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:02 am GMT
It sounds very affected. Are you a posh?
Guy44   Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:04 am GMT
:)
LOL
Now that was a really sophisticated analysis :)
Well, yeah maybe I'm a bit posh in a way...not rich at all but slightly over-cultivated :)