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I wanna speak Irish accent
>>I used to try to imitate RP (I'm American)<<
It is absolutely impossible for a North American to affect a convincing UK or Commonwealth accent.
<<It is absolutely impossible for a North American to affect a convincing UK or Commonwealth accent.>>
While your statement may be generally true, guest, there are always a few, rare exceptions. I think what you REALLY meant to say is "It is absolutely impossible for all except a tiny minority of North Americans to affect a convincing UK or Commonwealth accent." Oh, and Damian, you're right, the fact that you have a nice, highly rated, Sean Connery type of Scottish accent may be part of the reason why you would never change it. But let me ask you this: What if you had the kind of Scottish accent which is used by the heroin addicts on "Trainspotting"? (I'm not saying they talk that way in real life - I'm simply saying that there ARE people who talk that way in real life). Then again, if you DID talk that way, then that would make you uneducated and, therefore, you would probably not be visiting a website such as this one to begin with. I bet you sound like Sean Connery and all the girls like that and that is why you would never change your accent... Incidentally, how much does Johnny Walker blue label sell for in British pounds in Scotland? It is $200 a bottle here in the US but I hear it's quite excellent. I've never tried it and I'm wondering if it's worth the price. Yes, I know this has NOTHING to do with learning English effectively, but I just thought I'd ask someone who is likely to know.
Hi Roger
I see no reason why I would ever want to change my accent as it's something I've had for 24 years now so it's every bit a part of me as being left handed, which I am. OK it's one of the UK's most favoured accents according to UK accent polls but that's not the reason I never want to change it. I'd feel the same if I had any other accent I reckon (except maybe Glasgow LOL....but even that can vary, depending on the people speaking it.....probably because of educational/social factors..as you touched on in your last posting). I can't ever imagine, and have never even thought of, changing the way I speak. I never think about it to be honest, and when I'm home I'm never conscious of it, except for last weekend, for instance, when I was down in London, and my accent was commented upon, as it stands out when I'm outside of Scotland, naturally. It's really strange, as there are two places on the Scottish / English border.....two small towns (well, one is a village really) less than three miles apart....Coldstream in Scotland and Cornhill in England, with the River Tweed being the border between the two countries. The people of Coldstream speak with a distinct Scottish accent, while the people of Cornhill have a Geordie type English accent. There is an audio website on UK accents with a link in which a group of people in Coldstream talk about this clear cut accent divide in just 3 miles distance. There are districts of Edinburgh where the accent/manner of speech can be pretty dreich, that's for sure....the rough estates with the Trainspotting scenario...that film is just something this city has to live with, but every large city has its lowlife. Sean Connery is a son of this city (I saw him one day in Rose Street, of all places.......it's a long narrow street which runs parallel with Princes Street, and is lined from one end to the other, on both sides, with pubs, clubs and restaurants etc.) This very day 09/05/06 Sean Connery came top of a poll as the UK's sexiest Pensioner! He's 70 years old! John Walker Blue Label.....hey, it's just been reduced in price from £158.95 (US$296.72) to £153.89 ($287.27) a bottle according to this website: http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=767 I think an ordinary bottle of red label costs about 18 quid ($33.00) in the supermarkets or off licenses (off licenses are what you call liquor stores....licensed places where you buy booze for consumption "off" premises). I have never bought a bottle of Scotch...I just buy a chaser in the pub :-) Thanks Adam......aye, that is a wee bit weird..coming from you!
Here's the link I mentioned....click on Voice Clip 2 (have your audio switched on) and hear these old guys in Coldstream talk about the accent divide from one side of the Anglo/Scottish border to the other...Coldstream, Borders, Scotland /Cornhill, Northumberland, England....3 miles distant from each other.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/recordings/group/scotland-coldstream.shtml
The person who wrote the original message said "I wanna speak Irish accent". I think she meant to say "I WANT TO speak WITH an Irish accent".
I'm surprised no one commented on that.
i want to be boring with yorkshiore accent yororor irish is tha best yeah and scottish down ere from essex yeah barking
"It is absolutely impossible for a North American to affect a convincing UK or Commonwealth accent."
1.) The Commonwealth includes Canada, which is part of North America. 2.) That statement is simply not true if you are talking about RP. Many stage-trained American actors are able to speak it as well as any Brit, particularly because some vowel sounds in RP are actually closer to General American than most varieties of British English. For example, in a middle-class London dialect, RP vowel [U] and [u:] (as in "put" and "loot") are usually slightly centralized to [U\] and [}:], whereas in standard American, these vowels remain in the RP position. The same is true of the dipthongs [aI] (as in "kite"), [eI] (as in "lay"). In Estuary, and [aU] (as in "cow"). In Estuary English, the first phoneme in each dipthong is respectively rounded [a_O], lowered [VI], or closed [{I]. In American English, these dipthongs typically remain, again, identical to Standard RP.
I guess just one counterexample will suffice: Daniel Davis was born in Arkansas and it's universally agreed that his British accent for Niles (the butler in "The Nanny') was top-notch.
>>"It is absolutely impossible for a North American to affect a convincing UK or Commonwealth accent."<<
As Trawick requires the long version: It is absolutely impossible for a North American (which means those from the USA and Canada) to affect a convincing UK or Commonwealth (other than Canadian) accent. It has been suggested that a tiny minority of NAs may be able to achieve the feat; hopefully so, but please give examples, Roger. >>That statement is simply not true if you are talking about RP. Many stage-trained American actors are able to speak it as well as any Brit, particularly because some vowel sounds in RP are actually closer to General American than most varieties of British English.<< In whose humble opinion are they "able to speak it as well as Brits", Trawick? Yours perhaps? Just where would you be from then? And please give examples of those vowel sounds common to RP and AmE. Also, my original statement made no specific mention of RP, although my assertion applies to all varieties. From Gabriel: >>I guess just one counterexample will suffice: Daniel Davis was born in Arkansas and it's universally agreed that his British accent for Niles (the butler in "The Nanny') was top-notch.<< "Universally agreed"? Obviously not. The fact that you called it a "British" accent rather than an English accent suggests that you might just be in a poor position to comment, Gabriel. He may have convinced everyone between the Atlantic and the Pacific, but that still leaves everyone else.
"In whose humble opinion are they "able to speak it as well as Brits", Trawick? Yours perhaps? Just where would you be from then? And please give examples of those vowel sounds common to RP and AmE. Also, my original statement made no specific mention of RP, although my assertion applies to all varieties."
I'm talking about RP here, because that was what you initial statement was in direct response to, an American saying they used to try to imitate that particular accent. It's not really arguing here, because there isn't any validity to your statement until you excise the word "impossible." Look, if that guy from Toronto learned how to speak Chinese with a perfect Beijing dialect (separate topic), then I'm pretty sure somebody who applied themselves could muster RP. Not that they'd really have any, which is another reason this argument is a bit silly.
<"Universally agreed"? Obviously not. The fact that you called it a "British" accent rather than an English accent suggests that you might just be in a poor position to comment, Gabriel. He may have convinced everyone between the Atlantic and the Pacific, but that still leaves everyone else.>
Julian: I was using the generic (and unfortunate) term "British accent" because the original statement referred to "a UK or Commonwealth accent". I admit I'm not an expert on British accents , but I can tell West Country from Cockney, and Edinburgh from RP (Damian must be rolling his eyes at this). The actor in question aimed for RP and achieved a result convincing enough to reportedly have had English viewers write to the producers suggesting that Charles Shaugnessy (born in London) take lessons from Davis to improve his accent (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0204425/bio). So, by "universally agreed" I just meant it was enough to convince (at least some) viewers on both sides of the Atlantic.
Gabriel u do not make any sence to me at all okay yororororor. you r iris girl okay green....clover yororororooror.
P.S. remember dat "yoorororoororoor" (said by an irish guy and scottish once). |