Which English accent is the most popular today?

about 72% of native English speakers have a North American accent; 17% have a UK accent; 4.5% have an Australian accent; 5.5% have something else.

Being large in population does not mean accent from that country/region is popular or good. Imagine Indian or Chinese accent. In terms of sexiness, attractiveness, and softness, UK accents all the way!

>> In terms of sexiness, attractiveness, and softness, UK accents all the way!<<

Yes, but the American accent is louder, so more people can hear it, so therefore it's more popular.

"about 72% of native English speakers have a North American accent; 17% have a UK accent; 4.5% have an Australian accent; 5.5% have something else. "

But that's being too generalistic. Ciocio may be asking what accent is the most popular in English, not what NATIONAL accent.

And he could also mean popular as meaning "spoken by the most people" or "the most liked".

I can't but second Adam on this. What's a North American accent? One of many. A Newfoundland accent is worlds away from a Californian one. This is no less true when it comes to UK accents (odd to include the whole of North America but exclude the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Mann & Channel Islands).

turkish accent iz da most liked :D aint it?

itz like kinda weird huh? ;)

>>I can't but second Adam on this. What's a North American accent? One of many. A Newfoundland accent is worlds away from a Californian one. This is no less true when it comes to UK accents (odd to include the whole of North America but exclude the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Mann & Channel Islands).<<

I must say that I strongly agree here (me agreeing with Adam, at that - heh).

Accents aren't loud or soft. Voices are. And those vary from person to person.

***..... the American accent is louder, so more people can hear it, so therefore it's more popular***

I'm tying to work that one out. An accent is popular because it's loud? Please explain to a simple minded Scot.

I'm assuming by popular you mean which is the number one accent non native english speakers choose to adopt/imitate. Perhaps? And could there be an answer?

>> I'm assuming by popular you mean which is the number one accent non native english speakers choose to adopt/imitate<<

See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_English

>>I'm assuming by popular you mean which is the number one accent I'm assuming by popular you mean which is the number one accent non native english speakers choose to adopt/imitate.>>

Actually, non native english speakers can't choose in this case. What they really can - it's to choose a place to reside. If suppose you live in California - how on earth would you adopt, let's say, a Bostonian accent?

I believe the most widespread is English with a foreign accent and these may vary wildly even among the speakers of the same native language (e.g you can meet Danes who speak almost perfect British English and those whose English is very heavily accented). As for "standard" native speaker accents there are two - General American English and standard or BBC British English. There are of course other widespread native speaker accents like Australian, South African, Irish or Scottish but these are not "standard" to the same degree as Gen Am and BBC accents are...

If you as a learner are considering which accent to choose as the most widespread and neutral, I think it would help to learn and be conscious of both pronuncations: standard American or standard British and use them depending on the situation. For example, if you are traveling in Britain or in Europe, you may use british pronunciation while in North America or in many east asian countries for example, you do better with American pronunciation. If you find it hard to learn and be aware of the distinction between these two accents, then go ahead and speak with your native accent. Everyone does :)