Which accent do I have?

Son of pain   Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:36 pm GMT
I've already been told that I had either an Australian accent or an English one. Could you say to me how my pronunciation sounds?

This is a short text read by me (Sorry for the poor quality of the sound):

http://www.fileupyours.com/files/85128/Voice%200116.mp3


(And by the way you can also try to guess what my native language is if you are willing to)
Andy   Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:46 pm GMT
I think you sound more like an Englishman than an Aussie. I'm English so I should know. Your enunciation is pretty good whatever your native language is. (In fact, your enunciation is probably better than mine. I get lazy and slip into "Estuary English").

There were a few words that didn't sound like a native Englishman to me; "industrial", "last night", "leaders".

So, where are you from?.
Son of pain   Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:57 pm GMT
Thank you so much for your response Andy! I'm glad to hear you say that I sound like an Englishman, I'm so found of British English! In fact I'm trying as much as possible to use RP though it's quite hard for me to speak it at a quite rapid rate.

As far as my native language is concerned, it is French (I live in southern Belgium). It's funny because I've always thought that I had a heavy French accent when speaking English although nobody has ever told me I did.
Gabriel   Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:49 pm GMT
Since everyone else is doing it:
http://media.putfile.com/no-special-title
What's your evaluation of my accent?
Guest   Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:37 pm GMT
Rí Innse Gall   Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:48 pm GMT
Son of pain:
LOL, you sound like Prince Charles! At least your intonation is so RP that it's almost funny!
Andy   Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:45 pm GMT
Son of Pain:
I work with Belgian and French people and they ALL have an obvious accent when talk. I didn't detect your accent.

Ri Innse Gall:
One always speaks like that in Tunbridge Wells, init
(b*gger it, I slipped into Chav lingo). BTW Where are you from?.
Andy   Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:59 pm GMT
Gabriel:
Superb. I can't fault it. Where are you from?, how did you learn an English accent? and was that reading from "The Hobbit"?.
Baronesse   Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:07 am GMT
Artificial. Don't put so much effort on immitating, it could make you sound ridiculous. Being inteligible is enough. Besides, posh accent sounds a trifle ridiculous even when spoken by native brits.
\\?.,%&*`~|   Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:12 am GMT
Baronesse

Are you posh?
Lazar   Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:21 am GMT
Son of pain:

You're accent is really good. (And to answer your question, it definitely sounds English rather than Australian.) But I have one piece of advice: You aspirated the /p/ in "response", the /t/ in "stages", and the /k/ in "describe". In English, you don't aspirate the stops in syllable-initial /sp/, /st/, /sk/. So we have (transcribing in RP):

"pack" ["p_h{k]
"tab" ["t_h{b]
"cat" ["k_h{t]

But:

"response" [r\I"spQns]
"stage" ["steIdZ]
"describe" [dI"skr\aIb]
Lazar   Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:23 am GMT
(Typo: "you're" should be "your".)
Baronesse   Sun Mar 04, 2007 12:27 am GMT
Neither posh nor a native English speaker (I actually misspelt imitating by adding an extra M), but the "a trifle..." bit did sound posh, didn't it? Lol.

I think keeping your native accent when speaking a foreign language gives you more personality. I am constantly amazed at how much effort people put on acquiring a native-like accent when thay haven't even grasped all the aspects of grammar yet. Moreover, some foreign accents are quite charming. An American friend of mine has a really cute accent when he speaks my language (Brazilian Portuguese), and if he lost it, he'd lose pretty well all the charm he has, lol.
Son of pain   Sun Mar 04, 2007 1:24 am GMT
Andy:
Yes, I think that quite a lot of French-speakers have some difficulties to pronounce some typical English sounds that don't exist in French (like "th" for instance). In sooth, in my class very few students have a decent pronunciation.


Lazar:
Thank you so much for your advice! In fact I've always thought that the sounds "p", "t" and "c" were always aspirated, but now thanks to you I know that they aren't.

Rí Innse Gall:
How funny it is lol. Actually, I've been taught English for 6 years by a teacher who had RP accent, so that's probably the reason why it's so noticable in my pronunciation.

Baronesse:
I assure you that it's my natural accent, I'm not modifying it, so I couldn't sound artificial. In truth I've always spoken like that. Perhaps you're true, I may sound posh or even ridiculous but I definitely don't do in on purpose you can be sure of it.
Gabriel   Sun Mar 04, 2007 3:59 am GMT
Thank you Andy, for your comment. It was indeed the opening paragraph of "The Hobbit". I will wait for a couple of other comments before I reveal my nationality and other details.