I have met several people who have been mistaken for Australians by Americans while on holiday in the USA. I mean English people who do not speak like Hugh Grant or Tony Blair, etc. One guy was from near Birmingham and another from the west country (I think...can't really remember now). But anything that does not sound like standard format Hugh Grant type English-speak seems to be mistaken for Australian quite often in the USA.....I have no idea why.
That's because for many of us Americans, our exposure to other British accents, besides the Hugh Grant variety, is next to nil. So then we hear a native English speaker speak in a non-rhotic accent that most definitely isn't American, nor any recognizable British accent, then, by golly, they must be Australian!
We also have a problem differentiating between a Scottish and an Irish accent.
I disagree. I think it's quite easy to distinguish Irish and Scottish. They don't sound alike at all to my ears.
As for the Australian/English issue....it depends. There are some accents that can't be mistaken. For example, no one would ever think Steve Irwin was English. His accent is unquestionably Australian. However, I've met some Australians where it is a bit harder to tell. There are certain sounds that give it away, but if one isn't listening carefully, it can be hard in some cases.
Just my two cents.
I don't think I have a problem telling British from Australian (A lot of my elementary teachers were British, so maybe that's it...) but I have the hardest time with the difference between the British and South African (Afrikaans) accent.
No England English speaker I have ever heard pronounced "sex" almost as if it were "six" and "sax" as "sex", which is precisely what most Aussies do. For me, this is a shibboleth test that almost always works.
Ved,
Sorry, you haven't met enough Australians. Your test wouldn't work on me. Actually, that sounds like an NZ thing.
I suppose the bourgeois portion of Britain talks in a more organised style similarly to Roger Moore whereas commoners talk in the in a sort of sloppy Australian dialect heard in Guy Ritchie's films.
Ved,
I agree with Jenny and I've never said or heard Australians say "six" for "sex".
You guys are Australians, aren't you? I think it's only natural that you'd have problems perceiving your own accent.
Australians (even very educated ones) have a way of pronouncing their /e/ higher in the mouth than the British. And, believe you me, I have met LOTS of you guys.
A way I can tell a New Zealander from an Australian is to get them to talk about Sydney. A Kiwi will say something that sounds like "Sudney", while an Aussie will in all likelihood say sth. like "Seedney".
Easy peasy.
One day, I will learn how to speak NEW ZULLANDER. Hee hee.
Nah. I'm originally from New York City, USA. To me, the proletarian dialects in England seem reminiscent to the crude Australians ones in that they both use a sort of harsh -i sound.
I want to be a bit rude:
When I hear the queen speak I am shocked that something as ugly and dry as her RP could have been the norm once! And when a man speaks like the Queen he sounds homosexual!
Then, what a relief to my ears it is to listen to an Australian, an Irishman, a Scot or a person from Northern England, like the fantastic guys in the BBC League of Gentlemen series!
Ved: <<Easterner, if I may ask, how was your Subotica accent received in Budapest? Do you still have a Vojvodinian accent? How different is it from Budapest Hungarian?
I guess it's fairly easy to guess where you're from, just like it is probably quite easy to tell you are from Subotica (as opposed to Belgrade or Novi Sad) when you're speaking Serbo-Croatian. >>
Dear Ved,
Sorry for being late in replying you. The answer is yes, both ways. Subotica is halfway between Budapest and Belgrade, so both Serbian and Hungarian there differs from the speech of the respective capitals. When I came to Hungary, some people remarked about my accent being different, for example, our "e"-s are more closed than in Budapest, that's a very distinct feature. I might have lost something of that, though. Generally Hungarians from Vojvodina are recognised because they mostly speak with a more melodic accent under the influence of Serbian, and there even might be a "foreign" feel to their accent.
As for the Serbian spoken around Subotica, it is somewhat influenced by the dialect of the Bunjevci, so you can often hear "radit, platit, imat" instead of "raditi, platiti, imati" and "poso" instead of "posao". I guess that would earn some remarks in Belgrade, or even in Novi Sad.
<<Then, what a relief to my ears it is to listen to an Australian, an Irishman, a Scot or a person from Northern England, like the fantastic guys in the BBC League of Gentlemen series!>>
I also find that a relief, especially the Scots or Irish accents. And I like Cockney too, it is "cute", as heard for example in the TV show "Only Fools and Horses". It was very popular in ex-Yugoslavia in the eighties, and they are airing it again on the Serbian TV.
By the way, RP sounds all right for me when not exaggerated, but I have not been able to make friends with Estuary yet.
