Does the US accent really override UK accent worldwide now?

Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:36 am GMT
Does the US accent really override UK accent worldwide now?
Damian   Mon Apr 14, 2008 8:19 am GMT
Apparently, many Americans (at least those in areas which see a large influx of Brits going over there to take advantage of the currency exchange rates favouring the British) are getting weary of British accents. It seems that the Brits are "bad tippers!" Yikes!! Brits are generally not aware that tipping is a way of life in the USA, and that many service people actually rely on tips to supplement the very basic minimum of wage levels, something Brits are not used to as very often tips are included in the bill (ok - check!) over here. If you are not satisfied with the service you can ask to have the tip removed or reduced, according to satisfaction level. Most of us don't have the courage to do that, though! We pay up then whinge afterwards! :-)

Here is an extract from the New York correspondent's column (Tom Leonard) in the Daily Telegraph today, 14/04/08):

Daily Telegraph (published in London)
Monday 14 April 2008
By Tom Leonard
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 14/04/2008
Read comments

"New York Notebook

When a man is tired of sweating himself into a lather over getting a restaurant table, he is tired of New York.

There was a time when a British accent would do the trick in an American restaurant queue. Nowadays, it would simply be taken as an indication of a potentially bad tipper.
Locals still like the way the British say Harry "Potter" and accented children are widely considered cute if in period dress. But elsewhere the British accent is depreciating as quickly as the dollar.
As with the property downturn, over-supply has been a crucial factor.
An American television executive told me last week about a recent focus group in which viewers asked to see more Americans and fewer Britons.
US television is awash with the latter - Simon Cowell, Supernanny, countless advertising voiceovers including a Cockney gecko, even a network continuity announcer is English.
I remember sitting in a New York cinema in 1986 watching Mona Lisa, and no one apart from me and an English woman sitting nearby laughed at any of the funny lines.
It was clear that we were the only ones who could understand a word that Bob Hoskins, a Laahndoner, and Robbie Coltrane, a Glaswegian, were saying.
Now, American ears are so tuned to regional British accents, they might even be ready for Brummie".
===========================================

Brummie? Ha! Apparently those Americans who have (painfully?) experienced spoken Brummie tend to confuse it with an Oz accent!

American English is bound to have a proportionately larger global influence than British English. There are, after all, about 7 speakers of AE to every one of BE!

As a person born and bred and still living in Scotland, I'm a wee bit puzzled by the assertion that AE is "making inroads in Scotland". I'm so not aware of that, so a little investigation is called for.......maybe it's true in Glasgow, but any improvement (or at least a change!) in the Glaswegian way of speaking English can only be a good thing.....:-)
Skippy   Mon Apr 14, 2008 4:49 pm GMT
American English has something like 4 or 5x as many speakers as English English, but due to Britain's colonial legacy, nations like Kenya and Malaysia tend to favor British English. Furthermore, due to proximity (as well as other reasons, surely) English language-learners in France, Germany, etc. tend to learn English English.

Actually, when I think about it, several of my German friends attempted to use the American accent when speaking with me, though they tended to use British vocabulary.

Maybe American will soon pass English, as this vocabulary usage attests to, but the influx of American music, movies, television, newspapers, etc. around the world, it's difficult to say that American won't surpass British in the near future, if it hasn't already.
Johnny   Mon Apr 14, 2008 5:28 pm GMT
<<Furthermore, due to proximity (as well as other reasons, surely) English language-learners in France, Germany, etc. tend to learn English English.>>

It's because in Europe they mainly teach British English. But as soon as a learner starts to practice listening they realize American English is too common to avoid picking it up. Hollywood movies, CNN, FOX, popular TV series, music (even British singers sound American in songs), etc... It's everywhere.
Guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 6:25 pm GMT
Well, I'm an English learner and when I started listening to real English in the media I decided to completely avoid the American accent. It's not so difficult, at least in the biggest countries of Europe, where all the foreign films and TV series are dubbed into the national language. So, although I go to the cinema a lot and see plenty of American movies, I'm actually not familiar with the American English accent. I can understand clever American people talking in the BBC in what it seems to me like some kind of standard american accent, but the way it sounds bother me most of the time.

In the other hand, talking to other Europeans in American English would be really weird, or at least it used to be, perhaps that is changing with younger people, I don't know.
Skippy   Mon Apr 14, 2008 10:16 pm GMT
Why is it that British singers routinely sing with an American accent? For example, Shirley Manson of Garbage fame, and even Ricky Gervais when he plays the guitar and sings on "The Office."
guest   Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:06 pm GMT
<<Why is it that British singers routinely sing with an American accent? For example, Shirley Manson of Garbage fame, and even Ricky Gervais when he plays the guitar and sings on "The Office." >>

I don't think it's so much that they sing in an "American" accent, but rather that it is difficult to detect an accent--either way, British or American--when one sings.

This unfortunately ends up being perceived as "American" sounding.
Skippy   Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:28 am GMT
But bands like the Business and Living End have very pronounced accents, as does John Lennon (to me).
Russconha   Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:28 am GMT
<very often tips are included in the bill (ok - check!)>

Firstly, I wouldn't agree with this. I know people who wait on tables and rely on tips to boost their minimum wge.

Secondly, shouldn't this read "very often tips are included in the bill (ok - CHEQUE!)
Gabriel   Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:34 am GMT
<<Secondly, shouldn't this read "very often tips are included in the bill (ok - CHEQUE!)>>

No, because Damian's intention was to jokingly "concede" to American usage, so he was using American spelling.
Damian   Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:57 am GMT
You're right, Gabriel - I was doing just that.

But for Russconha's sake, there is a difference between:

1 ....cheque (BE: a payment by means of paper document drawn against a bank account)

2 ....and "check" (AE) in the sense of a "bill" (BE) in a restaurant

In America the word "check" is used for both meanings.
Milton   Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:33 pm GMT
''Why is it that British singers routinely sing with an American accent? For example, Shirley Manson of Garbage fame''

I think that Scotland's Shirley Manson finds American accents closer to her than RP.
One thing I like about her accent is the fact she is not Wales/whales merged. ;)
I don't think bands from Scotland (like Garbage or Texas) would be successful if they sang in Scottish English.
Guest   Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:37 pm GMT
''But bands like the Business and Living End have very pronounced accents, as does John Lennon (to me).''
Yes, that's true. Even Spice Girls sound accented to me. Australian artists from Queensland (Gina G, Darren Hayes [ex Savage Garden]) can put on a impeccable US accent...
Guest   Tue Apr 15, 2008 1:39 pm GMT
''But bands like the Business and Living End have very pronounced accents, as does John Lennon (to me).''
Yes, that's true. Even Spice Girls sound accented to me. Australian artists from Queensland (Gina G, Darren Hayes [ex Savage Garden]) can put on an impeccable US accent...
Invitado   Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:51 pm GMT
It's not that UK singers put on US accents. In the Spanish speaking world, Italian (Ramazotti, Pausini, etc.) , Argentinian, Chilean, etc., they all sound alike when they sing. When they start to speak is when one notices their real accents.