Simply because we hear it so often? I'm Australian, but I find American the easiest to imitate.
Why is the American accent so easy to imitate?
I heard there's a reason for it, and the same reason makes it harder to lose, if you're American living somewhere else, and easier for a non-American to pick up once they live there for awhlie.
No, it's not. From the perspective of a non-native speaker, the easiest is RP, followed by the the accents of Lancashire, Estuary and Welsh, despite the quality.
I'd say it depends more on exposure. The NAE dialects (specifically those most often associated with being 'standard') are those most popular in films and movies, so I'd assume that would have something to do with the ease many other English speakers have with American accents.
People do have more exposure to American accents, but honestly I don't know how easy it actually is to imitate. Non American actors in the US are generally pretty solid, but they're getting constant feedback working with people with genuine American accents. But the American accents I see on British TV are often pretty dire.
As for laymen, well, all evidence points to the fact that people in general are just bad at doing different accents. Especially with men there's a slightly hilarious tendency to do less an American accent and more an impression of Don LaFontaine. Hell I was watching "Bon Cop Bad Cop" the other day, in which CANADIANS couldn't manage a passable American accent (sidenote: for some reason I don't understand Canadian actors seem to have much more distinctively Canadian accents than the general populace of Canada).
Of course the US entertainment industry can't manage to do US regional accents much less non American English dialects. If I had a nickel for convincing Boston accent in a movie done by someone who isn't from the area I might have a quarter, but that may be too kind.
As for laymen, well, all evidence points to the fact that people in general are just bad at doing different accents. Especially with men there's a slightly hilarious tendency to do less an American accent and more an impression of Don LaFontaine. Hell I was watching "Bon Cop Bad Cop" the other day, in which CANADIANS couldn't manage a passable American accent (sidenote: for some reason I don't understand Canadian actors seem to have much more distinctively Canadian accents than the general populace of Canada).
Of course the US entertainment industry can't manage to do US regional accents much less non American English dialects. If I had a nickel for convincing Boston accent in a movie done by someone who isn't from the area I might have a quarter, but that may be too kind.
Brits attempting American accents sometimes make some mighty strange choices. I heard one on a BBC special about the birth of the American skyscraper and he was doing a credible job -- I was with him all the way -- until he popped out with "sahring" for "soaring".
Now, we have covered the occasional Eastern substitution of A for O in such words as horrible ("harrible") and the pretty universal US practice of saying tomorrow as "tamarrow" here on Antimoon, but that was the first time I had heard it spread to "soar". And I will mail you $5 if you can find a real American who says that, ever.
Now, we have covered the occasional Eastern substitution of A for O in such words as horrible ("harrible") and the pretty universal US practice of saying tomorrow as "tamarrow" here on Antimoon, but that was the first time I had heard it spread to "soar". And I will mail you $5 if you can find a real American who says that, ever.
I was pretty surprised by the fact that so many Americans pronounce tomorrow as tomarrow. And even more surprised that it is the more common pronunciation. To my ears it sounds as horrible as "harrible". In the Northwest and in all of Canada, the tomorrow pronunciation is preferred. And of course we believe that our English is the only correct English. Are there other areas of the US that use our pronunciation?
"Brits attempting American accents sometimes make some mighty strange choices."
I agree.
In my particular case, however, the clue that gives Brits away is the use of the linking "r", as in "vodker on the rocks". Even when their American accent is otherwise passible, this feature seems to be the one that they have the most difficult time adopting.
I agree.
In my particular case, however, the clue that gives Brits away is the use of the linking "r", as in "vodker on the rocks". Even when their American accent is otherwise passible, this feature seems to be the one that they have the most difficult time adopting.
Boston accents have the linking r. Maybe a good accent for a British person to try would be the Boston or Boston Brahmin accent.
Maybe foreigners simply THINK they can do good/passible american accents...
Oh, the linking R is so annoying. And they all slip up at least once and throw that in. Seanie does it.....and talks too fast. If you're gonna do western speech, especially, you gotta slow the pace. Not to southern extremes, but to a more measured and reserved cadence. We're not as frenetic as those people back East.
I have relatives with hardcore Boston accents that you could cut with a knife, and I don't mean Brahmin, I mean more like Southie. And that linking R cracks me up. But then, the rest of their accent is so unusual that it gets buried in the rest of the strangeness -- the lack of normal terminal R's, the tweaked vowels. And even though it shares those superficial features with BrE, they sound nothing alike, so it would still be a fun challenge to see one try to do it. My dad has lost most features of his original Massachusetts accent, but he still leaves off terminal R's and still occasionally throws int he linking R. Given that the rest of his utterances sound very GAE, it throws you for a loop when they pop up!
I have relatives with hardcore Boston accents that you could cut with a knife, and I don't mean Brahmin, I mean more like Southie. And that linking R cracks me up. But then, the rest of their accent is so unusual that it gets buried in the rest of the strangeness -- the lack of normal terminal R's, the tweaked vowels. And even though it shares those superficial features with BrE, they sound nothing alike, so it would still be a fun challenge to see one try to do it. My dad has lost most features of his original Massachusetts accent, but he still leaves off terminal R's and still occasionally throws int he linking R. Given that the rest of his utterances sound very GAE, it throws you for a loop when they pop up!