What's your English accent like?

Pete   Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:14 pm GMT
to Sho: Yes it's great I can't find any Japanese origin in it. You're accent is very American, at least to my ears.

>>Guys!!! I have an idea!!! What about starting an audio thread of us doing stuff like commercials? It would be really cool to listen to each other speaking with different styles: thriller type, romantic, funny, cowboy, let's-get-ready-to-rumble type, and things like that!

Another one would be something like imitating certain voices (with all and the accent). People start laughing when I imitate Agent Smith, "As you can see, we've had our eye on you for some time now, Mr. Anderson;" others get freaked out, though... Hahaha!!<<

that's cool here you are a recording of myself saying some things I have said in other posts, I'll try to say it in a poetic way:

http://uploadhut.com/view.php/475274.mp3

"I would rather tend to think that everyone is different and has different qualities and defects. And it's one oneself who finds things that make that particular person better or worse than others, at least to one's eyes.
Although I also wonder what's a perfect man or a perfect woman, and if there are such things, by saying normal men I mean that we men are human, not better, not worse, but only human. :) That's our weakness, but also our greatest asset, our strength.
And let me tell you, people. That NO language in the world has enough words to describe or express love. Describing or trying to define love is trying to enfold love with words. Love can't be enclosed with words. That is impossible to do, for love is infinite."

And here a Cockney text which I found in the internet but I read it with my fake COCKNEY accent.

My dad came from Wopping and my mom came from Poplar. My dad was one of 11 kids... and Wopping in them days was one of the poorest parts of London. I mean they didn't even have shoes on their feet. I'm talking about 70 years ago now. Erm... and Poplar was... sli... just slightly a cut above Wopping; erm... you was either East End respectable or you was sort of East End villain, and my family was respectable on both sides.
But my father had a very tough time because his father died when he was 19, leaving him the only one working to bring up eleven brothers... 10 brothers and sisters.

What do you think of that stuff, at least the first one was OK, plz don't kill me because of the other one, understand it's a fake accent.
Kirk   Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:44 am GMT
I made up a sentence showing my "Father-bother" and "cot-caught" merged speech here:

"Don's father thought it would be a bother to go with Dawn to watch merry Mary get married."

http://uploadhut.com/view.php/475396.wav

Hehe, Pete, I enjoyed listening to your Cockney accent ;) I know it's fake but you still do a good job at it.
Terry   Fri Dec 16, 2005 1:47 am GMT
<<Then you're a good New Englander :) >>

LOL. Well, thank you, Kirk, I do my best.:)

<</A/ is the vowel in "father," or "ah," if you will.>>

Yes, "ah" that's what I say. Fah-ther.

I assume if you pronounce "Mary-merry-marry" all differently, you probably have something approaching the "mate" /e/ vowel for "Mary," the /{/ vowel (the one in "mat" and "cat"), and /E/ (as in "met") for "merry."

I pronounce "Mary," the name "mare-ee." I pronounce "marry" like the name, "Harry" and merry, "meh-ree as in sherry. I'm going to have to leard X-SAMPA if I'm to carry on an intelligent conversation here, but meanwhile I'll try to muddle through and hope you get it.

<<However, in the 18-19th centuries the British vowel changed and most of America did not have consistent enough contact with Britain to experience the change (since language change requires consistent speaker-to-speaker contact). Most of America, that is, except for coastal New England, which apparently had enough contact with Britain to go thru some of the changes it was going thru at the time. However, the rest of the US retained the older vowel for this word (which really represents a much larger class of words that this change happened to). What vowel exactly do you use in "can't?" For me, it's the same one as the one in "cat," so /{/ in X-SAMPA. >>

Thank you so much Kirk! You've explained it for me, finally! I never understood why, and I've read books on the history of English but I still didn't quite understand why we say "cahn't' and every other American says cain't." Now you've explained it. Really, I do appreciate you're taking the time to tell me. Now I can tell all my friends, who also wonder. I did read in one book that the New England accent is much like the accent of the English accent of way back when, but the English people changed their language (sort of prettied it up) faster than we did. Now that you tell me it was simply the contact, it makes absolute sense.

<<Hehe, I agree. It's easy to imitate or caricaturize a few features but to actually pull off a different accent that's fully convincing to natives of the region is very hard... then tried to imitate a Canadian one and had trouble remembering to Canadian Raise, which is completely unnatural for me, as it's not a feature of my dialect. I had to record the damn thing 20 times because I kept on forgetting to do it. Accents are hard to shake ;) >>

Hehe, So true. The worst part of my venture into the American "can't" was that when I finally said, "can't" like an American, which of course I am, but you know what I mean, it sounded southern - "Cay-ant." :) Now "southern" that's a whole other post we need to do. Maybe manana.:)
Terry   Fri Dec 16, 2005 1:55 am GMT
<<"Don's father thought it would be a bother to go with Dawn to watch merry Mary get married." >>

I listened three times and, yes, you say "Mary, merry and marry," exactly the same! At least to my ear, I couldn't hear any difference in the pronunciation. I see you say "father" and "bother" much the same as I do.
Kirk   Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:16 am GMT
<<I pronounce "Mary," the name "mare-ee." I pronounce "marry" like the name, "Harry" and merry, "meh-ree as in sherry. I'm going to have to leard X-SAMPA if I'm to carry on an intelligent conversation here, but meanwhile I'll try to muddle through and hope you get it.>>

On Langcafe I made up an X-SAMPA/IPA tutorial for people unfamiliar with it. Here's the link--you or anyone else in learning about phonetic transcription are welcome to check it out, and if you have any further questions feel free to ask.

http://www.langcafe.net/viewtopic.php?t=278

As you indicated, knowing how to transcribe phonetically leaves little to no ambiguity as to what you mean, while spelling does, because people's dialects are obviously different, meaning varying pronunciations for what everyone spells the same orthographically.

<<Thank you so much Kirk! You've explained it for me, finally! I never understood why, and I've read books on the history of English but I still didn't quite understand why we say "cahn't' and every other American says cain't." Now you've explained it. Really, I do appreciate you're taking the time to tell me. Now I can tell all my friends, who also wonder. I did read in one book that the New England accent is much like the accent of the English accent of way back when, but the English people changed their language (sort of prettied it up) faster than we did. Now that you tell me it was simply the contact, it makes absolute sense.>>

Glad to help! Just one note, most Americans have some variation on the "cat" and vowel for "can't," (so, /{/ in X-SAMPA), while with "cain't" you seem to imply the same vowel as in "maid," which is /e/. This is a regional or sociolectal pronunciation for some people but the majority of Americans have /k{nt/ for "can't."

<<Hehe, So true. The worst part of my venture into the American "can't" was that when I finally said, "can't" like an American, which of course I am, but you know what I mean, it sounded southern - "Cay-ant." :) Now "southern" that's a whole other post we need to do. Maybe manana.:>>

Haha, yes, and to boot there are lots of different dialects which fall under the "Southern" umbrella, so there's more than plenty to say there.

<<I listened three times and, yes, you say "Mary, merry and marry," exactly the same! At least to my ear, I couldn't hear any difference in the pronunciation.>>

Yup--they all have the same vowel for me.

<<I see you say "father" and "bother" much the same as I do.>>

Oh yeah? But I thought you said you weren't "father-bother" merged. I have the same vowel for both of those...
Guest   Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:30 am GMT
<<On Langcafe I made up an X-SAMPA/IPA tutorial for people unfamiliar with it. Here's the link--you or anyone else in learning about phonetic transcription are welcome to check it out, and if you have any further questions feel free to ask.>>

Thank you for the link. I'll make good use of it.

<<I see you say "father" and "bother" much the same as I do.>>

Oh yeah? But I thought you said you weren't "father-bother" merged. I have the same vowel for both of those... >>

I don't. I must have misunderstood. :)
Kirk   Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:36 am GMT
<<Thank you for the link. I'll make good use of it. >>

Glad to help :) Let me know if you have any questions as I know it's a lot of information to have thrown at you all at once.

<<I don't. I must have misunderstood. :)>>

Oh, ok, well I pronounce them with the same vowel. I listened to my recording again and I definitely have the same vowel for "father" and "bother" in it.
Terry   Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:47 am GMT
<<Thank you for the link. I'll make good use of it. >>

Glad to help :) Let me know if you have any questions as I know it's a lot of information to have thrown at you all at once. >>

I will, and I'm sure it is, and really you're helping me a lot. It's fun.
Pete   Fri Dec 16, 2005 3:51 am GMT
<<Hehe, Pete, I enjoyed listening to your Cockney accent ;) I know it's fake but you still do a good job at it.>>

Haha I can't believe I did that shit hahaha. Sometimes I wonder what a Cockney would think about that cacky "Mockney" accent. Anyway...

As I really like to make fun here, I'll show you something else.

Here you have me speaking with a fake American accent, faking a New Yorker reporter (who appeared in Scary movie 3)

http://uploadhut.com/view.php/475660.mp3

Turning now to sports... and an evil video tape that kills anyone who watches it in seven days. It's true. We're all in danger. There's an alien force that's trying prevent you from knowing the truth. trust me, It's a horrible fate. do you hear me?
Correction, there really is no danger. Actually, I didn't really mean anything I just said.
Yes, I did. Every word of it. Everyone watching this could be dead in a week. Oh, shizl gzngahr, bdgtbdgtbdgtbdgtbdgtbdgt shi woalu war % + 7, , 193419 ckin etd vaus erstn gubl chn q shnitzi guorsn blkn (, , 18 469
I been cleanin' after this dumb-ass cracker Giggins for ten years, but I been hittin' it with his woman for twelve. Know what I'm sayin', nigga? She likes her some chocolate. Sharpton for President y'all. I'm outie. Peace.

Ya'll, ya'll here you got my gansta accent man!

http://uploadhut.com/view.php/475664.mp3

You just wanna see a nigga backwards don't you
Hey dad how come we don't rap on proto?
Smash these vocals and do a performance
But we're in a van and he in a tour bus
You don't want my autograph, youse a liar
And no I'm Swift (oh I thought you were Kuniva)
What the hell is wrong with our dressing room?!
Cause our shit is lookin smaller than a decimal
See I know how to rap, it's simple but
All I did was read a Russell Simmons book
So I'm more intact, tryna get on the map
Doing jumpin jacks whiling get whipped on my back.

This is the craziest shit I have ever done.
hahaha enjoy! and split your sides, guys!
Kirk   Fri Dec 16, 2005 3:53 am GMT
Yeah, it is really interesting. Of course, I'd think so, since I'm a linguistics major but you certainly don't have to be one to be interested in this stuff :)
Kirk   Fri Dec 16, 2005 4:13 am GMT
Haha, wow, Pete, you sure chose some, um, interesting things to imitate! Those were pretty funny--sounds just like a nonnative who speaks British English well and is attempting to sound American (which, I guess is exactly what you are :) ). I can't say you would've fooled me but they were funny to listen to :)
Roger   Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:33 am GMT
Recording: http://briefcase.yahoo.com/pawelnowak1
Password: starpol

Or you can go to: http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc//home and sign in as: pawelnowak1 @yahoo.com Using the password: starpol

I read the passage about Daisy Hamilton. You will probably see that I have some problems with the word linking. Also, I think that I read too slowly, but that’s because of these linkage problems. Please, give your comments. What areas I need to improve. I suppose there are a lot of them…

Accent I learned: Standard American English
Country of origin: Poland
Age: 28
Native language: Polish.
How I learned English? Mostly, on my own. I started learning English on a daily basis a year ago. Earlier, I took some traditional English courses. I don’t speak the language very often. I sometimes watch English speaking TV.

I have never been to any English speaking country.
Guest   Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:46 am GMT
César wrote
>>Taking into account that your native language is Japanese, you've done a very good job, my friend. <<
Thank you very much.

>>You might need to work on some little details, like the pronunciation of the word "party" and your intonation (but it's good, bro, believe me). <<
I hope you could tell me more about the little details... any problems with my intonation that you detected in the recording? (and the word "party"? incidentally the word "party" is quite hard to me to pronounce... another example of such words is "Saturday" but I think I got over it now. Any suggestions?

Ben wrote
>>Sho, as César says, excellent job! I wouldn't have known you were Japanese just from listening to the recording! <<
Thanks for your comment, Ben! I listened to your recording on another thread and I liked your accent a lot. I sounded to me like a typical British accent and your voice is very pleasant to my ears:)

Kirk wrote
>>Sho, you also have a good accent! One of my jobs is being a conversation leader for English learners at an English program here in the US, and there happen to be a lot of Japanese people in the program. You don't really have a typical thick Japanese accent when you speak English; you've obviously worked hard. <<
Thanks Kirk! What are some of the characteristics that you've found in their accents? and I hope you can tell me more about the conversation partner thing as I'm thinking about visiting the US sometime this winter (for the first time in my life!)

Pete wrote
>>to Sho: Yes it's great I can't find any Japanese origin in it. You're accent is very American, at least to my ears.<<
Thank you Pete! I probably got this American-sounding accent from Hollywood movies, which are my favorites :)
I loved the Scary movie broadcaster recording of yours... that part of the movie kept me laughing about 10 mins when I watched it lol
I didn't know the guy was supposed to be a New Yorker!

I'm thinking about uploading another recording but I don't know which passage to read... any suggestion?
Sho   Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:48 am GMT
Sorry, the Guest above is me :)
César   Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:15 pm GMT
Sho,

By the way you pronounce the word "party," I might venture to say that you close your mouth way too much when saying it. I suggest you open your mouth and let the "a" sound flow, almost like the "a" that you make in "passed."

The sound is not exactly the same (due to the influence of the "r" in "party") but the idea is to go that way in order to open the mouth. So record yourself doing that exercise and we'll give you feedback.

Regarding your accent, I could say that you sound like some american youngsters I have heard; to me that kind of intonation is just a bit "hyperactive." Don't get me wrong, hehe, it just does not sound quite to me -- or, as someone said, bland (I hope she meant that in a good sense).

Have you seen the movie "The Negotiator?" If so, listen to Kevin Spacey and try to imitate his style: the way he goes up and down in terms of musical notes, how he emphasizes certain words to give a sentence a special meaning, how he always ends a statement, speed, etc.

I like his accent because it sounds very neutral to me. To me that's very important because the Standard American English is the accent that most people in US understand. A lot of americans, for example, have real trouble trying to understand certain southern accents (try to chat with a redneck and you'll get my point, hehe).

I don't like to get too technical with my suggestions because of two things:

1. Most people don't get the point (it's pointless to complicate things);
2. This is a forum, not a live class.

Let us know if you need more details, dude.