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Accent sample - Damian, Uriel, Travis etc please comment
Hello,
I have always wondered how people perceive my accent. Here is my accent sample: <img src="http://www.uploadhut.com/upload/229155.wav??" alt="Image Hosted by UploadHut.COM" /> Any comments? Where do you think I'm from? Thanks in advance.
And the text I'm reading:
Comma Gets a Cure and derivative works may be used freely for any purpose without special permission provided the present sentence and the following copyright notification accompany the passage in print, if reproduced in print, and in audio format in the case of a sound recording: Copyright 2000 Douglas N. Honorof, Jill McCullough & Barbara Somerville. All rights reserved. "Well, here's a story for you: Sarah Perry was a veterinary nurse who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the territory, so she was very happy to start a new job at a superb private practice in north square near the Duke Street Tower. That area was much nearer for her and more to her liking. Even so, on her first morning, she felt stressed. She ate a bowl of porridge, checked herself in the mirror and washed her face in a hurry. Then she put on a plain yellow dress and a fleece jacket, picked up her kit and headed for work. When she got there, there was a woman with a goose waiting for her. The woman gave Sarah an official letter from the vet. The letter implied that the animal could be suffering from a rare form of foot and mouth disease, which was surprising, because normally you would only expect to see it in a dog or a goat. Sarah was sentimental, so this made her feel sorry for the beautiful bird. Before long, that itchy goose began to strut around the office like a lunatic, which made an unsanitary mess. The goose's owner, Mary Harrison, kept calling, "Comma, Comma," which Sarah thought was an odd choice for a name. Comma was strong and huge, so it would take some force to trap her, but Sarah had a different idea. First she tried gently stroking the goose's lower back with her palm, then singing a tune to her. Finally, she administered ether. Her efforts were not futile. In no time, the goose began to tire, so Sarah was able to hold onto Comma and give her a relaxing bath. Once Sarah had managed to bathe the goose, she wiped her off with a cloth and laid her on her right side. Then Sarah confirmed the vet's diagnosis. Almost immediately, she remembered an effective treatment that required her to measure out a lot of medicine. Sarah warned that this course of treatment might be expensive-either five or six times the cost of penicillin. I can't imagine paying so much, but Mrs. Harrison-a millionaire lawyer-thought it was a fair price for a cure"
Either a New Zealand accent or a Chinese person putting on an extremely pretensious Queens English accent.
Yes, it is a very very very pretentious British accent that doesn't really belong to any specific dialect of British English because it's fake.
Definitely an Asian person, too.
"jackit" for jacket, "desertid" for deserted and her [V] vowel in "much", "hurry" (as opposed to [a] or [6]) rules out New Zealander.
You are on the wrong track. :-) I'm neither Chinese nor a New Zealander.
Yes, it sounds a little pretentious to me, too, however, I don't want to sound posh and I'm not pretentious at all. But my accent isn't fake.
Don't forget that it's my "reading voice". That might be the reason why my accent came across as "extremely pretentious" to you. I'm not that careful and meticulous when I speak. I often pronounce the "-ed" of "deserted" and "jacket" with a schwa. I usually pronounce "either" with a long "i" (sorry, I don't have an IPA font installed) but without an "r" (as opposed to Americans, and Brits, say, from the West Country area (i.e. speakers of rhotic dialects). Besides, it happens quite often that I glottalise my intervocalic t-s, which doesn't make the impression of an educated person. (Mind you, I couldn't care less about accent and dialect prejudice.)
BTW, have you ever heard a Chinese person putting on an extremely pretentious Queen's English (or Queens English (LOL) or Bronx English :)) accent? It seems almost impossible to me.
it sounds good, nothing wrong with your English. All to many take great offence of things they are unable to master, or things they are not used to hear ;)
<BTW, have you ever heard a Chinese person putting on an extremely pretentious Queen's English (or Queens English (LOL) or Bronx English :)) accent? It seems almost impossible to me.> Never, and yes that would be impossible for a native Chinese! <That might be the reason why my accent came across as "extremely pretentious" to you> Not pretentious at all, just diffrent :)
The enunciation still sounds very Chinese or Vietnamese to me in certain places: listen to the part where you say: "then she put on a plain yellow dress". It just does not sound well enunciated on certain sentences like that one, and then is very well enunciated. It seems a little bit inconsistent. The reading is very, very slow, and the vowels were extremely long and drawn out. When you say "around", you almost sound like Crocodile Hunter. When you say: "strong and huge" the "u" sounds almost like it has an umlaut on it. Your "th's" also sound like "d's" or "t's" a little bit. When you say "ether" (I would say ee-ther [iTr-] (th as in "thin"), you said "Aida" [aId@]. What's interesting is that you sound like you're in your 30's on some sentences, and like you're 15 on some sentences.
-gets: sounds like gets [gEts], instead of gits [gIts] like I would say it. -cure: sounds like cue-owah, very interesting sound, not at all how I would say "cure" if I were non-rhotic: I would say it [kjU]. Reminds me of how Chinese people and Vietnamese people sound when they say their r's. here is a story for ya.: Even in my reading voice I would say "here's" and not "here is". Sounds a bit formal, until you get to the "you" part. You say it like [j@], which sounds like how Minnesotans would say it. I would never say it like this, but would say [ju] for you. veterinary: I would say vetrin-air-y [vEtrInEri]. You said vet-uh-rin-air-y. This sounds quite unusual. nurse: Sounds very, very, very, posh. You say it just as I would imagine the Queen would say it. been: bean. I would say [bIn] daily: the /eI/ sounds a little different. old: the /oU/ sounds a little different. Almost like owld. territory: the -y at the end almost sounds like an "ay" [e] sound. You say the -ory as sort of -uhree. I would say "Tory" [tOri] new: the "oo" sound sounds different, (fronted?) and you have the glide in there. North: the "th" sounds funny. square: a little different Duke: I woud say "Dook" tower: sounds very posh and more to her like liking: interesting intonation
Well, it sounds like you probably lived in England for a few years. If you keep praticing, and improve your pronunciation, you'll sound like a native in no time. You just have a few minor pronunciation and intonation issues, but they should be easy enough to fix with elocution lessons.
>>The enunciation still sounds very Chinese or Vietnamese to me in certain places: listen to the part where you say: "then she put on a plain yellow dress". It just does not sound well enunciated on certain sentences like that one, and then is very well enunciated. It seems a little bit inconsistent. The reading is very, very slow, and the vowels were extremely long and drawn out. When you say "around", you almost sound like Crocodile Hunter. When you say: "strong and huge" the "u" sounds almost like it has an umlaut on it. Your "th's" also sound like "d's" or "t's" a little bit. When you say "ether" (I would say ee-ther [iTr-] (th as in "thin"), you said "Aida" [aId@]. What's interesting is that you sound like you're in your 30's on some sentences, and like you're 15 on some sentences.<<
Damn you are opinionated about such, and from looking at your comments, you really seem to think people should necessarily speak like you: >>-gets: sounds like gets [gEts], instead of gits [gIts] like I would say it. You do realize that there are plenty of those who natively pronounce the word "get" as [gEt], not [gIt], right? >>-cure: sounds like cue-owah, very interesting sound, not at all how I would say "cure" if I were non-rhotic: I would say it [kjU]. Reminds me of how Chinese people and Vietnamese people sound when they say their r's.<< Maybe they just don't monophthongize historical /Ur/ as [U] but rather just have such as [U@]; I do not myself see how such has anything to do with >>here is a story for ya.: Even in my reading voice I would say "here's" and not "here is". Sounds a bit formal, until you get to the "you" part. You say it like [j@], which sounds like how Minnesotans would say it. I would never say it like this, but would say [ju] for you.<< Why does it really matter that someone happens to use "here is" when reading something rather than changing such to "here's" on the fly? And as for "you", you do realize that it is quite commonplace in English dialects to realize unstressed "you" as [j@], right? >>veterinary: I would say vetrin-air-y [vEtrInEri]. You said vet-uh-rin-air-y. This sounds quite unusual.<< You know that not everyone speaks like you? For instance, when spoken carefully around here, about the same pronunciation of "veterinary" is used. >>nurse: Sounds very, very, very, posh. You say it just as I would imagine the Queen would say it.<< How exactly is such "posh", whatever that means? >>been: bean. I would say [bIn]<< You do realize that plenty of people pronounce such as /bin/, which is the conservative form here, not /bIn/, which is not even part of formal speech in some areas, right? >>daily: the /eI/ sounds a little different. old: the /oU/ sounds a little different. Almost like owld. territory: the -y at the end almost sounds like an "ay" [e] sound. You say the -ory as sort of<< Some English dialects have shifted word-final /I/ to being realized as [e], at least at times, just so you know. >>-uhree. I would say "Tory" [tOri] new: the "oo" sound sounds different, (fronted?) and you have the glide in there.<< You do realize that in non-yod-dropping English dialects, "new" is generally realized with [ju] in them, those that realize such as something like [iU] aside? >>North: the "th" sounds funny.<< How so? >>square: a little different<< From what? >>Duke: I woud say "Dook"<< I assume that you know that in some non-yod-dropping dialects, such is natively pronounced with [dZ] not [d]. Of course, using [dZ] there is only consistent with things like pronouncing "tune" with [tS] here. >>tower: sounds very posh<< You know that to some, the word "posh" is utterly meaningless in places like these... And last but not least, what is with people here always thinking that some dialect that they are not familiar with must be some L2 accent with the L1 language being some Chinese language or Vietnamese! |