I have no idea what my accent is... (audio file)
I used to think that I knew what I sounded like but I'm not so sure anymore. I work at a call center and a lot of people have tried to guess what my accent was. I was surprised to hear a lot of their crazy guesses and now I'm not sure what accent I have so I turn to you all.
http://media.putfile.com/Test2-38-51
First of all, accept my congratulations for having a clear accent.
It was very difficult to tell where you came from originally.
Your accent sounds more like an American accent.
I can tell you that there was a tinge of Asian accent somewhere at the end of your recording. So I can tell you that your are not a native speaker. Are you from Taiwan, China, Korea or Japan?
I actually find that my accent is inconsistent. When I listened to it again, I did sound like I was from China or something. O_o
My accent sounds very different here though (at least I think so).
http://media.putfile.com/Avoicetest
As for my nationality, I'll withhold that for now to prevent influence on people's responses. I'll post it later though. :)
In my other examples, I was quite tense during the reading of the passages. I'm not really sure if they're very good examples of how I really sound like. In this one, however, I tried to be a bit more relaxed and is probably a better representation of my accent.
http://media.putfile.com/Arthur-the-Rat
Native Korean, your accent just sounds mostly General American to me. I'm not too good with American accents, however. You could probably pass off as someone who moved to America at a very young age since your foreign accent isn't very apparent right away.
Are you Filipino? You have a typical Filipino call centre agent accent, it seems. :)
Yeah, you're the one of the few who actually got it right. I get all kinds of weird guesses like East Indian, French, English, etc... O_o
Filipino call centre agents are wwwaaaaaaaaayyyyyy easier to understand as compared to Indian agents. :P
wondering, do all Filipinos speak like that? how do you get such a clear accent? Any tips?
FlummoxedGirl
the reason is that India is a hotbed of several languages. Hindhi and English are most spoken languages but indians also have their own mother-tongues that have an influence over how they speak Hindhi and English. I can understand your position, though.
Not all Filipinos speak like me. It largely depends on which part of the Philippines you are from, really. I spent a long time in Manila and our accents there aren't so hard to understand to native English-speakers in the first place so I didn't have much trouble adopting a more North American-sounding accent.
Where are you from, exactly, by the way?
Guest, Philippines do have a lot of "native" languages as well. The last time that I was there, I got mates who tried to teach me how to speak Tagalog, Cebuano, and this other language from south that I can't even remember. I think, most of their words though, require a stiff tongue for you to be able to pronounce them properly.
But nevertheless, if I were to choose who the best english "speakers" are in Asia, then I'd pick Filipinos. They're the easiest to understand.
And if I'm not mistaken, call centre agents get a training on how to "neutralise" their accents once they get accepted in a call centre company. Maybe that's the reason why Wondering has a clear accent.
Wondering, most call centre agents (or more specifically, those who are from Manila) speak like you do though. :)