adopting accents

Robsweezie

have you ever tried adopting accents when speaking to people you dont know (and likely wont see again)and seeing if they notice its put on? ive wanted to try cockney/american and i think i sound convincing but wouldnt be fully confident i could pull it off. in brief situations like placing an order in a restaurant or giving directions to strangers, maybe i could.


ever faked an accent? or known someone who has?

Duff

I've spent several summers living in the States and have had to talk with a slight American twang to other Americans so they could understand me better, if that counts.

Summer wind

One of my friends and I have always messed around with accents. One night I met him in a bar and met his new girlfriend for the first time. Spoke to him in a northern accent cos that was the most popular one with us at the time. Didn't realise til about 15 mins later that she actually thought I was from Derry. American and French or Spanish are really easy too.
When my little boy was smaller I used to love trying out different accents with him. He loves the London accent best.

Letree

I had a friend spend a few weeks in america and came back sounding like Graeme McDowell

Zxclnic

Robsweezie wrote: »

have you ever tried adopting accents when speaking to people you dont know (and likely wont see again)and seeing if they notice its put on? ive wanted to try cockney/american and i think i sound convincing but wouldnt be fully confident i could pull it off. in brief situations like placing an order in a restaurant or giving directions to strangers, maybe i could.


ever faked an accent? or known someone who has?

Apparently the now ancient actor Dick Van Dyke was something of an expert on Cockney/American. Check him out in Mary Poppins.

dd972

For some reason all English accents for most Irish people lie somewhere between Barking and Basildon.


Even if the person is from Middlesbrough...

Summer wind

Summer wind wrote: »

One of my friends and I have always messed around with accents. One night I met him in a bar and met his new girlfriend for the first time. Spoke to him in a northern accent cos that was the most popular one with us at the time. Didn't realise til about 15 mins later that she actually thought I was from Derry. American and French or Spanish are really easy too.
When my little boy was smaller I used to love trying out different accents with him. He loves the London accent best.

Your avin a fackin girawwwfe moi san?! Ave itttt!!!

seamus

I wouldn't usually adopt an accent, but I'd often use regional variants when talking to people.

So if spelling something for a british person I'll say "awh" instead of "or" for "R". Or someone from Europe I'll say "Police" instead of "Gardai". Or if speaking to American I'll say "terrorist" instead of "Middle Eastern".

Courage2Change

I once knew a guy who always put on a Northern Irish accent when on the phone or talking to someone in a position of authority. Turned out he was very unstable and insecure, probably made him feel 'different' in some way..................

HalloweenJack

I'm **** at accents.

I have a friend from Leeds and I try and take the piss out of him every now and then doing his accent. Yorkshire is a lot easier to do than those Southern ones.

bodice ripper

I have tried my entire life to ditch my transatlantic drawl. No chance.

TommyKnocker

seamus wrote: »

I wouldn't usually adopt an accent, but I'd often use regional variants when talking to people.

So if spelling something for a british person I'll say "awh" instead of "or" for "R". Or someone from Europe I'll say "Police" instead of "Gardai". Or if speaking to American I'll say "terrorist" instead of "Middle Eastern".

Hahaha. I see what you did there This made me LOL

LDN_Irish

One of my islamic extremist mates puts on an IRA accent when he buys fertiliser so that people don't get suspicious that he's a jihadi.

YFlyer

Cockney and American? All sixes and sevens, I see.

uch

I kinda did the opposite once, I lived in Bognor Regis and the locals were always complaining to me to speak slower because they couldn't understand me, so for the craic I started speaking faster, it was amazing what you could say and they would just agree with me to be polite

Mister Vain

I instinctively put on a Polish accent when talking to Polish people. I work with a lot of them and its just a habit.

GerB40

LDN_Irish wrote: »

One of my islamic extremist mates puts on an IRA accent when he buys fertiliser so that people don't get suspicious that he's a jihadi.

Four Lions is a great movie..

Boom_Bap

When talking to Americans and telling them where I am from, I need to say the word 'Ireland' in an American accent otherwise they dont understand.

I also have to over pronounce the word 'three' everywhere I go.

God bless my Dublin accent.

nullzero

Mister Vain wrote: »

I instinctively put on a Polish accent when talking to Polish people. I work with a lot of them and its just a habit.

I've worked with a few of them, some of them have an awful habit of prefixing every sentence with "Listen..."

Triboro

Letree wrote: »

I had a friend spend a few weeks in america and came back sounding like Graeme McDowell

I think the same thing has happened to Waterford golfer Seamus Power!

XR3i

Robsweezie wrote: »

have you ever tried adopting accents when speaking to people you dont know (and likely wont see again)and seeing if they notice its put on? ive wanted to try cockney/american and i think i sound convincing but wouldnt be fully confident i could pull it off. in brief situations like placing an order in a restaurant or giving directions to strangers, maybe i could.


ever faked an accent? or known someone who has?

sprechen sie deutsch?

ich nicht

Galwayguy35

No I always use my traditional Galway bogger accent when speaking to people.

Galway city people all speak with fake posh accents.

fonecrusher1

I work with quite a few phoney's people who have weird put-on Americanish accents. Its quite strange. They are Irish. They just want to sound kind of....American??!

Deeply sad. But kind of amusing. Especially as the degree of how American they want to sound seems to increase or decrease based on who they're talking to.

Tiz mad but each to their own etc etc.

:pac:

intheclouds

Worked in a restaurant in america for a few months and used to have to lightly americanise my speech to be more easily understood, but I was always busted as being Irish when i listed out the salad dressings, Ranch, French, Thousand Island and Light ITalian - never got the hang of calling it EYEtalian.

Your Face

A fella I knew went to England on work placement.
He was a country boy true and true, a pure hurler head.
Well when he came back he was talking like one of the Gallaghers from Oasis.
He was over there 6 months.

lawred2

What is with Irish people heading off for a summer in the states coming back sounding like extras off a sitcom..

BPKS

They played a clip yesterday of an interview with Robbie Keane recorded after his first international when he was 17. Lucky he managed to change the accent cos money or no, there is no way that Claudine one would have been able to live with him with that accent. She would have needed a translator.

Teyla Emmagan

I can't do accents. But I once worked an American girl called Anne who couldn't hear her name unless you used an American accent. I was calling her one day all 'Anne, Anne' and one of the other girls (also American) said 'no, say it like "Aynnn"'. With a really hard A and N. And she heard me instantly.

Bizarre.

Speedwell

I'm an American and I have an American accent, but my accent is analogous to the Received Pronunciation in British English. I sound like a news announcer on CNN. This is presumably a result of very frequent moves around the country as a child, immigrant parents and grandparents whose English was their second or third or fourth language, and a lifetime of being in choirs as a soloist where I needed to enunciate very clearly. I moved to the American Deep South when I was a teenager and almost clawed my own ears off. I picked up <i>y'all</i> for several years, then dropped it again when I got a job in a large multinational. When I am in Cajun Louisiana around Lafayette and Thibodaux, after several days I find my accent softening toward the local standard, though. It's the only accent I can really do. I am really, really terrible at "faking" accents.

Even here in Ireland, I still sound like your basic American. But my husband's Irish family say things like, "Anyone can tell you're an American, but you sound good, not like other Americans". When traveling on business, I am most often asked if I'm Canadian. I suspect strongly that this is often a polite way of saying, "I'm guessing you're an American but I'm not sure because you don't sound typical, and I don't want to offend you if I'm wrong".

check_six

I heard a radio interview with an actor a few years back who explained the differences between the major regional irish accents as he did a quick round ireland accent demonstration. As he moved from region to region he would show how little you had to alter your voice to meld from one to the next (one becomes more sing-song, the next becomes flatter and different sounds are more emphasised, or abandoned completely). It was fascinating to hear it done live and quite easy to replicate once you heard it explained. I'd love to be able to track down this clip.

Some people have a great ear for this kind of thing and can either replicate it on demand, or subconsciously assume the new accent without even realising it.

Turnipman

Could any well-informed insider inform me where His Excellency the Limerick born/Clare raised/Galway based President Stumpy picked up his remarkable accent?

Mollyb60

I'm from Tipperary, spent 10 years in Dublin, now live in Belfast. My husband says I get more 'Tipperary' the closer I get to home. Lol.
I have had to 'Nordie Up' a bit since moving here. Mostly coz people didn't understand me.
My accent has at different times been called American, South African, English and Chinese (confusingly) by different people up here. All over the place!

mohawk

Went to college in Cork and I instantly pick up a Cork accent when talking to a Cork person.
Spend 8 years of childhood in London, I had to drop that accent fairly sharpish when we moved back home. Kids are mean.

pickarooney

Speedwell wrote: »

I'm an American and I have an American accent, but my accent is analogous to the Received Pronunciation in British English. I sound like a news announcer on CNN. This is presumably a result of very frequent moves around the country as a child, immigrant parents and grandparents whose English was their second or third or fourth language, and a lifetime of being in choirs as a soloist where I needed to enunciate very clearly. I moved to the American Deep South when I was a teenager and almost clawed my own ears off. I picked up <i>y'all</i> for several years, then dropped it again when I got a job in a large multinational. When I am in Cajun Louisiana around Lafayette and Thibodaux, after several days I find my accent softening toward the local standard, though. It's the only accent I can really do. I am really, really terrible at "faking" accents.

Even here in Ireland, I still sound like your basic American. But my husband's Irish family say things like, "Anyone can tell you're an American, but you sound good, not like other Americans". When traveling on business, I am most often asked if I'm Canadian. I suspect strongly that this is often a polite way of saying, "I'm guessing you're an American but I'm not sure because you don't sound typical, and I don't want to offend you if I'm wrong".

But I only care about offending you if you're Canadian.

Speedwell

pickarooney wrote: »

But I only care about offending you if you're Canadian.

I'm only capable of being appropriately ashamed if I'm Canadian. :P

Calahonda52

Robsweezie wrote: »

have you ever tried adopting accents when speaking to people you dont know (and likely wont see again)and seeing if they notice its put on? ive wanted to try cockney/american and i think i sound convincing but wouldnt be fully confident i could pull it off. in brief situations like placing an order in a restaurant or giving directions to strangers, maybe i could.


ever faked an accent? or known someone who has?

Not an accent but a language, often pass myself off as a kraut with limited English: the windmill tattoo on the backs of my two hands make it pretty authentic.....at least to me.

Pat Mustard

Turnipman wrote: »

Could any well-informed insider inform me where His Excellency the Limerick born/Clare raised/Galway based President Stumpy picked up his remarkable accent?

Anton Savage played clips of him on the radio recently and Michael D talked about "spoht" and "faihness".

It was hard to believe, so Savage replayed the clip. I don't remember Michael D speaking like this before. Since when does he have a fake British accent?

Alun

I'm a bit of an accent chameleon when it comes to British accents (I'm English), especially when I'm down in the West Country (i.e. Somerset) where my family are from, and after a few hours I end up speaking like Worzel Gummidge. However, even after living in Ireland for 15 years, I've not picked up even the slightest hint of an Irish accent, weird.

uch

Alun wrote: »

I'm a bit of an accent chameleon when it comes to British accents (I'm English), especially when I'm down in the West Country (i.e. Somerset) where my family are from, and after a few hours I end up speaking like Worzel Gummidge. However, even after living in Ireland for 15 years, I've not picked up even the slightest hint of an Irish accent, weird.

Not weird at all Al, fit and proper, no excuse for losing yer accent IMO

Omackeral

Myself and a mate were out for lunch one day and decided to have a bit of craic amongst ourselves. He put on a lisp while ordering his food and I put on a South African accent. We made our orders one after the other. He was asked to take a seat while his food was being prepped and did so, on the far side of the food court. The lady taking the order says ''I'm so sorry could you just give me your order again there?'' to me. So now I'm on my own with this lady after already speaking in a Sith Ifrikan iccent and have to weigh up my decision to go on with the charade I've created (which will only be for her benefit) or just use my normal voice and risk being rumbled. I'm cringing typing this.

Parachutes

In my job I have to talk to British clients a lot and they always complain about not being able to understand the accent and to slow down. It gets fairly annoying after a while talking like you're having a stroke.

FishOnABike

check_six wrote: »

I heard a radio interview with an actor a few years back who explained the differences between the major regional irish accents as he did a quick round ireland accent demonstration. As he moved from region to region he would show how little you had to alter your voice to meld from one to the next (one becomes more sing-song, the next becomes flatter and different sounds are more emphasised, or abandoned completely). It was fascinating to hear it done live and quite easy to replicate once you heard it explained. I'd love to be able to track down this clip.

Some people have a great ear for this kind of thing and can either replicate it on demand, or subconsciously assume the new accent without even realising it.

Niall Tóibín ?

Turnipman

Pat Mustard wrote: »

Anton Savage played clips of him on the radio recently and Michael D talked about "spoht" and "faihness".

It was hard to believe, so Savage replayed the clip. I don't remember Michael D speaking like this before. Since when does he have a fake British accent?

My suspicion is that he may have caught it from the furniture in the Viceregal Lodge; or possibly from hob-knobbing around with British Royalty!

blaze1

I lose my dub twang when ever I go back to uk, my little one does too (9) always great to hear her say Mummy to the mrs hahah

uch

Omackeral wrote: »

Myself and a mate were out for lunch one day and decided to have a bit of craic amongst ourselves. He put on a lisp while ordering his food and I put on a South African accent. We made our orders one after the other. He was asked to take a seat while his food was being prepped and did so, on the far side of the food court. The lady taking the order says ''I'm so sorry could you just give me your order again there?'' to me. So now I'm on my own with this lady after already speaking in a Sith Ifrikan iccent and have to weigh up my decision to go on with the charade I've created (which will only be for her benefit) or just use my normal voice and risk being rumbled. I'm cringing typing this.

And so you should be ye pox, I know who you support and i'm only tying so you read it, g'wan the Rovers

idunno78

When in Australia I was out one night and after one to many decided to put on an Oz accent to a random Oz guy! I thought I was brilliant but no! Used always put on an American accent when I was a kid!
Also after being in Oz for 3 months I came back with that whole raising my voice at the end of all my sentences! I think it's from talking to Australians they don't underStand the Irish accents! You have to talk much slower as well! Irish people talk really fast!

BabyE

All the mainland euros tell me our accent is easier to understand.