Do you ever try to hide your accent

Junkyard Tom · 14-04-2015 03:58PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEvHCPn5wP4

rob316 · 14-04-2015 03:58PM

Im from Cork city and my accent can be pretty strong at times. I do use my telephone voice at work though because I deal with people all over UK/Ireland who might find my accent a small bit hard to understand.

Too many people in Cork think because you have a thick inner city accent your a scumbag but I was raised very well.

The only thing that annoys me is teenage girls and there D4/Californian airhead sounding accents. Absolutely sickening.

mark_jmc · 14-04-2015 04:17PM

Stormington wrote: »

I toned down my Cork accent after I got married: herself wasn't fond of watching ladies sliding off their chairs when I spoke to them.

I've moved around the country a few times and my accent has probably been affected by that naturally and I deal with foreigners on a regular basis so have learned to speak more slowly to avoid misunderstandings. It hasn't been too badly damaged though: Cork people know I am from Cork and others ask where I am from. I'm happy with that.

rohypnol can have that effect alright........

TheBeardedLady · 14-04-2015 04:38PM

Not my accent, no and in fact, I think it's gotten stronger since moving out of Ireland 10 years ago. I teach English, so I have to be careful of using slang, local idioms etc. and I have to make an effort to strengthen my t as in, "greatttt" as opposed to "grash" and to speak clearly and slowly but otherwise, I don't adjust it or try to hide it ever.

Zamboni · 14-04-2015 04:43PM

I have a solid dublin accent. It will probably sound like Ronnie Drew when I'm older.
I neutralise it purposely sometimes in work scenarios, interviews etc because people react negatively to it.
I can change my accent but I can't change their ignorance.

LizT · 14-04-2015 04:45PM

Thankfully I have a fairly neutral accent, although I do change it if I'm speaking to someone with poor English, which would be often enough.

entropi · 14-04-2015 05:07PM

I don't try to hide the accent I have, no. I've only heard myself speak on video a few times and its not a strong accent anyway so thats grand.

anncoates · 14-04-2015 05:11PM

If this thread is an indicative sample, then nobody in Ireland actually has an accent.

Or all the people from places like Louth and Limerick are lying

fryup · 14-04-2015 05:48PM

yep, back in the 80s during a family holiday in england....did my best to hide my oirish accent felt very-self conscience about it esp as the IRA were the blowing the crap out of everyone at the time

whatismyname · 14-04-2015 05:50PM

No point, as I couldn't if I tried. I am not aware of my accent, it's just how I talk, but no longer living in Ireland, people here where I am find it brilliant.

Especially when they ask me to say dirty tree and a turd.

Very proud of my 'twang'

Katgurl · 14-04-2015 05:50PM

No way, my accent is beautiful.

14-04-2015 05:54PM

Kerry accent. My friends who have the misfortune to be from places that are not Kerry like it.

Mozzeltoff · 14-04-2015 06:05PM

I have an awfully strange accent

. I am from North Tipperary originally, which is mostly a flat(ish) accent. However I have being living in Kerry for the last few years and I have obviously picked up a "hint" of the accent :pac:

Down here in Kerry people can't seem to place where I am from. Some think I am from Laois, Limerick or Waterford. I think only one person ever got Tipperary :pac: But when I am up home my family and some of my old friends rip the piss out of me for having a "PUUURRREEE KERRRRRYYY accent". The way they bang on about it, you'd swear I was hiding out in the hills of Kilgarvin with the Healy Raes :rolleyes:

castletownman · 14-04-2015 06:09PM

Only when I'm drinking heino with the goys watching the rugby in Kiely's.

For pure blending in on the bandwagon purposes

OneArt · 14-04-2015 06:18PM

I try my best to hide it when I speak German. Starting to manage it a lot of the time after three f*cking years. Grew up in different English-speaking countries though, so my accent's all over the place anyway.

ceadaoin. · 14-04-2015 06:21PM

I live abroad and have to make a conscious effort not to use irish phrases and to speak a bit slower sometimes, especially on the phone. Otherwise they don't understand me! I don't even have that strong an accent, it's fairly neutral dublin.

Aongus Von Bismarck · 14-04-2015 06:23PM

According to one of my colleagues I speak German like a 'farmer from the south of Austria'. Even though I'm fluent; I'm aware that I do have a tendency to roll my soft H when speaking. I'm still well able to discuss complex financial instruments with native German speakers. Being able to break into English at the drop-of-a-hat is a compelling selling point if we need to bring our American or British colleagues into a conference call. My German is better than the English of the vast majority of my colleagues!

Aidric · 14-04-2015 06:25PM

ceadaoin. wrote: »

I live abroad and have to make a conscious effort not to use irish phrases and to speak a bit slower sometimes, especially on the phone. Otherwise they don't understand me! I don't even have that strong an accent, it's fairly neutral dublin.

Likewise, I've spent 5 years living abroad at this stage and you naturally tend to slow down your speech in an effort to be understood. I had a neutral accent to begin with so it wasn't that hard for foreigners to understand me. The pace is the key, we tend to speak very quickly amongst our own.

Conversely we had a guy join the company with a strong inner city Dublin accent. He made no effort to alter his speech and nobody had a clue what he was saying. He lasted 4 months.

Crumpets · 14-04-2015 06:27PM

I've a flat, boggery midlands accent but I currently live in Germany and people seem to find it cute

Mister Vain · 14-04-2015 06:44PM

Yeah I change it a bit when talking to the fordiners in work. Or if I'm heading up to the big Shmoke I might posh it up a bit. Usually I'm not even aware I'm doing it.

Sheep Lover · 14-04-2015 06:59PM

People usually just nod and smile politely when I'm talking.

MRnotlob606 · 14-04-2015 07:03PM

well boi

QuantumP · 14-04-2015 07:17PM

Dublin-ish accent but mostly neutral. Often quizzed on it. Someone mistook it for a Tipp accent recently which was odd. I spent some time in Austria where I had to moderate it to be understood. I was with another Dublin lad who has a strong accent and he didn't adapt his at all so nobody ever understood a word he was saying. I ended up playing the role of English to English translator :pac:

Pumpkinseeds · 14-04-2015 07:23PM

I don't have an Irish accent, apparently. For some reason people can't place it and always ask me where I'm from. I think I've got a Yorkshire twang to an Americanish accent, I don't know really.

Stojkovic · 14-04-2015 07:38PM

Only the morning after the IRA bombed the **** out of London.

RhubarbCrumble · 14-04-2015 08:01PM

No point in even attempting to hide mine. Despite living in city suburbs for almost 15 years now the accent remains 100% culchie. No chance of hiding it.

conorh91 · 14-04-2015 08:02PM

No, I'm lucky to have a good, clear speaking voice.

I do think it's funny when the culchies arrive in TCD or UCD from Cavan or West Cork.

In Week 1, it's all confused babble.

By Week 2, most sound like they've lived all their lives in the Pembroke electoral ward.

John Doe1 · 14-04-2015 08:18PM

I'm from Donegal and currently living in Cork.

My day consists entirely of vacant head nods.

beks101 · 14-04-2015 08:21PM

Most people think I'm American / Canadian. Even Irish people. i get a fair amount of grief.

Always had a neutral slightly refined accent which I consciously toned down in Canada to kill the "oh you're Iyyyyyyyyerish!" comments and gradually over time the twang became a subconscious thing.

It's a million percent less now that I live in UK but I still speak a lot slower and pick up the twang again when I'm in the office and surrounded by Americans.

It's a weird phenomenon, the accent thing. Since I live abroad I'm always super conscious of having an accent but I don't quite seem to fit in back in Ireland either. To my recollection no one has ever guessed my hometown correctly.

PARlance · 14-04-2015 08:28PM

beks101 wrote: »

Most people think I'm American / Canadian. Even Irish people. i get a fair amount of grief.

Always had a neutral slightly refined accent which I consciously toned down in Canada to kill the "oh you're Iyyyyyyyyerish!" comments and gradually over time the twang became a subconscious thing.

It's a million percent less now that I live in UK but I still speak a lot slower and pick up the twang again when I'm in the office and surrounded by Americans.

It's a weird phenomenon, the accent thing. Since I live abroad I'm always super conscious of having an accent but I don't quite seem to fit in back in Ireland either. To my recollection no one has ever guessed my hometown correctly.

Gort?

Do you ever try to hide your accent

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