Forum users' accents - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 03, 2013, 08:48:21 pm
content: I'm starting this thread to sort of pick up on the OT stuff in the Tester.co.uk thead.I do find variations of spoken english accents very interesting and I thought maybe we could collect some accents from around the forum.There's a site where accents can be uploaded using a sample bit of speech but it appears you have to apply for a submission to their site.http://accent.gmu.edu/howto.phpSo I thought we might start a mini collection here using their example text.QuoteI guess if you want to participate, with your sample, give us an idea of where you were born or raised and if you feel your accent is typical for that area or has it been influenced by another place you've lived.And also if the area or country in which you live has more than one common accent, sort of explain some of the differences if you don't mind.I suppose I'm particularly interested in the variations of parts of Australia, NZ, UK etc. I watched a lot of BBC sitcoms on PBS growing up and do tend to recognize many of the accents used in the UK, I just can't always pinpoint the location except for like Scottish, Irish, "west country", "cockney"

author: marshallh
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 03, 2013, 08:49:44 pm
content: http://vocaroo.com/

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 03, 2013, 08:51:02 pm
content: Here's my sample:I was born in the Detroit area in Michigan, but raised since about 1 year old in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas.Personally I think my accent is a fairly neutral American accent but if you notice anything that stands out let me know because I'm curious. There are about 3 or 4 sort of Texas accents depending on if you're from the east or west and whether or not you're from a rural area.So I guess I'll call mine "Dallas/Fort Worth Suburban Accent". After listening to it a few times it does sound over enunciated a bit, I guess that comes from reading out loud rather than using it in converstation.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 03, 2013, 09:03:02 pm
content: Eh, I guess YouTube would be a better way to do it, but I've never uploaded anything to it before, so...Apologies for the general lack of any sort of quality. I guess you can tell what I don't do for a living. I just found out my laptop has a built-in microphone...Quote from: Stonent on July 03, 2013, 08:51:02 pmMine is too, but I don't think Icoulduse this in conversation. It just doesn't feel conversational.You know, obviously they worded it a certain way so they could hear variations on each word, but wouldn't it be interesting to have people try to reword it in what they would consider a conversational style? I think I'll go do that...Upstate New York, near PA. Reasonably normal. I enunciate a bit more carefully than a lot of people near me, but just more carefully, not really differently.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 03, 2013, 09:06:55 pm
content: Stonent, the pronunciation of "spoons" gave away Texas (not that I can tell the difference between that and other Southern states). Other than that, nicely readI would like to play too, but unfortunately I have a mild learning disability which makes me a bit embarrassed about the sound of my own voice. I prefer not to speak unless I really have toBut it's fun learning about others.

author: millerb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 03, 2013, 09:08:22 pm
content: Here's mine:http://dillo.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/recitation.mp3I'm from North Carolina.

author: c4757p
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 03, 2013, 09:14:34 pm
content: Yours are all so much clearer than mine!I blame the microphone.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 03, 2013, 09:33:10 pm
content: Here's me. You're doing well as I usually don't like to hear myself recorded.Southern England, home counties (i.e. outer London and surrounding areas). May have been slightly Americanized after living here for 10 years, but I try not to be affected.

author: MacAttak
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 12:03:59 am
content: Cajun upbringing until college (but the accent only shows up when I drink), Atlanta GA since then but also a bit of influence from my wife's family in the South Dakota / Minnesota area.Also, I've got a cold right now so I'm sure it sounds a little monotone too.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 12:54:14 am
content: Quote from: c4757p on July 03, 2013, 09:03:02 pmThis is rather a hard thing to read, I had to do it over multiple times. I think the transitioning from S F P and Th makes it a little harder.I heard something in "Brother Bob" that sounded a little more northern to me.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 01:15:02 am
content: Quote from: Stonent on July 04, 2013, 12:54:14 amPlease elaborate?

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 01:35:17 am
content: Quote from: IanB on July 04, 2013, 01:15:02 amI found myself turning my S's into Sh's. I would liken it a little to the tongue twister "She sells sea shells by the sea shore"After have read it more than a dozen times now I can say it fairly quick.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 01:43:09 am
content: Quote from: IanB on July 03, 2013, 09:33:10 pmYour voice has sort of a regal characteristic to it.It got me thinking, the inclusion of the name Stella in the sample might have been to highlight people who say Stell-uh and people who pronounce it more like "stellar"

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 01:58:52 am
content: Quote from: BulletMagnet83 on July 03, 2013, 09:06:55 pmI am curious about that now. I have never noticed anything about the way I say it but there must be something there.After listening to the other examples, I think I pronounce spoons rather flat. The "oo" is rather monotone. I think c4757p's sample is similar.Ian's pronunciation I would say is the least monotone, followed by MacAttack.

author: iloveelectronics
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 02:52:57 am
content: http://vocaroo.com/i/s1DYsSo2BdsjEnglish isn't my first language so I don't want to embarrass myselfBut here is my 8-year-old son reading it. He's Chinese, grew up in Hong Kong, started speaking Cantonese (a dialect of Chinese) as his first language since he was only 10 months old, but because we sent him to international nursery/kindergarten/school he basically completely switched to English since he was about 2.5 years. He grew up watching mostly American cartoons (Disney stuff, Cartoon Network, etc.), but he has been going to an Australian school for 3.5 years now. My wife and I speak half Cantonese and half English to him at home, but English has pretty much become his first language now as his Cantonese REALLY sucks! It would be interesting to hear what you guys think his accent is!

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 03:00:40 am
content: Quote from: iloveelectronics on July 04, 2013, 02:52:57 amHe has an excellent speaking voice. When I was his age I remember a lot of the kids sounded like robots when reading out loud. It sounds mostly like an American accent, but a few words sounds like they have some British influence. "Call" , "Ask" and "Spoons" sounded more British.

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 03:10:33 am
content: Fascinating to hear forum members voices, for some reason you all sounded like me

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 03:27:38 am
content: Quote from: AlfBaz on July 04, 2013, 03:10:33 amAw-stral-yah!As far as Australian accents go. There's at least two which I can distinguish. On one hand you've got Dave Jones, which I'll call the Sydney accent, and then there's what I'll call the "Outback" accent. It has more of a drawl to it.I'm sure there's more but like most Americans, our knowledge of Australian speaking comes from Crocodile Dundee, Steve Irwin, and Fosters commercials.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 03:44:15 am
content: Quote from: Stonent on July 04, 2013, 03:27:38 amA third kind of Australian accent sounds a bit closer to British with fewer extreme characteristics. I think it is typical of Adelaide. You can hear it, for example, if you listen to Brady Haran:

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 03:56:54 am
content: Oh University of Nottingham Brady! I didn't know he was from Australia.

author: ampdoctor
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 04:03:02 am
content: Don't really know much about the dialects of Australia, but I used to know a woman who lived in Geelong her entire life and it was quite a mild accent. Distinctly Australian but nowhere near as thick as Crocodile Dundee or, don't take it personally Dave, yours. Not sure if it's typical for that area or not.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 04:10:51 am
content: I once asked someone from Australia how you can tell the difference between an Aussie and Kiwi accents and she said "They pronounce Deck, Dick"

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 07:57:17 am
content: Quote from: Stonent on July 04, 2013, 03:27:38 am"Aw-stral-yah!" is more like the way the Queen speaks!An Aussie would say Osstrailyuh!!----all one word,no gaps! the "yuh" is like you would pronounce the "ya" at the end of "Dubya"(as in George)

author: peter.mitchell
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 09:11:43 am
content: I grew up in country NSW, Australia, I find my accent pretty similar to the local one, however, others think I sound somewhat Americanized, I get it a lot, it is pretty tedious.https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/677635/accent.wma- excuse the .wma, i used windows sound recorder, damnit microsoft!

author: vk3yedotcom
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 11:20:19 am
content: Quote from: IanB on July 04, 2013, 03:44:15 amI'd have picked that as a mild Cockney accent or half English/Australian. There seem to be more English than Australian intonations there.But from my SA travels (and South Australians I speak to) I would not say it was a typical Adelaide accent. However there is certainly a subset of Adelaidans who speak like that. An example is a prominent politician a few years back called Alexander Downer (below).There are few regional variations of Australian accent, though states sometimes have different words for things important to us. Eg togs/bathers (for swimwear) or schooners/pots/middys (for various glasses of beer).I'm Dave's age, grew up 3000km west and sound like this:We sound different but it's unlikely much of the difference is due to regional dialect. I've even been confused with Kiwis (about 6000km away).There are three rough variants of Australian accent, with slower speech in the bush.Broad / General / CultivatedBroad is pretty much what Dave speaks.Cultivated has less distinct 'ockerisms' and is what used to be heard from ABC newsreaders. It is less common amongst under 40s.General is somewhere in the middle. I suspect we're tending towards this, losing some of the ockerisms and getting some American twang along the way.Some might associate broad with tradies and cultivated with academics / doctors / lawyers but this is not always the case. Eg Big businessment like John Elliot and politicians like Bob Hawke and Julia Gillard had a broad accent. Kevin Rudd is general to cultivated but has an annoying habit of ocker expressions that sound fake when said by him eg 'fair suck of the sauce bottle'.@Iloveelectronics: I also picked mostly American.

author: _Sin
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2013, 02:40:14 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on July 03, 2013, 09:33:10 pmYou sound quite reminiscent of Oliver Postgate.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2013, 01:40:35 am
content: Quote from: IanB on July 04, 2013, 03:44:15 amHe starts out being rather like a West Aussie,then "Brits out" as he continues!

author: MacAttak
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: July 05, 2013, 02:44:43 pm
content: I would have said he sounded like a full Brit, except he didn't say "smashing!", "proper", or "lovely".

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2013, 03:54:08 pm
content: Quote from: MacAttak on July 05, 2013, 02:44:43 pmindeed

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 05, 2013, 04:11:46 pm
content: Quote from: AlfBaz on July 05, 2013, 03:54:08 pmHe doesn't sound British to British ears, but he may have been Anglicized a bit. I've known other Australians who sound just the same. When I've asked about the neutrality of such an accent I was told a similar thing to above, there is a "cultured" accent sometimes found in Australia that sounds closer to British.Apart from the general intonation, the things that give Brady away are the pronunciation of words like "project" and "start".

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2013, 01:47:32 am
content: My intent was to add "indeed" to MacAttak's list of words as it seems to be a british thing to say.I listened to it just now and he definitely has an accent of some kind. I wouldn't of pegged it as pom thoughSeems to have a distinct Australian base with British or perhaps South African twang

author: Zad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2013, 04:08:02 am
content: I want to know when railway station became deprecated in favour of "train station".I blame the Americans

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2013, 05:54:24 am
content: Quote from: vk3yedotcom on July 04, 2013, 11:20:19 amAlexander's education between 1964 & the early 1970s was in England,so it is probably when he picked up the "Pommy-ness" in his accent.In his early years in Parliament,he sounded very upper class English,but by the time the video was made a lot of it had worn off."We sound different but it's unlikely much of the difference is due to regional dialect. I've even been confused with Kiwis (about 6000km away)."Back in 1971,I remember thinking that the Kiwis in Auckland sounded a lot like West Aussies---- like us,they tend to speak a bit faster than is common with a lot of Australians.I can't remember the "fush & chups"/"deck & dick" pronunciations,particularly,so I often wonder if they have unconsciously exaggerated it ,to differentiate themselves from Australians.There were some girls from the South Island that I couldn't understand at all,but then I met people in Liverpool who I couldn't understand,either!By the way, Peter,as an old West Aussie,you probably remember when John Barnett used to present "Farming News & Comments" on the ABC,in a broad,slow spoken country NSW accent.After many years in WA,he now sounds almost like a "born & bred" West Aussie!

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2013, 11:19:46 am
content: Quote from: vk3yedotcom on July 04, 2013, 11:20:19 amYour voice has a very sharp "edge" to it... is that how you really sound or just a recording artifact?

author: vk3yedotcom
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 06, 2013, 12:31:34 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on July 06, 2013, 11:19:46 amTough question! Better to ask someone who knows meThough it varies between videos and may be bassier/smoother on those where I'm talking closer to the in-camera microphone.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 07, 2013, 06:04:31 am
content: Quote from: Zad on July 06, 2013, 04:08:02 amWe outnumber you. It's just democracy man!Like they say, Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding what's for dinner