Can people easily guess your accent?

[TheCleric12]

I think I have a very American English accent on my French. People I speak to who are fluent in the language know right away, because English is such a popular language. I think it all depends on the place you were from and the languages you are used to and you are speaking.

[FunaSophia]

I grew up speaking both English and French. People who speak French often remark I have a slight English accent, and people who speak English... think there is a slight French twist to the way I speak  :cry: All accents are beautiful. Accents are the color of language, and if we did not have them, life would be a tad boring. I am always confused when people claim that speaking with an accent means you do not fully master a language...

[burtpovski]

I really think that it depends on the language. But for the most part, I'm sure that it's quite easy to guess someone's language just by their accent. Some languages have really strong accents.

The languages that I feel can be guessed easily through their accents would be languages like Chinese, Indian, French, and Germany. It's a pretty unique way to talking in my opinion!

[Trellum]

I think I have a very American English accent on my French. People I speak to who are fluent in the language know right away, because English is such a popular language. I think it all depends on the place you were from and the languages you are used to and you are speaking.

It's kinda funny to read this, because with me it's all the opposite!  Most people I speak to in English think I'm french because of my strong accent that I must admit certainly sounds like french!  It's funny, because I have no idea why I sound french, and it hasn't been only one person telling me this, but several!

I thought my accent was neutral, until heard my voice in a video, then I realized I do sound very french.  The horror! LOL.  I was disappointed, I truly thought my accent was much better and neutral.

[amoredise]

Well, we all have accents right? I have a valley girl, California accent and when I talk with my Italian side of the family, they laugh at me. My accent sounds funny to them. I think their accent is beautiful and would love to have their accent. But, yes my accent is very obvious to them.

[martindrox]

No. Arabic accents are pretty hard to tell the difference the known accents are Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese Iraqi, But the rest are hard to till the difference. only Arabian people can tell the difference. 

[daisyt]

Nope. I keep repeatedly getting asked when did I live in America or what cousin do I have from there since my accent has nothing to do with my mother tongue. I've never even been out of the country, so I always take it as a compliment I suppose.

[reirei]

Here's a question for those with accents: Can people easily guess where you're from based on your accent? I have an accent when speaking in English but people seem to have a hard time pinpointing where I'm from based on my accent alone. When I speak Visayan, people can also guess I'm not from the region but often get where I'm from wrong too. What about you?

I can totally relate to that!

During job interviews, recruiters always mistake me for having been born/raised in either the United States or Australia because of my accent. I know it's confusing because the two have distinct accents, lol.

It's a big plus though in my profession because I am (or was) a recruiter myself, and recruiters are always expected to sound better than their interviewees, not to look intimidating, but just to appear more educated and professional. It sounds off, but that's just how it is. We're the company frontliners and we must represent well.

I wonder when American or Aussie accent became an indicator of intelligence amongst Filipinos.

Oh right, 'colonial mentality' at its finest.

:wacky:

[Determined2014]

Here's a question for those with accents: Can people easily guess where you're from based on your accent? I have an accent when speaking in English but people seem to have a hard time pinpointing where I'm from based on my accent alone. When I speak Visayan, people can also guess I'm not from the region but often get where I'm from wrong too. What about you?

No, not all people never easily detect my accent , if they do the always guess it wrong.

[Firelily99]

In the US there a staggering number of accents and dialects even in a little state like I live in.  I was born in the Midwest and  grew up on the east coast so I am blended but many have picked out the Midwesterner in my accent.

[hoodoowytch]

Surprisingly, some people find my accent hard to place and I can only suppose because it might have changed a bit since I lost my hearing.

I have a very southern accent. I was born in Georgia, just outside of Savannah proper. My mother moved me and my siblings up to Kentucky when I was about 4 years old...so that move didn't exactly "improve" that southern accent in the least.

When my hearing went, my speech started to slowly deteriorate because I couldn't really hear myself anymore and maintaining normal decibel levels for speech became extremely difficult. SO, when I got hearing aids, I took some online speech therapy lessons my audiologist lined up for me. Certain that the person who did the "learning to read lips" bit for pronouncing words properly was definitely from the U.K. and probably spoke very proper English. I find it very easy to read lips of people from the U.K...particularly folks from England.

This might account for this one doctor asking me where I was from. I told them Georgia...and he was surprised. He said he thought I was from some place in England. I thought that was so funny. I've never been out of the U.S. in my life...although I would love to travel the U.K. 

[dylr88]

Some people in the UK especially in England  think my accent sounds a mixture of Welsh and English accent, personally I don't think I have an accent, but they say I do.

I speak and hang around with English people and my accent has somehow turned to them, but as soon as I start speaking Welsh it goes back to a North Wales -Welsh accent again. When I speak Spanish I tend to use a Colombian or Mexican accent which I get from my online friends who are from there and through watching Mexican TV documentaries and programmes online, but because I don't appear Mexican or Colombian when I was speaking Spanish in Mexico, they thought I was from either Spain or Uruguay

I can now do a Bisayan accent when I speak Bisaya which I pick up from my relatives and friends in Cebu, when i try to speak tagalog I speak it in a Manila accent like the one you see on TV similar to Kris Aquino's accent So, some can guess where I have learnt and pick up the accents..