Do you think you have an accent?

[Jaxter]

I always wonder if people who are foreign think that I have an accent when I speak English. I'm Canadian and there is an obvious English accent when I think of people in other countries speaking it such as in Australia and in Britain. However, I do not think I have an accent when I speak at all. I wonder if Australians or British people for example think us Canadians/Americans carry an accent as well. Or better yet, if they themselves (Australians and the Brits) think they have an accent when speaking.

[Jellyfish]

No, I was born in the region of Germany that is said to have the best German in the whole German speaking area.

[Czarownica]

Well, to nitpick, everybody has some kind of accent That being said, I come from the region of Poland that is rather lingustically unremarkable - so I don't have a strong/recognizable accent of any kind We're very average and maybe a bit boring

[rossonomous]

I don't believe that I specifically have an accent, but that's because the way I talk is 'the norm' in my eyes.

I think my housemate from Manchester has an accent, however she believes that how she speaks is normal.

Technically, each person has an accent, it just depends how this is interpreted.

[wholesaleblogger]

I always wonder if people who are foreign think that I have an accent when I speak English. I'm Canadian and there is an obvious English accent when I think of people in other countries speaking it such as in Australia and in Britain. However, I do not think I have an accent when I speak at all. I wonder if Australians or British people for example think us Canadians/Americans carry an accent as well. Or better yet, if they themselves (Australians and the Brits) think they have an accent when speaking.

I am from Liverpool in the UK and without doubt, I have an accent :-). My wife is Spanish and I asked her if when I speak my (limited) Spanish if I have an accent then also, the answer... Yes :-)

I suppose anyone has an accent regardless of where you come from, its just the way its is.

[thekernel]

It never feels like it until someone points it out to me. I have deeply Canadian mannerisms imbued within me. We all sound foreign to someone though.

[DiesIrae]

I can't really distinguish if there's a difference between Canadians and Americans speaking in English although I hear there are. As for me, my English has Filipino accent, more evident when I am having problems expressing myself. I'd think Americans can still understand how I talk given how I was able to help a lot of them over the phone with their TV problems.

[Miya]

I actually just read something on this topic. No one actually thinks they have an accent in their native language because everyone thinks they speak in the standard and correct way. I don't know if I entirely agree with this statement, but I can see some truth to it.

[ghanashyam]

Yes, every region has some touch of local twist of tongue to each language whether mother tongue or foreign tongue. As for Indians, I have observed we usually speak like this,"AREY( very silent),SO WHAT DID YOU SAY?"

There is nothing wrong. Say when you hear "Lol" be sure, some American is speaking.

[caparica007]

I think we all have an accent. In what refers to English I really don't know, I am Portuguese so probably the accent is the least of my problems.  :shy:

[TABL]

It's funny because some friends and I were just talking about this!  We know eachother online... so we each uploaded a video of ourselves talking.  I don't think I have an accent, but I was told I definitely do!  Some people sounded "normal" to me, so they really sound like people I live with/ near.  Some people have true accents that I can tell... Southern, Jersey, etc.  Most of us are from the USA.  It's so neat! 

[evapfromm]

I was born in Germany, and then I moved to America when I was around 10 years old. I became fluent in English within a year of moving here. I had no idea I had a German accent until one day, when I asked my reading class in middle school out of nowhere if they thought I had an accent, and I got a resounding "YES!"

I knew, back then and now, that I couldn't pronounce certain things like the "TH" sound in words... Mother, father, weather etc, or that weird American "ORL".. World, hurled, whirl. I still didn't think I had an accent at all times, though. Guess I was wrong!

Nowadays, I get told all the time that I don't have a German accent anymore. I still slip up sometimes, but my spoken English is pretty much perfect.

[wholesaleblogger]

I like the accents of non English people when speaking English.

My wife is Spanish and she often worries that people here in the UK won't understand what she says... I can understand her and could from the beginning. She actually speaks English better than a lot of English people.

[rossonomous]

I like the accents of non English people when speaking English.

So do I! There's quite a nice twang in the voice which is pretty appealing.

[kitkat0124]

I have an accent. My english is very different from the way my american co workers speak. Even the americans have their own accent, based on the state they came from. I think everybody have their own accent.

[SpiralArchitect]

Don't have an accent when I speak Hindi (being from a predominantly Hindi speaking belt of Northern India and having lived in Hindi speaking regions all my life). Because I am from India I do have a relatively strong accent when speaking in English. Its not as bad as most Indian accents are and is definitely better thn the way the stereotypical Indian accent is supposed to be, but its still pretty noticeable.

[queenbecka]

Of course! An American accent.

It is so weird when I think about that the rest of the world see's the way I talk as different.

Americans see my accent as a Midwestern American Accent.

[Preya_M]

I am also from Canada myself. I don't think that I have an accent, but when I go to foreign countries apparently I do. We're all different and I guess it depends how we grew up; if our families talked in an Indian accent, we would primarily grow up with a hint of that accent as well.

[nkaujntses]

Because English is not my native language, I have a slight accent when I speak English. My accent is more evident when my brain isn't working well, such as early morning or when I'm hungry or tired. But if I concentrate, I can erase my accent to sound just like an American newscaster.

[Gregor]

I don't think anyone believes that they have an accent really - we all think we speak completely normally with no trace of accent but of course that cannot be true. Accent is the way we speak. Even the Queen has an accent. All British people have accents when they speak English, whether it is Scotish (for the time being) Welsh, Northern Irish or English. No-one is sterile.

[Dame6089]

I never noticed it until college, but I definitely have a Pittsburgh accent. I sometimes get called out on how I say certain words. I never thought I spoke Pittsburguese, but I guess I do after all haha.

I would love to hear an American accent from an outsiders perspective. I have no idea what the defining characteristics of our accent actually are. 

[rgaz83]

I speak "accentless" American English. That is you can't really tell what state I'm from, just by accent. It's the same accent that most newscasters tend to use in the US. Unlike some of my coworkers who have strong regional accents, I rarely get called out as not-Canadian by Canadians who call in. I sometimes talk a bit fast, but I otherwise communicate fine with almost anyone in North America.

[DiesIrae]

About one's own accent, I think it's not evident at first although if you talk to people who are used to different accents, that's when you know you have one. Even my Tagalog has a different accent to those who also speak Tagalog in other areas. You just don't notice it unless you hear other people or unless someone points it out.

[leahcim132]

Yes, I have an accent. In fact, everyone here has an accent... it's just unique.

[Guest akasha24]

The funny thing is, I have some type of accent in Hungarian and in English. I was moved around a lot and never really had the time to absorb everything. By the time I settled down at one place, it was time to leave.

I grew up in England but people say that I have a South American accent.

I actually never really thought about this whole having an accent thing until people started commenting on it.