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American or British accent more popular? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4630 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 57 of 70 06 June 2012 at 12:05pm | IP Logged | |||||
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My English teachers in school tried to teach us RP, but to be honest they mostly spoke with a Norwegian accent...
Personally I have always preferred the British (RP) accent,and since I lived in London for several years, I naturally adopted Sout-Eastern English pronunciation. As a European, I would not find it natural to adopt an American accent, unless I went to live in the USA. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4659 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 58 of 70 06 June 2012 at 10:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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As a European, I find the American accents more beautiful and easier to imitate.
Blame it on Hollywood. (We don't get many British tv shows here). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5822 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 59 of 70 11 June 2012 at 2:00am | IP Logged | |||||
LOL. England one of the most culturally homogenous countries in the world? I think not. Just because English dialects aren't considered separate languages like they are in Germany or Italy doesn't make them any less different from standard English. People are always going on about the North/South divide in England. Clearly it is a big thing and many Northern English people feel very different culturally from the South and especially London. I would agree that England is culturally homogenous compared to Spain, but I'm not convinced it is so much more homogenous than Germany, especially considering these days the whole country speaks Standard German, and regional dialects have all but disappeared, accept perhaps for Bavaria. To say England is a homogenous country compared to the likes of Japan and Korea particularly is just nonsense. I can think of various countries, including in Europe that are significantly more culturally homogenous than England. This idea that England is the ultimate homogenous nation is nothing but a stereotype. There are a huge array of cultures and dialects in England, far more so than many other nations. In fact, many people from regions of England with particularly strong accents, (ie Liverpool and Yorkshire) often have to speak using a more Standard accent when speaking to people not from their region as it can often be difficult for people to understand local slang and the accent in general. To emphasise my point. If the Liverpool (Scouse) dialect was considered to be a separate language from Standard English in the same way that Austro-Bavarian is considered to be separate from Standard German then the written from of Liverpool English would look just as different from Standard English as Austro-Bavarian looks from Standard German. However, English dialects are merely considered to be unsophisticated sociolects and not languages, thus creating the illusion of unification. Edited by COF on 11 June 2012 at 2:10am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4835 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 60 of 70 11 June 2012 at 1:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
That's not true. Regional dialects still exist, especially in the whole of southern Germany - not only Bavaria. It is true that most young people speak Standard German, but mostly with a regional accent - and lots of old people still speak the traditional dialects. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5822 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 61 of 70 11 June 2012 at 1:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
Most Northern English people speak Standard English, but with a strong accent. However, for the most part they much prefer their own dialects while talking to other people from their own region. What's the difference? Edited by COF on 11 June 2012 at 1:20pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5822 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 62 of 70 11 June 2012 at 1:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think many people under-estimate the sheer diversity of accents and dialects in England.
Hollywood and the media in general has created the impression that everyone in England speaks in either RP, or Estuary English, which are both South East/London accents. However, those accents are really only a minority of the population. Edited by COF on 11 June 2012 at 1:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4698 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 63 of 70 11 June 2012 at 1:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I think you should stop talking and get more educated. There's not a single opinion you've spouted on the last page that isn't riddled with errors, generalisations, or quite simply absurdities. Following your lead would be like claiming that all English people moan about the weather, tea, other people, and more such things, while they all drink tea and eat scones and the lower class people read the Daily Mail and are racist. Edited by tarvos on 11 June 2012 at 1:29pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5822 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes Speaks: English* | Message 64 of 70 11 June 2012 at 1:35pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Actually, Dutch people are probably more racist than the English with their beloved Geert Wilders.
However, the fact remains that the huge range of accents in England is quite remarkable considering how small and densely populated it is. Ultimately I refuse to accept that England is less linguistically diverse than Germany, France or indeed the Netherlands and I'm yet to be presented with any evidence to counter that. Just because England is stereotyped as a highly conservative white monoculture doesn't mean it's neccessarily true. Edited by COF on 11 June 2012 at 1:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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