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Living in the UK with an American accent | ||
Tags: Accent | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5132 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes  Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 9 of 21 20 April 2015 at 9:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
What's with all the political talk of late (not just you, 1e4e6 - I've seen it in a couple threads the last couple days)? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Richard Burton Newbie Spain Joined 4334 days ago 34 posts - 64 votes Speaks: Ancient Greek* | Message 10 of 21 20 April 2015 at 9:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
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>"Ah joost dawn't lakh thum"
hahhahah excellent transcription! 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4292 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 11 of 21 20 April 2015 at 9:48pm | IP Logged | |||||
The accent itself that leads natives to think that the speaker may be American can then lead to them asking about these issues. A few years ago when in a group upon finding out that one person in the group was American (because of the clear accent), someone asked slightly annoyingly about if they knew that the USA were leading prolonged invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq, and that Britain would never have done so otherwise. This happened just because of the American accent. But still, mostly the accent would make native Britons impressed if they found out that it is a foreigner with an American-styled accent. Also an Italian has notihng to do with the USA, so they would most likely not ask things that irk Britons with regards to the "special relationshio" between the two countries. But it depends on the level of accent of the speaker. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5264 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 12 of 21 21 April 2015 at 12:05am | IP Logged | |||||
I agree. I know some people hold strong opinions but they can also try to hold them in. It is indeed a slippery slope. To answer the OP's question, don't worry. You'll be fine. I lived in England for a decade, not very long ago, and, as an American, I had no problems whatsoever. Most people are going to be happy that you speak their language at all, even if you have an American influenced Italian accent. The ones that aren't, you don't need them anyway. I always told people when I lived there whenever politics came up that though I am an American, I am just one American- not the whole country. I am here because I want to be here and I stay because I like it here. Judge me for who I am not my nationality. I say that now here as well. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Elenia Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom lilyonlife.blog Joined 3858 days ago 239 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Swedish, Esperanto | Message 13 of 21 21 April 2015 at 3:16am | IP Logged | |||||
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I think it's fine. You may get questioned from time to time, but usually nothing serious.
People sometimes even ask me if I'm American, and I was born and raised in London - I just have a blurry accent. I have only been asked out of interest, however, never with any antagonistic intent. I have heard from a Romanian friend that it is better to try to speak with a British accent when applying for certain jobs, but I should hope an American accent wouldn't actually impact chances of being hired. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| basica Senior Member Australia Joined 3538 days ago 157 posts - 269 votes Studies: Serbian | Message 14 of 21 21 April 2015 at 5:24am | IP Logged | |||||
What do you think will happen? Riots in the streets? :P I'm sure there are some countries that might have massive tension between them and thus you might experience issues if you're from one and visiting another - but that sort of animosity isn't really to be found amongst any of the English speaking countries towards each other and for the most part most european countries amongst themselves (In my experience at least). I have an American-ish accent (most people would guess American, even most Americans except for those who've lived in many areas of the US it seems) and I've never experienced issue no matter where I've been - even places which are known to be "hostile" to Americans. EDIT: As another posted, most of the time people are fascinated and curious so it opens up a lot of conversation. Edited by basica on 21 April 2015 at 5:28am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5567 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 15 of 21 21 April 2015 at 11:18am | IP Logged | |||||
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Learn to speak RP and you will be OK. Edited by Elexi on 21 April 2015 at 11:34am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5567 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 16 of 21 21 April 2015 at 11:23am | IP Logged | |||||
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On a more serious note. It is almost expected that non-English speakers of English will
have an American accent, and English people will more likely hear the Italian rather than the American. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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