Living in the UK with an American accent
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Forum Name: General discussion
Forum Discription: Discussion about language learning for people who study languages on their own.
URL: http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40349
Printed Date: 21 July 2021 at 4:18pm
Posted By: albysky
Subject: Living in the UK with an American accent
Date Posted: 20 April 2015 at 4:13pm
How are you viewed in the UK if you live there as a non native English speaker whose accent is
tendentially very american ? Can that bring about some problems ?
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Replies:
I doubt you'll have any problems. You'll quickly pick up English words and idioms and even the accent. I recently watched an interview with a Polish immigrant who had a very distinctive Geordie (Newcastle) accent. He'd obviously lived here for a couple of years and had picked up the local accent which was mixed with his native accent.
There is a lot of immigration between EU countries, in fact London is considered France's 6th largest city. I have a number of Italian friends who live in London and none of them have ever told me about any problems related to their language or accent.
rdearman on 20 April 2015
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Ok thanks . I actually don't have problems with the English standard accent, so far I have spoken with a
scottish ,a guy from York and some other people from Hastings , I haven't had problems whatsover with
them . It is just that when I open my mouth I have a pretty thick american accent blemished by my native
tongue , I thought that that could be viewed as weird and even more unnatural than If I had only an Italian
accent.
albysky on 20 April 2015
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If you allow me to enlarge the scope of the topic a bit, for me the question would be: "can you survive in the UK without at least a passive understanding of the Estuary dialect?"
Answer: with great difficulty, more so the more you deal with the young/working class/autoctonous side of the population. This dialect is violently different from RP or General American because the phonological system varies vastly, and keeps newcomers bewildered for a long time.
You can have the luxury of NOT speaking Estuary, but you CANNOT do without UNDERSTANDING Estuary. For example, Filipino nurses do NOT understand British patients in hospitals at all! They just disguise and use telepathy and context to survive. I suppose as an American you can live comfortably as long as you get used to the schizophrenia of carrying an American mouth and an Estuary ear in your head at all times. It is fine if you start saying /ol rait mait/? to acclimate as long as you are not thrown off by hearing /ol roit moit/.
No idea how long it takes for you to develop aural proficiency. About how Britons will mentally process you ( /prouhses yah/, /praahses yu/ for you), I bet there will be nothing in particular going on in their head, just a "there it comes the American", but I am an outsider in this discussion.
3 years experience living in UK.
I was startled and idol heart broken when I heard Dido, who sings in standard, speak Estuary on tv! So unsexy and distressing! That was a different person! Fortunately her visual beauty was still in place. I wonder what goes on in her unconscious for her to "diglossify" herself like that. I will never understand these people.
Richard Burton on 20 April 2015
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It seems to be fairly common and absolutely fine to have a non-native accent layered on top of a regional non-UK English accent; American's the most common, but not the only one. Having a non-British accent, whether or not it's layered by another language's accent, even has advantages, as you don't get slotted into the class system, so can talk more easily with a wider range of people.
It's perfectly easy to survive in most of the UK without understanding Estuary English, which is another topic entirely. There's a lot more than London and its outskirts to the region.
Volte on 20 April 2015
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You may know better, Volte, I am no expert in British dialects, but it really does seem that Estuary conquered the whole of Uk but the Northern areas, it is just that linguists are lingering behind in describing the situation. Even the Queen was caught with Estuary features! So much for "Queen English". RP is gone in the real world, just we are lazy to acknowledge the situation. A loose General American has some sort of default option flavour to it now, arguably aka Global English or something, so Americans are welcome to be themselves everywhere, and foreign users approaching that model as much as they can must be felt as normal linguistic fauna I would suppose.
Richard Burton on 20 April 2015
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True! I lived in England for 10 years and only ever heard the "Estuary" dialect on TV but I did live in the North- Yorkshire, Lancashire and Liverpool. There's a whole 'nother country beyond the "Home Counties". Ay up lad!
Doctor Who (Chris Eccleston) wrote:
| Lots of planets have a North |
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iguanamon on 20 April 2015
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If you have an American accent, from experience, people would 100% notice it. But most
owuld probably say nothing about it. Every now and again some might comment on it
(either good or bad), but if you have mixed Italian accent too, I think that generally
people are impressed.
Note that there is always a bit of underlying tension between the UK and USA, that has
existed for centuries both politically and culturally (and militarily). The dual
invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq have caused quite a lot of tension amongst UK public
and the USA, saying that the UK were made to go to both wars because the USA made the
coalition to do so.
I had one classmate in uni from an estate in Leeds who said (not randomly but during a
conversation) about the Americans, "Ah joost dawn't lakh thum"
1e4e6 on 20 April 2015
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1e4e6 wrote:
Note that there is always a bit of underlying tension between the UK and USA, that has
existed for centuries both politically and culturally (and militarily). The dual
invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq have caused quite a lot of tension amongst UK public
and the USA, saying that the UK were made to go to both wars because the USA made the
coalition to do so.
I had one classmate in uni from an estate in Leeds who said (not randomly but during a
conversation) about the Americans, "Ah joost dawn't lakh thum" |
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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)?
hrhenry on 20 April 2015
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>"Ah joost dawn't lakh thum"
hahhahah excellent transcription!
Richard Burton on 20 April 2015
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hrhenry wrote:
1e4e6 wrote:
Note that there is always a bit of underlying tension between the UK and USA, that has
existed for centuries both politically and culturally (and militarily). The dual
invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq have caused quite a lot of tension amongst UK public
and the USA, saying that the UK were made to go to both wars because the USA made the
coalition to do so.
I had one classmate in uni from an estate in Leeds who said (not randomly but during a
conversation) about the Americans, "Ah joost dawn't lakh thum" |
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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)? |
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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.
1e4e6 on 20 April 2015
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hrhenry wrote:
| 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)? |
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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.
iguanamon on 21 April 2015
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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.
Elenia on 21 April 2015
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albysky wrote:
| How are you viewed in the UK if you live there as a non native English speaker whose accent is tendentially very american ? Can that bring about some problems ? |
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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.
basica on 21 April 2015
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Learn to speak RP and you will be OK.
Elexi on 21 April 2015
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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.
Elexi on 21 April 2015
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I have heared many times that british people don't like american accent, becuase they
think their accent is the original :D
mustafamah6at on 10 May 2015
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mustafamah6at wrote:
I have heared many times that british people don't like american accent, becuase they
think their accent is the original :D |
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But the American accent is the ''original''
the origin being Southern Irish and West Country. ;)
As far as pronunciation is concerned, the contemporary Dublin Irish is much closer to General American than RP or Estuary are, listen to this Dubliner announcing Céline Dion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLPlhvgE9qA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLPlhvgE9qA
George Bernard Shaw once said " the best English is spoken in Ireland".
Medulin on 11 May 2015
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George Bernard Shaw was Irish, so he would say that, wouldn't he? My father used to do
pocket money jobs for him in the late 1940s and reports that he was a most disagreeable
fellow.
Elexi on 11 May 2015
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I'm an American living in England and I get a wide variety of responses. A lot of students say, "You're American! That's so cool!" Others say, "when are you going to lose your accent?" The responses are overwhelmingly on the positive side, and sometimes my accent elicits odd (to me) responses such as the elderly man who said to me, "American? I've never understood this American habit of drinking cold tea."
Jeffers on 12 May 2015
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Jeffers wrote:
| I'm an American living in England and I get a wide variety of responses. A lot of students say, "You're American! That's so cool!" Others say, "when are you going to lose your accent?" The responses are overwhelmingly on the positive side, and sometimes my accent elicits odd (to me) responses such as the elderly man who said to me, "American? I've never understood this American habit of drinking cold tea." |
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Interesting. Me too. (ex-pat American)
rdearman on 12 May 2015
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