Try to copy my accent

Jasper   Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:23 pm GMT
↑ To add to this, I believe online recordings distort a voice to some extent, fueling some false guesses on a speaker's place of origin.

For my own part, I did not try to copy the OP's voice because I cannot code-switch into it at this juncture.
code   Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:29 pm GMT
Sorry, what do you mean by "code-switch into it at this juncture"?
Jasper   Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:42 pm GMT
Code, "code-switching" explains the conscious mental snap in the brain when one switches into one language (say, Polish) into another (English.) You make the conscious decision to switch, then you speak the target language.

Accents within the same language require the exact same mental snap. If I want to go from my hybrid accent into North Central, I consciously make the decision to switch, then I do.

I cannot do this at this time. Learning a dialect successfully requires many hours of hard work to do convincingly. If it's done wrong, I would sound like a "hybrid speaker trying to speak a North Central dialect", instead of a real North Central speaker.

On a related note, I believe this explains some forumposters' lack of success with shadowing. It must be remembered that they should not belearning to eliminate their "home" accent (impossible), but "code-switch" into an American dialect.

Tom, the Burgermeister of this forum, probably knows exactly that of which I speak. He can almost certainly speak both Polish-accented English, and near-native English, by making a conscious effort to switch. Put another way, I bet he can speak both Polish-American, and can speak "American" by switching.

Ah, words fail me.
Jasper   Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:50 pm GMT
⇑↑ I apologize for the typos.
A3578b   Mon Mar 09, 2009 4:34 pm GMT
The speaker could be from Washington state. I've heard people that had that kind of "o" sound in Point Roberts and Blaine, WA.
Jasper   Mon Mar 09, 2009 5:12 pm GMT
"The speaker could be from Washington state. I've heard people that had that kind of "o" sound in Point Roberts and Blaine, WA."

This is possible—I know little to nothing about speech in Eastern Washington. All I can assert is that it's not a characteristic of Seattle-talk.