I'm from Dublin (south) in Ireland and currently live in the US. Something that just amuses me is that about 3 out of every 4 Americans I meet ask if I'm Australian.
It's kind of understandable since most Irish accents on TV or in the Cinema are exaggerated or staged. The slightly Anglicised "south" Dublin accent is rarely heard even though 100s of 1000s of Irish people speak with this accent.
On the other hand, I lived in Australia for 2 years (no my accent hase'nt been influenced by Australia) and a lot of Australians thought I was Canadian....You can't win!
I guess my question is do Americans/Australians realize there are many different accents in Ireland not just the one "Oirish" accent that you hear in the movies?
Well why doesn't Ireland bring out some more movies about contemporary Dublin life? A comedy or something set in South dublin?
Australians must be pretty popular in America then, seems everyone that speak with a foreign native English accent is asked if they are Australian.
You may be right there. I wonder do many English people get asked if they are from oz?
Joe I agree with your point above about the Irish movie scene. As far as I know there are a couple on the way. One is called "Intermission"..some comedy set in present day Dublin...not too sure what it's about..the other is "Veronica Guerin"..a movie about the Dublin Mafia...but then I'm sure these'll be full of fake accents also.
I can usually tell Australians from English people, but I met a Cockney who had been living in the US for some 30 years, and at first, I had only listened to him for a couple of sentences and I asked him if he was Australian. But as we started to talk more, his accent was definately not Australian.
I think that most people might mistake people who are British/Irish for being Australian because they only hear a few words come out of the person's mouth. I think that if the person was given more time, he or she could get a better idea that the other person is not Australian.
The funny thing is that lots of Aussies in America are always asked if their English.
I have a great aunt and two cousins over there and they sound English to me.
I was talking to myself the other day and I asked myself: "Simon are you Australian?" I said yes.
I can usually pick out an Australian accent, but sometimes I have to listen carefully. I think it depends on how strong the accent is. For example, I'd never mistake the "Crocodile Hunter" for being British, but there are others that one might have to listen to more carefully.
I always ask myself if I'm American. I never feel like other Americans around me. Sometimes I have to talk and hear my American accent to remind myself I'm American and not some Brit or Aussie. :-)
Ryan
A lot of posh Australians sound English.
I'm from Birmingham in the UK and I get that quite a lot from North Americans too. This appears to be because North Americans think all British people speak RP (Received Pronunciation), like Hugh Grant, etc. Any non-standard accents are therefore categorised as Australian for some reason. I think this says an awful lot more about the ignorance of North Americans about anything outside of the US rather than any inherent similarities between non-standard British accents and Australian English.
We are all part of the English speaking family. We should all have similarities in our accents. I have heard English people being suspected of being Texans.
Classic Australian films such as "Picnic at Hanging Rock" and "Gallipoli" by Peter Weir (as well as "My Brilliant Career" starring Judy Davis and Sam Neil), are great for studying Australian english/accents.