What's with British people and American accents?!
Hey,
I'm studying English and I sound very American (Midwestern-Californian).
When I voice chat with British people, I always get weird comments.
They do say that my spoken English is fine but they seem to burst out laughing for no reason or they tend to mimic me/ say weird things like "so are you really French, because you don't sound French at all, you just sound American. Do you have an American accent in French haha?"
They also pick up on my vocabulary, that's maybe a bit awesome-like-you know-loaded, but not that much!
Does the American accent, especially the Californian one, sound funny to British people?
I'm sure it does. Foreign people with British accents sound funny to me, especially if they're from places where I wouldn't expect it (such as Mexico). It's an understandable reaction, but it's not so understandable that they would be so public about it. To get an idea what it's like, imagine that the British people were speaking to you in French with a weird accent (such as Quebec). As much as people might rationally know that there are other accents, they still think of theirs as the "right" one, and expect anyone learning the language to learn the "real" language rather than a fake version.
***Does the American accent, especially the Californian one, sound funny to British people?***
It depends on how you define the word "funny" before a definitive answer can be given on this one. You mention California - isn't that where the so called Valley Girl accent originated? If so then all I can say is: "Say no more!" In a word - dreich, as we say in Scotland.
In general though the majority of Brits don't look all that favourably on the American accent as a whole, I'm sorry to tell you - at least those of them with any opinion at all, that is.
Thank your for your answers!
Well, I don't really know about that, American people place me in the Midwest, not far from California but not *in* California either.
And yes, the Valley Girl accent originated from California, but I don't think I sound like that - maybe I do!
Here funny should be read as '"worthy of making weird comments and laughing, plus using the word "American" repeatedly."'
Hi Donna
Damian is correct about "those of them with any opinion at all, that is." those who like americans accents rarely tell you they do, I wouldn't (I used to often ask Canadians whether they were Americans, and whilst they were always polite (no surprise there), it is generally a bad thing to do.
I love American accents on a lady, and have been accused of when backing them to disgruntled american men that I should shut up and we (English) are no better.
So there are some of us, who like Americans, it just bigots speak louder. I was going to add jokingly that if you were an American it must be hard to tell (all Americans are loud myth).
Haha! Oh well, at least *someone* in the UK likes American accents.
The thing is, I'll probably go to the UK for a year as a French assistant.
Do you think I should work on toning down my American accent in order to avoid too much bad reactions?
About the whole "Midwestern" thing, the matter is that actual people from the Midwest, especially those from the Upper Midwest, generally do not speak like what many people associate with being "Midwestern". (I myself, happening to be from Milwaukee, WI, have a weird mixture of moderate North Central features and moderate but atypical Inland North features, and people not from the Upper Midwest or Inland North say I sound very weird...) While there are parts of the Lower Midwest which the dialect spoken there is close to what many other Americans associate with being "Midwestern", today that area is quite small, having been severely impinged upon by Midland (think Southern lite) and Inland North dialects.
''I'm studying English and I sound very American (Midwestern-Californian). ''
Then you must sound very horrible.
Midwestern and Californian are nothing alike, they're like two words apart.
For example, POP pronounced in Chicago has the same sound as PAP pronounced in L.A.
Tis true, but at the same many more southern (that is, not far northern Upper Midwest) Midwestern dialects are actually genetically pretty close to Californian dialects - but the matter is that in the sixty or so years that the two have had to diverge, they have diverged a lot, to the point that speakers from either place will perceive speakers from the other as being quite accented today.
''Does the American accent, especially the Californian one, sound funny to British people? ''
Californian does not sound FUNNY to British people:
LA's mom [mQm] is closer to British pronunciation than Chicago's mom [m{m].
Californian accent is flat, just like Canadian and RP.
Most British singers/actors end up with a Californian accent when they imitate the US accent: think Kate Winslet in ''Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind''.
I think NCVS is much weirder to British people.
I'm from California, and as far as I can tell, the "Valley Girl" accent is simply an invention of the media. Perhaps it has some basis in reality, but it's been wildly exagerrated. Frankly, the Beatles sound more like "Valley Girls" than girls from the valley do.
It's a perfectly nice accent. What you're running into is nothing but the snob factor. Don't let the bastards get you down. ;)
And it's not like a British person would know a California accent from a Midwestern one -- they both just sound "American" to them. As they would to many Americans, who rarely pick up on accent changes unless they are pretty strong, like Southern and New England accents. So it's not the particular variety your listeners are picking on -- it's the whole American thing.