Accent analysis

Well, I've been trying to figure out what my accent sounds like. So I made a recording of me reading "Comma gets a cure" to be found at

http://media.putfile.com/Comma-gets-a-cure-22

So, comments please? Where does it sound like I'm from? Native or non-native? If you could find specific details in the pronuncation revealing a particular accent, that would be much appreciated too.

I won't tell you my background just yet, I want truly unbiased answers.

Below is the text I'm reading from, for your convenience.

Thanks!


Well, here's a story for you: Sarah Perry was a veterinary nurse who had been working daily at an old zoo in a deserted district of the territory, so she was very happy to start a new job at a superb private practice in North Square near the Duke Street Tower. That area was much nearer for her and more to her liking.

Even so, on her first morning, she felt stressed. She ate a bowl of porridge, checked herself in the mirror and washed her face in a hurry. Then she put on a plain yellow dress and a fleece jacket, picked up her kit and headed for work.

When she got there, there was a woman with a goose waiting for her. The woman gave Sarah an official letter from the vet. The letter implied that the animal could be suffering from a rare form of foot and mouth disease, which was surprising, because normally you would only expect to see it in a dog or a goat. Sarah was sentimental, so this made her feel sorry for the beautiful bird.

Before long, that itchy goose began to strut around the office like a lunatic, which made an unsanitary mess. The goose's owner, Mary Harrison, kept calling, "Comma, Comma," which Sarah thought was an odd choice for a name.

Comma was strong and huge, so it would take some force to trap her, but Sarah had a different idea. First she tried gently stroking the goose's lower back with her palm, then singing a tune to her. Finally, she administered ether. Her efforts were not futile. In no time, the goose began to tire, so Sarah was able to hold onto Comma and give her a relaxing bath.

Once Sarah had managed to bathe the goose, she wiped her off with a cloth and laid her on her right side. Then Sarah confirmed the vet's diagnosis. Almost immediately, she remembered an effective treatment that required her to measure out a lot of medicine. Sarah warned that this course of treatment might be expensive — either five or six times the cost of penicillin. I can’t imagine paying so much, but Mrs. Harrison — a millionaire lawyer — thought it was a fair price for a cure.

You're pretty good, but you have a few odd pronunciations:

goose gooze

lunatic lune-a-tic

thought sought

Perhaps somewhere in Asia?

You may be non-native.
I'm not familiar with British accents, so I can't tell.
Maybe you're from around the Middle East?

Swedish?

Definitely Asian. Perhaps Singaporean?

S'pore/Malay

Hmm, interesting.

All you people saying Asian, what makes you think that?

Erik, what make you think Swedish?

The way you say certain words is similar to that Michelle Yeoh speaks English.

I would say Swedish too. Or Norwegian.
You're definitely good but you revealed yourself on the words lunatic and palm which were pronounced in the wrong way. ;)
I think, in order to nail the perfect British accent you need to speak in a more "throaty" way with the tongue further back. But you're almost there!

>> You're definitely good but you revealed yourself on the words lunatic and palm which were pronounced in the wrong way. ;) <<

How was palm pronounced incorrectly?

>> I think, in order to nail the perfect British accent you need to speak in a more "throaty" way with the tongue further back. But you're almost there! <<

"Throaty" with the tongue further back? How does that work?

Sounds a bit Asian to me too. It's very good but too fast, not enough pausing between phrases. It sounds Asian because the vowels don't sound long or rounded enough and it's something to do with the intonation too. Clearly non-native.

That said, you're very good. Well done. Now tell us your native language.

>> It sounds Asian because the vowels don't sound long or rounded enough <<

Which vowels didn't sound long or rounded enough?

>> That said, you're very good. <<

Yes, it is quite good. Good enough to fool an American into thinking you are British, if you fix a couple of words.

I find these "guess my accent" things rather funny, though, as it is very easy for people to be well off-the-mark. Hell, I myself am a native English speaker, but as my dialect has some rather non-standard phonological features that are not likely to be familiar to many English-speakers not from the area, I had people quite firmly believing that I was a non-native speaker of English, and making guesses like that I was from somewhere in East Asia, from speech samples of mine...

Yes, but this one is clearly non-native because of odd pronunciations, like "lunatic" for example, and "gooze" for "goose".