What accent do you really hate? and which one you love?

Damian in London E16: how about if we take the sentences individually apart from the context, and we look at them - for example the following sentences taken from an earlier post for you:

**OK I see it from your angle, Uriel
**I'm not sure why I got wound up over this issue
**As I say, rant over.....let peace ensue again

How would these statements be spoken outside in an ordinary chat? Same as they are?

<<Well, that's very impressive, considering that I'm 55 and still haven't quite figured out how to do it!>>

Oh, I doubt that--I'm sure you do just fine :)

<<Probably many of the native English speakers participating in this forum are concentrating in this thread…I would like then to know of how much their postings could reflect the actual daily english spoken if this forum would be a face-to-face conversation between ordinary people.

When you write here, do you try to make your piece looks neater or more sophisticated in a way or another? Or do you tend to use some special words for that purpose, if such an intention exists at all?

In other words, if I do “copy” from here then “paste” outside, will I look odd or having kind of formality in my chatting?

That’s really important for me to know, being an English learner who wants to speak like natives in every aspects of the language.>>

There is always a difference between the spoken and written forms of any language. I wouldn't say most of the language here is necessarily formal but it does not read like a transcript of spoken language, either. If you wish to acquire natural conversation patterns in a language you're learning, of course it's best to speak with natives if at all possible. If not, the second best thing to do would be to find media with people speaking relatively unguardedly.

<<I don't think you can compare the two types of communication....the written form in these threads...and the ordinary "live" verbals we all conduct "in the Great Outside". I doubt that anybody speaks in quite the same way as they write in here.....one is much more spontaneous than the other.>>

Exactly. And everything from syntax to word choice can be different in the spoken language. This is also not even mentioning that written language tends to be standardized and doesn't really give good clues at all about how people actually pronounce things (even for written languages like Spanish, which have considerable spoken dialectal variation despite the worldwide written standard which is very uniform across Spanish-speaking countries) in normal speech.

I totally understand this. I was just trying to know how far is the standard written English when at its simplest form - as we can read here in this forum - from the spoken language. I know that there are even some languages where the dialect form is almost unwrittable due to the major shift of the pronunciation and the structure of the sentences.

I think English does not have this problem.

I must admit I are not too fond on the "ameriacan accents". But I love a jolly-good "aussi" "gd-day matie" and all that strivel! Any snapping post on my comment would be very appritiated and a thankyou your way! chin-chin for now chapies (and chapesses!) (laughing!) jolly-good bye for now!

I will use a few words in my writing that I don't think I would use in everyday speech. Alas (there's one!), English is full of so many words that we know but never really get to use in spoken form -- they work great on paper, but don't roll so trippingly off the tongue. But it's not like I make any special effort to fancy up my written language -- I write what I'm thinking. But I'm probably much less articulate-sounding in actual conversation. I'm not a great public speaker.

It's true that I will reread what I've written and try to catch any typos, punctuation errors, and occasionally reword things that sound awkward on reflection, though. I think that's only fair to the other people who might condescend to read my ramblings.... (and they are often just ramblings -- those of you who know me from here and elsewhere no doubt know better than to take me too seriously!)

I am a strange person - and talk almost exactly as I write. However, it depends on the mood of the discussion.

On this forum, I am rarely in a playful mood as I like to debate seriously. I debate seriously in real life much less often, but when I do, I sound exactly as I do when seriously debating here.

Same goes for when I am joking around.

This essential difference to me is therefore quantity - in reality, 80% os speech is general and informal while 20% is serious and formal. On this forum, those percentages are roughly reversed for me.

Uriel, ramblings or no ramblings. It doesn't a matter a bit. You write things the way you percieve. Simple and straightforward! I like your style. You are not like those sissy girls who get easily worked up even from reading a small joke. You have a thick skin and can bear jokes ...that's what i really liked about you. It is always my honor to read your posts, never boring. A fresh air of breath to the forum!

Hear hear Boy! Our Uriel has one great sense of humor ;) You sly minx you! Really, I think the word "minx" fits you so well.

Well boy, Uriel AND Tiffany are both poles in this forum, but at one side in most cases!

For me, before I post my “boring articles” I reread them first, I do some changes, then reread again, then alter, then....................finally I REREEAD one last time before click “send”

**things are improving now!

What do you call the accent they are using at the germen TV (DW) when they broadcast in English? Looks like a neutral accent between the British and the American…it’s Nice.

Why thanks, guys! I try to keep it light-hearted and fun, like me. ;)

What constitutes a "neutral accent between the British and the American"? I'm picturing American with all the T's the pronounced, cut back a little on the R's....

Eeee -- look at me, not proofreading at all ... ignore that extraneous "the"!

Thanks Mike :)

Uriel, if I got worked up over every typo made... I'd have some condition by now. And second that comment. I wasn't aware there was a neutral accent - wouldn't it sound foreign to either side then?

I meant by neutral accent is that when you look at someone speaking English as an English native, yet you don’t have a clue from where he/she comes. In case of the DW german TV, whether they are English natives or not, they do speak like natives. But as I said, I wasn’t able to detect pure British accent, nor to detect pure American accent...maybe this is how the Germans sound when they speak perfect English (do they teach British English or American English at German schools?

Or could be that the presenters came from somewhere half the way between the USA and the UK in the middle of the Atlantic ocean.

They're cold, they're wet, and a little bit smelly, but scrape off that salt crust and they're prized for their accents....

Actually, funny that you should talk about an in-between accent -- I caught a snippet of some show with a British actress whose name escapes me, but she used to be on a soap opera and she's lived in the US a long time (Finola Hughes, maybe?). Her accent is now a sort of mishmash of both -- you can still hear some of the foreignness, but you can tell it's been softened a great deal. It did sound sort of nice.

Hey, can someone tell me what an American accent sounds like to them? I'm American, so you know I don't really think of it as an accent lol. What do you guys think is American slang?

I'm from the west coast, not the south or anything, and west coasters don't really have a distinguishable accent to other Americans, I think.

I actually really like Australian accents, but I really don't know why. I think British accents (more on girls) are gorgeous, and Southern male accents. All I've ever heard of a cockney accent was in Oliver. haha