Thread: Foreign Accents and Stereotypes

Whenever I hear someone's accent, it has certain characteristics and brings up certain sterotypes, and it got me thinking: I wonder how my accent sounds to people from other countries, whether it brings up certain stereotypes. So maybe all you non-Canadians, non-Americans can help me out and tell me how the North American accent sounds. (Generally speaking; I know we've got our own dialects. For all intents and purposes I'll say the movie accent, as in English in most movies).

Here's how a few accents strike me,

British: Sophisticated and refined. It depends though; you guys got a few going on. The one I'm thinking of is the one the female lead has in the recent Captain America movie.

German: Forceful.

French: Artsy and expressive.

Australian: British but funny. It's got a certain merry twang.

South African: About the same as Australian. It makes me think of doctors cause every other doctor here is South African.

Russian/Ukrainian: Extremely sexy.

Alabama/South US: Rednecks, although I've met a few very intelligent people with this accent who shatter that stereotype.

Spanish: Puss in Boots.

Irish: Groundskeeper Willie. Drunken redheads with freckles.

Japanese: Intelligent and enlightened (probably my impression of the culture washing off on the accent).

Dutch: Wack.

Chinese: Probably the only one I don't like. Sounds weird. (Sorry Chinese people.)

i don't personally think that your characterizations are worth addressing, but I will add my 2¢. The German accent has been used throughout the years in identifying the bad guy. You'd think that by now, 66 years after the end of World War II, this would have fallen out of favor. However, the bad guy in the current Disney Channel "Phineas & Ferb" cartoon is none other than comical mad scientist Dr Doofenshmirtz, who speaks in what type of accent? You guessed it—German!

I was on a city bus one day (back when I was living in Chicago) and I saw a lady reading a kiddie picture book to her young son—in German. It occurred to me that, on TV and in the movies, German is almost always shouted, and usually by despicable characters. I realized with amazement that I had never heard it spoken with love and kindness, and was thankful that the subliminal message of "evil German" was not in evidence that day.

That's a fun post! And yes, you've let your impressions wash-off reality in more than one place; but that's OK!

From wiki, search-term English dialects for an interesting expansion on this topic.

I did not find a world-wide comprehensive list. Once you've viewed English, try Chinese!

Originally Posted by caelum

Alabama/South US: Rednecks, although I've met a few very intelligent people with this accent who shatter that stereotype.

There are two major types of southeastern accent – one is the more aristocratic variety, with roots in wealthy landowners and southern city dwellers. Jimmy Carter would be an example of someone who speaks with that accent. That’s the way my mom speaks too. It’s really a beautiful sounding thing. That’s essentially dying out, and after this older generation is gone, that accent will go with it.

The other variety is the rural and small town southern accent. It’s alive and well and is often marked with poor grammar. Although it’s perceived that way, it doesn’t have much to do with lack of intelligence, more upbringing and that some of the rural schools aren’t that good. This is the kind of accent my wife has, although her grammar is flawless. She’s aware of how it’s perceived and has managed to tone it down – although if you get her mad she reverts pretty quickly.

I’m just as guilty of stereotyping based on the rural/small town accent and I've been around it all my life. For example, I’ve heard law enforcement interviewed on the news , their grammar may be fine, and what they’re saying makes perfect sense, but that heavy twang just seems to knock several points off the IQ.

I'd say the Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi accents are pretty similar. There are differences with the Tennessee, Kentucky and North and South Carolina accents, and regional differences within those states. I can recognize that there are differences, but it's hard to put my finger on what they are.

What’s also funny – Hollywood often gets the above main types of accents mixed up. I was watching some movie and the detective went up to the door of the trailer park, and the woman who answered sounded like Scarlett O’Hara.

Originally Posted by caelum

Irish: Groundskeeper Willie. Drunken redheads with freckles.

He's Scottish.

JosephB beat me to the Groundskeeper Willie mistake. He is a stereotypical Scottish character. Try watching Amy Pond on Doctor Who for a less stereotypical, softer, sexier Scottish accept.

Irish is also considered by many to be a sophisticated and sexy accent, with a slight trill on the end of a word. Colin Farrell and Pierce Brosnan have good Irish accents.

My own Bristolian accent can be quite typical of the British westcounty, usually associated with farmers. My accent isn't that strong, but other people usually notice it in words like letter. Bristolians tend to drop the last 't' in these words and put emphasis on the 'r', so that letter is pronounced let'er.

I speak like a watered down Del Boy, but I've started pronouncing my Ts lately. No more "wore-ah" (water) for Bruno. I wish I spoke like Patrick Stewart. . . .

I can't think of an American actor who doesn't sound like an Australian when they do a British accent. Johnny Depp does a pretty good one.

I think of Maggie Smith -- I mean some of her roles -- when I think of the Scottish accent. I think the Scottish accent is actually my favourite.

Here are my impressions

British: Clever, sarcastic, ironic, and overall witty and entertaining. Reminds me of Spain Spanish versus ours.

German, French and Italian: reminds me of spaghetti; it feels like even they have a problem speaking fluently; I guess it's how the languages are designed, too many strong syllables.

Russian/Ukrainian: Extremely confusing :\

US in general: Smooth, perhaps too smooth. It can sometimes get confusing, often too fast, and many words sound the same. Vocal letters are all too similar in pronunciation, and many times not consistent with their use.

Spain Spanish / Argentina Spanish: Absolutely hilarious, old-fashioned, but graceful. I love how they pronounce the c, s, z, and j.

Mexico Spanish: Horrible, a disgrace to a language that has such a nice pronunciation. I cringe every time I hear a Spanish dubbed movie because it's most often mexican, and it sounds so awful. There is only one mexican singer that I think deserves respect, and that's Luis Miguel.

Venezuelan / Overall South-American Spanish: Unremarkable. Colombians actually have an accent (and they often sound very soothing), but it isn't very strong. Venezuelans are as neutral as you can get in the scale of Spanish Accents.

Japanese: While I find the language to be unpractical, I just love how it sounds. It's very soft to the ears, and also very clear and easy to pronounce; that's probably why they speak so quickly.

Brazilian Portuguese: Males sound gay and females sound lesbian. There is this prevalent falsetto that shows up every few words, and the tones vary wildly. I hate their accent as much as I hate their music.

Chinese: It could have some more variety. It feels like every word is a combination of Ch, W and M.

Englishman: You're illiterate.
Chinaman: That's easy for you to say.

I'm just gonna focus on two.

Being born and raised in the Southern USA, more specifically Georgia, one would naturally think that I have a thick, illiterate accent, like how JosephB described the second Southern accent. While that accent does fit the majority of my family (especially my dad's side), that's not how I speak. I'm not sure if I have the first Southern accent he described though. In fact, when I speak, I don't notice an accent at all unless I'm angry.

And for England, it depends on the region. I notice those who live around London have a more posh tone, but the further out you go from I'm not sure. A very good friend of mine was born around Wales, and she described the accent differences of Britain to me, but I don't remember (some friend I am, huh?). But she doesn't speak with a British accent; she forced herself to speak with an American accent after she moved here to the States because she was bullied for it in elementary school, and I've never heard her speak with the accent. But her mother sounds like a mix of Scottish and the posh London I described. I actually wish I had a British accent sometimes, akin to Patrick Stuart, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, or Ian McKellen.

Originally Posted by yingguoren

My own Bristolian accent can be quite typical of the British westcounty, usually associated with farmers. My accent isn't that strong, but other people usually notice it in words like letter. Bristolians tend to drop the last 't' in these words and put emphasis on the 'r', so that letter is pronounced let'er.

What I wanna know is why English people say saw as "soar." They're nothing alike. I distinctly remember Harry saying, "I soar him!"

Originally Posted by Bruno Spatola

I speak like a watered down Del Boy, but I've started pronouncing my Ts lately. No more "wore-ah" (water) for Bruno. I wish I spoke like Patrick Stewart. . . .

What I've noticed is most T sounds around here are actually Ds (little is liddle), which I've about stopped doing. Like someone recently said, "Jiggle it a little it'll open," which came out, "Jiggle ida liddle iddle open."

Originally Posted by Elite

It [English] can sometimes get confusing, often too fast,

That's funny. That's how most other languages strike me. English sounds slow, but that's probably cause it's my first language.

Originally Posted by Bruno Spatola

I can't think of an American actor who doesn't sound like an Australian when they do a British accent.

Haha. That's funny. I can't think of an American who can do an Australian accent without sounding English.


I have an Australian accent, obviously, but I don't speak like a full blown bogan (The Aussie version of a redneck).
In my experience there isn't a huge variation in accents over the country. People in Queensland, for example, might know I'm from Melbourne because I dress in a lot of black, but not from how I speak.
I think we all just speak in varying degrees of bogan.

It's amazing to me that in a country as geographically small as England, the accents can vary so much.

I can't think of an American who can do an Australian accent without sounding English.

I can do it really well...I've been told.

Haha. Considering you watched that video on my Facebook and thought the Americans were Australians... I'm not sure how much stock to put into that

That's funny. That's how most other languages strike me. English sounds slow, but that's probably cause it's my first language.

If you consider words per minute on average, English is way above Spanish; the words are generally shorter, and the pronunciation is also smooth, so it's very easy for things to mix up if you don't speak clearly.

For instance:

"I don't wanna get in trouble""

Sounds as:

"iron wanna getin trouble."

It still makes sense to anyone that's fluent, but the same does not apply to Spanish:

"No quiero meterme en lios."

Sounds:

"No quiero metermen lios."

Very little difference. This has a lot to do with the fact that it's very difficult to speak Spanish fast, while it's very easy with English, and most Americans tend to like speaking quickly. Brazilian Portuguese also has this problem, but languages like italian and german are harder to speak fast because of the strong pronunciation. On the other hand, Japanese, which has a very easy pronunciation, can be spoken incredibly fast.

Originally Posted by elite

… This has a lot to do with the fact that it's very difficult to speak Spanish fast …

Don't tell any Cubans that, LOL.