OT: Let me ask our British posters a strange question

[pmulcahy11b]

Maybe it's not politically correct, but --

Why is it that British people seem to find it very easy to speak with an American accent (of any kind), but from what I've heard, very few Americans can pull off any sort of British accent?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

And why can't any of you (British or American) do an Australian accent?

[Targan]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Maybe it's not politically correct, but --

Why is it that British people seem to find it very easy to speak with an American accent (of any kind), but from what I've heard, very few Americans can pull off any sort of British accent?

That is a really easy question to answer from an Australian perspective - our TV and cinemas are completely swamped and dominated by American content so we hear American accents every single day of our lives. I can mimic a variety of American (and British) accents with ease. As far as other Anglophone countries go, America has no need to conquer them militarily - it is doing an excellent job of conquering them culturally. It all comes down to volumes of scale - the American media market is so vast that the prices charged by US networks for their programs are very low compared to local content, because local content (here in Australia anyway) is vastly more expensive to produce.

Please don't take this personally but I avoid most commercial TV network programming here in Australia because I am absolutely sick and tired of hearing American accents punctuated with canned laughter. It makes my skin crawl. I do regularly watch some American programs but they have a particular flavour that I like - NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles and The Unit to name a few. And some American sci fi series are top notch too.

[weswood]

Originally Posted by Targan

That is a really easy question to answer from an Australian perspective - our TV and cinemas are completely swamped and dominated by American content so we hear American accents every single day of our lives.

And you have my most sincere apolgy for that.

[WallShadow]

I, too, have always wondered what the several American regional accents sound like to a non-native ear, and just what changes are required by the non-native speaker to torture English into 'Merkan?

I do remember a very old version of Dracula produced in England back in the '70s that had someone trying very hard (and failing) to produce a Texan accent as one of the characters. Now we have Hugh Laurie (as "House") and Damian Lewis (Capt. Dick Winters in "Band of Brothers" and Charlie Crews in the series "Life") who have quite aptly mastered the art of phonically fooling the Colonial ear.

[TiggerCCW UK]

We have secret classes on it in school so that we can blend in when we come over to re colonise the Americas

Honestly though, I've no idea, although I know that in England my Belfast accent is regularly taken for Scottish or American. I also pick up and lose accents very quickly.

[Rainbow Six]

Whilst I personally don't think that I can mimic any accent (with the possible exception of South African), I think Targan hit the nail on the head - it's probably got a lot to do with the influence that American TV shows and cinema have. Especially the TV shows...I get around 30 different TV channels, and honestly have no clue how many different episodes of the various CSI and Law and Order franchises it would be possible to watch in a week, but it's a lot!

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by TiggerCCW UK

Honestly though, I've no idea, although I know that in England my Belfast accent is regularly taken for Scottish or American. I also pick up and lose accents very quickly.

I have a weird accent to most people -- they can't place it. It's because I grew up as a military dependent and then had a career in the Army -- my accent is a composite of all the places I lived, plus bunches of expressions and phrases from all over the place.

[Webstral]

Originally Posted by TiggerCCW UK

We have secret classes on it in school so that we can blend in when we come over to re colonise the Americas.

I knew it! South Park was right all along! So was Burke Breathed (Bloom County) when he protrayed Prince Charles ordering the Royal Navy to "retake Massachusetts".

Truth be told, I'd be happy to have a million or more English-speaking immigrants arrive. The English learner (EL) situation in California's schools is becoming a real crisis. I don't have a problem with (legal) immigrants per se, but the system isn't set up to handle the sheer weight of EL in the public schools. California has a population of about 38 million in a nation of approximately 300 million. We'll round this to 10% of the nation's population. One third of the EL in the nation's public schools are in California. In some school districts, EL are 90% or more of the school body. Again, it is what it is. It would be nice to be able to mix in a few more native English speakers--even if their English is a bit dodgy.

Webstral

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by WallShadow

I, too, have always wondered what the several American regional accents sound like to a non-native ear, and just what changes are required by the non-native speaker to torture English into 'Merkan?

After the concentration camp she was in was liberated, my mother got to hear her first person speaking English. He was American -- my said she thought at the time he sounded like he was trying to talk with a mouth filled with bubblegum. I'm guessing he was from the Deep South -- or maybe Brooklyn.

My mother speaks seven languages -- and she says that English was by far the hardest to learn.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Targan

...and The Unit to name a few.

Strangely enough, Sayaret Maktal is also referred to as "The Unit" in the Israeli Army. The Unit -- Israel anyone? Hollywood, are you listening?

[pmulcahy11b]

Just a weird thought that popped into my head: do you think Alexander Hamilton's friends called him "Ham" as a nickname?

Actually, Alexander Hamilton's Federalist party died out after the War of 1812. For that matter, John Adams was a Federalist, so I did screw up there.

[headquarters]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Just a weird thought that popped into my head: do you think Alexander Hamilton's friends called him "Ham" as a nickname?

Actually, Alexander Hamilton's Federalist party died out after the War of 1812. For that matter, John Adams was a Federalist, so I did screw up there.

Couldnt he have been an AL ?

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by Targan

That is a really easy question to answer from an Australian perspective - our TV and cinemas are completely swamped and dominated by American content so we hear American accents every single day of our lives.

Same here in the UK, and I suspect that's the answer. I'd never realised that Brits were better at American accents than Americans were at British accents, though.

Americans trying to do British accents seem to choose one of two accents - very upper-class, or cockney. This annoys a lot of Brits, since there are plenty more accents to choose from. I do wonder, though, is the opposite true? Do Americans get annoyed that Brits always choose the same American accent?

Russ

[waiting4something]

I always caught a lot of flack in the military, because my strong northern accent. They used to call me a Canadian. When I was in Thailand a Australian guy in a Mc Donalds there thought I was a Canadian too. He said I can always tell the Americans from the Canadians. I was going to tell him that I wasn't a Canadian, but decided to forget about it.