is your accent a hindrance or helper ?

Avenged7Fold said:
First language is Italian, which I learnt from my grandmother and mother, whom speak Milanese (northern Italian) from the 60/70s. Milanese is the equivelant of Italians BBC accent, so my Italian tends to be fairly classical with the odd very old, so old slang that tends to turn a head or two.

My English i learnt while i was still very young and so have a typical middle-class Surrey accent which tends to become a bit more common depending on who i am speaking to, as i learned earlier in life, people tend to understand their own accent best and it makes for far easier communication when you sound similar to the person you speak to, though i will say that the accent change is only slight and happens more naturally than anything else.
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You've got a normal accent as far as I can tell :p
 
More to the point is how many of you try to alter your accent and talk 'proper' :p in different situations
where for example you want to impress someone but feel self conscious of your accent ? :eek:
 
Usher said:
More to the point is how many of you try to alter your accent and talk 'proper' :p in different situations where for example you want to impress someone but feel self conscious of your accent ? :eek:
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I am terrible for this. I'm a saffer and when I speak to saffers it's so blatantly obvious, but at work when I'm surrounded by English folks I tend to speak with a bit of an English accent, no idea why. I've done this all my life, and no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to shake it.
 
Furyus said:
I'm South African, But most people mistake me for Australian haha
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That's what I call the Colonial British aspect, due to the similarities.
The way to effect a Pretoria Afrikaans accent, for example, is to start with a generic Aussie accent, flatten it and make it a little gutteral. Not perfect, but a good starting point and tweaked by listening to Afrikaaners.

Incidentally - Ever notice how sterotypical pirates all basically have generic Irish accents?
Seriously, take your 'Father Ted', make it gravelly and with deeper tones - Instant pirate. Colour in some authenticity with stock phrases like, "Shiver me timbers, splice me mainbrace and fasten me foc's'le" and then Bob's yer Bo'sun!! :D

h4rm0ny said:
Someone did once tell me they thought my accent was "sexy"
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Probably true - Have you *seen* how many chicks really dig Sean Bean?

Usher said:
More to the point is how many of you try to alter your accent and talk 'proper' :p in different situations
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Had a Scottish girlfriend once - As a requirement of her job (swanky London hotel/restaurant place) she had to effect a proper posh English accent. I was disgusted that she had to cover up her gorgeous Scots, but the way she did the 'Posh Brit' one was horny as hell!!!
 
I actually had a similarly themed conversation with our CEO a few weeks back, given that they had ensountered a fair few senior level people in various companies.

I asked if they had ever encountered senior level people with west country accents, and the answer was no.

I've never been able to reconcile the idea of a west-country accented person talking about portfolio diversification, or corporate mergers, etc :D
 
I grew up in Kent and never really though I/we had a distinctive accent.... but while I was visiting a friend, someone asked me if I was from Kent because I had a Kentish accent (yes, KENTish was definitely the word he used - before anyone makes the obvious joke :p).

I still don't think I've really got much of an accent. If anything it's maybe a watered down Saaf London tinge... maybe :confused:

As for being a help or hindrance - definitely neither!
 
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