Accents

[Alan]

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Hi,

There's been a lot of talk recently about American/British accents. For your amusement, I hope, I am offering some examples and asking you which part of the UK you think they come from.

Here is the first:

One of the problems in today's society is trying to find out whether people are suffering unduly from the effects of recession or whether indeed they are unaffected by it.

Let me know.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Hort]

hi Alan,
is that an irish accent I detect?

[HuongItaly]

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Please listen to my recording and respond with a voice message too. Many thanks.

[Alan]

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Hi,

Thanks for your responses. In fact I was attempting an accent heard in the centre of England around the Birmingham area. Here's another:

'When I was a nipper, we were obliged to learn a foreign language and favourite was Spanish. Well, I had a go and I suppose I learnt about two or three words in all. The thing is I've now gone and bought myself a house in Spain and so I've had to learn it for real. And I can tell you it's a right pain in the neck. I mean I have enough problems with English, thank you very much.'.

What do you think?

Alan
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[Cgk]

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Hi Alan,

is it Scottish?

Claudia
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[Teadrinker]

here's my guess:
is that Cockney?

[Alan]

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Hi Teadrinker,

Absolutely what I intended. It's supposed to be an example of so called 'Estuary English' as spoken around the London area and South East of England.

In other words: You are spot on.

Alan
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[Cgk]

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Hello Alan,

today I was reading a bit about the Cockney accent, because your rendition of it got me interested, and I came across the term "Mockney"!

Mockney, according to that article, is a fake Cockney accent. I think that's pretty funny! I can't believe there are people who are actually speaking a fake accent to make themselves look cool.

:lol:

I really hope you will continue posting various accents. Many of us who live in non-English speaking countries don't get the chance to hear all these different English dialects. Nevermind that I will probably never guess them correctly.

Claudia
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In the land of the ignorant, the biggest fool is king.

[Alan]

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Hi,

I should say that the first 'accent' I did was intended to be of someone from the Birmingham area, which is slap bang in the middle of England. I'll take up Claudia's request and try another one:

In today's period of austerity we have to think twice before we buy anything. With Christmas coming up it's no good imagining that the sky is the limit if we are buying presents for children. Nevertheless money isn't everything, is it? After all said and done it's the thought that counts and thoughts certainly don't have to cost the earth.

Where does he come from?

Alan
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You can read my EFL story Prepositions

[Yuri Yurinov]

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Hi again Alan,

As for me, it was the easiest for me to guess the Cockney accent by its 'swallowed' sounds 'h'. In the last accent someting unusual happens to vowels and consonants sound a little bit harder. Does this accent come from the North of England?

Yuri
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[Alan]

Hi Yuri,

The attempt here was to try to imitate the Northern Ireland accent.

Alan
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[Alan]

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Hi,

Today on this Monday morning I'm offering another accent for you to hear. Here we go:

The thing about the UK is that although geographically it's very small, there are a lot of variations in the landscape. Near where I live there are a lot of hills and mountains and quite a few lakes. People around here are also very emotional - one minute they're crying and the next they're laughing their heads off. They're also very good at singing and have lots of choirs. Don't worry I shan't attempt any singing. Well, that's about it really - thanks for listening.

So where does he come from?

Alan
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[Yuri Yurinov]

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Hi Alan,

Scottish!?

Yuri
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Please NO Youtube on "My first steps in English" thread...

[Cgk]

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Hello Alan,

hm . . . I know that Scotland, North England and Wales have lots of mountains and lakes. But the accent doesn't sound Scottish to me. My guess is that it's Welsh English, although I don't know about the emotional part, hehe.

Claudia
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In the land of the ignorant, the biggest fool is king.

[Alan]

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Hi Yuri and Claudia,

Thanks for your responses. It isn't Scottish, Yuri. It is Welsh so Claudia you have as they would say in Wales: Hit the nail on the head. Congratulations.

Alan
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You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/bring