American accents

[Greg]

Hey everybody,

Here is an interesting website that tries to determine what part of the country an American (United States) is from based on word pronunciations and accent. It correctly identified me as Northeast. Give it a try!

Noelia, you and I have talked many times about the subtleties of intra-American accents -- I know you'll find this interesting as well!

www.gotoquiz.com/what_american_accent_do_you_have

Saludos a todos,
Greg

[Noelia]

Wow Greg this is AMAZING!!!

I took the test and see what I got:

Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.

Something I didnt understand is, one of the questions asked if there is a difference between "fill" and "feel" after working my ***** out trying to understand this difference, dont tell me that some english speakers dont really say it???

Noelia

[Greg]

Haha, that's a funny response that you got, Noelia! Ves, no tienes ningun acento para nada!! ;D

I do know people who say "feel" and "fill" the same way, but most people say these as different sounds. How do you hear them?

G

[Noelia]

Well after almost a whole year working on those sounds, now I FINALLY hear the difference.

Actually, I dont always hear it, but at least I can make it. Depends on the accents I think... For example, jamaican accent sounds like really bad English to me, as if a Spanish speaker was trying to speak english not knowing about pronunciation at all.

In that case, I dont hear any subtle difference in the sounds. (let's pay attention to Sebastian)

[Robie]

And I am correctly classified as .....

"You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio."

I tried to tell someone once that the best place to learn American English was in the mid-west because of the "lack" of accent but nobody believed me and now I have proof. My question is who classified Pennsylvania as "midland" and left Kansas out? I grew on up on the Kansas side of Kansas City (how the main part of Kansas City wound up across the river in Missouri, I'll never know!) but that's close enough.

Anyway, thanks for posting this Greg. It was a fun exercise!

Robie

[johnr]

LOL - acabo de hacer la prueba y parece que ....

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Northeast


Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.

[sendai]

Your Result: The Inland North

You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."

That's right on. Pretty cool!

In my speech I distinguish all the sounds in the quiz except mary, merry and marry, which are all the same for me. I would have been Midland except that for me "on" rhymes with "don" and not "dawn".

[Noelia]

This is so cool, Greg is the only person I know that notices the difference among mary, merry and marry... Do you notice the difference too John or know someone in the old continent who might?

For me, "on" rhymes with "don" too, and not with "dawn", in my head at least, I dont know if I can actually make the correct sound with my mouth.

Very interesting test... too bad Greg's not here

Noelia

[johnr]

Hola,

Pronuncio las palabras 'Mary', Merry y marry, diferente. Creo que es así en todos los acentos que tenemos en inglaterra. Te muestro cuando hablamos.

En cuanto a 'on', para mí también rima con 'don'.

[Noelia]

Then Graeme I have no idea why I can't understand you at all... you must be an inmigrant to New York with a strong accent.

[sendai]

If he's from northern England, I might not understand him either!

[Noelia]

AHHHHHH then it's not me, it's YOU Graeme!

That makes me feel so very well now jajajaja!

[johnr]

tampoco puedo leer los mensajes de Graeme por su accento tan cerrado LOL.