At least he is responding to you; he seems to be ignoring my posts. For example, my pg. 1, post #17, noted: And, while Lindis seems to be replying to most contributors, and I'm sure that he saw my post, he waited to respond to this idea, until it reappeared in post #44, well down pg 2.: Maquiscat said: ↑ There is a large variety of US accents Not that it is very important; just a slight bit of a mystery. I guess it would be worse, to get only critical replies. But are you sure it's you, and not just your posts, in each case, that Lindis has responded to, negatively? For instance, he very well could have taken your initial, non-committal response, as being a, "PC," reply, and it is far from unheard of, for people to regard political correctness as one of their major pet peeves. Like you, by the way, I don't have a favorite accent for English, as long as it is understandable-- though, as a general rule, grammatical correctness is preferable. Except when improper syntax fits the subject matter-- I'd prefer to listen to something with an accent, but well-spoken, rather than an American accent, if that American is using poor grammar. (A minor pet peeve of mine, though, is when an American speaks in the manner of some other type of English-speaker, for example, saying, 'in hospital," instead of, "in the hospital;" to a lesser degree, using terms like, "barby," for barbecue, "cue," instead of line, and "loo," for bathroom; but, "no worries," is an expression I consider to have become international (& sometimes even use, myself). Let me tack on, that your comment about there being 200 different dialects in Germany, is kind of mind-blowing. And, with respect to calamari & scungilli, you don't know what you're missing.
I don't think the answer was avoidance or politically correct. I appreciate anyone who, although it is not their first language, attempts to speak English. I am most impressed when they try very hard to communicate in my language and not theirs. Most Americans can't say the same when they are travelling - it is expected that EVERYONE speaks English EVERYWHERE.
I think it depends more on the person and their voice than on their accent. Even a very broad "Southern Hillbilly"-accent can be charming if the person speaking it is not an overweight, racost farmer or fat, single mom living on a trailer park. Charisma and looks/presentation is what carries an accent for me. I always found fascination over accents is a typically American thing. I really do not care too much about this.
If he responds or not is not a big thing, it was just a curiosity question. Perhaps a translation issue, expressing emotion by typing a response can lose something in interpretation. One would only need to see a couple of my posts to note that PC isn't my style. Polite and on the subject usually is, though there are a couple of posters that rub my fur the wrong way. Since I deal with people of all walks of life and economic position on a daily basis, syntax, slang and terminology doesn't usually phase me. I'm a NJ ex-pat, south of the Mason Dixon. I've heard just every native American English accent there is. My first year down here, took me quite a while to figure out what a hitchikin was... 'whose in the kitchen' is what it turned out to be. What it means is who was doing the cooking. I say y'all, and I say 'you guys'.... I'm a mixed bag of words these days. As to the German dialects: Top Dialects of the German Language | Listen & Learn (listenandlearn.org) bottom of the article mentions it. I grew up in a heavily Italian neighborhood, so I've had some of the best Italian cooking out there. I just never made it past the flavor and texture.
I am not American. But still I am interested in accents and languages and dialects and just anything that has to do with languages.
I have my doubts about that. When you look at the difference between a Southern Drawl, a Jersey accent, Californian accident, and Minnesotan, they are about as different as what you describe. And I have been exposed to all those and more, on both sides of the pond. Between Navy and truck driving, you can get a lot of exposure fast.
Maybe not. There is a high difference between the spoken and the written word. For example, a person might still write "old", even as they say "ol' ".
Question: Have you ever been to the UK and have personally heard the variations of the English language that exist there?
I do believe that the bold word should be queue, not cue. Also math and maths is a common difference, not to mention spelling differences even when pronounced the same such as color and colour.
That's might also come down to a matter of opinion. I hear as much variation in them as I do with the different accents of the UK. I am getting to a point where I can narrow down a region, either US or UK, a person is from, unless they have been in another region long enough to "pollute" their accent.
Ja, I spent a wonderful summer in the lovely Altmühltal. One of two study abroad trips I went on, the other being a far shorter visit to lovely Ukraine.
Actually I've heard it from some British visiting the states. One got into a nice discussion with me on various US accents. But I will agree that you will hear it from Americans more often than non, with maybe Canadians coming a close second.
Yeah irish, scottish, or australian. But there's a lot of variations of American English it's not just one. West coast english sounds the most neutral to me but I grew up here so no surprise.
Yes, not to mention being an avid BBC watcher, from Monty Python, to Dr. Who, to many other shows, with such a large variety of accents.
I find it very hard to take a very thick "Scandinavian accent" (mainly Norwegian and Swedish) accent seriously because it just sounds so darn stupid somehow.
I really can't pick a favorite. However I can easily pick the one I like the least. I have a lot of family members living in the South; mostly S.E. Missouri and the Dallas, Texas area. One thing I've learned over the years is there are two accents in the south. One is pretty much an absence of accent that seems to be associated with the rest of our country and the other one is a self taught accent like a slow, southern drawl. The slow southern drawl describes my half brother in Dallas . Every time he opens his mouth he sounds like the village idiot.