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What kind of accent do you speak with?

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
Sorry to bump a nearly 6 year old thread, but I was thinking about this randomly earlier today, and I came across this thread while I was idly browsing the forums.

Interestingly given that I come from a region with quite a strong regional accent (the Forest of Dean, in the South West of the UK), I’ve determined that I simply have an incredibly generic English accent. I thought I was developing a Forest-y twang with age, but my mum shot that theory down when I asked her, saying that I sounded nothing like a Forester whatsoever (my mum has a fair Forester accent), yet I also didn’t inherit my dad’s Kent accent either (my dad grew up in Kent, in the South East of the UK; not too far from London). She described both me and my sister as “accentless”.

As it turns out, what I thought was a “Forest-y twang” was simply my generic English accent growing less posh with age. When I was a child, I honestly sounded like one of those stereotypical British people from foreign films, with properly posh pronunciation (for instance, bath pronounced as “bar-th” and castle pronounced as “car-stle”) and enunciation of every sound without fail! These days, though, I seem to revert to more informal pronunciation, and my enunciation is far less frequent (although I occasionally do still enunciate).
A Foresty accent? The imagination soars as that sounds quite mythical.

Having pinpointed Forest of Dean on the map, I am going to assume with full confidence that you sound like Long John Silver … probably saying, “Arr, Jim lad” a lot. 😏
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
I was born and bred in the town of Crawley, (next to Gatwick Airport in West Sussex) where most have a south london accent and are wannabe
So was I! Well, the “born” part, not the “bred.” Born there in Crawley Hospital, and half my family has been there for generations.

But with an English mother and American father, I grew up in California (but have been living in Connecticut and New York for decades). I’d definitely say I have a generalized American accent with a lot of Californian hallmarks. But when I go back to California every year I’m regularly asked by locals where I’m from. And Americans have asked me about fifty times in my life whether I’m English, but I’m sure that would completely baffle actual Brits when they hear my generic American accent. That said, I’ve had a few continental Europeans swear I wasn’t American, or ask why I don’t have an American accent if I’m allegedly American.
 

oriolat2

Giga Poster
Foreign accent for sure, probably Spanish/Catalan. It's a tricky thing to say, because my English is quite good in terms of vocabulary and grammar but, although I can't quite hear it myself, I must sound accented.
 

James F

Hyper Poster
I grew up in Tameside (Greater Manchester) so I have a Mancunian sounding accent and I currently live near Wigan so I have a bit of Lancashire in there as well. I don't think my accent is very strong though.
 
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