I read all these wonderful blogs and I'm usually a teensy surprised when I learn the author is not American. Even after I know the writer is a native English speaker with a non-American accent or has a different first language, still I hear her blog in American. Not just American, but Midland American.
Here's how I know what accent I have, as if it weren't obvious (to those who have heard me speak).
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "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. | |
| The West | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| The Inland North | |
| The South | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The Northeast | |
| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz | |
8 comments:
I actually "hear" people's blogs in different accents depending on what I think their native language is. I do the same with books--I hear Faulkner in a southern accent, and Austen in an English accent. The problem is that, with blogs, I sometimes guess wrong and then there's a period of disorientation while my brain tries to change how I hear the blog.
I wish I could do that. My way is so bland.
Mad Hatter, it'd be fun to hear what accent you give my voice :)
EcoGeoFemme, that quiz thinks that I have a Midland accent, clearly an odd conclusion about a non-native speaker. Although living for 5 years in one part of the U.S. and 3 years in another (plus the original Ukrainian accent) seems to have resulted in quite a mix. Perhaps that's what Midland means :)
ScienceGirl--I only know two Ukrainians and, honestly, their accents sounded like a general "Russian" accent. Someone I know who is from Belarus also sounds "Russian" to me. I'm sure it's just because I don't know enough to be able to hear the difference. Anyway, your blogging voice always has a Russian accent in my mind...and I hope you'll pardon my lack of sophistication in this regard!
I hadn't really thought about how I read things, but I suppose that I also "hear" blogs in a flat, American accent.
I had the same result as you on the accent quiz, which is amusing because I'm absolutely not from the midland. I actually spent the first 8 years in the Great White North followed by many, many years in the south. Go figure; I guess they cancel each other out?
Anyone who tries to read my blog in my accent is well and truly screwed!
But apparently I sound more Bostonian than anything else in North America. This does make some sense - I heard some similarities between the local accent and the Yorkshire part of mine when I was there last year.
You sometimes visit my blog (thanks for the interest), and I suppose I write it in my from-far-away-country accent, you might not get all the nuances if you read it in "American" accent. Actually, my accent is strange. People often cannot place it, they will sometimes guess that my accent is from really-far-away-country's neighboring country. Go figure. My husband said for the longest time that he didn't hear my accent. He doesn't hear his mother's accent either. And she is from a country not too far away from really-far-away-country's neighboring country, but the accent is very, very different. Last year, my husband was too busy to read a book he had assigned for one of his classes, and as a favor to him (and myself), I read it out loud and taped my readings, so he could listen to it in the car to and from work. The first day he came home, and I asked him how it was. He said it was ok, but, but... (looks really surprised) "...you have an accent!"
Makita, I read your blog faithfully and enjoy it!
What you say about your accent is just how people react to one of my coworkers, i.e. they can't place her accent and guess that she's from a neighboring country.
I don't really notice ecogeoman's accent, but I definitely know he has it.
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