Accents

[mekonmcfc]

Mrs D said in Thailand the differences are not as strong as in England, especially within short distances. She was surprised how Oldham, Bolton, Salford etc could be distinguishable to locals.

edit : I switched off half way through her explanation because I can't fucking understand what she's on about.

My ex was from southern Thailand and she said her firiends in the North were completely different. I think was a bit of a Laos/Thai hybrid maybe.

Im sure the OP must be able to recognise the different sounds from the US, listen to deep south compared to a New Yorker etc

 

[dronefromsector7g]

Mrs D said in Thailand the differences are not as strong as in England, especially within short distances. She was surprised how Oldham, Bolton, Salford etc could be distinguishable to locals.

edit : I switched off half way through her explanation because I can't fucking understand what she's on about.

My ex was from southern Thailand and she said her firiends in the North were completely different. I think was a bit of a Laos/Thai hybrid maybe.

Im sure the OP must be able to recognise the different sounds from the US, listen to deep south compared to a New Yorker etc

Living in the south my missus didn't understand sometimes as it's a different language. Deep South many speak Malay, and Isan, like you say, is different to Bangkok Thai also. The accent thing I'm not sure about as my missus was referring to actual language differences.

 

[mekonmcfc]

Mrs D said in Thailand the differences are not as strong as in England, especially within short distances. She was surprised how Oldham, Bolton, Salford etc could be distinguishable to locals.

edit : I switched off half way through her explanation because I can't fucking understand what she's on about.

My ex was from southern Thailand and she said her firiends in the North were completely different. I think was a bit of a Laos/Thai hybrid maybe.

Im sure the OP must be able to recognise the different sounds from the US, listen to deep south compared to a New Yorker etc

Living in the south my missus didn't understand sometimes as it's a different language. Deep South many speak Malay, and Isan, like you say, is different to Bangkok Thai also. The accent thing I'm not sure about as my missus was referring to actual language differences.

yeah mine was just South of Nahkon Si Thammarat .. interesting part of the world but flat, unlike the north

 

[Barcon]

The people in Quebec sound different to people from Canada.

How bad must it be being Canadian, living next to the Americans, and amongst the French..

Nowt wrong with living next to the americans mate, they don't cross the border.

 

[Barcon]

In the terms of the US, I reckon I can distinguish between a New York, New England, Texas, Generic Southern, Minnesota and Californian accent pretty well.

I'm always amazed when I meet americans on holiday. They sound like they are from Alabama or some other deep south backarsed state, and half of the time they are from Michigan. They are right across the river from Windsor Ontario Canada yet sound like Billy Bob Thornton. I don't get it. Inbreeding?

 

[idahoblues]

In the terms of the US, I reckon I can distinguish between a New York, New England, Texas, Generic Southern, Minnesota and Californian accent pretty well.

I'm always amazed when I meet americans on holiday. They sound like they are from Alabama or some other deep south backarsed state, and half of the time they are from Michigan. They are right across the river from Windsor Ontario Canada yet sound like Billy Bob Thornton. I don't get it. Inbreeding?

Idaho and Wyoming have a pretty distinct accent too but for sure there are some Billy Bob types...however a couple of years back I built a log home kit on the Wa/BC border and had to drive up into northern BC to look at the logging operation. Those boys up there rate right up in the red neck stakes, luckily we arrived with half a dozen 30 packs of Molsen and all was well. Lots of piss taking but all in good fun and they were as heavily armed as most people around here. I have to say I'd have no problem living in that part of the world

 

[denislawsbackheel]

As Alan Partridge said to a Geordie who spoke to him
"No, sorry, it's just noise..."

 

[lazza]

As Alan Partridge said to a Geordie who spoke to him
"No, sorry, it's just noise..."

I've lived in the north east 16 years now, and it still makes me chuckle when a local tells me I have a funny accent! You should hear yourself mate.

Having said that, maybe I should be worried as I'm finding myself more and more saying things like "Divvin naa", "Clartin' it" and "Ahm gan", and calling people "Marra". And for the record, a balm is now most definitely a stotty!

Going back to the original question, my wife (wor lass) used to know a woman from Chile, and she said that the Spanish used to find her accent hilarious, as the tone and vocabulary is quite old fashioned. And from my own experience, I've found people in the Marseille area have a very weird French accent (adding a nasal "g" to the end of lots of words ending in "n", like demain becomes "demaing"

 

[TueartsOHK]

Kinda makes me laugh when Mancunians ridicule the Scouse accent and claim they can't understand a word they're saying.

The rest of the country can't tell the difference between the two.

I live in the West Midlands which has often been voted the worst accent in England but I think a strong scouse accent is worse - particularly the nasal tones of Steven Gerrard. But it's true anyone outseide the North West can get Mancunian and Scouse confused - particluarly if the accents are strong in both cases.

 

[acquiesce]

I can definitely spot the difference in these American regional accents:

Minnesota/Wisconsin/Upper Peninsula of Michigan
Chicago
NYC/New York
Boston/Massachusetts/Vermont&New Hampshire
Georgia/South Carolina
Kentucky/Tennessee
Louisiana/Alabama/Mississippi
Texas
Cajun Louisiana
South Florida/North Florida

The only really mystery for me is the West Coast. Outside of the "surfer/beach folk" accent, is there a difference in California/Oregon/Washington? I've never been able to grasp it.