When I moved from Germany to the UK one of the first things that struck me was the seemingly huge variety of english accents compared to german.
For example the Birmingham accent is distinct from a Coventry one (20 miles south east) or the Black Country accent spoken in Dudley (10m west).
I suspect that a reason Birmingham has an accent different from its surrounding areas is that B'ham has got a very long and continuous history of immigration starting shortly after James Watt, Matthew Boulton (and William Murdoch) started the first ever proper factory.
Even today nearly a quarter of the current population were born overseas.
Is this a Boston accent? (sorry, it may lose something in the translation). My introduction to this accent was Charles Winchester from MASH. There is a resemblance to an Australian accent there in some words.
Certainly when a language is one's native tongue, one is more tolerant of accents and even dialects - a matter of exposure. Are you speaking only of "high german" accents (aussprache) or are you including dialekt? Dialekt is more than just slight differences in accent or pronunciation.
I guess I've heard some extreme examples of scottish "english" that seem "almost" as unintelligible as dialect from Tirol (or even the standard lower austrian/bavarian dialect) to someone who has only been exposed to high german.
Go on youtube and search for boston accent, you will find a lot of examples of sort of dropped or implied "R's", someone actually from there will know which are authentic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbK4cL3QSc0
Winchester's accent from MASH doesn't really sound "Boston" to me, maybe more stereotype northeast US "posh" or "pretentious" language.
Sorta like saying Cheers started you off on the wrong foot.
(Not that Cliff Clavin was a grand Boston image booster. But not like I give a fawk or a spoon)
Here's a good boston "townie" accent for you 😉 Lotsa profanity, so it's authentic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fIVJmTi-nw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fIVJmTi-nw
That would be a stuffy Boston Brahman accent, vaguely reminiscent of somewhere in the British Empire. We have a Chelsea, Dorchester, and Cambridge here too (as well as many more).
I'll be changing to Dorchester myself.
I would argue the opposite.
As a european most americans sound exactly the same to me. At a push I could probably differentiate between New Englanders, Southerners, Californians and Canadians but other than that the anglophone part of North America doesn't seem to have dialects or even accents to my ears.
As a non-antipodean I also struggle to hear any difference between Ozzies and Kiwis but I suspect a native Australian can distinguish between somebody from Brisbane and someone from Perth never mind Auckland.
From Thursday's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" TV show. Don't know how to get a direct link.
'Boston Accent'
Late Night with Seth Meyers | Late Night Comedy & Full episodes | NBC
'Boston Accent'
Late Night with Seth Meyers | Late Night Comedy & Full episodes | NBC
More correctly: "Paahk the caah in the caah paahk.." 😉
I'm from metrowest (just west of Boston) originally (although born on LI,NY I spent no significant time there) and have a mid America accent with New England and sometimes Israeli (?) inflections (so I am told). My wife's ancestors on the south shore go all the way back to the early 17th century and she has a very, very distinctive south shore accent. (except during working hours where she has the same mid America/NE accent I do)
No one has any trouble figuring out we are from Boston/New England. LOL
There is a distinct northern accent, too. Here's some exaggerated Minnesotan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqqm-bDyE4A
A Wisconsin accent is a bit different despite being right next door.
My kids mostly went to school in Oklahoma (where my ex lives), but thankfully didn't pick up any trace of an accent there. They don't sound like Texans, anyway.
Already linked in post #20 😉 It's a quite exaggerated characterization of a sort of rural speech from scandinavian-rich areas.
Someone mentioned thinking they could distinguish california accents. I don't think they are so easy, except maybe surf and val talk.
Texans have that special kinda drawl - first 20 or so seconds of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3AuqeI51mY
Yes, a very Australian thing too. US "R's" almost seem exaggerated to my biased ears. I learned from a US barmaid while asking for a beer, that I don't distinctly pronounce the R, and she didn't seem to pronounce the EE, as if she was saying birr.
"..so her Majesty, You will to destroy this uh.. planet Uuth?" (henchman talking to the evil Ming of Mongo about to destroy planet Earth)
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So far Ive spent half my life in the the UK and half in NA and would agree that the regional variations in the UK seem more extreme. And I hear the regional variations in NA much more easily now than I did before I moved here. I also hear clear grammatical difference between the English spoken by those raised in other countries, for example people from India generally speak British English, those from Japan speak American English.
You should visit RRRRotterdam. (aka white E-man can't speak R)
The intonation of R's is present in parts/regions of several countries/languages.
(south of France, south of Italy, southern Germany, whole of Austria, parts of Spain, and let's not forget the Swiss and the Scots)
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california? Certain areas more than others have this kind of west coast thing going. Like this from about 2:35 on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIBg-w6TNLE
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