Accents...

I am from Nova Scotia so I thought I had a slight eastern Canadian accent.
However I have been in Quebec for the last 11 years so most people say I speak my french with a slight english or Acadian accent and when talking in english I tend to throw in french words here and there.

My biggest problem is that I change back and forth between the two without knowing it. I noticed my last trip out west that I would look at the menu in English and order in French. End result, a very confused waitress.

Only place my accent was really picked up on was in France.

Thalia wrote:I often catch Aergis with a Boston accent : "Get in da caaaaaa" Though he only lived in the northeastern part of the US for 19 years. I sometimes get a mexican accent because my entire family speaks in spanish... so sometimes it comes though I was born in the US.

Where in the Northeast?

Each state in New England has it's own accent or lack there of in my case.

Boston Accent tends to be mostly localized to Eastern Mass and RI the further west you go the less of an accent there is.
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont all tend to have different mixes of what I would call Eastern Mass and Eastern Canadian.
Connecticut tends toward the more neutral side, assuming you are not living on the Mass/RI or New York borders.

Trilde wrote:Only place my accent was really picked up on was in France.

Only because us French Canadians have so bastardized the way we pronounce the French language that it's actually really appalling to hear when compared with true France French. Embarrasses the crap out of me.

Nikachelle wrote:

Trilde wrote:Only place my accent was really picked up on was in France.

Only because us French Canadians have so bastardized the way we pronounce the French language that it's actually really appalling to hear when compared with true France French. Embarrasses the crap out of me.

Actually if you watch "Des Chiffre et des Lettres" they have said that Quebec French is the more pure language and that French from France has become the more bastardized version due to the encroaching of English into the language.

Trilde wrote:

Nikachelle wrote:

Trilde wrote:Only place my accent was really picked up on was in France.

Only because us French Canadians have so bastardized the way we pronounce the French language that it's actually really appalling to hear when compared with true France French. Embarrasses the crap out of me.

Actually if you watch "Des Chiffre et des Lettres" they have said that Quebec French is the more pure language and that French from France has become the more bastardized version due to the encroaching of English into the language.

Please god don't tell me that's actually accurate. :s

Nikachelle wrote:Please god don't tell me that's actually accurate. :s

It is. During the show contestants will come up with words that are only found in the Canadian French dictionary because they are no longer in use or have been Anglized.

Trilde wrote:

Nikachelle wrote:Please god don't tell me that's actually accurate. :s

It is. During the show contestants will come up with words that are only found in the Canadian French dictionary because they are no longer in use or have been Anglized.

This actually isn't too unusual. It's actually more likely that the Quebecois refuse to anglicize as much as the French to further differentiate itself from the English speaking parts of the country though. The same thing actually happens in Belgium, where the Flemish half of the country is much less likely to use words loaned from other languages than in the Netherlands, despite the fact that the language spoken originally came from the Netherlands.

It's essentially a way for people to differentiate themselves.

I adore all accents. Yes, adore.

Except for your stereotypical New York/New Jersey/Staten Island accent. You know, where everything sounds like they are complaining because the way the draw out their As and Os.

My wife loves Bravo television but she watches that wretched show "Housewives of New Jersey" and I find myself getting nauseated just by listening to them speak. Part of it has to do with the nonsensical jibberish that they are talking about, but a large majority has to do with the accent.

Dragonzbane wrote:

Thalia wrote:I often catch Aergis with a Boston accent : "Get in da caaaaaa" Though he only lived in the northeastern part of the US for 19 years. I sometimes get a mexican accent because my entire family speaks in spanish... so sometimes it comes though I was born in the US.

Where in the Northeast?

Each state in New England has it's own accent or lack there of in my case.

Boston Accent tends to be mostly localized to Eastern Mass and RI the further west you go the less of an accent there is.
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont all tend to have different mixes of what I would call Eastern Mass and Eastern Canadian.
Connecticut tends toward the more neutral side, assuming you are not living on the Mass/RI or New York borders.

He lived in Boston like 4 years and like 10-12 years in Maine.

I love me a Scottish accent. That would be the one to wish I had as well.

Thalia wrote:I often catch Aergis with a Boston accent : "Get in da caaaaaa" Though he only lived in the northeastern part of the US for 19 years. I sometimes get a mexican accent because my entire family speaks in spanish... so sometimes it comes though I was born in the US.

Strangely, I just returned from a trip to Massachusetts and I didn't notice much of an accent, the cape cod area must be a more neutral area.

I married a New Zealander. Love the accent, though hers was softened a bit by the amount of time she worked overseas. Our daughter has a stronger accent, largely picked up through day care. It's really cute on a kid.

I speak fluent Californian, but I have been told I am picking up a little of the New Zealand pronunciation. As a result, people most often ask if I am Canadian rather than American. Although they could just be being polite about it. Apparently it is less offensive to call an American Canadian that it is to call a Canadian American.

I live in Australia, and was born here.
For those not good with geography, thats Australia, Not Austria in Europe.

Uneducated Americans think im English as a bit of my Fathers English accent carries through.
The rest of the world think im an Auzzie, unless i start spouting gems like:
"Jolly good show old chap!"
"rotten bit of luck boy"
"fancy a pint of ale ole bean?"

WTB Nikachelle Accent on vent Eh?

Corman wrote:Accents I like: Austrian

Australians don't have accents, they have criminal records

sorry couldn't help it they say that in vent to a guild member because he is Australian just to mess with him. at first he got angry and since i laughed in vent his response was a bit cruel telling me "shut up bitch" after a while he just understood the guild members were just joking.