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What do you think of America or the American "accent"???♥♥♥
This discussion is for Duolingo users to say what they like about America, language, accent, or anything to do with this!! And if you're not from America and you're learning the language, do you think it's hard or easy to learn? English practicers welcome!!!
122 Comments
I think that's because you're American!!!! To me, English is more 'plain' while American is interesting and cool sounding ...although, I think English has a more romantic sound, so I agree with you there! I've noticed a lot of people much prefer the British accent and don't think much of the American accent, but as a Brit, I LOVE American accents!
Well, as I say, I LOVE the American accent!!!! While I like England more, because it's smaller and 'quaint' in places, America would be an interesting place to visit because it's so BIG! Everything is BIGGER on average. And I'd love to hear all the accents. I heard someone with an American accent on Saturday give a whole sermon, and it was so drawly and laidback and relaxing....!!!!!!
Also, I find it interesting to see how many words are different in English and American English. I've included a list below. Correct me if I'm wrong!!!
American English: English: automobile; car faucet; tap trash; rubbish freeway; motorway sidewalk; path trashcan; bin truck; lorry airplane; aeroplane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9040S0-0PLc
Haha! So true! The way this guy speaks is the way I speak but in a girly voice of course! (Not that slow, the fast way) Does it sound like an accent to you?
sorry this isn't very clear. I'll explain. In the following pairs of words, the first word in each pair is in American English, and the second word in each pair is in English. Of course, none of the words in American English may be familiar to you, but I use an American curriculum, and the words I've put here are from the curriculum I use. (automobile, car) (faucet, tap) (trash, rubbish) (freeway, motorway) (sidewalk, path) (trashcan, bin) (truck, lorry) (airplane, aeroplane) so, do u understand now? of course, even if you understand, it doesn't mean that u use any of the words!!!
419
I'm American. One of the things I like most about the country is the fantastic diversity of people that have come here. It's great to meet people with origins elsewhere. It's also nice to eat their food :) [especially b/c I'm not that big a fun of some of the more "traditional" American staples] Within just a few minutes drive I can get to a grocery store specializing in Eastern European / Russian, African (specifically Ghanaian I think), Middle Eastern, Indian, or Mexican food, or any of three big ones covering East Asia fairly broadly, and I live in a not-that-big city in the Midwest.
Not that I think this is entirely unique to the U.S. by any means, but my friend from Spain sure seemed to find it different than what he was used to, for example.
English was easy enough for me to learn, but the availability of English language media helped a lot. I prefer the British accents though, I especially love the sound of Scottish! My view of America (the country not Americans in general), well... politics. I don't want to get into that. ;) And I don't have any particular view about Americans themselves, they are individuals, some nice, some not, like everywhere. I've never been particularly interested in American culture or history however, not like I am interested in other countries.
191
No, you may be thinking of an accent called California upspeak in linguistic circles. It may also be known as Valley girl talk. Tidewater is from the Southeast including some coastal areas.
East coast, Virginia/Maryland. My parents grew up in New York state but my mom was raised around parents who grew up in the south.
My 9th grade English teacher in Maryland actually traced my parent's childhood area back to New York because I say "sneakers" instead of "tennis shoes", as in Converse and Sketchers type of shoes.
191
It's a Southern accent from parts of Virgina, outerbanks of North Carolina, and thereabouts.
I am not from the US, but I have acquired the "average" American accent from watching too much American TV shows and Youtube channels. I didn't mean to, but I guess I just picked it up subconsciously. Also, I find the Southern accent endearing. I think it has a lot of character and it's very fun to imitate.
419
A friend of mine's dad (from Illinois I think) had an interview in Atlanta. The interviewer had a strong southern accent. My friend's dad understood him to ask if he "had any witnesses"? Stymied by the unusual question, I think he might have referred to the references on his resume or some such. The intended question had been if he had any... weaknesses. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he wasn't offered the position ;)
I'm from the USA.
I always feel like my yankee accent is so boring. Brits have that accent, scots do as well, southerners have weird words too.
Half my family is southern (Virginia, Carolina, Florida) and some of their slang rubbed off on me, some words I say with their accent. (Y'all, "country mile", (verb)in', those -> them)
America is a great country, but there's a whole lot of corruption (politics, taxes, GWEN towers)
It makes me want to move someday, maybe to Switzerland. But I do really like the States. I have no idea about where I'll live in the future, but most likely USA.
1282
We got Benjamin Franklin, who was probably the biggest G in history. I like that a lot.
1282
Hahahaha okay, and yeah Edison was alright, a little crazy and also I hate him, but he was alright.
1282
Running a smear campaign against Nikola Tesla, setting technology back decades by belittling Tesla's work, electrocuting elephants to death to prove a point, failing 3000 times and pretending to be the better inventor. Plus, I heard he smelled like farts.
1282
Can't reply to other comment for some reason, but yeah, Thomas Edison did some neat stuff too.
191
Fun tour of different American accents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NriDTxseog
Having an opinion of someone else's accent is fine. However, if we base our opinion of someone based only on their accent or where they are from, it can be very divisive. If I'm posh, and you're not... If I'm from one country or region and you are from another...
419
B/c people have been saying they like "the British accent," I ask ye, which one? :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pZ-Ny8q22o
American English is the foreign language I am exposed to the most, so it sounds pretty neutral to me. I watch more TV series in English than in Swedish, my native language. The selection is much larger :)
Compared to German and Italian, English grammar is easier. English spelling is on the other hand harder.
Hey, I have another question :) When a discussion gets downvoted off the list, can moderators not see it? because I was talking to Woof about a discussion that was not following the guidelines at all, so I kept saying it would be deleted, but so far not even one commit has been deleted. .https://www.duolingo.com/comment/24594962$comment_id=24624606 This discussion has some negative commits, so just expect it. Thanks :)
Me? I didn't call you an idiot! Would you please mind explaining what you mean? And a bucket list is something where you have a list of things you want to do. Like for me in my bucket list is going to Saint Thomas Island, learning Beauty and the Beast on my ukulele, go on an all day bike ride etc. Get it? ♥♥♥