Californian dialect

[venaja]

After watching a documentary on American accents a few days ago, I've developed a heightened awareness of regional linguistic subtleties. Everyone knows that there is "Northern" and "Southern" American English, but it is much more nuanced and localized than that, hence my newest hobby: obliterating all traces of the Californian dialect from my

Comments

[naelany]

Heh, I know what you mean when you're not happy with your accent. I hate it when people tell me I have a Dutch accent (as in my ears, it's absolutely horrid). What gets me is that most people won't know I'm not a native English speaker until I tell them. Then they will say that I have an accent... *shakes head*

[venaja]

I actually think the Dutch accent is amazingly cute and probably prefer it over any other accent. It is quite pleasing to the ear. You shouldn't be frustrated if people say you have an accent, though. I think they are quite admired over here.

[naelany]

Maybe. Thing is though, that when I was in school, it sometimes litterally hurt to hear some people speak English (I mean, if a language can be butchered, tortured...they managed to, quite badly so). Most people in the area I come from don't speak any English at all, or if they do, very little and very poor English. For me, that's a Dutch accent, and it kills me to be told I have one. A love of accents aside by people this side of the ocean, I'd rather be told I have a European accent then a Dutch one (so I happily can remain in the illusion it's more English (proper) or Danish then Dutch ^_~)

[venaja]

Hey, don't worry! People don't have the same associations you do with Dutch, so when they say that, they are saying you have a European accent! Personally, I think the Dutch accent sounds better than the Danish.

[naelany]

*chuckles* Then again, I always thought it was a compliment when people in Denmark told me I had a Sønderjydsk accent. Until I ended up working for a guy who was actually from Sønderjylland and I couldn't understand a word he was saying. From then on it wasn't a compliment anymore