A general community for asking and answering questions about other countries and cultures.
Please state which country you're answering for when you answer a post.
Austrian here. My school struck to Oxford English and we had speaking exercises to get us to adopt a British accent. (Their main goal was to make us sound more native and less like Arnold Schwarzenegger). American and Austalian accents were accepted but not actively encouraged by the teachers.
I myself tried to adopt the British accent but I think I kinda ended up in a weird mixture of British and American English :')
Finn here. Never tried to imitate anything. More like tried to find a clean and sensible or neutral approach if possible, if anything.
German here, I started with a mishmash of accents I think but it probably trended towards US-American. Then I binge-watched Monty Python and Doctor Who in my 20s and I can say with a fair amount of certainty that that's the point where I inadvertently started doing a rather posh British RP accent. It shifts around a bit, depending on what I recently watched (David Tennant always infects me with his accent) but I find that stereotypical British accents are closer to what my mouth does in German so it's actually easier for me than other variants of English. Now if only I could get rid of all the US-American vocabulary I've picked up over the years.
Im German
I tried to imitate a british dialect in school, but it ended up more American with a very little bit of irish because of a vacation there and because of some YouTubers I like to watch. But it's a very light accent, like d/t instead of th - "cat'hedral" instead of "cathedral".
I didn't try to imitate any particular dialect/accent.
It is hard enough to learn a second language. I simply imitate whoever I interact with, or passively acquire the accent while watching/listening to media.
Edit: such weird rule to require saying which country I'm answering for. It isn't always relevant. To avoid this answer being removed, I will say it anyway: Hong Kong.
I posted a thread asking for feedback on the rule, but the only response I got was in support.
Can you explain why you don't think it's relevant in this case? I feel it could be interesting to know if, for instance, people tend to imitate the English-speaking country that's closest to them or that they have the closest trade relations with.
It's a weird rule, but of course this is the internet. Nobody said you had to tell the truth. Take it from me, living in Chagos.
When I started I couldn't tell the differences, so I tried imitating any native speaker I'd come across. It was rather confusing at times.
Hi! Thank you for your contribution.
In order to ensure that our community remains inclusive and informative, we have a rule in place that requires all top-level answers to mention the specific country or culture they pertain to. This helps avoid assumptions and promotes a more accurate understanding of the cultural context. Although you may think the answer is obvious, we want this community to be accessible to people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Please edit your post to say which country you’re answering for. If you have not done so after 24 hours, it may be removed. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
🇫🇮
Dunno about trying to imitate dialects but -
I'm a gamer that has played western games the most. I assume that means American English. All those youth years of mine delving in and jumping from a game to another, listening at cutscenes (with subtitles on of course) and talking to other gamers once in a while has probably the most influenced my skill of english.
I think I talk American English pretty fluently nowadays, although I don't speak English daily. Folks have said I'm pretty good at pronouncing.
Not going for an accent, just the basic American.
Edit: I am from the Netherlands. Plus OP, or mod of the sub, that you think anything bad is gonna happen if I don’t mention my country is just not true and is just overcomplicating things. Still, I respect the rule, so I put my country up.
Hi! Thank you for your contribution.
In order to ensure that our community remains inclusive and informative, we have a rule in place that requires all top-level answers to mention the specific country or culture they pertain to. This helps avoid assumptions and promotes a more accurate understanding of the cultural context. Although you may think the answer is obvious, we want this community to be accessible to people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Please edit your post to say which country you’re answering for. If you have not done so after 24 hours, it may be removed. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
I'm French, so I have a very French accent, French dialect even (many French words translate easily in English but are not as common in native English). But listening to TV shows I slowly get some US accent mixed in I guess.