I grew up with a thick Australian accent with a drawl I dislike, and have been consciously trying to change it for a while. The problem is I tried to make it sound more American at first but keep getting drawn to speaking “Britishly”. Now it’s a Frankenstein of all 3 accents and I don’t know what to go with.
Some points for both:
▪︎ American accent sounds “cooler”
▪︎ British accent sounds more “proper and elegant”
- Australian accent sounds more “relaxed” (but I dislike this for myself, personally).
There’s no one single British or American accent. Liverpool? Florida? Newcastle? Manchester? New York. Even within these places there’s different accents.
Dont worry about that. OP is trying to change their accent.
I doubt they have given much thought to region or dialect.
There’s not one single Australian accent either. Broadly speaking, there’s three of them.
Just throwing out a random opinion that doesn’t mean much but…I’m an American and I actually find the Australian accent to be the sexiest of all native English-speaking areas. I’m just some random on the Internet but yeah.
Aussies this is our chance
Oi cant
;)
I’m from the US and honestly I find just about any accent that different from mine really sexy. Aside from a few standouts. I’m not a fan of the Liverpool accent, whatever that’s called.
British accent sounds more “proper and elegant”
Let me introduce you to my Geordie family and see if tou still feel English is elegant. The high English spoken by poshos that is all over TV and movies is very different than how most Brits talk
As for American accents, i have an absolutely bonkers accent of American Midwest with Texas drawl sprinkled in and other lazy drawn out vowels. Just speak however feels comfortable
Americans think the Geordie accent sounds posh (don’t know about Australians, mind). I can’t find the relevant articles but there was a born-Geordie American official who hit the news there a while back. In interviews with the British media she mentioned how the accent caused a lot of class-based discrimination back in the UK. Meanwhile the right-wing US media were running articles about the posh British woman interfering in their politics.
I was visiting Leeds this summer and was at a werherspoons when some drunk kids at the next table over heard me and figured out I was American. He said he was aspiring to be an actor and wanted me to give my opinion on his American accent. He sounded like he was from California and he must have picked up all his accent tips from movies/TV.
I really liked this Wired YT series on American accents and would love to see a British version: https://youtu.be/H1KP4ztKK0A?si=du9M-WgkWtiw5Pjd
Define better. What are you trying to achieve?
I’ve always found the American accent quite cool.
Now, let me say something I haven’t seen mentioned here: don’t change your accent. Be proud of it. Have you traveled to the UK or the US yet? If not, do it. You’ll find plenty of people finding you interesting and wanting to talk to you because of your accent.
Keep your accent, Aussie accents are lovely. I’m sure it sounds more relaxed to you because it’s yours. If you have some inner need to change it to feel more professional, isn’t there posh version? Like what newscasters sound like?
Scottish is my favorite by far. The sort so thick you have to listen for awhile until the words come into focus. Not sure why but it is dead pleasant.
I take what you mean with “American accent” being the accent they use on US Television in shows and most news?
Because there’s a hell of a lot of regional accents in both Britain and the US and various ones in both sounds stupid while others sound sophisticated.
Looking at you Scousers and Southerners.
I love the American Southerner accent in women.
Throw them both oot and try a Canadian accent, eh.
I think to have this settled once and for all: The German accent is the best of them all.
Girls speaking German are rarely sexy sounding, although better than Portuguese.
Man I recently met a beautiful Tanzanian woman who had an amazingly beautiful accent when she spoke English. It sounded regal and dignified. I had a huge crush. Kenyan accents are great too. I think we focus too much on western accents
I agree that African accents can be awesome. I’m pretty ignorant of regional accent or if they are more of a national accent but growing up I had a buddy from Zimbabwe who’s parents had an amazing accent when speaking English.
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I’m liking the Belgian accent these days.
No serious linguist would advise you to change your accent like this. It’s artificial and unlikely to succeed entirely, as you’ve noticed - accents are a reflexive, instinctive thing, difficult to rewire. The characteristics of the accents you mention (what you’re referring to are probably General American accent and British “Received Pronunciation”, which are far from univesal American or British accents) are shaped purely by (pop) culture. That includes the judgment on how good an accent sounds. Is it really a coincidence that the British royalty uses an accent that sounds “elegant”?
You don’t appear to have any external reason to change your accent. If you live in Australia and talk with Australians, why would you want to sound like a non-Australian? Why do you want to sound non-relaxed?
Look, I found the one person on earth who doesn’t know who Kelsey Grammer is. I had no idea that “serious linguists” were dumb shits.
You could try a transatlantic accent!
Actually, i fancy the Irish accent the most
Go Transatlantic American accent. It’s the most clear and the least accent-y accent.
I find it to be fairly accent-y and very clipped.
It’s nice in old movies, but it’s extremely dated.
It literally isn’t the accenty accent. It’s just a made up one that picks attributes from a handful of dialects, making it hard to “place.”
I’m an Aussie, and I reckon you can’t beat the articulated British accent. It’s just… proper.
I consider the King’s English to be the gold reference.
The answer is of course that neither is better really. As a Brit, there are plenty of British and American accents that I find annoying or unpleasant to listen to, but that’s all subjective. Just go with whatever you want, and remember that any native speaker’s accent is valid.
▪︎ British accent sounds more “proper and elegant”
Ah yes the elegant accent of Enfield or Redcar
Be you there’s nothing worse than someone trying to be something they’re not. It causes instant mistrust when you know someone isn’t being themselves
