An interesting trend??

Sorry Stil, must have typed with an accent.

I was ready to ask pops for a translator, or to have him speak English. Couple of times after a few brews, he'd slip into Gealic then ask us why we don't understand him.




Back home, I would love it when people said, "I don't have an accent!" Then try to explain it to them.

I have been asked recently to teach or find teachers for both summer and long term teaching - but specifically for teachers with English or Australian accents.  I have been told (by different 'headhunters') that they are finding the USANian accent too 'hard' for students to understand.

Has anyone else noticed this or is it a sheer happenstance?

Strange, in China, if I've encountered a preference one way or another, they would prefer North Americans to us lot...

I get the same thing...but in reverse.
I've had many, many clients specify North American teachers only, telling me that the Pommier variants are too hard to understand.

No idea what gets people in a region preferring one strain over the other. Maybe it's whichever group has a larger business presence in a region.
Or maybe it's whether the first foreigner to throw up on them in a bar was Canadian or Australian.

Personally I think it's random.  Schools seem to have this idea that 'one bad experience=everyone from that country' and jerk their knees harder than Mike Tyson hitting an opponent.

My first school, when I first arrived there were 3 britons including me. Two were from brum/sheffield and had reasonably strong accents.  After that they didn't get any more british people for a while, eventually my wife asked a CT why, they said it was because of the accents.  They had a phase of getting lots of yanks, and then one argued with the school vehemently about a plethora of things, and mysteriously they stopped getting americans and started getting canadians. 

Being an American, I have been told by many Chinese that I am "easier to understand" than other nationalities.  I have a theory about this (which is pure speculation) but here it goes:

Most American and Canadian FTs I have met here have the standard "North American" accent.  Like the bulk of FTs (of all nationalities), we're college educated/career oriented.  And why does one go to college; so he/she doesn't have to flip burgers for a living.  One of the first things you learn back home after entering the "real world" is that a strong regional accent can kill any career aspirations you may have.

If you start your career with a heavy accent, you lose it real fast.  So all of us "professionals" from the States and Canada end up sounding alike.

Then factor in that most of the spoken English the Chinese have heard has been from Hollywood movies and American TV shows!  They have been hearing the "North American" accent for years and have developed a certain comfort level with it.  I'm not saying it's right or wrong, it's just the way it is.

Feel free to call bs on me if you please.           

Actually makes a lot of sense, ChrisS

But are Americans over here more college-educated than others? I'm not sure about that.  Personally I think the second bit is much more important.  It's the accents that they are used to hearing in films.

Of course, the accents aren't always as distinct from each other as some think.  I mean, aussies often get confused with britons, we know that, but I've heard some more american accents that are much closer to british accents than others.  Like the ones spoken by the posh trading lot in 'Trading Places'.  Virtually the same as a posh british accent. 

Minor correction. 

I stated that the bulk of FTs that I have met "of all nationalities" are college educated.  Once a North American has the education and sets out to advance in their career, whatever regional accent they may have must either be lost or severely toned down.  Otherwise, they don't move up.  This is any career from business to education to gov't, etc.

In my case is was the Virginia/Southern accent.  People in Virginia always said I had no accent, but then I'd speak with a Yankee and he'd think I was some kind of rube/redneck.  And then all that money sitting on the table (I was in sales) went to someone else! 

Hence, I lost the accent very quickly.  I must admit that it will still slip out after too many Tsing Taos.

I never meant to insinuate that Americans and Canadians were more educated than others.  I do not believe this to be the case.  It's just that once we have the education, we're under extreme economic pressure to speak correctly.

Subsequently, when you meet us, we all sound alike. 

Fair enough, dude.

Once a North American has the education and sets out to advance in their career, whatever regional accent they may have must either be lost or severely toned down.  Otherwise, they don't move up.  This is any career from business to education to gov't, etc.

CD...This also applied to my Dad - born in Essex; raised in Dagenham.  When he joined the army back in the '40s, he found that if he wanted to "get ahead", he had to stop sounding so Cockney-toned, and be more like the Beeb-speakers.  After 60+ years, he has developed a (non-regional) British accent.  All the family that stayed in the UK still have distinctive tones.  The couple of sisters that moved to Canada have mostly lost their Essex accent because of prolonged exposure to the Canadian style of speaking. 

As for me?  I have a sort of Estuarial (neutral) accent.  Too Brit to be USAnian and too Yank to be British.

I have a range of accents, good enough to fool the average bloke who doesn't know me. I went to a party in DongGuan, full of expats from various places. I told each one who asked,  a different story....in a different accent. I kill me, sometimes!!



PS.  I'm not grumpy anymore!

I can concur with some of what chrisS says. Over the years I have done some extensive travelling throughout both the US and Canada. I find there is a difference weather I am speaking to a business proffesional and a regular person from the same city. I can fake accents from many backgrounds so I also listen to others when they speak. What's cool is when a person changes from the business-speak to normal after they've become comfortable with you.

I almost fell off my chair when a sales rep from Tennessee called me "Sugar Baby Doll"

What's cool is when a person changes from the business-speak to normal after they've become comfortable with you.

I almost fell off my chair when a sales rep from Tennessee called me "Sugar Baby Doll"

This is why I have to start learning some Suzhouhua for when I go shopping and such.

A fairly common accent in the UK is "Mockney" - somebody with a middle/upper class accent who affects an unconvincing "street" London accent. The classic original is probably Mick Jagger's risible drawl. Joe Strummer's (of the Clash) was a bit better. A fine present day example is Tim Westwood, a well-known rap DJ who tries to sounds like a gangsta from da hood with by way of Sarf Lahdan (South London) despite being white as a ping pong ball, just short of 50 and the son of the Bishop of Norwich.

Plenty of Mockeys are more ept than that, but even so, British ears can usually pick them out. Can non-Brits, I wonder?

Wouldn't call Westwood Mockney, as the accent he's appropriating is black american rather than cockney.

Jamie Oliver is the obvious famous mockney.