What do different accents sound like to native speakers of foreign languages?

[kenandbarbie]

Just wondering what the perceptions are between native speakers of other languages?

I think the Cyprus accent is like a farmers one to Athens people in Greek, is that right?

What about say Mexicans and Spaniards? What do they think of each other's accents?

@Cherries101 - I've never met a Belgian I didn't like.

@ThistleAmore - lol, true. But I have yet to meet a parisenne who hasn’t insulted me!!

I have an acquaintance who's German; when we first got chatting I knew he was from a country somewhere in mainland Europe but simply couldn't put my finger on where. When I eventually asked him, it turned out that he's from Bavaria - but, added to that, his wife is Scottish (I'm not sure what part of Scotland she's from). The combination of his Bavarian accent and the likelihood that he's picked up a number of Scottish pronunciations over the years made it difficult to pinpoint. I think I asked him if he was Polish or Finnish!

I get different responses from French speakers when speaking French, depending where I am. Turns out that I speak it with an accent that makes people think I am from the French speaking parts of Belgium.

I work with a large number of Europeans. I have a south London accent and they seem to think that's very hard to understand compared to other uk people in the office. Although I do speak quickly do it could be that as well.....

I live in the province next to Friesland, and I can tell you that Frisian doesn't sound like English at all. I spent every summer in Friesland until age 20 and then lived 20 years in UK , but not once thought the languages are alike. (Frisian is a language BTW, like Cornish and Welsh). We in North of NL are generally looked at as farmers by anyone South.

I'm a Bavarian (Frankonian really) living in Scotland (with a few years in NZ and West coast USA) Heuschrecke and most people now ask where I'm from because they can't quite pin down my accent anymore.

I can usually tell roughly from which part of Germany someone comes from when I hear them speak English.

I am English but have lived in Ireland for many years. At first I couldn't tell much of a difference between Irish accents, but now I can.

DP is Parisian and says that Parisians mock every other French accent.

That's funny SewButtons. My husband speaks fluent French with what is apparently a Parisian accent. French people often think he's French until he starts speaking English to me. In Paris he's been complimented on his accent by people who always add something dismissive about accents from other parts of France and efforts by most foreigners to speak the language. They always do it with a little 'moue', which is so French

@Mentounasc because they’ve told me and also it’s a bit of a common fact. I’m not really sure someone learning Arabic will have the same accent. If an Australian teaches a German English (instead of an American), the German speaker will not magically speak English with an Australian or American accent. They will speak it with a German accent.

I remember reading about a murder case in the Netherlands where the police had a recording of the killer’s voice speaking English. They broadcast it & announced they were looking for an English killer until British expats there rang in & told them it was a Dutchman speaking English.

Not me (my language skills are pretty woeful, takes me 5 minutes to understand something in French and another 15 to work out any sort of answer); but some years ago my mother was in London and stopped to help a couple of French girls. They commented on how pretty her old-fashioned French was. She was at school in the 50s and spent several holidays with a French family she met through girl guiding. I think they were a fairly upper class family.

I'm fascinated by accents and languages,especially local dialects. I was particularly intrigued to find out that the Breton and Cornish dialects are fairly similar,to the extent that a native speaker of each could probably understand most of what the other was saying.

My English husband has spent so much time around my Cypriot family, although he can't really understand the language, but immediately recognised a family friend was from Greece because of the way she spoke.

I was once told a story about a teacher from Newcastle with the local accent going to teach abroad, when she left the parents said how pleased they were that their children had learnt 'the Queens English' - completely unaware that their little darlings all had Geordie accents

In Scotland how are the different local accents regarded? Do Scots people have stereotypes of particular accents like English people do for places like Bristol? (yes, I know I sound like a turnip farmer)

So true about Cypriot Greek and Greek Greek. I was taught 'proper' Greek before I moved to Cyprus but quickly changed to Paphian hillbilly Greek after a month of living there. If I go to mainland Greece I have to make a conscious effort not to shout 'OY MANAMOU, THEN ESHEI PROBLEMA!!!' all the time 😂

Goforkyourself
I feel like that anytime I have to venture into North London and the mainlanders try to make out they can't understand me 😂

In dam bou gamnis? How on earth do you get that from te kanis? And why? It's longer!

I learnt Castillan Spanish in school and can speak it fairly well. Then I had to completely undo all of my teacher's hard work on pronunciation when I went to South America because it's completely different... Peruvians struggle to understand a 'th' for a 'c' so the number five is sinco not thinco. And Argentina is completely different again. 'll' is not a 'y' sound but a 'sh'. So hard to figure out!

My DH worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo for some time, where French is spoken. Not long after he came back, we went on holiday to France, and when he spoke the French there that he had learnt in DRC, jaws would drop. Apparently it was the equivalent of a French person speaking English in a strong Caribbean patois

Bill Bryson covers the Dutch-English dialect thing in his Mother Tongue book. It's years since I read it, but there is apparently a small area of the Netherlands whose dialect words are so close to English as to be perfectly understood.

I've been in Italy for donkey's years but my degree is in Spanish and the last time I spoke Spanish to someone they said I had an Italian accent. Hmm.

Don't Parisians French people think Belgians are a bit dumb?

I speak fluent French, but apparently with a Dutch accent - to the extent that restaurant staff in Brussels always speak to me in Dutch when I speak to them in French. I also speak Dutch, which people in Flanders and the Netherlands found quite confusing. I would get “You’re not Belgian... are you Dutch? You don’t quite sound Dutch either...”

I also speak German with a strong Austrian accent, which makes my friend from Hanover wince and cover his ears.

Many years ago on an exchange visit to (southern)France I was surprised that my exchange partner's dad spoke French with what appeared to be a strong Scots accent- he was from Northern France.

@MrsSchadenfreude but where you actually from? Don't leave us hanging!