Welsh people who don't have a welsh accent?

[faced]

So I'm dating someone who is from Cardiff. He doesn't have a welsh accent? Maybe a few words, but he says that people from Cardiff don't sound Welsh. Especially if their parents are professionals etc

Is he having a laugh? What about Gavin & Stacey? Isn't that set near Cardiff?

I was born and brought up in N. Wales but have lived away for 40+ years , in Birmingham for 33 years, people still ask where my accent is from. when I say Wales they are mostly in disbelief as it in no way the lilting sing song they expect. But it is the local accent in flintshire, practically on the border as a pp said, nearly Scouse. Actually we only moved to the town when I was 7 and none of my family were Welsh so we were not local enough for our neighbours, didn't rhyme look and book with a long oooo sound, never said Oooh I never did when we only meant once. But did say silly/daft buggers when the occassion called for it

It is a very industrialised area, not the beautiful bits or the coastal region and had an influx of workers from many areas to work at the big steelworks from the 19th Century so not Welsh Wales either. Despite the efforts of our nationalist Welsh teachers (learning Welsh had just become compulsory when I started secondary).

If you ever watch the Secret Life of the Zoo based at Chester Zoo and listen to most of the keepers then that is my accent. Makes me feel quite homely as I watch the lions tearing apart the dead deer for dinner.

As someone else said N.Wales and S. Wales are very different in every way, symbolized by the difficulty of travelling between them. I would say Swansea and Cardiff do have very distinctive accents. And they do sound like other peope think a Welsh accent should. I spent 4 years at University In Swansea and hardly ever met a Welsh speaker if they were not studying. The keenest Welsh Nationalist I ever met was an American Post-Graduate. I think he was trying to forment a revolution all by himself.

There's silly, foment a revolution, playing silly buggers there.

Do people really not know that regions in Wales have different accents, just like any other country?

When I was little you tell the village that people came from in Wales, the accents would be that different. Most of the more middle class friends I went to school with talk with a clear radio 4 type accent and as the 70-80 year old pass away so do their lovely accents and colloquialisms. I notice the children speak with slight American/Canadian accents due to YouTube.

@cateycloggs, I'm a Welsh speaker, but I have had people ask me if I'm from Chester or Liverpool.

I was told by a North Walian (?) when I commented she didn't have an accent - despite being and speaking Welsh - that those in North Wales don't have the accent and those in the south do. My ex was from south wales and had a bit of one, but it is the same as anywhere else - there are variations.

@awwkkwwaard, there are many north walian accents but they don't sound like the stereotypical welsh accents that you get in the media.
My accent is RP meets plastic scouser.

My family are from Llanelli-my dad passed recently and was welsh. I'm born is Essex. I had a phone call from my cousin and having not spoken to any of the welsh branch for about 15 years my accent was there in a flash! And my dads accent really was only strong when he was drunk! Bonkers

Exactly Snoncen, we are probably accent twins!.. I do think those with no Welsh associations think the strong S Wales/Valley accent is Welsh and that's it. But I think it applies to accents from everywhere in the UK. I mentioned I live in Birmingham and what I realised when I moved here is what people think is a Brummie accent often is not. It varies hugely according to which part or suburb you come from and also yoyr ethnic background like most big cities, I suppose.

When I first moved here I shared a house with some Malaysian men and one of them asked me to explain why there are so many different accents. He had first stayed in Blackpool and could not understand what people were sayimg. Coincidentally our other housemate was a woman from Wrexham so an interesting mix, especially when the other Malaysian man went out with a neighbour's daughter with a strong Irish accent.

I'm from the Vale of Glamorgan and I don't have a Welsh accent. Our Welsh teacher told us to use a valley accent because we sounded too posh when speaking Welsh. What I do have is Welsh intonation, my kids take the mickey out of some words I say, like cupboard, owl and school.

I read an article about someone famous from Wales and it described him as having a valleys lilt. He's from NW Wales.

Said publication in another article referred to freshly baked laver bread.

I'm Welsh and have no Welsh accent because I haven't lived there since I was three.

There is a Cardiff accent but I think because there was and is so much migration it's not very strong or noticeable.

I also think that your accent is formed early on and by your family and peers.

I'm from Carmarthen, no Welsh accent, neither did my friends or family.

Go 40 mins down the road to Llanelli, different story!

I found out recently that Ray Milland was as Welsh, which surprised me exactly because of his accent.

I used to work in a Cardiff neighbourhood and there was a definite Welsh accent but it was a bit harsher than the softer valleys accents you often hear on tv. Caaaar-diff.

I have a good friend who was born and brought up in Cardiff. She doesn't have a Welsh accent.

I'm from the West Country. You wouldn't know it from my accent.

I'm from Barry originally. Literally grew up there and left at 18 when I went to university. Most people don't believe me that I am from Wales as I do not have a very strong accent. Neither does my brother. My Cousin who is originally from Cardiff on the other hand has a very strong accent. I think it can often be to do with family as well. My mum was Barry born and bred, my Dad spent some but not all of his childhood in Barry.

I was surprised by the dearth of welsh accents in Cardiff too when I moved there. And surprised by the Kair-diff accent!

I loved that city. I still think about it often.