If you have a strong regional accent do you like it?

[purrswhileheeats]

I moved about as a child so have never really had a strong accent, I always 'switched' to fit in with my peers. I live abroad now and tend to flit between a Scottish and weak Scouse accent depending on who I'm talking to but I'm always slightly envious of people who've kept their accent no matter where they live

I hate mine, it’s obvious but not broad. I feel people make the assumption the northern accent means you’re thick. I can speak like a bbc newsreader without an accent if the situation requires it though, although I wouldn’t with friends or family as that’s not who I am.

I love accents. They’re amazing to me, and I find men with strong regional accents really attractive, especially if they’re funny at the same time. Looks matter not a jot

Mine is Welsh, though I haven’t lived in Wales for 20 odd years. I think it has faded but it is definitely still there and people recognise it as Welsh immediately. The Dc don’t have any Welsh in their accents at all, they have the accent of where we live now.

@massistar

I did a year as an English language assistant in a French school too. Love the thought of a generation of young French people going around with Glaswegian accents! Mine had softened over time but still distinctly Scottish and gets worse when I've been back home for a visit.

I love accents and I'm a little sad that my kids have a very generic, neutral accent despite growing up in Swansea with a Weegie mother.

I lived in Central Scotland for a few years and we had a young French student teacher over for a term. He picked up the accent so quickly and by the time he left he was saying aye, ken, cannae and dinnae like a local. I still wonder 30 years later if there are French people speaking broad Scottish 🤔😂

I’m from stoke on Trent, I can’t stand my accent. When I phoned 02 a few weeks ago I got told- oh I can tell your from there.

I’ve got a Welsh Marches accent and no one can ever tell where I’m from!

I used to have a very strong cockney accent but I haven't anymore. It's quite mixed. I think it was a mixture of moving away and not deliberately but natural change after two decades. Also education and improved vocabulary.

I’m a true cockney with accent o match, which I really love, more so as I know lots of people don’t rate it. It is, without a doubt, the best accent in Britain. I’ve dated many a dickhead far longer than I should have, simply because of that accent.

Strong north walian accent and I love it

Yorkshire accent here- quite like it ☺️

I don’t but DH has a strong accent, the region is not seen as an attractive place to be from. We moved somewhere upmarket and DH really really struggled to get a job, he worked in telesales and I am convinced it was his accent! He ended up having to get a job in the next city along and commute, interestingly it was the first job he applied for in that region and he got the job no problem.

Dorset. I don't really hear it, except on recordings, where my sister appears to take over.

I work for a very international company, so I do try to speak a bit more RP on work calls, and definitely avoid dialect words, because most of them don't have English as their first language. I did once have an American translating between me and a woman in Hong Kong - it was about 3am my time, when I was on call (IT), and I didn't feel coherent in any language or accent, but the woman in HK was really struggling with my voice.

I have had a couple of people in the past assume I'm stupid because of my voice, but that's their problem (hasn't happened in a job interview AFAIK.)

I was back home last month, and it was lovely hearing proper voices.

I'm originally from Belfast but certainly don't/didn't have a harsh accent. I sound similar to this newsreader but with a deeper voice -

Most people seem to like it although I was called a snob in school and a few local queen bee types in workplaces over here (W Yorks) have tried to mock/mimic it but it makes me more keen to preserve it.

I have a mild West Country accent which gets more pronounced after I've had a few

lived in black country till i was 17 but went to a grammar school where the local accent was discouraged we were encouraged to tone down local sayings like yed for head and teacher for tacher,

so though i left birmingham area over 50 years ago i still have a brummy twang but not strong accent, but can really go brummy when i want to,

i now live in Yorkshire and the first thing people say to me when they meet me is you dont come from round here do you, other half is an essex lad so he has a generic southern london type accent

Glasgow born and bred. Moved city a few years ago - love my accent, people always comment on it (and the constant swearing)

I have been judged for my accent (south London) and assumed to be thick, low class, etc. I can tone it down when necessary, but it doesnt last for long before I slip up. I also speak very fast and have to watch out for that!

A moderated East Midlands accent - I ‘corrected’ it somewhat when I went to a private secondary school and then university. Wish I hadn’t bothered.

It’s all irrelevant now as I live in a francophone country, and my accent is just “English” = posh. I struggled with the french accent when I arrived and it took a long time for me to get it to the point where people understand me. It’s still very English, but understandable for french speakers. No desire really to ever be mistaken for a francophone, which is just as well given that it will never happen!

I don't think I have a strong Bristolian/west country accent...until I hear myself on voicemail.
My accent is tempered by my parents who are from Kent, my husband who is from Glasgow and my schooldays were spent with fellow students from all over the world.

I'm fascinated by accents and how people try to change them to fit in, or not. And how they feel other people perceive them because of their accent.

I speak Greek and live in a Greek-speaking country but the dialect and accent is very different here to Greece (think Geordie compared to the Queen's English). The city I live in is also considered to have a strong 'village' accent and we're mocked by the more sophisticated people 30 miles away I'm hoping to go to Greece in September (🙅) and looking forward to practising 'proper' Greek 😅

East end, Cockney, love my accent, sadly dying out now.

I moved from the south to the north when I was 25. It was over 20 years ago. Just yesterday someone commented on my accent. It doesn't bother me. I can still hear the northern accent around me, but I rarely think of myself as sounding different until it's pointed out, which it frequently is.