Do you have a strong local accent?

[nicecuppateainthemorning]

I do! If I hear it on a recording I am surprised at how strong it is. When I did a voice message to a family member I did it about ten times but couldn’t disguise it!

I don’t mind the accent but it isn’t particularly attractive.

I spoke to an old friend recently after many years and she had such a lovely voice/accent and we are from the same area.

Do you have a strong local accent and how do you feel about it?

I’ve got a broad Cockney accent. I’m used to it, and it doesn’t bother me. No point in trying to sound posh now. 😂

I've lived so many places that my accent is all over the place.

I speak Welsh and English. Speaking in English I sound quite neutral and people find it difficult to pinpoint where I'm from. North but not very North. In Welsh, I get pinpointed to south east angelsey, which is indeed where I'm from originally. I work in Gwynedd, off the island and the Welsh accent is different. I'm definitely not local there (its about 10 miles away!)

No. I can put it on if I want, and sometimes it can creep back if I spend time with lots of local people. But I took a lot of trouble to iron out my accent, to sound neutral and more professional. In certain jobs, I don't think a strong accent is helpful.

Anglesey not angelsey obviously- flipping phone

No.
I grew up in South London, but have lived in Yorkshire for over 40 years, so it is a bit of a hybrid accent now.

DH grew up in Northumberland and had to "lose" his accent when he went to university because no-one could understsnd him. He just has a generic "northern" accent.

DD was born and grew up here and has been told that she has a posh northern accent. It will be because she didn't grow up hearing the local broad dialect at home. She isn't a dee dar (if you know you know). She doesn't say ey up or drop her aitches or go into tarn on Saturdays 😁

I love to hear regional accents and get irritated at people complaining about Vernon Jay or Steph McGovern's accents on TV/radio. They sound warm and friendly and aren't difficult to understand at all.

Geordie here.
I don't think my accent is strong until we go and visit relatives down south. Then it seems to sound very strong. 😂
We have family jotted about all over the country. My fave is our scottish aunty.

Same as this! Been in the south west for 15+ years now so definitely have a local twang, but was talking to someone recently who picked up that I spent part of my childhood in the midlands even though it was 30 years ago and not for very long!

I also love regional accents and I think the UK is particularly diverse in its accents, but I suspect that some will disappear now that people move around so much. It’s quite rare to hear strong local accents here now but when I was a kid visiting family, everyone locally had a broad accent. A shame if we lose them.

Yes I have lived in three different cities but I have been back in my home town for years so the accent is here to stay now. When I lived away I used to deliberately adapt my accent or dialect at times as people used to laugh at the way I said certain words.

I have a strong regional accent-so long as the region is Kensington and Chelsea…..🤣

I think you live in the same 'tarn' as me, @RampantIvy😁 😁
I actually grew up in a few different places, all in the same county, but different towns and dialects, before I moved to my current town 20 odd years ago. So I've got a bit of a 'generic' accent I think. Having said that people can usually guess where I currently live when I speak, so maybe I'm wrong!

Yes, my accent is very strong and people often comment on it. I don’t notice it too much until my DC copy me and I hear it back 😂 I love hearing different accents though! Middle class people usually look at me like I have two heads and people are often surprised we’re quite well off because I sound so working class.

Depends who you ask. I'm Scottish, from an island, and nobody Scottish would say I have a strong accent, I left at 18 and would say I speak SSE, I don't use a lot of dialect and my accent is generally considered a very soft and attractive accent. I live in NE England and have done for over 20 years, nobody finds my accent difficult to understand and generally people comment positively. I do however have a southern English workmate who was privately educated and she describes my accent as 'a very thick accent'. Don't think she realises how strong her southern accent is!

I think there is nothing wrong with having a recognisable regional accent, we all do, it's just some people have double think about their own accent and claim it's neutral.

South East here and common as muck 🤣 I try not to and try to pronounciate properly then I catch my self

Yes, strong London accent and it hasn’t got any weaker even though I’ve lived in the north of England for over 20 years.

I agree, I don't think there is a country in the world that has such a broad variety of accents as us in UK, I love it.

Speaking all the different dialects was my party trick as a child. I'm central Scotland and love my accent. I'm not a huge fan of the Glasgow Uni voice though, it always sounds so fake 😂

I like the fact that people can rarely work out my accent. They're used to central belt Scottish accents but not NE. I don't think I'm difficult to understand.
However if I lapse into Doric and use local words they would struggle.

Glasgow Uni accent is better than Edinburgh Uni though, at least it still sounds Scottish.

I find accents fascinating.. I'm from West Sussex,in my ggps day the rural accent was almost like the west country, pretty much gone now. Very much working class but I sound end letters and several people have said I talk "posh". I don't think I have an accent.. I've got lazy (and sweaty indoors) been with my Sarf London old man for 36 years,it's rubbed off!

Sweary, phone obviously thinks I'm sweaty!!

No.

i confuse people because on a sentence each word almost comes out with a slightly different accent.

everyone says “you don’t sound like you are from here” because I have bits and pieces of everywhere I’ve lived.

Yes. Strong Liverpool accent here. It is what it is.

Sarf london accent here,never gonna change.

Fairly - although I can sound posher if I want to (which is a bug-bear of mine - it's not posher, it's just home-counties - and I refuse to believe that everyone in Buckinghamshire is posh, even if they sound that way)

Actually, these days I let rip with my SE accent as broad as I feel like on the day. I quite enjoy it.

I’m Scottish and live in the same town I was born in but have a fairly neutral accent. Most people who meet me for the first time assume i moved here from England as it probably leans more towards an English accent (just English, no specific region!) thanks to my Cornish mum, who also didn’t have a regional accent.

If I’m in England hardly anyone can understand me because I’m naturally a fast talker and my accent, apparently, is so Scottish 🤷‍♀️ I’m not even from an area with a strong local accent or dialect.

To answer your question OP, I have no idea 😁