Sian Eleri accent is exaggerated?

[Luciansmum6]

Am I being unreasonable to think Sian eleri of bbc radio, podcasts and on bbc iplayers “paranormal- the girl the ghost and the gravestone” has a very strange accent. I love some welsh accents however I spent a lot of my early years holidays in north wales and still visit often. The accents in north wales barely sound welsh tbh. She grew up in North Wales apparently and then lived in London for years and years. She sounds so over the top welsh it sounds really put on. Maybe she tries to not lose her accent or something but for none of it to have faded is strange- or to have such a strong one in the first place when she is from north wales is unusual. Is it just me that has noticed this?

My grandmother was from North Wales and had a very distinctive accent and never lost it despite living in England for most of her adult life.
It was along the lines of the Ivor the Engine accent if anyone remembers that.

Eh? I’ve lived in North Wales since I was 15, married a Welshman and have Welsh kids. Her accent sounds normal for Welsh to me. You do realise that there are many Welsh accents right? Just like there are in England.

Exactly. And even within those places there are different accents. Not all Cardiffians have the strong Caaaardiff accent, which I'm sure no one would say is a nicer accent.

I've now listened to Sian Eleri and she does essentially have a similar accent to my grandmas albeit she speaks quicker and on very different subject matter .

I love her (Caernarfon) accent and could listen to her all day.

Exactly - also each Valley has different accents to varying degrees, I’m from Sirhowy and my mate is from Afan - there are similarities but differences too.

This was posted years ago but just hearing her now on the radio… I find her accent really hard to listen to! It doesn’t sound real!

And yet it is real.

maybe be less xenophobic

Dunno about how authentic her accent is, but I know I’ve got a little crush on her, which is odd as I’m straight.

🤷🏼‍♀️

I think her accent is nicer.

I don't think she's exaggerating her accent at all. She does do a "calm voice" on her radio show, which makes sense as its the chillout show, the bloke who did it prior to her used to do the same things. I think it has the effect of making her accent more noticeable, as when she's covering other peoples shows it doesn't sound quite as strong.

I'm only here cos it popped up on active. Never heard of her before but generally her accent is typical of where she's from. It's literally called "North Walian" and has hints of Scouse. I'm from West Wales and have worked with colleagues for years in South Wales and North Wales so I am familiar with the accent variations. One guy from the north west had such a lovely sing song accent I wanted him to narrate audio books. 😂

I googled her and clicked on one video from 2024 and yes it did seem an over the top presentation. Then I found a older video from 2021 where she's just chatting to another person in a Q + A not in presenter mode and her accent was far more toned down.

I Imagine she's going for the over the top presenting style in the first video (I think it was a haunted house type one so needed drama I guess). Fair play to her you got to stand out these days. She won't be the first or last to exaggerate (or down play) an accent to get more coverage. E.g. Taylor Swift and her country accent that she dropped when she moved to making pop albums.

Anyway thanks for pointing out another Welsh lass who I need to go idolise for putting Wales on the map again.

I can’t help finding it odd to listen to!! Doesn’t make me xenophobic!

Tell us you don't know what xenophobic means without telling us. Some of the over the top responses and attacks on the OP on here are pretty sad.

I really like her accent, but totally agree as someone from the Black Country, who's moved around a lot, including a decade overseas, and a decade in London, with friends from North Wales. Newcastle, Liverpool etc. - there's no way her accent wouldn't noticeably soften or change somewhat. Mines completely gone.

100% not xenophobic. It's an accent, not liking it doesn't make you a bigot. Attacking you for not liking it however...

Oh wow, I just listened to her on a few YouTube clips, her accent is really toned down vs how she speaks in Paranormal.

Claiming someone accent is so Welsh it can’t be real is xenophobic.

shes from north west wales. So she has a strong north west walian accent.

it’s not people saying they don’t like it that’s the issue, it’s people saying it can’t be real just because it’s too Welsh.

also ‘tell us you don’t know what xenophobic means without telling us’ …… didn’t know people were still flogging this old expression

I don’t know her but as a north walian yes our accent is very distinctive.

Didn't realise this was a Zombie. I've just gone on YouTube to listen to her accent.

We are in Ffestiniog it's a very typical Gwynedd accent. Beautiful! I love it mot Welsh but love Welsh culture and language.

What is it with people thinking that other people's accents are fake/put on? I've seen it commented on a lot, especially on social media.

For example there's a woman in Shetland (where I'm from) that does tiktoks for her business. Her accent is very genuine, but it's really common for people to say it's put on and fake. She does have a very distinctive accent (she's from a small island that has an accent all of its own) but it's absolutely genuine.

Just because someone tones down their accent sometimes (I do. I don't live in Shetland at the moment, and I 'knap' (the k is pronounced) most of the time - until I go back home and then my accent is back to normal almost instantly. It's not someone I do deliberate, it's a subconscious way of making sure I'm easily understood (having had a period when I first moved away from Shetland where I often wasn't).

It's often the case that people in the media have had to modify their accents in order to get the work. It's great that she's able to use her normal accent now, even if that's not always been the case (and might not always be in the future).

Oops. Neither did I.

Oh well. My point still stands 😁

Just googled her as I love to hear the Gwynedd accent. To be honest, her accent is less pronounced than my Welsh speaking family based around Porthmadog, Criccieth and Bethesda. It seems a bit toned down to me which is a shame as it's a beautiful accent.

Oh gosh, a zombie thread. Her accent is from Caernarfon. Very typical. And there’s a variety of North Welsh accents, just like in South Wales.

I love her accent. It’s the main reason I watch her programme. I doubt you could fake it, especially as she’s a fluent Welsh speaker. She’s great. I’m a big fan.