I grew up with a thick Australian accent with a drawl I dislike, and have been consciously trying to change it for a while. The problem is I tried to make it sound more American at first but keep getting drawn to speaking "Britishly". Now it's a Frankenstein of all 3 accents and I don't know what to go with.

Some points for both:

▪︎ American accent sounds "cooler"

▪︎ British accent sounds more "proper and elegant"

  • Australian accent sounds more "relaxed" (but I dislike this for myself, personally).

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[–] 33 points 2 years ago (2 children)

There's no one single British or American accent. Liverpool? Florida? Newcastle? Manchester? New York. Even within these places there's different accents.

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  • [–] 29 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    I think to have this settled once and for all: The German accent is the best of them all.

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    [–] 25 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Just throwing out a random opinion that doesn't mean much but...I'm an American and I actually find the Australian accent to be the sexiest of all native English-speaking areas. I'm just some random on the Internet but yeah.

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  • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    British accent sounds more "proper and elegant"

    Let me introduce you to my Geordie family and see if tou still feel English is elegant. The high English spoken by poshos that is all over TV and movies is very different than how most Brits talk

    As for American accents, i have an absolutely bonkers accent of American Midwest with Texas drawl sprinkled in and other lazy drawn out vowels. Just speak however feels comfortable

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    Americans think the Geordie accent sounds posh (don't know about Australians, mind). I can't find the relevant articles but there was a born-Geordie American official who hit the news there a while back. In interviews with the British media she mentioned how the accent caused a lot of class-based discrimination back in the UK. Meanwhile the right-wing US media were running articles about the posh British woman interfering in their politics.

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    [+] 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 6 months ago)
    [–] 18 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I take what you mean with "American accent" being the accent they use on US Television in shows and most news?

    Because there's a hell of a lot of regional accents in both Britain and the US and various ones in both sounds stupid while others sound sophisticated.

    Looking at you Scousers and Southerners.

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    [–] 15 points 2 years ago

    Keep your accent, Aussie accents are lovely. I'm sure it sounds more relaxed to you because it's yours. If you have some inner need to change it to feel more professional, isn't there posh version? Like what newscasters sound like?

    Scottish is my favorite by far. The sort so thick you have to listen for awhile until the words come into focus. Not sure why but it is dead pleasant.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Glaswegian

    SHE'S TURNED THE WEANS AGAINST US

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    [–] 13 points 2 years ago

    Throw them both oot and try a Canadian accent, eh.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    No serious linguist would advise you to change your accent like this. It's artificial and unlikely to succeed entirely, as you've noticed - accents are a reflexive, instinctive thing, difficult to rewire. The characteristics of the accents you mention (what you're referring to are probably General American accent and British "Received Pronunciation", which are far from univesal American or British accents) are shaped purely by (pop) culture. That includes the judgment on how good an accent sounds. Is it really a coincidence that the British royalty uses an accent that sounds "elegant"?

    You don't appear to have any external reason to change your accent. If you live in Australia and talk with Australians, why would you want to sound like a non-Australian? Why do you want to sound non-relaxed?

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    [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    As someone with a fairly 'strong' London accent, I personally love the Southern US accent. I don't know why we don't all speak that way.

    Supposedly, Scottish accents are perceived as more trustworthy and that's why most financial services ads in the UK have Scottish voiceovers!

    However, all this is down to culture and personal taste. I don't think one or the other sounds objectively better!

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago

    The answer is of course that neither is better really. As a Brit, there are plenty of British and American accents that I find annoying or unpleasant to listen to, but that's all subjective. Just go with whatever you want, and remember that any native speaker's accent is valid.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago

    IDo a google search on "non regional diction" you can find some pretty good resources on how to sound more "universal".

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago
    [–] 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    This is just my very biased opinion but if somebody has a US-american accent I immediately respect them less lol. It's an instinct.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    i think less of people that have biased thoughts when first meeting someone due to internal biases you arent self aware enough to absolve

    you sound like an NPC might u try connecting with your consciousness a bit? you seem too much like a news oriented reactionary.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago

    Actually, i fancy the Irish accent the most

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Go Transatlantic American accent. It's the most clear and the least accent-y accent.

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    [+] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)
    [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    I'm an Aussie, and I reckon you can't beat the articulated British accent. It's just... proper.

    I consider the King's English to be the gold reference.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    You realise we have 3 accents down here right? "Cultured", standard and strine? You could go for one of the other subtypes. :)

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)
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    [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    I met this dude who could speak fluent Spanish with a thick Scottish accent. It was the funniest thing.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    ▪︎ British accent sounds more "proper and elegant"

    Ah yes the elegant accent of Enfield or Redcar

    Be you there's nothing worse than someone trying to be something they're not. It causes instant mistrust when you know someone isn't being themselves

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Maybe I'm biased because I have a Kiwi accent, but I choose American.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I love Kiwi accents. What's your favorite American accent?

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    Whats wrong with the sound of the sharp Australian twang in your voice mate? Lots of folks love it!

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    I like the New Zealander accent, myself.

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    [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    I've worked as a professional actor (alongside other things) and I learned how to diagram an accent in drama school using IPA, and then matched up with a bunch of other voice paradigms - Rodenberg, Berry, Linklater...

    I know a few people who changed their accents in their lives, and some who only change it for roles.

    I'm British, but live in America. If I audition for an American role, I speak with the appropriate accent (usually GenAm) in all communications until I'm cast, but I don't change my every day voice to talk to my wife or whatever, because it's just a job and I'm me and everyone knows me as me.

    My rural upbringing is a strength, my culture makes me feel unique. So many people (especially white people) have trouble feeling like they have a shared history to celebrate that's not problematic. Knowing I have the Straw Bear, the Green Man, Hereward the Wake, Boudica and the Iceni - even Morris and Maypole dancing - in my childhood rituals makes me feel less homesick. And my accent is unique, being between the East Midlands and London commuter belt. I can round it out to RP when I need to but it's also part of me.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Scottish - it is somehow more intelligible for me (not from anglosphere countries)

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    [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    Laughs in Appalachian American

    https://youtu.be/03iwAY4KlIU?si=zGGq9lnFc2pSDgqY

    I'm pretty sure you're specifically intending the mimic the generic corporate/West Coast/Midwestern non-accent American accents. That's like the way Americans talk on purpose when they want to avoid social judgment from other Americans. The way we talk when home with our families is rarely that.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    Trans Atlantic accent or contemporary American accent? I think accents are really cute. My heart melts slightly when my SO's family speaks because they have a pronounced Canadian accent.

    Australian accents are my all-time favorite though. Cheerful, relaxed, lovely. :)

    It's relatively infrequent, every once in awhile, I'll hear certain pronunciations in American southern accents or Australian accents that reveals age-old British accent roots. It's rather interesting.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    They both suck, try Scottish or Irish. They are the shit.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    Is this 4chan? Next up, circumcised vs. uncircumcised, 21456 replies.

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