Englishuser  +  286777 Sat, 28 Oct 06 11:11 PM Hello everyone, How easy is it for you to acquire a new accent in your native language or in a foreign language? Would you say that you can mimic various accents in a convincing way? Englishuser Englishuser Joined on Thu, Mar 30 2006 Regular Member 717 Accents

	nona the brit  +  286929 Sun, 29 Oct 06 10:44 AM I can't. I can get a flavour of it but can't do a very good impression of other accents. I think that very few people can do this well. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all. Accents

	Grammar Geek  +  287091 Sun, 29 Oct 06 06:36 PM I can slip into a southern accent (U.S.) at a moment's notice and stay there. But my father is from the south and his speech patterns are latent in me. I can do a couple British accents to tell a joke that has a British speaker as part of the joke, but any native Brit would know it was a fake after about two words. But I can't do a New England accent, even after living there for 15 years. It's always painful for me to see actors trying to affect false accents for movies when they haven't been trained. Hugh Laurie does a great American accent in House, M.D. The first time I heard him intereviewed in his "native tongue" I was amazed. Also, Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman sound very American. Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,655 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random! Accents, Jokes, American Accents

	Francesca  +  287111 Sun, 29 Oct 06 08:41 PM Since I live in a small place in Tuscany but very close to Lazio, I have an accent which can be judged as a "mix" of Tuscan and Roman, so speaking tuscan or roman accent is easy for me. By the way I guess I can't be so convincing because there are many "tones" in both the accents I can speak, I mean: there is the Tuscan from Florence, the one from Pisa, from Livorno, from Grosseto...and so on! So I guess no people from Florence could be convinced by my Tuscan from Florence, while a Roman could think that I really am from Florence Obviously I can't talk about a foreign accent: I can barely perceive the difference between BE and AE Francesca Joined on Tue, Oct 11 2005 Contributing Member 1,786 Accents, Difference Between

	Englishuser  +  287284 Mon, 30 Oct 06 08:17 AM Hi Francesca, Thank you for posting! It was interesting to read about Italian accents for a change. What about people who speak Italian as a foreign/second language? Which accent is most commonly taught to them? Englishuser Englishuser Accents

	Francesca  +  287310 Mon, 30 Oct 06 10:07 AM Hi! In italian school they teach'em to speak a correct italian, foreign people can learn the accents only if they stay in Italy for a long time. I've heard many foreign people who have learned italian in Tuscany able to talk in a tuscan way, but just because they have many tuscan friends and have been there many years. Most of the foreign people talk italian with their own accent: just for an example, I know a girl from Poland who speaks a good italian with a Polish accent, a French one who speaks with a French accent...and so on! Francesca Accents