Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Funny how you get used to saying something a certain way, and struggle to say it the way the natives would do, even if that's right in that country. I would struggle to pronounce 'posh' as you described ... that sounds like a way I like my eggs cooked sometimes. :)

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Except when they are in the extremes, Aroostook County...I know they are speaking English up there...but honestly, can't understand a word they are saying.

What's worse, FIL can't either and he went to uni in Fort Kent :lol:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

show them your flipper, sorted :D

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Posh, plenty, upper class and crust, never heard anyone say that here.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Good point. When we first moved onto our street a neighbor said ... "Are y'all teachers? Cuz y'all talk so proper." True story! We thought ... no ... about 3 hours north of here ...

I don't know that I'd expect to hear that in JerseyGirl's neck of the woods though.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

We are in Atlanta too.
Husband just told me that chap in his work who has strongish North east england accent has just taken new posting back in UK as never managed to gain much credibility with the americans. Those with strongish regional accents themselves ( TN, north GA) seemed to have the most problem. Husband seems to do ok with his Southern/ neutral accent as they think he sounds like Hugh Grant. [hopefully not such an annoying tit though]

I got told at the Post office the other day that I sound like Mary Poppins! Not too thrilled about that either!
I'm sure what you're facing is as a result of economic downturn- but you might want to get out the elocution tapes just in case - all together now "the rain in spain...." good luck though:)

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I've been here 25+ years, and I'd say I'm a 'chameleon' when it comes to accents - I adapt to the sounds around me, without really thinking about it (put me in a room with a dozen Indians and I'll be speaking with an Indian accent after an hour or too!). I say 'zee' not 'zed', 'skedule' not 'shhhedule', etc. But even so, everyone says they 'love my accent' and can still tell I'm from UK. Just last week, they asked me to record all the greetings on the phone system 'because I sound so classy' ... :( :) .

I do think a heavy regional UK accent could be a barrier in many jobs, and I would make an effort if I were you to 'tone it down'. I say this simply because you have to be clearly understood in most lines of work - every word counts (consider how much flack Indian 'call center' workers get for their accents - you are probably harder to understand than an Indian, if you are not making any effort to adapt). Since it comes naturally to me, it's easy for me to say but I can't imagine that it is that hard to do.

Do you just have a heavy accent, or do you also use 'regional phrases' ... I had friends from NE UK and they had a whole other vocabulary!

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Another Atlanta resident here,
I left Teesside 30+ years ago and have definitely had to moderate my accent to make myself understood in my travels to over 40 countries.
My US mother in law says I have a strong accent but as I keep telling her if I spoke today the way I spoke as a child growing up in Darlington she would only understand every 5th word coming out of my mouth.
Personally I find having a British accent regardless of where in the UK you are from, is an icebreaker, people tend to remember you faster when you call them on the phone, they tend to be more amenable/flexible when dealing with me rather than Americans who ask the same question
So long as you are understood in normal conversations here, regional accents shouldn’t be the cause of you not getting a job, tough economic times are another thing all together.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I think the barrier is more one of using American phraseology and syllable emphasis than pronunciation. "Do you have any?" instead of "Have you got any?"; and "g'RAAGE" instead of "GAridge.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Hubby LOVES his accent because it makes him stand out to people - they all love hearing it and, as such, love him (could be because he's such a swell guy too though :D )

But I get annoyed with the idiots who will say they can't understand him or when he has to repeat himself over and over. Though honestly that doesn't happen as much anymore - I think mostly they're just fascinated and want to hear him say ANYthing. LOL.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Hubs is from the Northeast also but doesn't find it too much of a problem here (except it does get on my nerves once in awhile:)).

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I like this website... http://web.ku.edu/~idea/

Regional dialects from all over the world. Hearing the difference from Maine to North Carolina to Wales to Newcastle to London is interesting.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

:thumbsup: I sound like England eight with a deeper voice lol

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

This link is for all Geordie's ( and I are one) who are trying to get jobs worldwide. It may help their prospective employer.

http://www.geordie.org.uk/index.htm

Ye knaa what ah mean leik.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

well, that's a nice one. :)

I do like the Southwest accent, :thumbup:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Only because there is not much difference between that and Long John Silver.

God knows what I sound like - my Brummie faded at an early age - probably due to a concious (but misguided) effort to be perceived as intelligent. Don't get me wrong - I love the accent. I tell my US friends that if I spoke with the accent of my birth, I would sound like Ozzie Osbourne - they can get a handle on that.

Now Cindy reckons my Brummie only comes out when I am drunk or angry (btw I'm never both :thumbup:).

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I've always found my English accent to be an advantage - especially with American women :)

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

It could be the giant axe.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Well that too :)

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Traceym didn't seem to be too impressed - but then she likes the Scot accent! ;)

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I've got a mild Bristol accent and I've been told many times by Americans that they can understand me fine but they can't understand other English people.
When i was a kid we moved from Bristol to Nottingham and all the kids in Nottingham thought I was American! I thought they were nuts but I guess the West Country accent maybe does have some similarities. Emphasing the 'r' in words, etc.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

snap, hubby tells me the same, and when my mil told me after 5 years, I have become far easier to understand, my jaw dropped.

Maybe its unconscious to gradually assimilate and change and soften the way we pronounce words, as in budder, and wadder etc I bet when I go home I will get told I have a yank accent!

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

innit, tho? :rofl:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Lots of people struggle to understand me, I have a fairly broad Yorkshire accent. I'm so glad I have a job where I don't have to use the phone much as I just repeat myself over and over again. If I can get away with it I always get one of the girls in the office to make any phone calls for me:lol:

I must admit though, when I moved from Yorkshire to Milton Keynes, I spent 5 months repeating myself in the office while people got used to my accent:frown:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Do you make a conscious effort to keep the accent, or do you just naturally retain it?

I'm surrounded by Americans and it just sounds weird to my ears to be speaking with a UK accent, so I naturally 'adapt'. My mum has been visiting for 8 weeks, though, and everyone said my accent has changed while she has been here! The other day, a couple of the Americans in the office were cracking up and came over to me - "do you guys really say 'shhhedule' instead of 'skedule'?" - they'd been on the phone with a UK woman, and had never heard 'shhhedule' before; they thought it was hilarious! I explained that I had purged that particularly obnoxious sound from my vocabulary a long time ago! Certain words, though, will always come out the 'English' way - "can't", for example.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I do make the effort with certain words that I know are a problem. I have adapted my Starbucks order to a scooone and say Ca-rib-ean at work... I cannot bring myself to drop the t in words and replace them with a d though or miss the h off herb.

My 7 year old daughter translates things for me why when we go out:lol:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Talking of 'erbs, I can only say o-REG-ano and bAY-zil with an over the top really bad pretend American accent.

Merz

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I have trouble with 'hot', which needs to be pronounced 'haat'.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

My husband is a Middlesbrough lad and when we lived in the US, some people he met used to ask him to say something, anything just to hear his accent. But some times people couldn't understand him or thought he was Irish or Scottish so he had to keep correcting them by saying he was English.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

My Mum thinks my Geordie husband is Scottish :rolleyes:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

What do you mean "here". I'm from Birmingham, my accent is a problem anywhere outside the West Midlands :D

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

My husband is from Scotland and we live in Manhattan where there is basically every accent you can think of. Lots of people can't understand him and he always gets asked where in Ireland he's from! It's frustrating for him.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Penguinbar, I was on the train from Stansted Airport after my American OH had just been 'initiated'(see 'interrogated') into my vast/suspicious Irish family when two Scottish ladies got on and started chatting. My Husband asked where in Ireland they were from.
They pretended to be so offended, I was just laughing and he thought he had blown the deal haha!

Now he just whispers "where are these guys from?" before talking to anyone from outside America.:rofl:

Merz

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

LOL!:D

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I also have a fairly broad Yorkshire accent, so the first time someone said I talked posh was something of a surprise.

What I've found interesting is that here in Iowa I don't have nearly as much trouble with people understanding me as I did in Georgia.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

I have come across 1 person who says I sound posh, I think people in LA are just rude though and can understand me but choose to be picky:frown:

Where in Yorkshire are you from Zargof? I have the misfortune to have a Wakefield accent, probably one of the worse around:(

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

A Wakefield accent is pretty grim :p
My accent is a mixture of Dewsbury and South Cumbria and people over here have a hard time believing I come from anywhere other than Scotland or Australia :frown:

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

Occasionally, I've been asked here where we-meaning DH AND I are from. I can understand why they would ask about him, but me, er not so much. :blink:

Anyway, I answer, he's from old England and I'm from New England. :D

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

We tell people DH is from Kentucky.

Re: Is your accent a problem here?
 

A former neighbour in Greenwich was a well spoken middle class young man from Jamaica and he used Axe (ask) and Flim (film), I learned such words come from Jamaican Patois and are used by speakers of Jamaican Standard English (although he was discouraged by his parents who thought it low class). In contrast a Trinidadian friend now living in CA speaks perfect RP (with a very sexy baritone) and uses no Patois, so this must be a Jamaican thing. There are significant Jamaican expat communities in Miami, New York City, Toronto, Hartford, & here in Washington, D.C, so it makes sense some African-Americans pick up and adopt Patois words.