Ask Lemmy

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

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

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.

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

Define better. What are you trying to achieve?

I've always found the American accent quite cool.

Now, let me say something I haven't seen mentioned here: don't change your accent. Be proud of it. Have you traveled to the UK or the US yet? If not, do it. You'll find plenty of people finding you interesting and wanting to talk to you because of your accent.

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.

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.

Glaswegian

SHE'S TURNED THE WEANS AGAINST US

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

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!

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?

You could try a transatlantic accent!

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

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.

Actually, i fancy the Irish accent the most

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

British, no question.

▪︎ 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

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.

I like the New Zealander accent, myself.

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

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

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.

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.

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