[lumi]

Because english is such a popular language, you hear lots of foreigners speak it and you get familiar with identifying where they're from based on how they pronounce things.

Is this easy to do with other languages? Could a German distinguish an American, Brit, or Italian speaking german? What about an Indian?

I imagine it gets more difficult when less people around the world speak the language.

[Melanie68]

I would imagine that a German could tell if it was a non German speaking (unless they were incredibly fluent and really had all of the intricacies of the accent down).

When I learned German, I learned High German. I think most native speakers would have their own dialect and regional accents that would be different than someone learning High German.

I think it might be similar with other languages.

[Squinky]

If I try speaking French or Farsi, native speakers of said languages definitely notice an accent, and seem to be able to tell I'm North American.

However, I'm not entirely sure they can pinpoint me as (Western) Canadian in the same way a person probably could if they heard me speaking English. (Oddly enough, though, I've also noticed that my accent doesn't really stand out here in California. In fact, I've met at least one American here who sounds rather Canadian but has never lived in Canada before. Weird, that.)

[Panthera]

I can hear what part of the world ppl. not native to Norway are, when they speak Norwegian, even when they speak perfectly (many times over perfectly), because they still carry their specific tone.
I can also hear the difference between an American talking Norwegian (the American ambassador her in Norway can't speak a word.. pfft) and an Englishman talking Norwegian, but that might be because I've grown up with talking English to my grandfather and listen to him talk Norwegian/Swedish to others (he is British, but lived in Sweden for many years)

I can't hear if a person is from Afghanistan or Iraq, but I can hear if he's from that part of the world. I also recognize Indian. I don't know if I'd recognize ppl from South-east Asia (Japan Vietnam etc) because we have very few immigrants from those countries. Most of the south east Asians in Norway are adopted and therefore talk pure Norwegian. (that sounds really horrible, but I have no other way of expressing what I'm talking about. I'm not saying that only ppl. who have been raised in Norway can speak Norwegian, but.. eh, it's difficult doing this without sounding discriminating.. )

Oh, it's the same with French, German, east Europe, you can hear it by the tone, but I can't pin point if a guy is from Poland or Slovakia (though I would have guessed Poland since we get most of our forreign workers from there..)

But usually I don't pay any attention to it. I think I would have reacted to an American talking Norwegian because that's not that usual and it sounds very funny (no offense), but mostly I don't notice it at all. It's the same with dialects, I don't notice that ppl. speak an other dialect than me unless they speak very different, and even if they do, I haven't the slightest idea where they are from.

I've had several ppl. say to me that I have a bit of North-Norway in the way I speak, and it's first after they've said that, that I notice that they are from North-Norway..

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by Spider Crusoe

Is this easy to do with other languages? Could a German distinguish an American, Brit, or Italian speaking german? What about an Indian?

I wouldn't be too surprised if even a native english speaker who knows german could identify numerous german accents, english and german are rather alike, an italian accent should be very easy to identify. As for various englishes, north american vs british probably isn't all that great a way to categorize them to begin with. As for the indian accent, I think that would have to be a rather white indian for them to not automatically assume the accent before hearing more than a few words.

Originally Posted by Squinky

(Oddly enough, though, I've also noticed that my accent doesn't really stand out here in California. In fact, I've met at least one American here who sounds rather Canadian but has never lived in Canada before. Weird, that.)

That's not odd at all. The dialect spoken in canada is the same one as the one spoken in the western half of the US.

[MoriartyL]

I'm from America, and my guess is that I probably have a New Jersey accent (having grown up there), though I have no idea what a New Jersey accent is. However, I've been told that when I speak in Hebrew I sound like I have a British accent.

[AFGNCAAP]

Interesting. It's often easy to tell for me if a person (attempting) speaking Polish is English/German/French/Russian/etc., but I don't think it's the same thing as native speakers' regional accents at all. I've always attributed it to the fact that Polish is rarely learnt by foreigners, and those who, for some reason, do, almost invariably start very late and/or limit themselves to the basic level, those two factors making it virtually impossible to ged rid of a certain "melodicness" of their mother tongue.

I've always assumed it's the same with English (as well as all other languages), too. Sure, if somebody butchers the pronunciation like a James Bond villain, his nationality may be easily indentifiable. But with someone who studied and improved on his English long enough, I imagine you still could recognize that there is something slightly - or not-so-slightly - off about his English, yet not necessarily name the country, or even the part of the World, he comes from.

[Relek]

French people always think I'm and Australian, but to be fair British and Aussie accents are quite similar.

[RLacey]

I'm useless at telling the difference between American accents beyond a kind of rough idea of North/South. That might just be because I haven't heard enough different accents and known where the people speaking came from.

[Giligan]

I can pretty much place all "Yankee" accents, especially East Coast "Welcome to New Yoik! " (Not that any East Coaster would ever take the time to welcome you to their city, of course.) I'm dabbling in German, so I'm learning something of German accents.

[bulldog]

I kind’a agree with Giligan . I can pick out a Southern draw very easy, but sometimes other accents sound the same to me. I don’t meet a lot of people with accents other then Southern people, so I don’t pick up the accent as quickly as other people do.

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Panthera

I can also hear the difference between an American talking Norwegian (the American ambassador her in Norway can't speak a word.. pfft) and an Englishman talking Norwegian....

...I can't hear if a person is from Afghanistan or Iraq, but I can hear if he's from that part of the world. I also recognize Indian. I don't know if I'd recognize ppl from South-east Asia (Japan Vietnam etc) ...

...Oh, it's the same with French, German, east Europe, you can hear it by the tone, but I can't pin point if a guy is from Poland or Slovakia

I've butchered Pantheras quote a little and picked out all the things that are the same for me when it comes to picking out foreigners speaking Swedish.

*lazy mode*

[Melanie68]

Originally Posted by Jelena

*lazy mode*

*gasp*

I thought I knew you.... *sniff*

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

But with someone who studied and improved on his English long enough, I imagine you still could recognize that there is something slightly - or not-so-slightly - off about his English, yet not necessarily name the country, or even the part of the World, he comes from.

I don't think it's like that at all, from my observations, you can speak very well, ie. well within the bounds of english, and still have an obvious foreign accent. Take eugene webber for example, speaks very good english, not hard to understand at all, but still has an obvious german accent, or take gandhi(as portrayed in the movie gandhi), there doesn't seem to be anything at all wrong with how he speaks, but he has an obvious indian accent; now I know that's fictional, but I have heard other indians talk very much like that.

Now, in contrast, if a north american hears certain british people speak, they're very likely to wonder "What the hell is this damn chav trying to say?!"

[rlpw]

My goodness there are so many southern 'drawls', 'twangs', and even some French 'Coon Ass' (that's what they call themselves) you cannot set an actual accent on the north and south. Heck there are even French Arcadian New-Englanders.

[lumi]

Originally Posted by undeaf

The dialect spoken in canada is the same one as the one spoken in the western half of the US.

Except for a a few of the "oot and aboot" Canadians.

[undeaf]

Originally Posted by rlpw

My goodness there are so many southern 'drawls', 'twangs', and even some French 'Coon Ass' (that's what they call themselves) you cannot set an actual accent on the north and south.

There is no northern accent. There's a southeastern dialect, a northeastern dialect and an western dialect(northwestern if you include canada).

Originally Posted by Spider Crusoe

Except for a a few of the "oot and aboot" Canadians.

One part of the US, I think north dakota, does that too.

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by rlpw

My goodness there are so many southern 'drawls', 'twangs', and even some French 'Coon Ass' (that's what they call themselves) you cannot set an actual accent on the north and south. Heck there are even French Arcadian New-Englanders.

What I mean to say was that I can place people in an extremely vague way, but can in no way tell you what state they come from.

[samIamsad]

I don't know... Sure, with the accents I'm familiar with, I can tell, maybe. Now of course, you can hear if a foreigner, mostly no matter how fluent, tries to talk in your native tongue, and sometimes make a guess where he's from. Especially if you're familiar with the sound of his language. With English speaking people it's rather easy, I think, because they have grown up with a very unique way of pronouncing things. My English teacher at school used to tell us to talk as if we'd have a hot potato in our mouths for a reason, you know. But what about Eastern European languages, for example? Most of them sound pretty much alike to me...

Hm, to be honest, there are German dialects I'd have a problem understanding.

Seems like I'm not alone, though (warning. German!).

[Maquisard]

I've heard Africans, Americans, Frenchmen, Germans and Macedonians speak Serbian, and I'm fairly confident I'd be able to ID the accent if I heard it again.

The accent I speak English with has been confused with Russian in the distant past. Since it has become less prominent, I get asked whether I'm Austrian more often.

Most people who speak English as a 2nd language don't notice my accent, while native-born Americans do. I'm worried I'll get stereotyped as the "ugly American" when I visit Europe, because they would hear me speak and think I was born in the U.S. (unless I'm visiting Britain, maybe) I think I should escalate my attempts to learn French, so I would have an alternative way of communicating over there...but then again, not speaking "proper" French presents with difficulties of its own...