OT: Let me ask our British posters a strange question

[pmulcahy11b]

Maybe it's not politically correct, but --

Why is it that British people seem to find it very easy to speak with an American accent (of any kind), but from what I've heard, very few Americans can pull off any sort of British accent

[StainlessSteelCynic]

And why can't any of you (British or American) do an Australian accent

[Targan]

Maybe it's not politically correct, but --

Why is it that British people seem to find it very easy to speak with an American accent (of any kind), but from what I've heard, very few Americans can pull off any sort of British accent

That is a really easy question to answer from an Australian perspective - our TV and cinemas are completely swamped and dominated by American content so we hear American accents every single day of our lives. I can mimic a variety of American (and British) accents with ease. As far as other Anglophone countries go, America has no need to conquer them militarily - it is doing an excellent job of conquering them culturally. It all comes down to volumes of scale - the American media market is so vast that the prices charged by US networks for their programs are very low compared to local content, because local content (here in Australia anyway) is vastly more expensive to produce.

Please don't take this personally but I avoid most commercial TV network programming here in Australia because I am absolutely sick and tired of hearing American accents punctuated with canned laughter. It makes my skin crawl. I do regularly watch some American programs but they have a particular flavour that I like - NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles and The Unit to name a few. And some American sci fi series are top notch too.

[weswood]

That is a really easy question to answer from an Australian perspective - our TV and cinemas are completely swamped and dominated by American content so we hear American accents every single day of our lives.

And you have my most sincere apolgy for that.

[WallShadow]

the other side of the ear

I, too, have always wondered what the several American regional accents sound like to a non-native ear, and just what changes are required by the non-native speaker to torture English into 'Merkan

I do remember a very old version of Dracula produced in England back in the '70s that had someone trying very hard (and failing) to produce a Texan accent as one of the characters. Now we have Hugh Laurie (as "House") and Damian Lewis (Capt. Dick Winters in "Band of Brothers" and Charlie Crews in the series "Life") who have quite aptly mastered the art of phonically fooling the Colonial ear.

[TiggerCCW UK]

We have secret classes on it in school so that we can blend in when we come over to re colonise the Americas

Honestly though, I've no idea, although I know that in England my Belfast accent is regularly taken for Scottish or American. I also pick up and lose accents very quickly.

[Rainbow Six]

Whilst I personally don't think that I can mimic any accent (with the possible exception of South African), I think Targan hit the nail on the head - it's probably got a lot to do with the influence that American TV shows and cinema have. Especially the TV shows...I get around 30 different TV channels, and honestly have no clue how many different episodes of the various CSI and Law and Order franchises it would be possible to watch in a week, but it's a lot!

[jester]

I agree, I used to have an ear, especialy when I had roommates from the sotuh or new england, or dated a girl from Oz, I would be able to mimic and pass somewhat, often just to mess with them. Exposure and developuing the ear and of course to mimic what you hear.

[pmulcahy11b]

I, too, have always wondered what the several American regional accents sound like to a non-native ear, and just what changes are required by the non-native speaker to torture English into 'Merkan

After the concentration camp she was in was liberated, my mother got to hear her first person speaking English. He was American -- my said she thought at the time he sounded like he was trying to talk with a mouth filled with bubblegum. I'm guessing he was from the Deep South -- or maybe Brooklyn.

My mother speaks seven languages -- and she says that English was by far the hardest to learn.

[pmulcahy11b]

Honestly though, I've no idea, although I know that in England my Belfast accent is regularly taken for Scottish or American. I also pick up and lose accents very quickly.

I have a weird accent to most people -- they can't place it. It's because I grew up as a military dependent and then had a career in the Army -- my accent is a composite of all the places I lived, plus bunches of expressions and phrases from all over the place.

[Webstral]

We have secret classes on it in school so that we can blend in when we come over to re colonise the Americas.

I knew it! South Park was right all along! So was Burke Breathed (Bloom County) when he protrayed Prince Charles ordering the Royal Navy to "retake Massachusetts".

Truth be told, I'd be happy to have a million or more English-speaking immigrants arrive. The English learner (EL) situation in California's schools is becoming a real crisis. I don't have a problem with (legal) immigrants per se, but the system isn't set up to handle the sheer weight of EL in the public schools. California has a population of about 38 million in a nation of approximately 300 million. We'll round this to 10% of the nation's population. One third of the EL in the nation's public schools are in California. In some school districts, EL are 90% or more of the school body. Again, it is what it is. It would be nice to be able to mix in a few more native English speakers--even if their English is a bit dodgy.

Webstral

[pmulcahy11b]

Web, you should try coming here to Texas -- not only is our state the king of "teaching to the test," the Texas legislature is currently considering replacing all the history books in our schools with ones that remove whole swaths of history, putting in sections that are essentially complete bullshit, distorting other sections (did you know that McCarthy was actually right about communists in the US and that he was run out of office without justification These clowns think so...), and in some cases, just making stuff up. This is because Texas is the state where the Tea Party runs riot and Texas is the headquarters of Right-Wing Wackos Central. Texas kids are already some of the most poorly educated in the country -- and it looks like it's just going to get worse. It's not like our kids aren't going to school -- it's that poor education methods are institutionalized in Texas.

[Webstral]

I've been following the developments in Texas education. It does not seem like a pretty picture.

The Tea Party confuses me. If the electorate doesn't like what their elected officials are doing, why not put more pressure on those officials With the number of people flocking to the Tea Party, they easily could bury the incumbents with letters demanding a particular policy. Special interests can provide funding, but they can't provide votes. How a legislator votes on given issues is public record. Wouldn't it be simpler to hold a legislator accountable for how s/he votes than create a whole new party If the numbers involved in the Tea Party were to sign documents representing a unified position, neither Democrat nor Republican incumbent could ignore them. "We'll vote you out" is the one message to which our elected officials really give their attention.

I understand that most republics have the same problem. We're too busy with our everyday lives to get involved in politics until things go south. Ounces of prevention...

Webstral

[pmulcahy11b]

I've been following the developments in Texas education. It does not seem like a pretty picture.

The Tea Party confuses me. If the electorate doesn't like what their elected officials are doing, why not put more pressure on those officials With the number of people flocking to the Tea Party, they easily could bury the incumbents with letters demanding a particular policy. Special interests can provide funding, but they can't provide votes. How a legislator votes on given issues is public record. Wouldn't it be simpler to hold a legislator accountable for how s/he votes than create a whole new party If the numbers involved in the Tea Party were to sign documents representing a unified position, neither Democrat nor Republican incumbent could ignore them. "We'll vote you out" is the one message to which our elected officials really give their attention.

I understand that most republics have the same problem. We're too busy with our everyday lives to get involved in politics until things go south. Ounces of prevention...

Webstral

Two words: "voter apathy." It's a disgrace how little of the eligible population in this country actually votes, and its a disgrace how ignorant the electorate in general is of voting issues. It's why most of those who do vote can so easily be led around by the nose by special interests and the political parties.

In his parting address to the country, George Washington warned of the danger of forming political parties. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were already forming the ancestors of the current Democratic and Republican parties. I really wish that the country had listened to him.

[pmulcahy11b]

The Tea Party confuses me. If the electorate doesn't like what their elected officials are doing, why not put more pressure on those officials

Like any other extremist group, the Tea Party wants to dictate what everyone's view of the world and how they live will be. Extremist groups are by definition anti-democratic (and I don't mean the party), regardless of what they say. They do not want people to form their own opinions, and a public that knows the issues is a serious threat to an extremist group.