Accents, do some intimate you? Relax you?

[LauraLeigh]

I just had a customer from Russia, very nice man around 50, but his accent intimidates the heck out of me!!! As does a heavy German accent.. ESP when they are men from 30-50

While other accents automatically make me want to, for lack of a better way to explain it, chat up a storm?

Scottish or Australian for example, I just feel instantly at ease with...

I know it's stupid, and I actually enjoy all accents, they intrigue me....

Does anyone else feel this way?

 

[mrose_s]

I generally don't love most accents simply because I am total crap at understanding them and I feel rude.
I do like russian accents but yeah, they intimidate me a bit I guess but I love the sound of them. (Not sure about finding them intimate lol)
I always feel like french accents are snobby, which I know isn't fair but I'm generally not a fan.

I've met too many South Africans that are really blunt/borderline rude so I usually tread carefully but again, I guess I like the sound of the accent. I like how mish mash it is.

The accents I love most, really outback Australian drawls and Mauri New Zealand. omg yes.

 

[ThoseWordsAtBest]

I've met too many South Africans that are really blunt/borderline rude so I usually tread carefully but again, I guess I like the sound of the accent. I like how mish mash it is.

I just came to post how cute I think South African accents are. Our previous neighbors were from South Africa and I just loved hearing them talk.

 

[sassafras]

Well a thick Scottish accent makes me weak in the knees, so I guess technically that's relaxing.

But otherwise... I find a really pronounced Boston accent kind of jarring. It does sort of put me on edge a little, but I couldn't say why. It's not that I dislike it exactly, I just find it kind of unsettling for some reason.

Otherwise, as long as I'm not struggling to understand someone there isn't anything in particular I like or dislike.

 

[Cali Mae]

My friend's family migrated from Holland when she was four, and her parents still have strong Dutch accents. Not intimidating in the slightest, it's actually a bit amusing to hear them pronounce certain words. Her mom pronounces "Mitsubishi" as "meshebeeshe", for example.

Russian accents are a bit intimidating though. Cali's breeder had a very strong German accent so it was difficult to understand some of what she said when we picked Cali up, but it was easy to see that English wasn't her first language in her e-mails.

 

[crazedACD]

I love Irish/Scottish/British accents. And Australian. I would probably marry a guy from there if I could find one that wasn't taken :rofl1:.

Accents from other countries (Spanish-Mexican, Puerto Rican), middle-east, and so forth I have a hard time understanding. I'm generally okay if we can both be light hearted about it but sometimes people get really upset I'm not understanding them correctly. This isn't really the accent though, this is more them speaking in broken english so I don't get the gist of what they are saying. I like accents in general though.

Oh! Wisconsin type accents kind of bug me, but I try to keep that to myself.

I've met too many South Africans that are really blunt/borderline rude so I usually tread carefully but again, I guess I like the sound of the accent. I like how mish mash it is.

I was friends with a South African guy that was very blunt! I loved hearing him talk but yeah, he didn't have a filter :rofl1:.

 

[Laurelin]

I loooove accents. Pretty much all of them I find so cool. There is a guy I know with a beautiful indian accent. And I had a friend in college from Zimbabwe and it was a great accent too. Our neighbors growing up were from South Africa and I think those are gorgeous accents. I love all the Irish/Scottish/British, etc accents. I love love love the accents in the Caribbean when we've been there. Most places we go speak French but it's a little bit different than the French accents in Paris when I went.

My least favorite accents tend to be american ones. I'm okay with Texan but not a fan of the deep south kind of accents. The Boston and Jersey accents sound really harsh to me.

 

[Saeleofu]

I love accents. There are a few I don't like, but most I really love. Cockney is one I find extremely annoying. I LOVE LOVE LOVE African (of all kinds), Scottish, and Welsh accents.

Specifically, I can listen to David Tennat in his real accent for AGES. I seek out audio books read by him. I don't care for his Doctor voice, but his real Scottish accent...heaven.

 

[milos_mommy]

I can't say an accent has ever really intimidated me. I guess if you see someone really stern or intimidating with a German or Russian accent, that can be pretty intimidating, because of the cultural connotations, but I don't think it's necessarily the accent, because if you saw a pretty young woman or a relaxed, casual guy with the same accent, you probably wouldn't be intimidated.

Sometimes someone will be talking and I'll think 'oh, that accent is so annoying', but then I realize I hear other people with the same accent frequently, and what's actually annoying is the person speaking - either their voice, or what they're saying in general.

I like when people have an unusual, "mixed" accent. Like my friend's dad, he grew up in the American South but learned to talk in Switzerland. He's very unusual sounding.

 

[Julee]

I generally don't love most accents simply because I am total crap at understanding them and I feel rude.

Kind of this. I have trouble understanding them, but if someone nearby is just talking in one, not to me... I love listening to them.

 

[Xandra]

It's hard to say I am in love with one particular accent because so much depends on the voice. People say German accents are harsh/scary, but really that is tone and demeanor... if they have a light/soft voice, it's totally not scary lol. Same with people I knew with Russian accents. If they're relaxed I haven't known one to be harsh sounding.

I knew a Saudi who had a lovely lovely voice/accent, and I've liked the other Saudi accents I've heard.

I guess I'll just go with anything from England. Seems it's hard to go wrong with an English accent (exception Ali G ). I like the way James Purefoy speaks, he's from Somerset.

 

[yoko]

I have worked at call centers for a long time and I usually like hearing accents. The only one I can't take is spanish speakers. That rolling r sound is just like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.

I don't really like heavy accents. I like hearing them but not dealing with them just because I have to ask them to repeat a ton of times before I understand them.

 

[PlottMom]

New York & Boston accents make me cringe (I'm sorry you could be the second coming of Einstein & it still puts me on edge to hear that kind of accent...)

Scottish & Irish accents give me butterflies <3

I find indian accents extremely pleasing. I work for indian doctors & I just love hearing them talk.

 

[Jules]

I am German and while I don't have too much of a bad typical German accent (most people can't put their finger on it), when I talk German everybody thinks I'm angry, even though I talk softly (I think).

Any type of accent speaking English I have the hardest time understanding.

 

[OwnedByBCs]

I love Indian accents, although admittedly not when I am annoyed and trying to deal with customer service. But I love everything about India, especially the language. I also love English, Scottish and Irish accents, and I definitely like Italian and German accents. I would say the one that I can NOT stand is New Jersey, New York, and Boston accents. It seriously makes me crazy- sorry to all NY/NJ/MA folks with accents LOL! People in Pittsburgh make me crazy with the "you'unz" and "n'at" and "dan-tan" (downtown). Ugh, it makes me cringe lol.

Texan accents used to drive me batty, but I have grown to love them. Some of my favorite people live in DFW, so I feel comfortable around Texas accents

 

[GipsyQueen]

I am German and while I don't have too much of a bad typical German accent (most people can't put their finger on it), when I talk German everybody thinks I'm angry, even though I talk softly (I think).

Any type of accent speaking English I have the hardest time understanding.

Same. When we still lived in the USA we were at a BBQ with some German friends, as well as American friends and we were speaking German with our German friends... everyone thought we were fighting lol

I'm surprised at how many people don't like Boston accents I love the Boston accent - maybe because it reminds me of home... and because I speak in a Boston accent.
I don't really like southern accents or deep american accents they kind of bug. Russian accents are just as well. They sound so harsh, much harsher than a German accent-

 

[Barbara!]

Spanish accents drive me insane because I can't understand them. British and Australian are cool but it's Russian and Scottish/Irish accents that really get me.

 

[Dizzy]

I pretty much like any and all accents!

I can't really distinguish between American accents... Except obvious ones (new York, western - but couldn't tell you where from).

There's SO much variation in British accents, and I don't think there are many I dislike. Even the brummie accent is growing on me! (Yows ave a verrrry gud tiiime!). I like Geordie, and of course, my native Yorkshire, specifically East Yorkshire which is one of the more stand out Yorkshire accents (naaaaarn naaaaarrnty naaaarrn. I ave t'mek a furn curl, brok me teleh).

Irish is an obvious answer.

Scottish... Sometimes, I think the Glaswegian accent is a bit hard.

I'm not overly keen on Dutch, but I don't dislike it.

French accents are nice.

Surprisingly welsh isn't high on my list of favourites lol, but I like hearing people speak welsh. It's so bizarre.


Everyone picks on my accent. I have such a hybrid accent now, but my vowels are still firmly planted in Yorkshire. I say caaaaaaaaake, and roooooooooad, and noooouuuuurr.

Like if I say oak, people think I'm saying uuuurk.

 

[RD]

Eastern european accents make me uncomfortable because I am WAY too attracted to them. For example, take any person I'm not normally attracted to, and give them a Russian accent? OH MY GOD PLEASE DON'T EVER STOP TALKING.

 

[milos_mommy]

I think it's really interesting that some of you have said things like "I love British accents, but don't like American southern accents" or that a New York/Boston accent grates on you but you love Irish or Italian accents.

I just heard this podcast about the evolution of American accents, and they played different accents at different speeds. An American Southern accent sped up sounds just like an English accent, and New York accents sound like either Irish or Italian accents sped up. Same for the deep southern/Louisiana/Cajun accents, and a French accent. There's some variation, but phonetically most of the sounds are pronounced the same, so I guess what people find bothersome or appealing isn't the sound of the letters/words as much as the intonation or speed of the accent.