American accents, in non-American Aspies

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I AM American and sometimes people think I'm not..

Maybe it's not so much learning to speak from cartoons etc,but more to do with us having
a less defined sense of our own identity. This would leave us more open to other influences and American accents are all around us on tv and films. Some Aspies also have a talent for
mimicking and may subconsciously modify their speech.
Ah sure do hope that helps y'all now. Have a nice day

PS: None of my South African Aspie friends have American accents either. We do, of course, use unfashionable vocabulary sometimes.

I've been told I sound more English than Aus, but I tend to absorb unusual accents of the people around me quite unconciously; eg if speaking to a German I start talking in a german accent.

That happens to me too When I'm speaking to say, an icelander, I start pronouncing stuff like Icelanders would. I think I'm even starting to develop a more Germanic accent, and have been since I started German in Year 8. I sometimes pronounce w's as v's, even when I'm not talking to a Germanic person!

I wish, but apparently I'm classic English.

I can fake an American accent but my natural accent is standard British.

People don't know what I am! My accent is a mix between irish, scottish and canadian!

That rarely happens to me. The most notable exception, I suppose, is when I am speaking Afrikaans to a German. I find Afrikaans spoken with a German accent quite contagious, so if I am in the company of Namibians for a few days, I start sounding like them when I speak Afrikaans (which is my mother tongue).

When I am speaking my second or third language, I tend to acquire the mannerisms and body language of native speakers of that language. For example, when I speak Xhosa, I automatically speak very loudly without even realising it. I have found myself having conversations with people by shouting at a distance, the way Xhosa people do. (In Xhosa culture it is considered impolite to speak quitely, because you might be gossiping, which would be rude; you should be open about what you have to say, so that all can hear. So when you are on a commuter train and most people on the train are Xhosas, it is quite noisy.)

When I speak English, I sound like an Aspie. What I mean is, instead of using the kind of vocabulary that my peers would use, I use what I feel best expresses what I want to say in the manner that I like to speak. That includes both modern slang not usually used by someone of my age, as well as some archaic words which don't have suitable modern equivalents. I take this kind of liberty in English because I know far more precisely what the social conventions are, and I know how far I can push them and get away with it, whereas in German and Xhosa I play it safer in case I unwittingly make some major faux pas.

In Afrikaans I have a certain accent related to my family and region. My cousins all sound different, because they grew up in different regions and schools. Some Afrikaans people don't recognise my accent so they think I am English.

I just took the quiz, and I failed miserably at it. Either I don't no how I sound, or the quiz writer doesn't know what he's doing. Maybe I just don't know how to answer his quiz.

You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."


"when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?"

Sorry quiz writer, never been asked that. However, I have been asked if I were from Canada, North Dakota, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. When I lived in Florida, I got tagged with the nickname "Tony Soprano", because they said I sounded exactly like him. I'm very sure I don't sound anything like Tony Soprano, but maybe I don't know how I sound.

"Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop.""

I hope the quiz writer doesn't take those chances to Vegas, I've never called soda "pop". Pop just sounds wrong. It hurts my ears.

I'm going to do an experiment and pretend I talk like someone from Wisconsin, and I'm going to take the quiz again.

The result? The Midland. I guess I don't have a clue how people talk, or maybe the quiz writer doesn't.

I tried his new quiz on the same website titled "what_american_accent_do_you_really_have" He's getting closer! He tagged me with "Mid-Atlantic"

It said "You have the accent of Philadelphia, south Jersey, and Baltimore. Everyone around there knows what a Philly accent is but not enough outsiders can ever recognize it."

I took the quiz titled "do_u_have_an_accent_1", It's from a different quiz writer. This time I ended up being from California. I lived in LA once, but only for two years.

Oh, BTW, here's a clue for our Aspie friends in the Northeast.

Most NTs from the New York area wouldn't waste their time on this quiz. They would fill in their age and gender only because their browser does it for them, and then they'd just hit "submit".

I was in Mozambique for a week in July, and I am back in Mozambique for another two weeks of work now, and then I'll be in South Africa again for two weeks, then back in Mozambique for a further week in September.

I couldn't speak a word of Portuguese before July, but the locals say my accent is near-perfect good already when I speak Portuguese (which usually amounts to two-word sentences). I am making up words as I go along, based on deductive reasoning, and most of the time I get the words exactly right! Funnnn!



PS: Upon hearing I was autistic, one of my students came to me privately and told me his toddler is autistic. (I'm a lecturer in Project Management.) The father is something of a savant himself (not necessarily autistic though) -- he could do algebra before he went to school. I'm meeting his little boy this afternoon.