What are the types of British accents? Do you like American accents?

Question

My dad is from Leeds and has lost a lot of his accent once he moved to Florida (where I live currently). I was wondering what were the different kinds of British accents or dialects. Like how in America there is Southern, New York, Boston accent, etc. I know some English accents pronounce their T's while others leave the T's out completely.
As an American, I love the the British accent. Do British people like the American accents at all?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

It's wrong to speak of "the" British accent. There are literally dozens. There are many different accents throughout England, Scotland and Wales and even within cities. For example, I live in Glasgow, and I can identify at least three distinct accents there.

Almost no one speaks with the accent that "British" characters on American TV shows use. It's a somewhat unreal version of the accent that a minority of rather upper class south-east English people speak - a really tiny minority.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Makes sense.Responding to the American shows, the channel I watch is BBC America & the accents are real(for ex:Skins or the BBC news).Same goes with American accents.A lot of English people portray Americans as Southern redneck hillbillies, which in reality is a small minority, not the whole country

Answer 2

I am quite happy with my accent.
accents and dialects differ from one place to another in the United Kingdom.. you get the typical British English accent, which is quite posh, but you can also get this lousy East London Cockney accent where they use words which don't make sense sometimes.. there is a Jordy(Newcastle, North), Scouse (Liverpool) you get Welsh accent, and Cardiff Welsh... all sorts of accents in London alone you get different accents in East, West, North

Answer 3

over here you have your normal southern and northern accents which are the most common.
but you then find yourself the indian accent, the chav accent, the yorkshire accent and the foreign accent. i think that should have summed it all up.

Answer 4

we have accents that are quite distinctive form each other welsh mancunian, brummie, geordie, estuary, etc. I personally think the American accents, all of them, are not nice to listen to they all sound a bit like a Donald duck, quack, quack quack

Answer 5

There's, like, at least five different accents for every city, town and village in Britain.

Answer 6

Accents in Britain are extremely important. It defines where you live and what class you belong to.

The accent most Americans think about as English is called 'received pronunciation' and is an accent that defines the middle and upper classes. Anyone wanting to climb the social ladder will have to acquire received pronunciation.

As for accents, every area, county and city has it's own unique accent.Even different areas within cities can have slightly different accents.

Some are so pronounced that they almost become a different language, trying to understand a thick Glaswegian accent can be almost impossible.

The general American accent is quite easy on the ears, but the 'gangsta' speak is just horrible. I saw an American film last month set in tough inner city Boston (Gone Baby Gone), and I had to put subtitles on to understand what was being said in the bar room. This is the first time I have had to do that with an American film.

Source(s):

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds…

http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds…

Answer 7

there are about 7 or 8 different accents
as for american accents i loathe them

Answer 8

I speak in a standard English accent, like a well educated Londoner. Pretty boring, but Americans always understand me.There are so many accents in the UK. Geordie (Newcastle upon Tyne) was voted the most popular in the UK, but Americans might have problems understanding that.
I like some American accents, but not hugely. My ex girlfriend is American, but it was her voice I liked more than her accent.

Answer 9

There's loads of videos on youtube with people demonstrating all types of accents in England.

Source(s):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRmFbnzWD…