Originally Posted by
xsnaggle
I've stayed in a lot of different places so may have had more exposure to thisthan some.
I learned to speak german mainly in Berlin and when I spoke it in other part f germany peaople used to call me an 'icky' berliner, because of the accent. I in gernam is Ich, normally rponounced eek, but berliners say Ick. Abviously there are other nuances i never noticed but everey german recognised the berlinerisms in my speech. yearsd later I was staying in an Hotel in Central berling whenre the had top hatter front of house managers. One morning I was waiting for something and picked up the London Times and started reading it. The Manager said, "Oh you understand English as well do you" Becuae my german accent had softened since leaving Berlin he though I was dutch. I had been some time on N West an the eiffel mountains.
I had the misfortune to live in the North East of England for a number of years and I was amazed how eays it wax to tell the difference between a novocastrian (geordie) and a Wearsider (Mackem) even though they were onyl a few miles apart. When I returned to Cardiff I was ina pub and in converstation commented on the stae of the Welsh rugby team. O chap Ididn't get on with said, "What do you know about Wales you have only been here a tomato season. It was the first time i realised i had picked up the geordie accent. I asked him where he was from and it transpired he was from goucester but said, "Nut I've lived here for years" I politely informed him I was born a mile away and asked him to retract his commnet. He left the piub and I've never seen him again. That was in 1997.
So I believe accents are noth less do with heritage and more to do with what you actually hear. On that nore I've notice inflection and pronounciation changing latesy. Listen to the lady on the new Dyson ad and hear how she pronounces the name. It sopunds odd to my ear. Ther isw one about cillit bang when the woman uses the phrse "I didn't care", its perfectly correct but the inflaction sound odd, asd if her voice is fading away at the end of the sentence. Then I began to notice it in younger people.
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