1. What is the American accent, really?
In fact, there is no American accent at all.
America is huge, and people from different regions speak with different accents.
A guy from Texas can sound quite different from one from New York. There is not even a type of New York accent.
Similarly, there are different types of Californian accents.
Want some proof of the diversity of accents? A movie can show you right away.
If you’ve seen Pixar’s Cars, you’ll notice that Lightning McQueen (The Red Car) speaks English very differently than Mater (the truck). This is because Mater has a strong South American accent.
2. What kind of accent should you learn?
Most people focus on the “American general” or so-called standard because it doesn’t seem to have the regional tastes of various parts of the US.
It’s the accent you often hear while watching Hollywood movies or listening to CNN or VOA news.
Furthermore, the General American is also perceived more positively in the US and around the world. Why is this then?
This appears to be the result of the widespread influence of the American media and the American image that is portrayed. In general, the standard American accent is perceived as friendly, generous, and polite.
3. Where do people with a general American accent speak in the United States?
It is mostly spoken in Central Midland, South Florida, and a few other small areas of the US.
It’s interesting to think how unpopular the “general accent” is in America, isn’t it? It’s actually quite ironic.
If you’re interested in learning more about the different types of accents and where they are used in the US, check out Rick Aschmann’s Map of English Dialects in North America. This man’s work is huge and amazing.
Those are the 3 fascinating ones I have found. Some of you may think they are trivial, but I disagree.
I think as an apprentice to anything you need to see the big picture of what you’re getting into. In this case, you need to have an overview of the complexity of the American spoken language.
So, at the end of the day, even if you’ve mastered the “standard accent,” you can still be humbled to learn that “I just touched the tip of an iceberg.”
