Can you try and explain your accent?

Question

Maybe use a movie or characters as a reference.

My accent is gutteral, it's very strong and telling someone to have a nice day could sound threatening lol.

I can't think of a celebrity but I can say it sounds nothing Mel Gibson in Braveheart. James Cosmo would be the closest. He too was in Braveheart among many.

Answer 1

My parents and grandparents learned the English language. Father side was born in Italy and my mother side in Argentina. 

I was born and raised in Western NY where a lot of Italians landed. I only have traces of European/Italian dialect. Therefore, I have a slight accent. English is my language, but I can speak fluent Italian and Spanish, as well. Both Italian and Spanish languages are similar, a fine line we say. 

The actress that I know that has the closest Italian accent to mine when I'm teaching Italian is actress Amy Walker. I've provided a short video.

Answer 2

My mother went to college in Ohio to become an English teacher but abandoned that career pretty much as soon as it started.  However, that meant that I and my siblings grew up being "corrected" in our grammar and pronunciation.  We grew up with the kind of Standard English you hear from most broadcasters on new programs in the United States.  The only blatant exceptions to that was her tendency to say "spay-shul" instead of special, or  "es-PAY-shul-ee" for especially.  I was unaware that I had adopted that pronunciation until a program director at the radio station where I was working in the Chicago area noticed it and corrected me.  

Answer 3

I was born in LA, California, however I have spent my entire life from 18 months to 70 years of age living in SW Ohio.

I have a typical Midwestern accent which doesn’t seem like a pronounced accent to me. It is more what I call lazy English. We typically chop off the g of any word ending in -ing.. Making it sound like ridin’ instead of riding, swimmin’ instead of swimming for example!  We say n instead of and.

So SW Ohioians would say We went hikin’ n swimmin’ this week end. Another obvious example would be using “warsh” for wash! I just warshed my hair! Or those folks in Warshington, DC are crazy!

We use the description “ you guys” frequently! Have you guys seen my jacket? “You guys” are a group of friends typically often mixed with males and females. Very often your restaurant server will ask “How are you guys doin’ tonight?, speaking to a married couple or even 2 females.

To me it’s casual expressions rather than an obvious drawl, twang or overly pronounced syllables. Although my Canadian friends say I sound distinctly southern????

Another odd combo is “j’eet” and “jew”!

Did j’eet yet? No! jew?? For Did you eat yet! And No, did you?

Comments

Interesting!

Here in Western New York we say "you guys" too. LOL! And, for the beverage soda we call it "pop." 

And, much more..

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We say you guys but we just picked it up from TV. 

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Also, interesting! LOL!

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Sandy,

We call beverage soda, pop too!

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Excellent! 

I never say soda! Just pop. When I ask new quests if they would like a "pop" they look at me funny!

lmao!

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Yes!

I said pop to one man who looked odd.

I asked why, and he said Pop was his Dad! lol!

I had only heard Pop used that way in 1940 movies!