Community Chat

[abbeythe 8th]

When I was in college I had friends that majored in communications. They were taught if they were going into radio or television to lose any accent. They had diction exercises.

There was a time national news anchors had no accent whatsoever.

[ShowMe]

Don't forget about the Q's own David V. He really has a southern accent.

[MickD]

I love accents! I still have a Chicago accent even though I've lived in SoCal for 14 years. My DH is from Canada and has a slight accent (not oot and aboot) but sounds British...it's hard to let that stuff go!

[immachillin]

Having lived in Tennessee all my life I have never heard anyone say thow for throw, so that may be a Lisa thing instead of a Tennessee accent thing.

[ShowMe]

My sister and I were raised down in San Antonio. I moved to where I am in 57', but she has lived there all the time except for about 7 years when she lived and worked in California. At one time she did volunteer reading to the blind on one of the radio stations. This was done on Sunday. On one of the Sundays when she was finished, someone from the station approached her and said they had an interesting call from one of the listeners. He commented that he was wondering where the reader was from because he noticed she had a southern accent. When they told him, he said he thought so.

Now, I don't detect a southern accent in her speaking, but of course I hear her all the time.

[LilacTree]

On 1/29/2014 KittyLouWhoToo said:

On 1/29/2014 Ford1224 said:

On 1/29/2014 KittyLouWhoToo said:

I would like to hear a host with a really good New York accent.

There aren't any.

Antonella has a heavy New York/North Jersey accent. Maybe I recognize it because it's the accent I had in my youth. After eight years in Virginia and almost 40 years in the Philly suburbs, I don't have a discernible accent of any kind anymore.

Most newspeople are trained to speak with no regional accents and I think that is a good thing. Lisa R (love her, not a bash) still says "thow" instead of "throw" when she says "just thow it in the washer." Otherwise, she has lost most of her Tennessee accent.

Voice modulation is important as well. I don't understand why some of the squeaky-voiced female hosts on QVC have not been taught to modulate their voices lower. Lisa R happens to have a very well modulated voice that is soothing to listen to. So did Lisa Mason.

I grew up in New York and lived in Queens for many years, spent a lot of time in Brooklyn with friends. Antonella isn't New York enough for me.

Not that she isn't a very nice lady.

I've just been missing New York lately.

Maybe she's trying to work on it. It's a hard accent to lose.

[MrsSweetieBear]

Whenever accent discussions come up, I am reminded of Amy Walker and her very interesting 21 accents youtube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UgpfSp2t6k

I think the "1945 Trans Atlantic accent" is how broadcasters are (or used to be) trained?

Anyway, I love this and wanted to share it again.

[terrier3]

On 1/29/2014 abbeythe8th said:

When I was in college I had friends that majored in communications. They were taught if they were going into radio or television to lose any accent. They had diction exercises.

There was a time national news anchors had no accent whatsoever.

Yup...they do everything they can to get rid of regional accents.

A lot of these hosts were in radio or TV news...they tend to move a lot from market to market and need to sound neutral.

[Mominohio]

On 1/29/2014 Magenta said:

Well, I bet you'd have a hard time, detecting my accent. My home country is the Netherlands, I started learning foreign languages (French) at the age of 9! and absolutely loving it. English at 11, and German I think too, or the next year. We learned English with a British accent, which I never cared for. I have been here over 40 years, and still, when in a group/class session, when I open my mouth immediately people turn to me, and realize I am not an American. Later on, I am asked what my accent is, I don't know it is not from here, I lost a lot of my Dutch accent, but it is very uncomfortable always being put on the spot. ONe thing is true, it is not a British accent anymore either. Some people unfamiliar with languages, think it is German. Since I am specialized in that language, i know that language is much harder so that isn't it...

Now, there is one advantage I have. I talk for a living, and given what you now know, I have always everyone's attention right from the beginning as I can see them trying to figure me out. I conduct (often simultaneously) city tours in D.C., so it is usually nice and quiet in the group. On the other hand, when in a group setting, I am most uncomfortable, when everyone immediately turns to me, and HAS to know all about me.

So, let the hosts be who they are, that's what I say...

Magenta

Magenta, I'm sorry you feel put on the spot, and uncomfortable. I love accents. I love to listen to people from different regions speak and hear their accents. When I was a child in the 60's we'd travel from Ohio to Florida by car each Christmas to see my grandparents. Most folks think there is a general "southern" accent, but no so. I got pretty good at telling what state we were in, just by the accent, and Kentucky is different from Tennessee, from Georgia, and Florida was such a melting pot from the whole country it was a free for all back then!

I love all regional accents, and feel that as technology and media expand, we are loosing much of those accents, and all starting to sound alike. Makes me sad!

[Topaz Gem]

On 1/29/2014 mominohio said:

On 1/29/2014 Magenta said:

Well, I bet you'd have a hard time, detecting my accent. My home country is the Netherlands, I started learning foreign languages (French) at the age of 9! and absolutely loving it. English at 11, and German I think too, or the next year. We learned English with a British accent, which I never cared for. I have been here over 40 years, and still, when in a group/class session, when I open my mouth immediately people turn to me, and realize I am not an American. Later on, I am asked what my accent is, I don't know it is not from here, I lost a lot of my Dutch accent, but it is very uncomfortable always being put on the spot. ONe thing is true, it is not a British accent anymore either. Some people unfamiliar with languages, think it is German. Since I am specialized in that language, i know that language is much harder so that isn't it...

Now, there is one advantage I have. I talk for a living, and given what you now know, I have always everyone's attention right from the beginning as I can see them trying to figure me out. I conduct (often simultaneously) city tours in D.C., so it is usually nice and quiet in the group. On the other hand, when in a group setting, I am most uncomfortable, when everyone immediately turns to me, and HAS to know all about me.

So, let the hosts be who they are, that's what I say...

Magenta

Magenta, I'm sorry you feel put on the spot, and uncomfortable. I love accents. I love to listen to people from different regions speak and hear their accents. When I was a child in the 60's we'd travel from Ohio to Florida by car each Christmas to see my grandparents. Most folks think there is a general "southern" accent, but no so. I got pretty good at telling what state we were in, just by the accent, and Kentucky is different from Tennessee, from Georgia, and Florida was such a melting pot from the whole country it was a free for all back then!

I love all regional accents, and feel that as technology and media expand, we are loosing much of those accents, and all starting to sound alike. Makes me sad!

You are correct in that we are losing our regional accents. My uncle had the most wonderful NH accent. I used to love to listen to him talk, but I never hear it anymore. It's probably still around in certain towns up north, but in southern NH it's extinct. It's very different from the Boston accent which people think of as a general NE accent, which it is not. NH is very different from ME, VT, and RI, for example, but you'd only know it if you lived here.