1. What is the American accent, actually?
In fact, there is not just one type of American accent.
America is huge and people from different regions speak with different accents.
A guy from Texas can sound quite different than a guy from New York. There’s not even one type of New York accent.
Similarly, there are different types of Californian accents.
Do you 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 thick South American accent.
two. What kind of accent should you learn?
Most people focus on the “General American” 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.
In addition, the General American is also perceived more positively in the US and around the world. Why is this then?
This appears to be a result of the widespread influence of the US media and the American image that is presented. In general, the standard American accent is perceived as friendly, generous, and polite.
3. Where do people speak with a general American accent in the US?
It is primarily spoken in Central Midland, South Florida, and a few other small areas in the US.
It’s interesting to think about how unpopular the “general accent” is in the United States, isn’t it? Quite ironic, actually.
If you’re interested in learning more about the different types of accents and where they’re used in the US, check out Rick Aschmann’s Map of English Dialects in North America. The work of this man is enormous and amazing.
Those are the 3 fascinating ones that I have found. Some of you may think they are trivial, but I disagree.
I think as a learner of 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 feel humbled by the knowledge that you “just touched the tip of an iceberg”.