What does an American accent sound like to somone from another English speaking country?

That's a good question and it IS really hard to answer online. I've often wondered the same thing myself. I asked some people in the past and this is what they told me:

* To people who speak English (like the British or Australians), American accents sound sort of lazy. We "half" pronounce words and cut off the endings, i.e. nothin' vs. nothing. We talk a little slower and more in our throats. It sounds like we're swallowing our words while we talk.

* To people in other countries who don't understand English, Americans sound like we are eating our words and gnashing our mouths when we talk. I'll try to give an example and not sound like a complete racist. If you don't speak Chinese but hear someone from China speaking it might sound like "ching chong chow mein". Well, my friend from Brazil says it sounds like Americans are saying "nation station creation". Apparently we use "ation" a lot. And she said Americans talk really fast.

Do you mean if someone from like Australia hears an American speaking? Well that would depend on what part of the US you're from. Like New Jerseyians [lol] would not have the same accent as someone from California or someone from Tennessee. But collectively I heard we speak too loudly and very nasal sounding.

My 3 step children- ages 13, 16, and 19, who were born and raised in Great Britian, says that our American English accent sounds LAZY. They are my husband s children from a previous marriage and once a year we fly them here for a month. Whereas I believe my English to be very proper; for I m an English instructor and tutor; having majored in English, they tell me that I have a lovely voice, but it doesn t sound proper.

Wow, these are good answers. I must have the most annoying American accent ever. I have that super flat A sound and I know I swallow a lot of the syllables when I speak. Guess I need to get some speech training!

What do you mean we don't pronounce some letters. Do Americans pronounce all letters like in "knife" What do you mean by basic accent? Northern people don't tend to have "higher/lighter" voices.

Your probably thinking of RP Accent and that isnt really deep etc so most people can understand. Just remember that one language can have many different style/sounds. Of course we will pronounce words differently everyone does.

I am American but I had a roommate from Sweden. We were talking about how Swedish sounds so lilting - almost sing-songy. She said that American English sounds like someone chewing gum. Then she further clarified by describing it as sounding like the teacher's on Peanuts - you know, the Snoopy cartoon.

some American speak a very great English but to us Asian

we are more adaptable with British accent

I mean the mild British one

to us American would twist the "R" word to make the sentences really twisted and hard to speak up

Spanish was my first language and when I would heard anyone talk in english I was amused by their tone...I realize even my own voice goes softer in english I guess is the way you pronounce...always heard the worl though and ask everyone what that meant...no one knew how to answer.

I had a friend from New Zealand and she tried to describe what it sounded like to her. Kinda flat with not a lot of inflection I guess would be the way it sounded to her.

I'm English and I quite like American accents except when they're yelling their heads off on talk shows