Ah so the Belgians soften Dutch up?

You are a tad bit biased Leau!

I love Southern American accents, I could listen to those accents all day

Also, I like the accent the actors have in the movie Fargo. The movie takes place in Minnesota and North Dakota. I remember watching this movie without subtitles and having to really concentrate on what they were saying. I had never heard an accent like that one. I really liked it.

I also like Italians speaking English.

Love the Scottish accent, and Australian. Could listen to them all day.

And, as has been pointed out, there is a big difference between American and Canadian. I have a lot of Canadian clients, and when I answer the phone at work I can tell the second they open their mouths. I actually like it, and if I talk to them long enough, I find myself adopting it to some extent (purely unintentionally).

Personally, I find the southern (American) accent annoying, but then they think I talk funny, too.

I hadn't noticed that Australians had accents. Me being Australian though, I havn't taken much notice.

Southern Dutch accents can be quite fetching too, coming out of the right mouth....

Not necessarily one of my favourites, but worthy of comment, is the Irish accent. Whenever I hear an Irish person speak, I can't take them seriously. It doesn't matter who, or what they are saying, it could be Gerry Adams proclaiming that the Sinn Fein is going to declare global warfare, but I couldn't help but wait for the punchline! They all sound like they're telling a joke. (Sorry to all Irish around, but I mean it in the nicest possible way!)

I like a soft Scottish accent and Italian is nice, too. My accent is awful (Black Country).. everyone thinks that we sound dopey! It is strange how people get offended if people mistake their accent for another. For instance if someone says that I am 'Brummy' (which means from Birmingham which is just a few miles away) I am quick to correct them. 'Brummies' often refer to Black Country folk as "Yam Yams", a reference to the use of "Yow am" instead of "You are" etc. If people have a thick Black Country accent it can be hard to understand. (Even I have had trouble with some older people!) For example, Ow B'ist?=How are you?, and I ay sid 'er=I haven't seen her! Bostin fittle - Good food!

I have relatives in Sunderland, and if they are called 'Geordies' (which is Newcastle) they don't like it, they are 'Mackams'. Just a few instances I can think of within England

I can recall a dear lady with whom I stayed as a child in Porthpean in Cornwall. As I arrived she told me to wait a little while and
"Uz'll gow down beach drackly". Translation , if you need it
"We will go down to the beach soon".
In Gloucester, where I grew up, we often spoke of people being 'bad' meaning sick , as in
"I coont cam ter school , ower mam were bad"
When I went to work in London, people used to have a real problem understanding me!

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Personally, I find the southern (American) accent annoying, but then they think I talk funny, too.

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There is a vast difference between hearing a cultivated, well spoken southern person and listening to a hillbilly. [ Or the harsh nasal twang of certain northeastern US accents, too, come to think of it.]

Ah, a Scots accent any day. Just love the burr. Funny thing is, the accent is often more pronounced when they live away from Scotland.

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Not as bad as mistaking a Canadian accent for an American one.

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Maynooth has a lovely soft (and very sexy ) Californian accent. He is constantly asked if he is Canadian. When he first moved over here, he wondered why. So finally he asked somebody and was told "we always ask if the person is Canadian because, if you ask an American if they are Canadian, they don't mind. But if you ask a Canadian if they are American, they get offended. So it's safer to ask if they are Canadian."

Maynooth's mother is from Indiana and she has a loud harsh nasal twang. When she phones me, I have to hold the phone receiver several inches away from my ear. Her voice can shift your earwax (just kidding - she really is a lovely lady).

And with respect to Scottish accents, I could listen to Sean Connery all day!

Do you know who really does have a lovely accent? Our Gatsby! I've spoken to him on the phone a few times and his accent always makes me feel homesick for America (I lived there for five years back in the 1980s). Sorry if I've embarrassed you Gats!

Well ... thanks, I reckon . I'm entirely unsure, though, what an "American" accent even is. It seems to differ from one neighborhood to the next over here - and I, for one, always thought that we were basically some form of "street slang" stolen from various pockets of our European forefathers. Another Australia/American similarity there, too, I think. I've spoken to a handful of Aussies and while each were detectable as "Aussie", each were (aside from a very gentle and inviting presentation of the words - that part was notable first thing) distinctively different to the ear.
Can't say as I've found a "favorite" accent yet, however. I'm always too jazzed in just hearing the voice of who I'm talking to, but there was one accent I heard that I distinctly enjoyed, mostly because it sounded as though I was talking to Vanessa Redgrave! I like that accent (and that particular actress, too) soundly - and I made the comparison straightaway. Not sure what the linguistics are behind it, but it has a striking lilt to it. And, I promise, I won't mention any names there. Except to say ... I wonder if everybody in Hong Kong talks like that ?

Well I did go out with her brother for a while, in my youth!
It is a very English accent that I have, I think. mixed with some Cornish.
It depends who I am talking to.

Gatsby I agree about that Hong Kong Accent.I love to listen to it and could do so for days and days and days and have.
And the voice perfectly suits the owner.
PF

Not much support for city accents, is there? Personally, I’m very fond of Cockney, but that may be because I love London rather than because of its sound.

I also like the west country accents of England – especially Gloucestershire, though I’d advise you to hire an interpreter if you ever venture into the depths of the Forest of Dean.

Yes, very true,TT! I was once a bridesmaid in Cinderford, and it was very hard to understand the vicar!

I'm just back from a week in NYC, and I loved talking to the native New Yorkers. I adore that hard, classic city accent. Here in Maine, we supposedly have thick accents as well, but even though I'm a native Mainer, people often ask me where I'm from. "England?" they ask. The reason for that is that I speak with virtually no accent, from years in the theater and on the road as a singer, and so my ennunciation "skills" make me "English" to local ears. Anyway....I am also a sucker for London, Irish and Scottish accents. Real ones, that is.

Well, I found a very interesting website thanks to all of you mentioning different regional English accents. I searched for a site to listen to the different dialects, and found this:

Collect Britain

Here's an interesting quiz on American accents:

American Dialect quiz

Wow, this was difficult! I got two exactly right, two in the states next door to where they should have been, and east and west Texas transposed. (Sorry, Texas. )
I think if the sound bites had been a bit longer, I might have done better.
Another very interesting site, though. (I'm so easily lured off track when I search for something--sometimes I get so caught up I can't remember what my original purpose was. )

Fascinating sites Taesma! It got me surfing for ages.
Here is another one featuring the Gloucestershire accent and dialect.
Glawster!

Harking back to the very first post on here - yes, there is a difference between a French Canadian and a French accent, quite a marked one. In that movie - can't remember the name, the guy from "Friends" lives next door to the Mafia guy - Roseanne Arquette plays a French Canadian, but had obviously never heard one, so does a pretty poor "France" accent instead. It grated on the ear, or MY ear, at least. I personally like a Quebecois accent quite a lot.

Also like other Canadian accents - the Maritime accent you hear in Nova Scotia and PEI, the entirely different accent from Newfoundland, the way English sounds when spoken by a native Cree speaker. And then there is the Alberta/Saskatchewan/Yukon-NWT "white person" (as opposed to aboriginal) accent - that is, mine. Wouldn't have thought I had one, just spoke generic North American English, but I heard myself once on a national radio phone-in broadcast, and, yep, you could tell where I grew up.

I once went out with a man from Virginia - it took me a while to warm to him, at first I thought he was a little stupid, then I realized that it was just his accent, he talked so sssslllloooooowwwwww.

I've lived in too many places in these last years!
The CA accent sounds like mine of course. I have lived in every major area on the map, so can't tell as well!

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I once went out with a man from Virginia - it took me a while to warm to him, at first I thought he was a little stupid, then I realized that it was just his accent, he talked so sssslllloooooowwwwww.

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Maynooth used to be in the U.S. Army with a guy who talked exceptionally slow. When people commented on it, he used to say (v-e-r-y...s-l-o-w-l-y): "You think I talk slow? My sister talks so slow that by the time she could say she wasn't that type of girl - she was".

Good Grief, in the links that Taesma provided, I thought I'd be able to pinpoint at least a couple of the American accents since I travel all over the U.S., but I got only one right. How embarrassing! And as for the English accents, well, I might as well stay home. I had a difficult time understanding what was being said in all of them. I really don't want to be and don't mean to be an ignorant American, but when I have to try that hard to try to understand someone, my mind has a tendency to wander. Maybe it would be easier for me if I was face to face with the speaker, but I really couldn't understand what was being said. But I have to admit, even if I couldn't understand them, I found the accent neat to hear.