When I'm talking to someone, I don't always think about what kind of accent they have. Sometimes I'll talk to a person for ages, and not give it any thought. In the UK, there are a lot of different accents and dialects. So many. It's downright bizarre how you can travel such a short distance here, and find an accent that sounds rather different. Personally, I find some accents easier to pick up on than others. Which is why I've had this situation happen to me: Them: Where was the person you were talking to from? Me: I don't know. Them: Well, what kind of accent did they have? Me: ...I don't know. This can lead to the other person being confused. I know that some people have the ability to place someone based on their accent down to each individual village. However, I am not one of them. I only pay attention to a person's accent if it sticks out to me. Which is usually if it's a heavy one. Otherwise I probably won't notice if someone has an accent from a different area. I get certain regional slang mixed up at times, I'll use it in a particular area only to realise that a) it means something completely different there, or b) it doesn't mean anything. Also, I'm bad at imitating accents as well. So if someone says "Do *insert accent here*", even if I know what that accent sounds like, I can't always think of how to go about replicating it. That's why I'll usually ask that person to do the accent, and I'll listen closely. I'll then try to copy that sound, sometimes I'm successful. Other times I'm really not. But I'm more likely to get the accent right if I hear it just before I attempt it. If I just go by memory, then I'll probably mess it up. I think I'm just oblivious to certain inflections and how people say things in general. Since I'm bad at sarcasm for this reason. I usually go by the "does it make sense?" rule, rather than by tone. Aka, does what they are saying make sense when taken at face value, or is it likely that they don't actually mean it? Hearing "I just love maths!" from someone who I know hates it, I know that they are using sarcasm. But if I didn't know their opinion on this subject, I would either take it at face value or be unsure if they are being sarcastic about it. To complicate matters, I use sarcasm myself. Which can surprise people, considering my tendency to miss when others are using it. However, I'll often use an exaggerated version because I don't know how I come across. Sometimes I'll use hand gestures such as jazz hands as a way of saying "I'm being sarcastic/ I'm joking about this right now so please don't take me seriously". Anyone who knows me closely IRL is aware of this. I have a tendency to pick up on aggression or hostility in someone's tone, even when there is none. So before I jump to conclusions, I like to ask people how they mean certain words. This can annoy people. (Apologies, it's not that I don't trust you/I'm paranoid, I'm just a little bit socially awkward/inept). When people are sarcastic about not using sarcasm ( asking them if they are being sarcastic, and they reply no sarcastically) can really throw me off.
With 11 official languages here in South Africa, there are a lot of different accents, depending on what the speaker's mother language is. My mother tongue is Afrikaans, so I have a different accent (when speaking English) as someone whose mother tongue is English. And accents are regional here too. If you speak English to someone from, example, Cape Town, their accent will differ. I probably sound funny to other people too. Distinguishing one's own accent is also hard, because you don't "hear yourself" the same way others do, if that makes sense? I also sometimes struggle to pick up on sarcasm, especially if the person has a good poker face. I tend to laugh/giggle when I'm being sarcastic, so people easily pick up on mine. Maybe too easily? Lol.
As a person with a mild to severe hearing loss I am focused on what people are saying and not how they are saying it so I can hardly noticed a persons accent at times.
Here in the US we have regional accents that most people can detect, as well as state and even city-specific accents. The regional accents (southern drawl, upper midwestern, northeast) are more obvious while the state and city accents are more subtle. It’s incredibly hard to describe them in writing, but the best example I can give is that while residents of Michigan and Illinois are both in the Midwest, the accents are noticeably different.
I don’t have a distinguishable accent. I lived in three different places in two different countries as a kid so it mixed my accent enough that people might guess Ireland but wouldn’t get the specific area. I can’t tell accents other than obvious ones like English or Australian. I guessed someone from South Africa was from Australia. I think he was offended. I can tell American but would have no idea where in America. I’m likely to call Canadian, American. My mother tends to talk to people with a foreign accent in an accent similar to theirs. It’s humiliating when she does it when I’m around because it sounds like she mocking them but she’s just being an idiot. If I talked to someone who talked back in an imitation of my accent I’d be annoyed.
