Accents

[Sixchan]

I can do all Scottish accents (the city ones included), I can speak Upland Scots relatively fluently, Edinburgh Scots almost perfectly, and Glaswegian Slang like a native.

...Which isn't hard when you are one. I can do Cockney, Stereotypical English, Heavy Russian and German, something resembling French and an average Deep South.

I try to use them whenever possible, but my personal favourite is using my Jar-Jar impression for the little kobold guy who pops up in all the adventures.

 

[randomling]

Yikes, most Londoners can't speak with that much of a london accent...trust me, the best way to learn that accent would be to live here, and you wouldn't want to live in the bits of London that have that accent strongly.

They are the not-nice bits of London.

A native Londoner agreeing with you there. Mate.

And for me it's not so much *can't*, as *don't*. I could if I wanted to, but I would hate the way I sounded. Much prefer to pretend to be middle-class (LOL).

 

[Fast Learner]

Obviously you learn to recognized accents by hearing them and learning the source. I learn how to speak in certain accents by practicing them to the radio. I listen to NPR during their morning and afternoon news, and they have lots of international news. when someone with an accent I like starts speaking, I start mimicking them, first just a few phrases, and then I begin to echo everything the speaker is saying, just a fraction of a second later. It was an hour-long interview with a French naturalist that allowed me to (near) perfect my French accent.

It all comes down to not being embarrassed to try.

 

[Fast Learner]

A native Londoner agreeing with you there. Mate.

And for me it's not so much *can't*, as *don't*. I could if I wanted to, but I would hate the way I sounded. Much prefer to pretend to be middle-class (LOL).

When I voice my elves I use an upper-class "snooty" accent for elven royalty, lower-class Cockney-type accents for thieves and such, and a kind-of general BBC announcer accent for pretty much everyone else.

 

[Sixchan]

I always thought Cockney more befitted Halflings.
Upper English is used for all my elves, except Drow, who I think sound cool as Russians. Similarly, Human Wizards, and Halfway intelligent high-level Fighters are given an upper-class Scottish Accent.
Dwarves have Upland Scots, and Human Thieves get Glaswegian Slang (personal experience of living in Glasgow).

 

[Skade]

*cackle*
I do that with my irish accent all the time. Cept I don't have an Irish accent living in the states all my life. But I can do an Irish accent and often slip into it while talking.

Thank heavens I am not the only one. I worked a long time on the Irish accent and every now and then, especially if I am way drunk, out it comes. I'm hispanic so it looks really odd (especially funny since I CANNOT speak English with a Mexican accent, unless making fun of Antonio Banderas). I was in an English Pub in Houston once and had this girl very confused. When I finally told her it was just something I did she was none too pleased.

Irish isn't my only accent though. My Scotts is pretty weak. I can get ot for a bit, and then it starts to slide into Irish. I do a fair English (Cambridge) accent. I once kind of dated a girl from there, so I assume that accent is localized around the city. Strangely, I fall into a womans tone very similar to hers when i do it. i could mimic her well enough to trick her mom on the phone-the girls idea not mine. I kind of wing it with who gets what accent, though I was working on a Londoner accent for anyone from Waterdeep in the FR or Calorst in my own homebrew.

 

[Azzemmell]

What I find interesting about this whole thread is how every accent is, to those who know them, from a certain geographical location.

So even if you can't do enough accents to make them usefull in your campaign, you can use accents to tell the players something about the NPC.

What I mean is that in any sizable setting, there will be known accents. You could say to the players about the travellers they happened upon, "They sound sort of funny when they talk. You guess they might be from the Murliz region, or from somewhere west."

So even if you can't vocalize accents, you can designate areas in the campaign as having them. This lets your PCs have a clue if someone might be a foreigner, and such.

Maybe an INT roll or Speak Lang check would let them narrow down the person's origin.