I grew up with a thick Australian accent with a drawl I dislike, and have been consciously trying to change it for a while. The problem is I tried to make it sound more American at first but keep getting drawn to speaking “Britishly”. Now it’s a Frankenstein of all 3 accents and I don’t know what to go with.
Some points for both:
▪︎ American accent sounds “cooler”
▪︎ British accent sounds more “proper and elegant”
- Australian accent sounds more “relaxed” (but I dislike this for myself, personally).
Let me introduce you to my Geordie family and see if tou still feel English is elegant. The high English spoken by poshos that is all over TV and movies is very different than how most Brits talk
As for American accents, i have an absolutely bonkers accent of American Midwest with Texas drawl sprinkled in and other lazy drawn out vowels. Just speak however feels comfortable
Americans think the Geordie accent sounds posh (don’t know about Australians, mind). I can’t find the relevant articles but there was a born-Geordie American official who hit the news there a while back. In interviews with the British media she mentioned how the accent caused a lot of class-based discrimination back in the UK. Meanwhile the right-wing US media were running articles about the posh British woman interfering in their politics.
I was visiting Leeds this summer and was at a werherspoons when some drunk kids at the next table over heard me and figured out I was American. He said he was aspiring to be an actor and wanted me to give my opinion on his American accent. He sounded like he was from California and he must have picked up all his accent tips from movies/TV.
I really liked this Wired YT series on American accents and would love to see a British version: https://youtu.be/H1KP4ztKK0A?si=du9M-WgkWtiw5Pjd