I am from India.. I am surprised to see that the maximum number of members here are from US and not UK but yeah, i understand US is a very large country in comparison to UK

Plueschkissen wrote:

I am from Germany... And I hate it. I would so love to live in the UK :/

Why do you hate your country? Interesting. Come visit us here in the US, land of the free and home of the brave, and, I would say, we have the best crops of fruits and nuts. *g*

ancientsgate wrote:

Plueschkissen wrote:

I am from Germany... And I hate it. I would so love to live in the UK :/

Why do you hate your country? Interesting. Come visit us here in the US, land of the free and home of the brave, and, I would say, we have the best crops of fruits and nuts. *g*

Ah, I don't know. I don't quite like the language and especially when I'm watching Sherlock or other English shows I desperately want to live in England because the language is so beautiful and hkjflsjxkem.

veecee wrote:

Plueschkissen wrote:

I am from Germany... And I hate it. I would so love to live in the UK :/

This is off-topic, but I like that you have John as your avatar.

Hehe, thank you :'D

ancientsgate wrote:

Plueschkissen wrote:

Ah, I don't know. I don't quite like the language and especially when I'm watching Sherlock or other English shows I desperately want to live in England because the language is so beautiful and hkjflsjxkem.

Interesting that your love of English leads you to think of wanting to live in the UK. We speak English over here on this side of the pond, too, you know. *smile* In fact, I imagine a lot of what you see on TV and the movies, the English you hear, is actually American English, no? Not Sherlock, though-- that's Brit through and through. Sometimes I have to go my dictionary to figure out what they're on about (as they'd say)--  what fun!

Oh, no no, my love really belongs to England, not America :D I am kind of obsessed with British accent and everything and if I could chose, I'd always, always prefer the UK.

Plueschkissen wrote:

Oh, no no, my love really belongs to England, not America :D I am kind of obsessed with British accent and everything and if I could chose, I'd always, always prefer the UK.

Well, I hope some day you'll get a chance to visit our beautiful country. Our politicians are f***ed up (whose aren't, I suppose), but this is a pretty special place. Problem with the US is, it's so huge, if someone were to plan a trip, I think they could only hit a couple of highlights on each visit, unless they were made of money. New York? LA? Florida? The Grand Canyon? Las Vegas? Skiing in Aspen? Hawaii? The Alaskan wilderness? My own beautiful, beloved, history-rich New England? Ah, where to start....

Plueschkissen wrote:

Oh yes, I wouldn't know which city/state whatever to visit, either. If I am to visit the other side of the pond one day, I think I'd like to make a tour visiting as many states as possibly... Problem's always the money, though. My friend's been to Nebraska for a couple of months recently...

Nebraska. Corn fields. (American) football. A big railroad crossing. Tornadoes. What was your friend doing there? That is quintessential Middle America, for sure. Salt of the earth type of place.

If/when you visit England you will realise we have LOTS of accents and dialects (just like in Germany). Unlike Germany though many people have trouble changing their speech to standardised English to make it easier to understand. When I have visited Germany most people can change to Hochdeutsch when need be (even those from Bayern or those who normally speak Plattdeutsch).

Last edited by Davina (July 26, 2012 9:19 pm)

Davina wrote:

If/when you visit England you will realise we have LOTS of accents and dialects (just like in Germany). Unlike Germany though many people have trouble changing their speech to standardised English to make it easier to understand. When I have visited Germany most people can change to Hochdeutsch when need be (even those from Bayern or those who normally speak Plattdeutsch).

Here too with the accents. Oh, lord, yes. There are at least (that I know of) 4 or 5 distinct accents just in my little six (small) state region of New England. Some aspects of a true Boston accent sounds very British in a way, dropping the Rs at the ends of words, putting Rs at the ends of words that end with A. I was astonished, years ago, when I listened to Patrick Stewart do his Jean-Luc Picard thing, how he dropped his Rs. Who knew? *smile* But of course, we got our origins with the Brits of the 1600s and 1700s, so not surprising that we would retain some of the speech mannerisms.

monitaa wrote:

Talking about accents, though we've studied British English in India but at the pace that Sherlock speaks, I always need subtitles to figure out what he's saying I am glad that there are english subtitles available with each episode..

Hey, monitaa, I'm a native speaker, and even I have to use the subtitles. They talk fast, they're extremely British, lolololol, and with the subtitles, I have a prayer of keeping up and getting every word. My ear has become acclimatized to their accent somewhat, but wow, there's a ton of dialogue in very little time, sometimes the actors talk over each other, and all I can say is, thank God for subtitles.

hepzibah wrote:

We Aussie grow up watching both British and American tv, so are used to different accents. It really bugs me when actors from either place try to do an Aussie accent, they usually end up sounding as though they are from South Africa. Even Meryl Streep couldn't managed it. She was in a movie called Evil Angels, which we called Evil Accents!

Actors who try to do Boston/New England accents suck at it, too. Makes me wince, it's so phony. The only realistic believable Boston accents I've personally ever heard were in the movie Good Will Hunting, with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and that's only because they grew up in Boston so lapsed back into the accents of their childhoods.

Worst phony Boston accents?  The Perfect Storm. OMG.... awful. Cringe-worthy. I remember reading at the time that George Clooney played his part with his own voice/accent because even with a vocal coach, he could not do a Boston accent that was believable. Good for him. I wish the other actors in that film had made the same decision.