American Reacts to Guess The English Accent

[@stephenjones1380]

Half of the accents on this list were not what they were said to be. Don't be hard on yourself.

[@helenwood8482]

They were all correct.

[@kristinajendesen7111]

​@@helenwood8482They certainly weren't!

[@ratowey]

I totally agree with you. Some were too subtle.

[@tyne_9]

im from newcastle and ive never heard anybody in my life talk like the one presented in the video.

[@default3252]

@@helenwood8482 "Jamaican Slang" for example was Multicultural London English

[@SirZanZa]

that Jamaican slang one is horrifically wrong, its London Urban ..or officially called MLE(Multi Cultural London English) it's popular in British Rap and Grime scene. ... i LAUGHED so hard when he said Jamaican

[@ClassicWorld19]

I was thinking West London slang/London slang... (Don't know if 'slang' is the right word.) Looked totally confused at Jamaican slang!

[@alexrafe2590]

@mangamashup4204 yep you’re spot on. You hear it all over inner London. It doesn’t have the rhythms and musicality of Caribbean English. A lot of the accents sound like non natives trying to put on accents that don’t even reflect what country the speaker is really from.

[@brahmhenkins8732]

That was definitely MLE! But you can hear its Jamaican roots. Some of those examples were truly shocking.

[@Bikergirl_40]

yeah that was definitely London Urban.

[@Bikergirl_40]

yeah that was definitely London Urban.

[@robg1151]

Although the brummie accent wasn’t as strong as it could have been, mistaking it as received pronunciation was an error of horrific proportions lol Still an entertaining reaction though, cheers.

[@RagedDrew]

That Brummie 1 was taken from Peaky Blinders.

[@anneharley5319]

I’m a brummie and that sounded nothing like a brummie accent. It was probably nearer to Black Country but it was based on a t.v. show called Peaky Blinders which is how a brummie would talk a very long time ago

[@andrewredfern8811]

Sounded Yorkshire to me, as it sounded like Sean Bean

[@oakesave]

Accents in Britain can vary every few miles. For example Yorkshire accents differ considerably between Barnsley, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford and so on.

[@ClassicWorld19]

They sure do!

[@grahamstubbs4962]

I live in a part of the UK where generally the accents are pretty neutral. But if you venture a couple of miles out of town, the accents are unfathomable. You would have thought that somebody could have codified a way of speaking so we could understand each other. Apparently not. It's more amusing this way.

[@spruce381]

There are loads of accents in Oxford alone. Cultivated means posh/monied.

[@spruce381]

That’s not cockney. It’s a posh Tom Hardy doing a Jewish east Londoner circa 1930. This game has been made by a lazy person.

[@spruce381]

Yep - fake Cajun. - redneck accent 😂 - that’s just rubbish. There are rednecks in many states, with loads of different accents.

[@sarahealey1780]

The Texas accent was Matthew Mcconaughey, and the Aussie was Cate Blanchett

[@robcrossgrove7927]

I'm English born and bred, and I would never have said that that was a Welsh accent!

[@andrewwilliams2353]

Well I am Welsh, from Carmarthenshire, and I didn't get it either ! Cardiff is NOT noted for its Welshness even though technically it's the capital

[@klaxoncow]

It's Michael Sheen. This is a problem with a lot of their examples. They're using actors - Michael Sheen, Cate Blanchett, etc. - in the examples, and actors are NOT a good example of the general everyday accent. Because, you know, actors enunciate. They have elocution lessons. They adopt different accents for different roles. They often suppress their natural accent, if it's broad to something sounding more like RP. Et cetera. So, yeah, that's "refined Welsh accent". The average Welshman on the street does not sound like Michael Sheen, Anthony Hopkins or Richard Burton. Indeed, there's a big problem with selecting those three Welshman as examples - they all come from the same small town in Wales. So, like, if those are your only examples, you're only hearing the accent of one particular small town in Wales. And not even really that - they're actors, so they've "refined" their accents to tone down how Welsh-y they sound. For example, if you listen to David Tennant in Doctor Who, you'd never guess that he's a Scotsman. He does an English accent better than many English people do. Or, in another direction, you've got Hugh Laurie on "House". His real voice is horribly posh English, but he nails that American accent so well, so many Americans have no idea that he's not an American actor. Or Andrew Lincoln on the Walking Dead. And, fair play, some American actors are bloody good too. Have you heard Chris Pratt doing his "The Only Way is Essex" accent? He nails it perfectly. Apparently, he was filming in England and got into watching the trashy show, but learnt how to sound totally believably "Essex chav".

[@AndrewHalliwell]

Surprised they didn't play a recording of Crowley or The Doctor and claim it as Scottish because David Tenants a Scot.😂

[@ClassicWorld19]

I know the Welsh accent really well (even though I'm from England) and I did not get this Welsh accent!

[@AndrewHalliwell]

@@ClassicWorld19 Me neither and I live in Wales.

[@PiousMoltar]

I was convinced that "Jamaican Slang " was English too, multicultural English or whatever they call it, the modern urban slang, which is indeed influenced heavily by Jamaican as well as cockney and various other accents.

[@ratsters7]

Yes. I thought it sounded a bit modern south London.

[@chrisrobertson7664]

100% South London. Brixton/Croydon etc.

[@iantellam9970]

Definitely a London accent. Some of the others were pretty off as well.

[@PB-nc9sb]

It was definitely definitely a young person from London, it may be the case that the dialect takes inspiration from Jamaican slang, but to label it as Jamaican rather than London is just wrong! Super common London accent that anyone from southern England will recognise straight away

[@woundedmonk1884]

thats because it was english. probably east london

[@RainMakeR_Workshop]

There isn’t just one Scottish or Irish accent. That’s A Scottish accent and A Irish accent. But there are several Scottish and Irish accents.

[@ffotograffydd]

Hundreds of accents throughout the UK and Ireland. The one Welsh accent they included wasn’t even from where they said it was.

[@Silverbirchleaf]

4 is Cate Blanchett (Australian) so no surprise she sounds posh. She's a great elven Lady 😂

[@Icanbacktrailers]

Yeah that’s a very posh Australian accent

[@vallejomach6721]

Some of these were not great examples and the names they used were worse 🤣 Getting half out of those was pretty good.

[@littleannie390]

The one from the Crown was the actress (Claire Foy) attempting to sound like the queen. it isn’t really Received Pronunciation as the queen’s way of speaking was fairly unique ie posher than posh. I remember Claire being interviewed and saying how difficult it was to imitate. Received Pronunciation is a standard British newsreader way of speaking. Posh accents are the way the aristocrats speak or the old fashioned BBC accent from the 1930s to 1950s.

[@faithpearlgenied-a5517]

Number 14 is a character in a comedy show, I'm Alan Partridge. He deliberately has an exaggerated Geordie accent to make it harder to understand, that's part of the comedy. It's funny that it was used on here 😂🤦🏻‍♀️ a lot of them were terrible examples lol.

[@jbriddler4640]

Alan Partridge is from Norwich, the actor is from Manchester

[@what-uc]

But we're talking about the character Michael, played by Simon Greenall@@jbriddler4640

[@lukespooky]

​@@jbriddler4640He's talking about Simon Greenall

[@edwinchapple7224]

Not Geordie!

[@jonntischnabel]

You gave two points away by saying Dublin for 3 different ones when Dublin already came up! The northern Irish one literally said "Derry" in the speech ! The video got several wrong though. The one that it called "Jamaican slang, was actually"MLE, multicultural London English " the correct term for the last one is AAVE, African American vernacular English. ❤

[@squarepinapples9116]

You’re reactions to the answers are brilliant 😂😂. Don’t be harsh on yourself, a better test would have been if they used natural/native speakers rather than clips from movies and actors. Very tough quiz

[@johnp8131]

Any Scouse worth their salt would be horrified that you identified their accent as Mancunian!

[@V4victory2025]

now den calm down 😂

[@Dazza5007]

Lol

[@JamesDP84]

*Scouser

[@Lew99900]

I was disappointed in you not getting the scouse one! In fairness you talked yourself out of the right accent a few times. And I was shocked at myself at guessing Southern accent because I recognised it was Matthew mcconaughey who I know is from Texas

[@alisonramsay5091]

I was shouting at the screen when you kept talking yourself out of the correct ones 😀

[@joescarecrow]

That was not a Cardiff accent! number 21 wasn't Jamaican either. That was definitely "Multicultural London English" though does have influences from Jamaica of course

[@jackie6343]

Scottish

[@DreadEnder]

Yeah that accent wasn’t from wales, not at all! Not even from that area of England.

[@noblestsavage1742]

@@DreadEnder it was a soft south wales accent, definately not caaardiff though

[@cymro6537]

​@@noblestsavage1742Yeah,it was Michael Sheen speaking - who's from Port Talbot.

[@cymro6537]

​@@DreadEnderThe Welsh accent was indeed from Wales - it was Michael Sheen - who's from Port Talbot.

[@eihcra_]

I love this guy! Keep doing what you’re doing I beg

[@Lew99900]

Yeah this video wasn’t the most accurate but good reaction none the less 😂

[@batman51]

You did better than me anyway, some funny accents/locations there. The best bit however was when you got it right, then changed your mind !

[@katiepunch42]

Loved this one! Everytime you said the right one then changed your mind I was shouting at my phone 😂.

[@lynnshorrock1098]

You did great mate, you got as many as i got. Manchester is spot on, that's where i'm from. Keep em coming, really enjoyable.

[@Shoomer88]

RP isn't really a London accent, it doesn't really have a place but its more related to class (or being an old school BBC presenter)

[@DreadEnder]

16:38 to me sounds like someone from Africa such as Jamaican in Liverpool or somewhere around there.

[@Disasteroid1]

My American friend recently told me he was thinking of taking up a second language. I suggested he try English 😂

[@YafetSegid-q7h]

That is funny, I remember you also told to us " African "

[@surfdigby]

That first one was pretty mild for a Glasgow accent. Scotland's a big place, and has lots of variations in its accents.

[@Albanach-je1nk]

Yir no jookin

[@MuriKakari]

I got Scottish for that one but not Glaswegian

[@maximushaughton2404]

I think a lot of the British accents, may have been from people that come from the areas, but they are actors, so have learnt a different way of talking, so people in general can understand them. Or maybe actors potting on an accent and getting close. By the way RP is not a London accent, it's an accent that is taught to people, hence the Received in RP, so it can be spoken by anyone from all over the UK, or the world. as long as they go to a school that teaches it.

[@glenn20081965]

Brummie.... received pronunciation...a zillion miles out 🤣

[@Dazza5007]

Loved this video , one of your best yet in my opinion, go with your gut instinct and 1st choice on things in life as it’s your mind confusing your sub conscious so we usually change our 1st thought which 90% of the time ends up wrong 😂

[@paulbromley6687]

We agree with you this selection was a weird mix RP English has now changed its BBC English and the Kings English is ver clipped and posh.

[@thomasgarwell8214]

I'm from Manchester (or, as we Manunians pronounce it, Manchister). You can drive from Manchester to Blackburn (Lancashire), or Manchester to Leeds (Yorkshire) and the dialect will totally change and both places are approximately 1 hour from Manchester

[@UKCougar]

I think you've done well here. Some of the accents are surely actors of varying degrees of accuracy, and others are subtle at best.

[@ffotograffydd]

Indeed. The Brummie accent was good, but it was actually an Irish actor playing a Brummie.

[@johnbircham4984]

The Geordie accent was a clip from Alan Partridge comedy series and was hammed up by an actor who isn't a Geordie.

[@jjohnston-c6i]

Well done JJ ... you are now officially a Linguistics Expert.

[@user-Auscat]

A lot of the voices are actors so their accents are going to change because of outside influences of where they live.

[@Craig_Humphries]

You did very well. Some of those accents seemed way off to me

[@rossshepherd9836]

Not English accents as in from England, but English language accents.

[@rikmoran3963]

I got most of them right. They had some wrong answers in there. The Jamaican slang answer, was MLE, or Multicultural London English. There is no accent called 'posh British accent' per se, it would be 'received pronunciation' as they gave in a previous example. I would never have recognised the so-called 'Brooklyn' accent that they did either. I did recognise a lot of the speakers which made it a bit easier.

[@StormhavenGaming]

You could argue the "Posh British" one as "Thames Estuary" or something like that, but you're absolutely right. Many of these were pretty poor.

[@ratsters7]

All the ones you said "no it's not", so did I! If even I (Scottish) knew those American ones were wrong, then this was really bad! I reckon you should give yourself a few more points 🙂

[@spacechannelfiver]

Surprised you scored that highly, it seemed to be based on whether a minor celebrity had travelled through a place at some point. I've personally transferred flights in Atlanta, Georgia once and clearly have a typical accent from that place.

[@sebdoggydogg4004]

loving your videos mate 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

[@alexrafe2590]

The Irish accent was Saorise Ronan and the ‘cultivated Australian’ was Cate Blanchett. The ‘American Redneck’ was put on, probably by a British actor. The posh Englishwoman’s accent was Olivia Colman playing Elizabeth II in the Crown.

[@ffotograffydd]

Indeed, so many errors in this video. Cate Blanchett’s accent sounds like it does because she lived in the South of England for a long time. And The Queen didn’t actually speak RP. The actors in The Crown received specialist voice coaching because the RP they were taught drama school was wrong for the role. I remember seeing an interview with Claire Foy and Matt Smith and they said it took them ages to get it right. The whole video was full of errors. 😂

[@alexrafe2590]

@@ffotograffydd well indeed. How could our recently deceased Queen’s English be received? It was HER English.

[@thewisefool4049]

Having got the first 5 as an Irishman this just makes me realise how few accents Americans run in to. You seem pretty smart. When I heard number 3 I immediately went "Southern Us but not ""the South"" and got Texas. Seeing you fumble that was a bit painful but also enlightening.

[@JackMellor498]

16:55 That was actually Liam Gallagher’s voice.

[@jamie151-d9j]

kinda funny that you got more of the non-england ones right than the england ones. crazy how that happens sometimes. also, i wonder what the welsh would think that you kept labelling them as england.

[@grahamboffey457]

Nothing in Australia is cultivated.

[@wolfie854]

You were right with London Urban - they use that kind of youth speak with a Jamaican feel to it. Not Jamaican slang from Jamaica.

[@WookieWarriorz]

These videos about accents most of the the time massively massively undersell the amount of accents there actually are. Im literally not joking when i say that my immediate family has maybe 3 different accents just because we work and live in slightly different areas/ grew up in different times in nothern ireland. Then within 50 miles theres easily 20+ accents. The concept of an 'irish' accent is hillarious, i dont even know what that means. Across all of the uk and ireland theres so many variations of accents that it would be hard to record them all, especially as accents change over time.

[@CiaraNíShúilleabháin1990]

You did very well on this. Quite a few of the ones you got wrong were inaccurate anyway. You should definitely explore different accent a bit further. There are much better videos on the topic than this one.

[@ajs41]

The Posh British one wasn't really Posh British, it was more like a Made In Chelsea accent which is partly posh and partly Modern London.

[@PhillipDavison-iy2gh]

We were on holiday in Tempe Arizona, we went to a restaurant at the salad bar with my daughter I was speaking with her, a lady standing next to us said she was on holiday from Chicago and asked us what part of Essex we came from. She told us she recognised our accent immediately,we speak Estuary English could hardly believe it

[@HikingFeral]

I love watching Americans react to one of the 50 accents we have in England alone. I'm being 100 percent honest with you when I say this, but I can take you to friends in the car and every half an hour we drive - the accents of the people will change. Sometimes it's subtle but sometimes it's huge. The accents of York compared to Leeds are completely different and they are not far apart at all but the accents of people between York and Leeds in places like Sherburn in Elmet or Tadcaster, are also a little mix of both.

[@MellonVegan]

18:15 They don't but African American Vernacular English (which is the proper name for it) is its name.

[@timglennon6814]

Number 2 wasn’t the Birmingham accent. Number 16 wasn’t a Welsh accent.

[@DreadEnder]

13:53 THAT IS NOT THE CARDIFF ACCENT!!! Not even close!

[@kimbirch1202]

The first Gkaswegian a cent was Alex Ferguson, the second Brummie was from Peaky Blinders.

[@simonround2439]

The Jamaican slang one was actually multicultural London English (MLE) which has developed due to the strong influence of the West Indian/ South Asian communities in London.

[@ADHD_RID3R]

that is nowhere near the Cardiff accent 🤣

[@mirandahotspring4019]

Got most of the UK ones right (I flatted with a Scouse for a while so that one was easy, disappointed you talked your way out of that one) but surprised the Kiwi and Japie accents were missing. Got the American ones easily but not the exact locations. The Jamaican slang was what you commonly hear around Brixton, and a bit light on the actual slang, which makes it more difficult to understand, but easier to identify.

[@samkenyon4522]

I think the Brummie accent probably isn't a genuine one. It's almost right but not quite, so I think it's an actor doing an accent (maybe the main guy out of the TV series Peaky Blinders?) The Scouse accent was very mild, so not as obvious as it might have been and the Geordie accent is from the show Alan Partridge - which you should definitely watch.

[@artemisfowl66]

The Texas accent was Matthew McConaughey (forgive spelling)

[@aaronnrodgers]

The offical titel is AFrican American Vernacular

[@herstoryanimated]

RP is spoken in Surrey (for people saying it doesn't count as a real accent - it is literally my accent!) as an accent in general, though with some London slang/edge at times.

[@nickname6747]

16 sounded like the actor Michael Sheen, who is from Port Talbot but not Cardiff.

[@robcrossgrove7927]

I was very mislead by the name of this video. I thought it was going to be about accents from England, not just accents in the general English language.

[@fiddyb]

TBH you should give yourself a point for that Jamaican Slang as that's one of the most common London accents around these days. All mandem speak like dat innit bruv

[@eileentaylor1691]

the geordie one sounds nothing like a geordie accent

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

Some of those weren't accurate. With Scouse, the giveaway is the -k endings, which become more like -kh. And the New Orleans word you were looking for is Cajun. Geordie is a strong accent - I'd recommend some stand-up comedy from Sarah Millican or Ross Noble to hear more of it. And that "Jamaican slang" was British West Indian - young Londoners of West Indian descent sound like that.

[@DreadEnder]

13:12 is everyone from Brooklyn Italian?

[@januzzell8631]

Not having an ear for the US accents, I matched you in the scores but I will also say the Jamaican Slang sounded to me like Multicultural London English - which is very academic way of describing the melting pot of London's accents - it's being added to the Estuary, Cockney and RP accents found in London :) Loved your reactions to the US ones though - glorious I will say that the Cardiff accent for Wales is very specific to the city - South Walian and North Walian are totally different

[@paulrobson7887]

21 is MLE (multicultural London English). You were correct.

[@DreadEnder]

12:05 Welsh, very bad Welsh

[@joealyjim3029]

My mum is Welsh and that accent wasnt even mildly close to Welsh, especially southern Welsh 😂😂 no idea how you got that one tbh

[@FlowerFaerieLottie]

That was Michael sheen speaking and he's from port Talbot in south wales

[@franohmsford7548]

That "Brummie" sounded like Sean Bean {who's from Sheffield!}.

[@hanifleylabi8071]

The RP one was actually marked / heightened RP which is even posher

[@andrewwilliams2353]

I got most of them but I didn't get the Welsh one which is daft because I am Welsh !!! However, in my defence the speaker was from Cardiff, on the posher side, and so did NOT have a typical southern Welsh accent at all !

[@scantregard1915]

Brummie accent is WAY off, peaky blinders got it so wrong!

[@AJCham]

I'm 5 in, and so far it's impressive how consistently you specifically rule out the correct answer! Edit: Give yourself the point for #21 - that sounds distinctly like MLE (Multicultural London English) - an accent that does have Caribbean influence, but is most definitely "south England, urban" as you described.

[@jameshumphreys9715]

The Welsh person, who spoke was Michael Sheen who comes from Port Talbot and that wasn't a Cardiff accent or no where near it.

[@aaropajari7058]

Yes. I am from Bristol and recognized that. In my opinion Cardiff folks do not sound too dissimilar to some Bristolians.

[@robbpatterson6796]

Funny how your only reference to a Welsh accent is Anthony Hopkins, especially as he almost never uses one :p

[@cymro6537]

The Welsh accent isn't 'Cardiff' at all , it's actually Michael Sheen who's from Port Talbot.

[@robbpatterson6796]

I know, That wasn't my point though@@cymro6537

[@mixodorians12]

He sounds welsh to me.

[@pvt_gomer_pyle230]

Surprised at what you got right and shocked at what you didn’t 😂👍

[@gitaryddcymraeg8816]

"Sounds like England, I'm gonna say Welsh". They are two different countries. 🤣

[@neil4767]

That 2nd one they said was Jamaican, wasn't, you were right, London, called Multicultural London English for the moment

[@mrowespencer]

Good work on 4 - that sounds like Cate Blanchett to me, and cultivated Australian is exactly like a mix between Australian and southern England (so middle class London and surrounding areas). As an Australian living in the UK, I reckon you can count that one! And 18 isn't posh British, it sounds like an Australian/South African trying to sound posh British to me. The fact they say 21 is Jamaican is a travesty, that's definitely London - MLE. Though the first one was Cockney, they're right - Tom Hardy in Peaky Blinders

[@StormhavenGaming]

If you want to get really technical, Tom Hardy's character is from Camden - Definitely not in the East End of London and therefore not technically Cockney! 21 is absolutely MLE. Whilst MLE has heavy influnces from Jamaican slang, it is a distinct accent and dialect.

[@marktubeie07]

06:43 that reaction 😂😂

[@tom_4615]

That geordie accent was more Northern Irish than anything… And what they called Jamaican slag is a black east London accent, which comes from Jamaica but is not at all similar to how they speak. Most people know that as like a “roadman” accent but idk what the proper name for it is

[@celticm6616]

I think a lot of these people were celebrities that were doing the accents, I can do two more which weren't in there, which is West Country which is the reason why you get your American slang and Norfolk accent my great grandparents used to come from Norfolk on the train to visit my grandparents on the farm people used to think when they got off the train that they came from Australia interesting.

[@mattbarker3873]

No 15 is Gabriel Macht who is from NYC

[@ivylasangrienta6093]

RP isn't from London, it's learned in posh schools, mostly, lol, so you hear it all across the country among the toffs.

[@RichDoes..]

I can do them all... except Welsh ... must go live in Wales for a while lol

[@Renzsu]

no. 3 reminded me of Matthew McConaughey ,who is a Texan :)

[@mnomadvfx]

Number 3 is Matthew McConaughey who indeed was born and raised in Texas.

[@matshjalmarsson3008]

There are many accents in all European countries, in Stockholm (~2 milion people) where I grew up, there are at least 5 very different accents. It's kind of funny, if you travel a mile or two, you may have to switch to English to be understood/understand. Perhaps that is the reason why we are relatively proficient at English.

[@PaulieR1976]

Some of them where actors doing other accents. Like no.2 was Cillian Murphy doing brummie

[@lostvagueness2080]

I'm pretty sure that was a fake brummie accent so I wouldn't worry about getting that wrong

[@IkarosWaltz]

Me: "Hears someone who sounded like Matthew McConaughey." Well that's clearly a Texas accent. JJLA: That's not a Southern accent. "Sounds like England... WALES!" You have no idea what you just said... I'd be on the lookout for any sheep noises in future.

[@JBLegal09]

Cultivated Australian accent was Cate Blanchett - a lot of us talk that way. We don't all sound like Steve Irwin mate.

[@jonjoreynoldsgranner7307]

Half of the accents were well off I agree with you. Who made this video. And as a Brummie, I can honestly say peaky blinder Brummie accents are dodgy af

[@jean-lucpicard5510]

20 is Northern Ireland, even I can tell the difference. Some Ulster accents are more high-pitched than the Republic ones.

[@timohara5691]

The Texas accent was Matthew McConaughey I believe