I’m referring to Australians, Canadians, Brits, Irish, Kiwis and maybe South Africans. When you hear them speak, can you tell whether that person is a foreigner judging by their accent or does it depends on the circumstances (that is, how pronounced their accent is)? I read online that (mostly non-Anglophone) immigrants tend to retain their foreign accent even after living in the US for a long time. Can the same be said of Anglophone immigrants?
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Absolutely. And the opposite is true. Foreign anglophones can tell that we’re Americans even if we live in that country for a long time.
The Canadian and American accents are extremely close. We would have trouble identifying a Canadian.
Do speakers of your language only live in your country?
Generally, unless someone comes to the US before their mid to late teens, they retain their original accent. If that origin is another English speaking country, then yes, almost all Americans can tell it’s foreign and most can even make a good guess as to the country of origin.
Canadians are the most frequent exception. Since Canada borders on the US and most of Canada’s population lives very close to the border, Canadian accents are almost or completely identical to the nearest US accent. The strongest example of a flat Canadian accent I ever heard was from a guy from northern Wisconsin, in the US.
Yes. Quite easily. Now for many people pinning down exactly where they are from is the tricky part. That they aren’t from here is easy.
I can tell when people are from a different part of my *state* by their accent.
Except for the non-Atlantic provinces of Canada, yes
yeah, even Canadian accents which are very close to American accents in most ways have some distinct pronunciation differences, notably words like sorry and about. Also place-names, I have never heard Americans say Toronto and Montreal like (anglo) Canadians do lol.
Irish, Australian, South African, and the various accents of the UK are all very distinct from American accents. Unless someone is trying to sound American, they won’t be mistaken for one.
Anglophone Canadians are almost indistinguishable by accent – you really can’t tell. People from every other country you list are immediately recognizable as non-American from the moment they open their mouth, unless they have purposely worked to acquire an American accent.
Yes, I can tell general country. Except S.A. Sometimes. Not sure why, but it trips me up.
Yes. It’s very obvious. I have a Canadian coworker from Alberta who has lived in the states for probably 30 years and I knew immediately he was Canadian. Canadian accents are obviously the closest but there are distinct differences in certain pronunciations and varying degrees of difference in intonation as well.