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Accents

M

mamakaykay

Senior Registered
Does anyone think that accents you shouldn't have might be an indication of a past life? For instance, I was born and raised in Seattle, Wa and since I was a teen people have asked me if I was from the south because I have a southern accent. One teacher even accused me of lying about being from Seattle! She was that convinced I was from the south because of my accent. It seems like I don't always have the accent but there are other times I guess when I do, I had never even noticed it before everyone around me started saying things. Anyway I was wondering if anyone thinks this might be leftover from a past life where I may have been from the south?
 
accents

I think accents are very interesting as far as having come from past lives. When I was a child, I sometimes talked with an English accent according to my mom. I've always been able to mimic accents very easily and have fooled people when I've traveled to England and Scotland. I normally have a slight southern accent (unless I don't want to!). I was never around anyone with an English accent when I was little--who knows where it came from?

Have you visited the South or do you have feelings for the region other than the accent?
 
Sometimes I do get traces of another accent, other than the usual Canadian english. I don't know if it's just a slip in the pronounciation or an actual foreign accent. It's really wierd. It actually sounds like a thick southern accent.
 
It's funny, I was just thinking of this the other day. :)
I went shopping just the other day and a guy came up to me out of the blue and commented on my beautiful Irish accent (I've also been told I sound English and Scottish as well as "Western European"). I had to laugh; my family's not even Irish and I was born and raised in Vancouver...no accent here! I've had people comment on my "accent" for the past 6 or 7 years or so, WHY I don't know. I sound normal to me. :)

My sister has also been asked repeatedly if she was from Texas, but just like me, she's lived in Vancouver all of her life (she hasn't even traveled much, whereas I have travelled TOO much in the past 4 years or so, so I guess it's possible to pick up pieces of accents as you go. That wouldn't explain the comments I had before I started travelling, though.). She is a special person, though, she's gorgeous and she's got this "larger than life" attitude; maybe that's where the Texas-mixup comes in. I've never once heard her voice "slip" into a southern drawl, so I have no idea why people assume she's a Texan. :)

As for being past-life related, I'm sure it's connected (isn't much of the things in our life somehow connected to the past? Our likes, dislikes, reactions to different situations, etc). I've lived a lifetime in Ireland and England (actually, through meditation, I've recently found out I lived a few lives in Ireland.) and Russia as well, so maybe that's why people pick up on pieces of those accents. I really don't know.

Jen. :)
 
I also used to speak in a british accent when I was about 3-4, of course I out grew it. Pastlife ??? I believe so.

I'am now taking spanish and my teacher says I have a very good accent and pronounce words very well, and that I'm a natural at spanish. What does natural mean? I spoke it in a pastlife?


Kelleigh
 
I am having a crazy day, I watched the DVD Yellow Submarine last nite and woke up with a bloody British Accent!

It's starting to go away. Thank heavens, it's embarassing to me and I have had to be so silent at work so people won't think I am nuts. :confused:
 
I have never sounded Southern without an effort to do so. My natural accent is English, but I've more or less adopted a midwestern accent over the years from watching TV...I've lived in the south all my life.

Even when I went to London, I kept to the midwestern accent, because I didn't want my company to think I was putting on airs. This continued until I realized London shopkeepers would give old coins that were no longer in circulation to tourists when they made change. I dropped into my natural accent when out on my own, and THAT problem stopped! ;)

Sandra
 
This is interesting

My case has been pretty weird.

I was born and grew up in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia therefore my first language is Indonesian. Back in primary and junior high school years, some people liked to mock my accent. They said I spoke as if I brush my teeth at the same time :( Several ppl were not even convinced that I'm a native Jakarta. One of my friends reckons sometimes I sound more like an Arab than native Jakarta when speaking Indonesian.

Then our family migrated to Australia and I went to the prep school for newly arrived immigrant kids. According to my ESL teacher, my English pronounciation problem is unusual for an Asian because it's much more like those of Middle Eastern languages native speakers rather than Asian languages speakers.

A lot of ppl also reckon I've got rather strange accent for an Asian dude. A lot of them thought my first language is Russian, therefore got mistaken as a person from former Soviet Union. Indeed, I've got very strong inexplicable fondness of Russian stuff, especially post-Bolshevik Russian.

For some reason, I could pick up German accent easily when I was trying to learn German.
For example, on my third day in Germany, I learned few basic phrases for helping out in my auntie restaurant. One of the regulars actually asked my auntie which part of GERMANY I'm from. He was shocked when my auntie told him it was my first week in Germany EVer. He said I sounded like a native speaker.
Another case, one of my auntie friend, an INDONesian, called and I picked up the phone. Not knowing she was Indonesian, I spoke to her in German. After she told me she was Indonesian, I switched back to Indonesian. She told me I sounded like my aunt's friend's son, which is a fULL-blooded German.

Here's more interesting cases:
- I also can pronounce Polish words easily. Several times I freaked out Poles & Slovak ppl because they reckon my pronounciation is very spot-on. I was even mistaken as a Slovak by a Pole on the phone!

- I also can pronounce words of Middle Eastern languages EASIER than Chinese, which is the first language of my parents! A lot of Arabs told me I sounded very natural when uttering Arabic words. Three times already I could convince Arabs on the phone that I'm from Middle East :laugh: Even one of them did not want to believe me when I told her I'm 1000% Asian :laugh: :laugh:

- WHen I speak Russian, a lot of Russians couldn't believe me that I taught myself Russian. They told me my pronounciation is too good for a foreigner who's never been properly trained. Even one of them was convinced that I'm an immigrant from former soviet-union!:laugh: The funnier thing is a lot of Russians reckon I've got Jewish accent when speaking Russian!:eek: Even my Russian friend told me I remind him of his Georgian friend when I speak Russian to him ! :eek: :laugh:

On the phone, I've got mistaken as (in order of frequency): Russian (most of the time), German, Central European, Dutch, Israeli, Spanish, Arab etc. Hardly Asian.
 
Hi,

I've always picked up accents too:thumbsup: , it's one of those things I'd amuse people with when I was a kid, slipping into different ones for a laugh.I found when we travelled around, Scotland and Wales mostly, but all over mainland Britain, I'd slip into an accent really easily, to the point where locals would quiz me on where I came from... I do believe that we probably recognize our PL accents, maybe a particular accent is easy to pick up, gives you a warm feeling, or even scares you for no apparent reason... Also that if you had been an actor you'd probably find mimicry easier... My possible 20's actress PL had voice coaching and elocution lessons for years to try to get rid of her Virginian accent, and it was her failure to do so that she saw as a big reason why her career failed at the advent of talkies, to me, I'd expect her reincarnation to take notice of patterns of speech.

kskshadow said:
I also used to speak in a british accent when I was about 3-4, of course I out grew it. Pastlife ??? I believe so.

Kelleigh
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As a robust Yorkshire girl,it always makes me smile when someone fom outside the UK says they love the "British accent". (It's usually an American)The last time someone said it I asked them what they thought a British accent sounded like and they said, "Well, like Lady Diana." Which had me rolling around laughing. She spoke in a way only the very upper class, from the poshest areas of London, with the nicest schools, ever do!

I think this could actually be useful, because if you have actual strong memories of a "British" PL accent, you could almost certainly pin it down to a particular area, or town for that matter. You might have been, say English, but someone from Newcastle would sound like they came from a different planet compared to someone from Leeds, which is only an hour or so away. Also bear in mind that "Old English" sounded more like German than modern accents, completely different vowel sounds even though the words and language are quite similar to modern English. So, you could get an idea of time frame if you had a pet language expert on side!

Sorry, going on a bit, it's one of my favourite subjects!

Hoping not to go too OT, but for those who remember British accents and live elsewhere, is there anyone famous who has the particular accent you remember? Or is there someone who you see as an example of a "British" accent? I'm just curious, absolutely no offence meant to anyone!

Dxx
 
Whenever I first meet people, I always get asked where I'm from :laugh: They never believe me when I say "here (Andover, south of England)". I'm told there's a touch of an American accent (Bostonian apparently) and also I sometimes talk as if my native language is Spanish - fast and with a slight waver, as if searching for the english words.

Dawn o the shed - British accents :laugh: Whenever my family go to the states people don't believe we're english. Our accent is neither cockney or upper-class... When you said a typical example of a British accent I thought Jamie Theakston for some strange reason... but it depends which parts of the UK I guess. :)
 
Wow I made this thread ages ago!! I love the answers people have to the accent question. I still often slip into the southern accent without realizing it til later.
Working in a daycare I often wonder about certain traits in kids and if they are related to past lives. There's this wonderful little boy there who is almost 4. He has been born and raised in Seattle, Wa. but he has the most interesting accent. Sometimes it sounds as if he's from England, sometimes more like Australian. Others like New Jersey! LOL. My name is Kaylene and he pronounces it more like "Koy-Lane" best way to describe it. Of course I can't go around asking kids if the remember past lives...but it would be interesting to find out and I always have my ear open!
 
Dawn, I loved your post. :thumbsup:

I'm one of the people who say they love the "British accent", lol - even though I'm from Finland - but you know, even if there are SO many different accents on your lovely islands, I think it's possible to generalise a "British accent" in comparison to for example an "American accent" - and there are loads of different ones in North America, too. Here people often say which one they like better, and many times the choice has to do with other, like cultural, preferences.

I think I find the Scottish and Irish accents the most fascinating (generalisations again, I know), like many other people, and it could be because they are more exotic to me - I've been to both places, but I've spent more time in England. Then again I do remember several Scottish and Irish past lives.

I used to live in Birmingham, and believe it or not, I like that accent - probably because it's familiar to me and brings back nice memories. I also like the Northern accents, and many others, too but I'm constantly told my own pronounciaton is very posh. It could be because of my (probably) latest British incarnation as an upper-class gentleman. However this was in the 19th century, and I'm not sure how much the accent has changed since then.

From North America I find (some) Southern accents and the New York Jewish accent the most fascinating and "familiar". I believe this comes from past lives, too.

This post is long enough already, but I just want to quickly say that I believe in "PL preferences" in other languages, too. For example I prefer "Spanish Spanish" to the Latin American dialects.

Karoliina
 
When I lived in my birth country as a child everywhere I went people asked me if I was American because they claimed I had American accent. Some would simply ask if I am American and some would just tell me I talk with an accent.

I was raised in a Middle Eastern country where my native language have NO connection to any European dialect.

It used to annoy me a lot because everywhere I turned someone would ask me the same question. I couldn’t understand what everyone is hearing because I was just talking ‘normal’.

I never felt belong to anything of my birth country anyways. Now when my home is in the USA and I speak English I find it difficult to speak in my native language, the 2 languages have no similarities, maybe as a child without noticing I used a pl familiar way of talking because it was easier to pronounce.

I think accent, in many times is a big indication to pl. After many pl memories now I know, in my last few incarnations I was an American.
 
Hi everybody!

By the way, I do realise how pedantic I sound:laugh: !

Karoliina said:
I'm one of the people who say they love the "British accent", lol - even though I'm from Finland - but you know, even if there are SO many different accents on your lovely islands, I think it's possible to generalise a "British accent" in comparison to for example an "American accent" - and there are loads of different ones in North America, too. Here people often say which one they like better, and many times the choice has to do with other, like cultural, preferences.
Karoliina
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Karoliina, you're right of course, everyone knows what you mean by a British accent as opposed to an American one, and obviously you've lived over here, so you know first hand:thumbsup: .

It just interests me what influences peoples' idea of a country, especially when we're talking PL memories and remember the "feel" of a place and time.

Would someone born and living their whole life in (for instance) France, remembering a PL in Yorkshire, be able to make sense of the phrase (spelt phonetically):

"Oo wo' yeh wih?"

Or, having a PL memory of arriving at a house in the dead of night, to be greeted by:

"Ey up! Gi' ovver gawpin' an' put t' wood in 't oil, it's perishin' nesh aht thier!"

Would they know that was even English?

I think it's interesting with Britain and America because, as someone wise once put it, we are "Two countries divided by a common language". I grew up on American shows, plus our British ones,and have always taken notice of the differences and similarities between accents. American kids would see a lot of the same shows, but until recent years I dont think many British shows have been broadcast in the US. Canada is different because they have all kinds of European influences, I think they "get" us more than the US!

Then again, if you learned English as a second language (Karoliina?) of course you'd notice differences in accents because they make a complicated and eccentric language even harder to understand. Hats off to the multi-lingual, you make me implode with envy!

Do non-English speaking countries have accents too? It makes perfect sense that they would, but I dont think they ever mentioned it in school French lessons...

Sorry...I'll shut up now...!:rolleyes:

Dxx
 
Dawn o the Shed said:
Do non-English speaking countries have accents too?
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Dawn they certainly do. I studied German in college...then spent a couple years living there. I eventually lived in a Schwabish area. They not only had accents but they had words all of their own. It was confusing, but the longer I was there the more Schwabish I spoke. I think its a wonderful piece of the bouquet we humans create.

On a somewhat similar note here in the states. I dislike the homogenation of our own country, caused mainly by the TV. I like the way northern Minnesota folks talk...I like the way southern Georgians talk..Tennesse too. I recently spoke with a ten year old boy from deep Texas, it was artful to hear his drawl and his politeness (sir every other word etc).

The southern accent rings in my spirit, somewhere I'm sure there is a connection.

Tinkerman
 
Good point about the US TMan. Supposedly, being from southwestern Ohio, I don't have an accent, or maybe the accent I have is considered the US accent. Either way, I'm a very deliberate and slow talking person. So much so that friends sometimes ask me to speed it up. I sent seven years in southeastern Virginia, and had fits understanding people. My problem wasn't their accents, but how fast they talked. I had to ask almost everyone I met to talk slower, since I wasn't used to hearing people speak so quickly.

But as far as accents go, the US has many dialects and regional quirks. In my neck of the woods we say Please instead of Pardon, which most visitors either find charming or amusing. And although I live near the Ohio River, where Kentucky and Indiana border Ohio, people in Indiana don't have an accent, but people from Kentucky do, even those just across the river.

John
 
YES, the please thing! John, I still say "please" when asking for someone to repeat a phrase. Just can't get that Cincinnati thing out of me! I suspect that has some roots in the German means of asking the same thing "bitte"...which translates "please." Cincinnati has deep German roots, as you well know.

Tinkerman
 
Yes sir, my grandfather came from Germany before WWI. When he got upset he used to curse in German, which of course I learned just enough of to know what he was saying. So having parents with German, Irish, and Native American heritages made for some very interesting meals. Do you still have a taste for Goetta?

So to keep this on-topic, do other members have regional or family prhases or words the rest of us would find unusual or amusing?

John
 
Dawn o the Shed said:
Do non-English speaking countries have accents too? It makes perfect sense that they would, but I dont think they ever mentioned it in school French lessons...
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Yes they do, and I think they make a very good tool for PL research IF you have the kind of dreams/visions/experiences, where you actually here people speaking clearly. Although it might be confusing, too. For example if I remember this life during my future incarnations and hear myself speak, it will be difficult to tell where I lived, because I've maintained the Eastern Finnish way of speaking despite of living here in Helsinki (in the South) for 10 years now. Yet it has affected me a lot and I don't sound like a proper Eastern Finn, either. :confused:

I don't hear people's accents very often in my PL visions, but I might know intuitively how I've spoken. And some accents just really ring bells in a specific way when I hear them somewhere.

Sorry, this is a topic that really gets me going, as you can tell. :D

Karoliina
 
I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the topic, but my husband thinks it's hilarious that I often can't tell the difference between a southern and an english accent. (I know "southern" and "english" are broad terms, as we've pointed out many variations in british accents from different cities there, and the same goes for southern accents; they vary from state to state). If it's very thick and obvious, I can tell the difference. Otherwise, I keep listening trying to figure it out. I once watched an entire movie and wasn't able to figure out if the leading lady was speaking with a british or southern accent. Funny thing is I grew up in the south-- Georgia and Texas. You'd think I'd be able to identify it, since I still hold on to a bit of a southern accent myself, and have never spent a great deal of time with anyone with any english accent.
 
Hey! I'm from Seattle too! Sorry :D

So anyway, I'm pretty good with accents. I've never left the west coast (of America) but occassionally I slip into a French or British accent. I'm really good at Alabama, and Arkansas accents too.

I don't remember ever being British, but in the 18th or 19th century I was living in France. I was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, but faked a French accent my whole life, so people would think I was French. I was Italian before too, and for some reason it annoys me to death when people speak in the really bad "Mammamia!" Italian accents, because I have always known that it doesn't sound like that. :)
 
everyone thinks I'm from Europe

Hi, new to this forum and am fascinated with the discussion going on even if I am a bit late to join in. Anyway, I am from Philadelphia, currently live in DC. For my entire life people have always asked me if I am from Europe, mainly England. I had never been to England or knew any one from there but for some reason I sound British. Apparently I also look European, whatever that means! I have actually argued with people before because they couldn't believe I was American. Or people assumed I am pretensious and try to speak with a British accent. I have aften wondered if it is PL related or just a weird fluke about me. I have not done any regressions and I do not have any affinty toward things British so I don't know but it is interesting.
I don't hear or notice it but everyone else sure does.
 
Welcome to the forum bobo. It's always possible an accent could indicate a past life connection. But especially in the US, there are countless accents, and you could have picked up on one you heard from your childhood.

Some questions come to mind that might be useful for you to ask yourself. What is your heritage? Were any of your ancestors from Europe or England? Did you have a fascination with either Europe or England growing up? Or possibly a neighbor or family friend spoke with such an accent, and you picked up on that? I'm not saying that there couldn't be a past life connection, only that there could be other explanations, and that a cut and dried yes or no answer is difficult to give without more information.

John
 
Hi Bobo...welcome to PLF!

I'm with John, there are many possible explanations and PL is certainly one of them, as well as genetics, heritage and environment. From my experience though, these are the little things that crop up in life that are indicators. They could be little shreds of the past creeping into your current life. It won't hurt you a bit to look into it. Check out the forum and the FAQ section, theres a lot of information to think about.

Tinkerman
 
I have a strong british accent but i think thats just how some aussies sound who dont have a drawl.Or maybe my older english roots.
 
Hi Oddzphish!

Oddzphish wrote:
I wouldn't mistake someone for a fellow Texan just based on that. The "bigger in Texas" thing is mostly a gimmick...the only thing that's bigger here is maybe the collective ego. xD
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:laugh::laugh: maybe! I have very fond memories of long talks with a bunch of Texas gals though... We all met on an internet Forum and we had this thread called "pull up a chair". Of course we'd be sittin out on the porch... :rolleyes:. I must admit I felt very Texan myself... : angel


I pick up on accents easily, and I was fascinated by your description of Charlie's accent. I can just heart it! ;)


The strongest accent I distinctly remember having is from a life when I was irish and I had this very hushed, soft voice, and talked in that peculiar singsong that's so characteristic of the irish. :)


In this life, speaking portuguese with no particular accent (not as we have in some parts of the country), I don't really feel anything PL related there....
 
W.A. HEART said:
I pick up on accents easily...
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I find myself "mimicking" whoever I am speaking with or even if just around them listening to their speech patterns. I find it kind of disturbing that I do this - unintentionally - and I hope other people don't notice me doing this. Within a few seconds, I have begun to take on their accent and slang as if I don't have one of my own and I am searching for an accent that suits me.


The one that I am most comfortable with is the Southern US drawl; although, to my ear, I no longer speak that - y'all.
 
This topic is one of my favorites, too! :thumbsup:


I normally have a North Western American accent, but I think I've always had a mimic's ear and it's been very easy for me to imitate accents and dialects (and learn foreign languages). I remember past lives from Scotland, Ireland, and London and I've been able to imitate those accents from a very early age ... I did a lot of acting in high school and college plays, and the first part I ever got was an Irish maid (I was the only one auditioning who could nail the accent! :D ).


I realize this could be an over-active imagination, but when I started studying a possible past life from Scotland, my mutterings to myself occasionally drifted into a Scottish accent, and I started thinking "aye" for yes, and "wee" for little (Americans never use those words ...) Come to think of it, the "baby talk" I used speaking to my kids included things like, "How's my wee little Mikey?"


I've mentioned

on this forum before, wherein a person suffering from minor brain damage wakes up speaking in an entirely different accent, and wondered if it had anything to do with that person's past lives ...:confused:
 
This is very interesting


I know I talk at times very fast though to my ears it sounds like normal speed


I also have trouble at prouncing some words


No idea why except wondering if its my NF1 that I got(neurofibromatosis)
 
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