British or American? A question of accent...

[SuddenlyNinja]

Dear co-creators, I have an interesting question to pose to you, something that I've been wondering and playing around with for some time now.

Let me first state that my native language is not English although I do seem to have a knack for "foreign" languages and thus have been speaking it for almost the entirety of my 25 years. As most of the boys my age I learnt the language primarily from movies and videogames, and later found out that I have a passion for teaching it to other as well. A few years ago I decided to get formal teachers training and enrolled in a course that would train me to be an English teacher, which resulted in me switching my accent from "American" to "British" (or Received Pronunciation, if you're into that).

The problem that exists now is, seeing as I can fluently switch between the two, that I cannot decide on one or the other. I've made some videos speaking "American" and some speaking "British" and both have their good and bad points. I cannot for the life of me decide which I should hang on to while filming videos, and I often find myself switching between the two during filming.

Help me solve this dilemma of mine. What do you think sounds more attractive for a Youtube-creator to be speaking, "American" or "British"?

*I've put both American and British in brackets because I know there's no such thing as "speaking American" or "British" and there's a load of different accents and dialects to both, just go with it...

 

[unknown_user0032]

I have a perfectly mangled accent of Darwin, Brisbane and Midlands British accents. Many people get confused as to where I'm from if I don't tell them!

My point is, your accent is yours. The fact that its unique is even better. You sound more international! I say just stick with whatever comes out of your mouth naturally, don't try and force.

 

[Richnode]

You need to be more specific...

Both accents range from pleasant to really annoying depending on the area.

 

[TheIvanMatthew]

I prefer the "american" accent. English too is not my main language and have changed my accent overtime since my default accent sounded awkward and undecipherable. I think it's because I grew into that "american" accent that I prefer it, but even until now I don't fully sound like a full american

 

[Switchbox]

If it's London English from around 1800/beginning of 1900 then go for it!
(The british they use in films like Sherlock Holmes etc.)

 

[TylorSkory]

Honestly, if you have the choice, I would say it depends on your audience. Most girls (especially on YouTube) really love a British accent. Where as I think most guys would relate to an American one and since it seems like you mainly do games, I say American. But I don't know. It's a very funny problem to have! Maybe do whichever one comes more naturally. Like, if you don't think about it and just talk (or if you slammed your toe into the wall and started cursing at the skies, use whichever accent comes out). Good luck deciding.

 

[SubjectSarah]

I think that whichever accent comes out naturally is the one that you should use

 

[IWACK]

Depends on the type of character you want to create.
In the end, if you speak understandable English and the content of your videos is good, whatever "accent" you speak will be ok, it will fit the type of character you created.

 

[TylorSkory]

Ok, I just watched two videos of you doing different accents and if you want my honest opinion (and I promise this isn't meant to sound offense in anyway at all)... I really prefer your British accent.

The American one sounds very crisp. It reminded me a little bit of a Type to speech program on a computer. It just doesn't sound 100% natural to me. (Although for someone who doesn't have an American accent, it's still absolutely amazing that you can do it that good!)

The British one just sounds much more silky. I can tell it comes way more naturally and I think you'd be able to do more expressive commentary if you were talking with your native accent.

Again, I really hope I'm not offending you. I think you're American accent is superb! I just think the British one sounds better and is what I vote for!

Edit: Also, the audio in general seems to sound slightly robotic for me, which doesn't really help your case either. I don't know if that's just my speakers or what.

 

[Unknown_User12]

American is not an accent, the country is far too big to lump it as one. The dialects are so far different and so are the accents across the country. It's like saying all British or Australians have the same accent