As an Australian who's lived abroad in the US and UK, it is always both a joy and absolutely frightening to watch you morph into an Aussie at the drop of a hat. As someone from the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, I don't even sound as good as you.
You're such a beautiful, COOL soul inside and out! I've watched you since your 21 accents video and each time I see your face I feel happier 😁 I also get inspired to do more accents again and it's so interesting to hear the journey of your voice. We rarely realize what can subconsciously alter our accent over time.
I thought for sure you were English for years and I was amazed at how well you know the regional American accents. It just goes to show what mastery means in a field.
I've always randomly put on an English accent ever since I heard it spoken. I read a lot of storybooks in an English accent to my son. His new teacher is english, and there was a time when whenever I'd do the accent, he'd call me by his teacher's name 😆. Now he just switches to calling me "muh-ver" when I do the accent and then he starts talking in an English accent too. My sisters and I used to just talk in English accents while shopping when I lived closer to them, and now I do it with my 3 year old! 😅😅😅
Only thing I'd have to mention is that there are so many different English accents- I very much doubt anyone outside of movies would say "mother" let alone "muh-ver" 😄 but it's cute nontheless
Dear Amy, I discovered your existence and your website through the vanity fair video on American accents in films. I'm an English Language teacher and singer who studied and lived in the UK for 6 years, so my natural accent and word choices are British but I've been living in New Zealand for the past six months and I've been working on my kiwi and American accents ever since I watched your videos. Having studied Linguistics make it a bit easier for me but nailing an accent is still a hell of a challenge. Thank you for inspiring us with your amazing material and for putting yourslef and work out there. Best wishes from New Zealand😊
I grew up in Charlotte NC in the 60s but neither of my parents had southern accents. My dad who grew up in that area during WWll didn't have one, he deliberately lost his and, my mom ,who was a bit of a linguistic Genius, spoke perfect Dutch and neutral English with no accent but was originally taught English at an early age by British nuns so origanlly had a English accent. She also spoke fluent Indonesian as well as Mandarin. She was ethnic Chinese from Indonesia and in 54 immigrated to America as an exchange student. She was naturalized in 69. But I inherited none of her tallant for languages. In fact I had that speech impediment where you can't pronounce your (R's) so had speech therapy at an early age and so perhaps I have an enhanced sensitivity to how humans sound when they speak . I never had a southern accent somehow even though all my playmates did🤷♂️I keep returning to your amazing posts it seems.
The fact that you managed to sound Australian in 3 days is just amazing. I live in Belgium, and eventhough the country is so small, the Dutch accents are SO incredibly different when I drive just 1 hour away from my hometown. When I go to uni (which is 3 hours away) people make fun of the accent that I have because it's notorious for being very slow, blunt and farmer-ish so everyone assumes we're stupid. Because of this I sometimes just don't talk to or feel very self-concious when talking to strangers at uni so yeah I wish I could adapt as quickly as you can :P I think our accents vary so much because each corner of the country borders to a different language, I live next to the Dutch border so I sound more ''Dutch-like'', whilst people at my uni have lots of French sounds because they border to France.
Miss Walker... I hope you will be so kind as to tell us more about the "melody" of speaking you refer to in many videos. As a speech instructor I find it very difficult to teach students the concept of "melody", but it's so important. Your videos are truly inspiring and many many thanks for all your wonderful insights...
I cannot BELIEVE I've just found you! I watched your videos of Vanity Fair and fell in love - you are literally my idol, I love doing accents and experimenting with different voices all the time. Subbed and am binging all your videos! 💙
At about 9:15 , Amy makes a good save. She says, "If the grammar is off," and then adds, "to me." There is an idea that there is a correct version of a language. But in almost every case the "correct version" is merely the version used by the people who hold the power in society. There is nothing inherently more correct about any dialect or permutation of a language or the grammar structures it uses. When people speak a "non-standard" version of a language, they aren't trying to speak the standard version, making mistakes, and falling short. They are correctly using a different version of the language. Judging someone speaking a different version of a language as being a bad speaker of the version you are familiar with is as nonsensical as going to Paris and announcing, "Wow all these people are lousy Italian speakers," and then making larger judgments about them.
I heard a linguist say "native speakers don't make mistakes". Like "art is what artists make" the attitude is "a language is what native speakers of that language generate". I hear "boughten" and "satten" (sp?) all the time "I shouldn't have boughten that" or "he has satten there for an hour". Native English speakers say it, and other native English speakers understand them.
@@RichardDCook but... no one says boughten or satten 😭 what in the world... We'd understand what they're saying but it's a completely made up word. Native speakers do make mistakes, because grammar exists and is a set form. You don't make up your own grammar. It's still fine to use other dialects and versions tho - it just wouldn't be considered standard.
So there’s no such thing as having bad spelling, those people are just creatives. If someone’s grammar is incomprehensible then it’s just that they are using different grammar to defy those in power. If argument random holistic regeneration gettin’ down up voodoo then wickingpo. Agreed?
@@robertchapman7732 the point I made about dialects is not in the slightest bit controversial or up for debate among linguists. They devote their entire academic and professional careers studying language, so I am going with them here. Your "sentence" is words strung together with no underlying grammatical structure. This is a far cry from actual languages and their dialects which follow a grammatical structure and are completely understandable by those who speak them.
I think that living in Australia and New Zealand was crucial in shaping you. Most Americans who never lived abroad don’t really the feeling of being foreigner trying to assimilate. It makes you a more open minded person in my opinion.
I'm not sure if you read comments or not, I just got here really. I'm a huge accent enthusiast and I love to do them. I'm also not sure if you're still accepting these videos, but I most certainly will record one as soon as I get up tomorrow morning. I really want to be heard as I (wanna show off a little. I'm no expert tho) want to show you what I can do. English is not my mother tongue and I haven't ever been to an English speaking country myself. I learned the language by myself. I want to have the chance to show an expert how I sound and I'd love some feedback too! With that said, I must say that you're amazing! I saw your video on Vanity Fair and came straight here to watch more of your content. You have an amazing energy and mood. Love listening you! Keep up the good work. Will get that video done soon!
I've lived in New Zealand for over four years now, originally from South Africa. I do find myself adapting how I speak depending on where the other person is from (people from all over the world work at the same company), and it really throws me off. I worry too much about what I sound like, then mess up what I was trying to say. :P I'm working my way through your videos now to try and work on the accents :)
@@amywalkerofficial I love that how you said "Washinton" while trying to talk about how your normal accent is more general. It still slips in. I was born & raised in Tacoma and live on one of the many Puget Sound islands now.
I'm from the Central Valley of California. I moved to the Bay Area 30 some years ago. A few people here have asked if I'm from Texas, so I started paying more attention to how I speak. A lot of people in the valley are the children of dustbowl refugees, Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma mostly. I guess that accounts for my accent. It is clearly different from a coastal Calif. accent. I find as I get older I slip back into that rural Calif. speech, which is slower, with a slight drawl. Certain words are pronounced differently. Interesting video. Thanks.
I don’t know why but this reminds me of what I believe was your first Courageous Compassion video...the one where you said that it takes courage for anyone to identify with the darkness we’re all capable of in a million different accents ❤️ This is what we as artists are trained to do! To dig super deep and find empathy with how and why another human is the way they are without judgement :):)
I find your story fascinating. I have lived in 11 different countries in the span of about 10 years. I won't say that I was forced to cultivate an accent (I think my accent is a weird anglophone blend), but people quite often did not understand what I was saying so I had to pronounce words or phrases in a particular accent in order to be understood. To be fair, I think people like to stereotype particular accents as well, and with the amount of time I had lived outside my country I didn't want to be associated with a stereotype that was not "me" -- if that makes sense.
I've watched your videos for sooo many years. When you speak "without an accent" I thought you were from Washington but you're SO good at all accents that you tricked me into thinking, "maybe she isn't speaking without an accent right now... Maybe she's just speaking in a different one 🤔" it's so relieving to finally know the truth lol
I'll just do a couple I'm from Bristol (England) with a more generic middle-class English accent (sadly). I definitely feel my accent changing... 1) when I'm around my family (particularly grandparents) I enounceate and pay a lot more attention to how i'm speaking 2. When I'm around friends from home (or a bit tipsy) I'll definitely adopt a bit of a Bristolian twang 3. When I'm with my housemates, I'll have a slightly more London centric accent and miss a few letters.
I could hear the Western Washington in your voice before you said you were from Whidbey! (I'm a Seattle native.) It was the Rs! And things like saying "Fir" instead of "For." Personally I would love to see a deep dive into Seattle accents, because they are slightly different from Portland, and also from Vancouver BC. I thought it was interesting that you say "bayg" for "bag," because I associate that with Portland, not so much with Seattle northward. The creaky voice sounds very familiar to me, though I'm not sure if that's PNW specific. One thing I noticed in the last few years before I moved away to Atlanta was that I was hearing more and more of a Canadian-style "soary" for "sorry" from lifelong Washingtonians. It was weird because that used to be a notable difference but then I started hearing a touch of Canadian Raising from Western Washingtonians from Seattle northward. I thought I might have heard a touch of it in the way you pronounce your i's but I'm not sure. :)
Can you do regional english accent or just the accents from the south of england? Would love to see you have a go at scouse, brummie, gordie and some other english regional accents.
Once on a North Georgia radio station, they announced the results of a poll about which was the stupidest-sounding American accent. They were so happy, "The number one stupidest accent in America is: Brooklyn! North Georgia is second! Yay!" I almost had to pull over from laughing.
A lot of people have preconceived notions. For example, I live in Yorktown, Virginia, and everyone on reality television from Virginia seems to have a strong country accent. Here in Hampton Roads, our accents aren't really that strong though. I am deaf in my right ear, which is a lot more troublesome than people realize. Do you have any recommendations for improving my ability to sing on pitch or speak different accents more precisely?
I am born and brought up and still living in India I learned English from Indian teachers and spoke in Indian accent till my college. During College , I tried to drop my Indian accent and picked up a mush of several American accents along with some sort of British accent (perhaps). All that happened because I never had a perfect guidance. I'm afraid about how much will I be judged if I expose my present accent to the native English speakers. Are such kinda mixed accent bad? That's my core question.
I can't say whether it's a good or a bad thing. But it surely would confuse your listeners and some people might even think that you're faking it. It's better to focus on just one, whichever one you feel most comfortable with.
@@vivy-kun3510 i Agree... But i don't know how too When I listen to many of the American accents...I find a chunk of similarity between those and my accent. But I don't know how to focus on one because it's still very difficult for me. Which American accent do you think is best for me to learn?
I know exactly what you're talking about! I'm not Indian, I'm from Belgium but my English is a hot mess :p I taught myself English via RU-vid and movies etc. so it's literally a mix between general American, several English accents and even some scottish in certain words. It's prodominently British though, so I think the average American wouldn't question it but I live next to Britain so I'm sure they'd be confused xD Personally, I wouldn't care too much about that. The main point of language is to be able to communicate with others, and a funny mix of accents is kind of unique too, no? :)
English is one of the national languages in India. If you live in India, why don't you focus on having an accent that fits in naturally with the English speakers around you? The time to adopt a different accent would be if you move to another part of the world and you want to adapt to your new local environment.
I'll make a video and share here but I just wanted to say that 1) I love your videos and 2) I have never liked my accent or my voice. As a kid my family moved back and forth between West Virginia and California multiple times, by the time I started kindergarten I had lived in 6 different places. So my accent is a hybrid mess, and no matter where I am, CA or WV, I don't quite fit in.
how about the somerset accent! my dad let go of his when he went to London as a young man because he thought it would've made him look stupid. I like my accent and wont be letting go of it. :)
I'm noticing a feature with my f's. 'Fully frontal filberts finally finish' come with forced air (labio-dental plosive?) which sounds like squeezed leather, or air escaping from a tire. Any advice please?
I'm from Tacoma Washington and didn't think you had an accident at all. Go figure.. But then again you could speak Swahili with a Southern German accent and you'd still be beautiful. :-)
You’re skill is awe inspiring. I’ve always been fascinated with accents. I’d LOVE a breakdown of Del Preston’s character in Wayne’s World 2 if you would ever be so inspired. A life goal of mine is to nail this monologue ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rhtLoA3X21s.html It’s so melodic and has a dash of a speech impediment (sorry, don’t know the appropriate term) with “r” sounds. “The fhhwront stage team” which is hilarious and perfect for the character.
@@amywalkerofficial hi I wanted to be the part of live session. Anyway next time I will be more cautious about it. Thanks for your session. It was awesome and it's really nice to have person like you with tremendous vocal skill.
