You Betcha! The 'Midwest accent' explained by a dialect coach 

I’m born in twin cities it’s hard to hear my own accent

I've been to Wisconsin. My mom's side of the family is from there. Hearing the Wisconsin accent, being from Washington state, was not real surprising having grown up in that type of family. I say some words that are unique Wisconsin/Midwest such as brat, hotdish, pop (instead of soda) often times without even knowing it.

@@josephfaulkner7426 I'm from South Carolina and went to Northern Wisconsin one time and a lady said that she loved my Southern draw and I replied well thank you, I love your accent too and she asked me what accent? 🤣

I have relatives based in Duluth, so when they visited is when I got to experience the Minnesota accent. Just a couple months ago I was flying back home through customs and I heard the women behind me speaking, and they sounded completely normal at first but once one of them said "bag" it was an instant alarm in my brain. Kept listening to them talk for a little while before I turned and asked if they were from Minnesota and sure enough they were. They sounded just like my relatives, but one of the women told me "I don't think I have an accent" like I didn't just accurately guess where they were from XD

I'm from Minnesota. I've never met anyone who sounded like the movie Fargo. Ever.

it's baaaaaaaaaggg lol

@@tradeswithdbo In Bemidji they don't drag it out. To my southern ears it sounds like "beg" LAWL !

In the Corn Belt we seem to do this with E rather than A. I’ve heard mostly old Baby Boomers who grew up in the country say “beg” as “bayg” or pronounce the name Regan as “Raygun”, so for a long time I thought it was a generational thing, but I did it too when I was a toddler. I remember calling eggs “aygs” and thinking acorns were called “egg-corns”.

@@the_man_with_the_silver_eyes we're north of the corn belt here. Corn is grown for silage, growing season is too short for grain. Sugar beets are grown west of us. Hay is the only profitable crop. The Norwegians came here maybe 110 years ago, nobody else wanted the free land. That's where the peat bog accent comes from.

😂😂😂

I live in the South yet I have a midwestern accent. Sometimes when I start talking people will look at me and be like, “where are you from? Are you a northerner?” The dynamic between the northern and southern states is really interesting to me, possibly because I grew up without too much bias. If I could choose where to live though, I would get out of the South, mainly because some of the people here don’t have the friendliest opinions.

Add Appalachian to that list, just look it up

Thanks Kim Jong Il. I also love the Southern accent. I moved to the south from the Midwest and I can't get enough of it!

There are way more-The South alone has multiple accents

Southwestern like Texas? It's not the same as Southern, quite different.

It was mostly Norwegian influence, which is why it's uff-da instead of off-daa. Same, though; I also haven't heard ö or ø.

My husband is the opposite, he's from Idaho and he says "heel" like "hill." 😂😂 He also pronounces "feel" like "fill" "It fills like I'm getting a blister on my hill!"

You're pretty close to being right. Most of the people that settled the regions in The Dakotas and Minnesota were pretty much The UK and all the countries around the UK. Irish , German, Norwegian. Etc. It's mostly German and Norwegian where I'm at here by fargo.

That’s a legit Minnesota accent not a Midwest accent lol. Minnesoooooota, dontcha know? 🤪 sounds more Canadian to us. I’m from Michigan and I can confirm us from Michigan ohio indiana all sound the same.

@@Rusty_NickleI’m from Michigan and y’all sound super Canadian to a lot of us but with more “dontcha knows” over the “aye”. Lol. Side note- (I don’t mean that in a bad way either. I hope it doesn’t come across that way! Us midwesterners are the best and I’ve been told some of the friendliest people. Js.)

@@rachell6296 oh Heck no. I'm from the Eastern side of North Dakota. Real close to Fargo. I grew up in the rural area. Definitely a difference between the rural and the city. But I never realize how I sound until I take a video and I hear myself talking. And then I think oh God! 😂. But I think all the states off the Canadian border have a pretty unique accent. I drive truck for a living. And people will pick you out of a crowd. Lol

@@Rusty_Nickle I agree those on the boarder do have unique accent! Most definitely. Lol. Us Michiganders have lack of one so I think that’s why it seems so much more thicker to us. Growing up around it, you’d never notice. But I feel like even those from Minneapolis will sometimes have their Minnesotan accent pop up in convo on occasion. (Been driving trucks for years myself- grew up in it so @ 16 I was forced to learn how to drive a manual… but in a 2000 26’ international 4700. Lmao. I was petrified. I had JUST gotten my license).

really like what?

From Seattle too. Originally from Kazakhstan. I always get asked if I'm from Canada because I say my o's and a's different

I'm from Iowa and we are known to have one of the most neutral "flat"accents in the USA. Think of Johny Carson and that's a "Iowa" accent. Unless you are in southern Iowa, then Missouri twang comes in pretty good.

Yes! My son watched Bobby's World..

Yes, thank you. My accent is pretty neutral too. I'm from NE Indiana.

As an Iowan, I must agree.

As a North Dakotan I agree. North Dakota has it but when you start getting into South Dakota it starts going away. And If you want to hear the accent you kind of got to stay in the rural areas. Like I have it I guess, but my friends from Fargo don't

Thank you for specifying "northern Midwest". I'm from Indiana, myself. Definitely not the same accent.

Yeah unless you specifically are in a rural community with an accent, if you live in a town in the mid-mid west (I've lived in central Illinois/Indiana) I don't have an accent though there are a few that do.

Are you from Iowa?

Oh yah?

@arthurwatts1680 - Australian and Boston accents are both non-rhotic, which sounds especially odd and striking to the ear of the average American.

Exactly, they shouldn't say that people in Minnesota have a Midwestern accent. Because they don't. Talk to someone from Iowa or Nebraska. They sound like News Casters

I’m from SW MN. I was so mad cuz we don’t talk that way. But I do have a MN accent… and actually enjoyed the movie years later…cuz it has a good plot.

Lol my family is kinda the opposite. We're from Lincoln Nebraska. But moved to Georgia. I was born here bust still have a lil accent that shows in my O's and I say ope as an exclamation. Like whoops. Lol

Uff da!

I can guarantee you that you don’t. You might think you do- but you don’t. Unless you were brought up in the UK from 6yo at the latest your accent is probably a strange mix with some British influence. Also, there is not one British accent. They vary hugely. I can tell where people are from in the Uk accurately within a 10 mile radius.

We say it frequently up here in Alberta!🫣

My dad always said "you betcha" and was born and raised in Milwaukee

Clearly a non-Canadian who has no idea what actual Canadians sound like. Heres a hint, we sound nothing like Minnesotans and in fact sound "neutral American".

@@l.m.d.4084 Nah. I can hear the accent immediately, doesn't sound American to me.

@@l.m.d.4084 Until you say "Oot and aboot". 😃

That is cool, fellow Canuck from both the east and west coast of Canada and I totally hear the similarities more on the East Coast

Well, it's possible we share some settler heritage, being so close. The MN accent was formed by Swedish/Norwegian/Finnish immigrants who shaped the land, culture, and language we still use today o/ If those groups also exist in Southern Canada, then perhaps that's why it sounds similar!

so californians sound like new yorkers to you? lol

@@lanivelazquez5308 nope, I can't generalize

I think the only accents in the US are general American (West, Midwest) the Southern accent the New York accent and the New England accent

Same here. As a person with ASD, I listen to information rather than bells and whistles.

it does sound canadian, eh ..probably because of the scottish heritage

Yeah usually news broadcasters need to have a standard American accent for broadcast. It kinda sucks

Yep. Even the anchors at the major networks have voice coaches.

Naw there's more accents than that. Standard American (News anchor accent), Eastern New England, NYC metro, Philly/South Jersey (my local accent), costal lowlands southern, deep Appalachian southern twang, Gullah accent, Pittsburgh accent (western PA), Inland Northern cities (Buffalo, Rochester, Cleveland, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee share that same accent), Minnesota/North Dakota, New Orleans Cajun and yat, Hawaiian, and Western US (which covers the entire coast from Seattle to Socal and as far east as Vegas and Denver). Which is the most basic sounding accent from that region. Except specifically in California for some reason their accent give off deep surfer Bob vibes. Surfer Bob isn't so standard after all. Lmao Also ethnicity plays an even greater role in one's accent in the US. Your ears just aren't accustomed to it which is understandable and expected. I couldn't hear all the differences in British accents until I repeatedly watch various videos on them. Many I still can't discern, but I can pick out London from like a Yorkshire type. Or Ireland and Scotland from England. I used to think Aussie, Kiwis, South Africans, and British all sounded the same as a kid. Now, I can pick out SA, Aussies, and Kiwis from the British, but I still confuse Kiwis, SA, and Aussies.

There are many different accents. There are many nuances between states, and their accents. Obviously there’s “general” accents, but more specific accents that you’d need to hear to differentiate. (Also there’s way more than 3 “general” accents).

I had a person,from the north side of Chicago,say to me,your from the south side of Chicago,I said yes,she said I can tell by the way you talk! News to me!

No but the Somali have a whole community section in city

Why would anyone who's not Somali have a Somali accent? I feel like you were trying to be snarky but you just sound stupid lol

Nope

Ope

Yooper

Minnesota accent is v similar to Michigan accent, versus less-pronounced WIsconsin accent

@metadata4255 Minnesota accent is Canadian accent. Wisconsin accent does not sound Canadian, neither does michigan. The lower peninsula which is the majority. Something tells me you're from the UP which does not speak for michigan but Wisconsin. Michigan accent is new York but faster and less or more pronunciation depending the word. I live on southwest Michigan directly in between Chicago and Detroit so ik the accent

Not at all.

@@richlisola1 MN accent is definitely more similar to Canadian than Midwest.

Minnesota accent are mostly from from Scandinavian Slavic or Irish or Scottish German accents

You betcha.

It's Swedish/Norwegian/Finnish. Not Canadian. If there's similarities it's because those groups also settled in Canada, not because of Canada itself.