I don't have an accent... GRR

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JenMarie

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I have had so many people ask me if I am from Ireland because of my "accent". I never know what to say. While I am Irish, my accent is because of my deafness. Does this happen to anyone? And.. does an Irish accent sound like how someone with deafness may sound?

:hmm:
 
Irish

JenMarie said:
I have had so many people ask me if I am from Ireland because of my "accent". I never know what to say. While I am Irish, my accent is because of my deafness. Does this happen to anyone? And.. does an Irish accent sound like how someone with deafness may sound?

:hmm:
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irish accent sounds different, at least to me. My parents are Irish as well as many relatives. I have had people say I am starting to sound "monotone". Who knows tho????
 
In high school, some people thought I was a German exchange student because of my "accent." There's a few stories like that here with various countries' "accents" thrown in. It's quite strange.
 
i have had the exact same thing happen to me numerous times. It ranges from ,Are you british? to irish. Im 20 so when im in a group of people and thats brought up i just roll with it. It is annoying though but what can you do about it?
 
Interesting that you mentioned this. My girlfriend is Irish herself. I would have to ask her if Irish accent is supposed to be different?
 
Wow, so funny to read that it's not unusual. It is not always Irish, sometimes people will just ask where I grew up, when in fact I lived in this area my whole life. But Irish seems to be the biggest one. I even had an Irish couple, born and raised in Ireland, ask me what part of Ireland I am from as they were so excited to meet another Irish! I also have been finding out that a lot of people think I am really stupid. They are shocked to find out that I have a 3.8 GPA and I get scholarships. I wonder if hearing people rely on how well someone may speak to determine this. Anyone?
 
well thats a reasonable assumption to judge someone on how well they communicate in their native language.
 
well-- sometimes to its better to joke about it instead or flaunt it. Just over do it as people get turned off really fast after first few times.
 
Interesting. I remember once they found a woman wandering around town, and she had amnesia. They took her to some department on campus and had some kind of speech pathologist talk to her. They supposedly found where she lived, just within a few miles of her home a couple states away just from her accent. Apparently she pronounced "creek" as "crick", and they were able to pinpoint her place of origin. I was wondering if they could do the same with a deaf person. :hmm:
 
Maybe one of your speech therapists was Irish? I had a Japanese instructor with a British accent when speaking English but he had never left Japan. He had learned English from a British teacher.

One of my daughters had an unusual speech impediment as a child. We never knew why, and she outgrew it, but lots of people asked me why she had a Swedish accent. Even my own dad kept telling me she must be spending a lot of time with somebody from Sweden or she wouldn't talk like that.
 
Beowulf said:
Interesting. I remember once they found a woman wandering around town, and she had amnesia. They took her to some department on campus and had some kind of speech pathologist talk to her. They supposedly found where she lived, just within a few miles of her home a couple states away just from her accent. Apparently she pronounced "creek" as "crick", and they were able to pinpoint her place of origin. I was wondering if they could do the same with a deaf person. :hmm:
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If not from voice, maybe from the kind of words used. There are some regional differences with that. Interesting story.
 
I got that too - people asking me if I was Irish (and German, Swedish, etc). I just tell them I was originally from Luxumbourg. That shuts them up because no one knows anything about Luxembourg so they just stare blankly and say "oh."
 
I'm late-deafened so what I'm about to say was before I started losing my hearing.
I grew up in the South (GA). My parents were transplants from the Mid-Atlantic. When I was 11 we moved back to the Mid-Atlantic. As an adult people have, and still, ask me if I'm from New England or England. I've never been to either.
I guess it's from a combination of things. My "northern" parents, my southern friends, the fact that my sister who is closest in age to me had a small speech impediment and that I was still "impressionable" when I moved up here.
 
I'd answer the phone and the person on the other end would start talking after hearing my voice thinking I'm his friend (my Dad) he's talking to. Funny thing is that my father and I sound alike, except I developed a bit of a southern accent I picked up while young living in the deep south.
 
I am also asked what accent I have. I tell them I have the Deaf accent. :) Some say I have a southern accent as well.
 
LOL!! I had been told I had a lovely French accent and Spanish accent! The guy that said I had a lovely Spanish accent was Mexican and I was like HUH! I did not know what to say to him. I had people ask me all the time "where did I come from?" I am always relief when I do meet a person that know my 'accent'
is from being HOH!! I was told by one speech therapist that my voice is nasally which is common for a HOH person.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
LOL!! I had been told I had a lovely French accent and Spanish accent! The guy that said I had a lovely Spanish accent was Mexican and I was like HUH! I did not know what to say to him.
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Say, "thank you". No need to explain. :)
 
Hearing people develop accents because of the people they were around when they grew up.

With deaf people, their accents vary.

I don't know exactly what you mean by "Irish accent", but I do know how you feel. I had that happen to me, but not because of my accent... but because of me having a hard time understanding someone else.

A woman asked me something, but I couldn't understand her. When she repeated, I finally understood her. She then asked what country I was from because if I didn't understand her English the first time, then English must not be my primary language and that I must be from another country. :roll:
 
Grayma said:
Maybe one of your speech therapists was Irish? I had a Japanese instructor with a British accent when speaking English but he had never left Japan. He had learned English from a British teacher.

One of my daughters had an unusual speech impediment as a child. We never knew why, and she outgrew it, but lots of people asked me why she had a Swedish accent. Even my own dad kept telling me she must be spending a lot of time with somebody from Sweden or she wouldn't talk like that.
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I had a speech therapist who spoke with a Maine accent when I was little so I would pronounce things with a New England accent and I have never lived north of the Dixie-Manson line for more than 3 months of my life.
 
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