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I grew up in English speaking country and people tell me something about my accent feels odd

Total_Perspective_11
https://voca.ro/1lwxOhGvO19O Growing up, I’ve been very insecure about my accent since I struggled to learn English even though I came here when I was really young. I did move back and forth between my home country and where I live right now a lot until Grade 6, so I’m not sure if this has influenced me (I believe I’m fully bilingual now). Some people say that I sound native, some people tell me that there is something off about my accent. So I wanted to try out this subreddit and let you guys judge my accent.

27 comments

leobeer
You sound functionally very fluent but, like my French Canadian colleague, some of your stress accents are on the wrong parts of the words marking you as a non-native speaker.
Objective-Function33
The thing is, I can understand everything you’re saying so it’s not like nobody can understand you. But yeah, you do sound like someone who may be multilingual.
Complete_Aerie_6908
You don’t sound like a native English speaker to me. You do sound like you are a fluent English speaker.
CowboyOzzie
Some English speakers simplify multiple consonant clusters, but you seem to do it more than most natives (“last summer“ becomes “lassummer“, and “road trip“ becomes “roe chip“. There are also native speakers who reduce the two English “TH“ sounds to “T” and “D“, as you do (“through” becomes “true“, and “the simplicity” becomes “duh simplicity“). However, you do this without making the other pronunciation changes typical of those native accents (such as African-American vernacular English). The last thing I noticed was at least one devoicing of a final voiced consonant (“stunning“ becomes “stunnink“). This one is not a feature of any native English accents that I’m aware of, but is common In Slavic languages as well as in several other European languages. If I had to guess, I’d say your native language is maybe Polish? And if you came to the US when you were young, would I be too far off to guess that you came to New York or a nearby area, where it’s fairly common to hear “TR-“ consonant clusters reduced to “CH-“, (“trip” may become “chip”)?
Friendly_Branch169
You definitely don't sound native to Canada (or any other English-speaking country whose accent I'm familiar with). I'd probably guess you were of Japanese or Malaysian origin, but I did see your comment about being from Asia so it's possible that that's influencing my perspective. You do sound very fluent, and I have no trouble understanding you, but I'm surprised that Canadians would think you have a local accent instead of a foreign one.
OwineeniwO
I thought you were Asian.
Glittersparkles7
Sounds like a non native but fluent speaker.
Hot_Car6476
You sound like a friend of mine from South Korea. I’m not saying you’re from South Korea, but there’s a similar twang to your voice. She moved away from South Korea when she was 10 or 11. Now, some decades later she sounds a lot like you. It’s easy to understand what you’re saying, but it does not sound native or fluent or casual. It sounds somewhat deliberate or focused. And the accent has a little bit of a catch to it.
Gnumino-4949
Hi OP! As others said, you speak very clearly. Here are two ideas for working on fluency. One is, find some actress you like (tv, movie, theatre, whatever) and emulate. Repeat phrases until they are first and second nature. Focus on timing and stess. 2nd is more rare but a voice coach is trained in this stuff.
AlternativeLie9486
You sound Chinese to me. It's interesting that you still have issues with accent and pronunciation. I can only imagine that you were in a predominantly non-English community/family and that you never fully assimilated into the English-speaking culture.
fourlegsfaster
I am British, to me you sound very fluent and at ease; you don't sound as if you are from an English-speaking country, but have learnt North American English. I'm not good at pinpointing accents, all I can say is I don't think you are from Western Europe, I don't think you are from Africa, I don't think you are from Central or South America. That leaves a lot of options from which I don't have the confidence to choose.
swanson6666
You sound Chinese.
Indoor-Cat4986
I wouldn’t say your accent feels odd, you sound like someone - maybe East Asian? - that learned to speak English as a second language. You sound very comfortable using English, just not a native speaker
GiveMeTheCI
You sound like you speak English at a very high level, but I would guess you speak a language from China or SE Asia.
One_Support8251
Definitely don't sound like a native if i were to lay the odds Russia
JoeSchmeau
To me, you sound like a Korean with really good English. But there is enough there to notice you're definitely not a native speaker, mostly just some stresses on the wrong syllable and your S and Z sounds, as well as your K sound, are a bit clipped or something in a way a native speaker wouldn't do. Not to criticise, just pointing it out as a native speaker.
RevolutionaryPause54
You sound like you have a slight Chinese accent :)
Otherwise_Flight7648
I think some of your vowels come off differently. Maybe you could start with “o” if you want to modify it. You sound great, so you don’t need to, but the option is there if you want.
Mediocre_Sandwich458
You sound Kurdish or Iranian or Turkish by ethnicity?
2infinite8
You definitely don’t sound native. Your intonation and where you put the stresses is a little bit different than a native speaker. The biggest giveaway is your vowel sounds. Some of your vowels are also not as elongated as they could be and sound closer to a monophthong than a diphthong.
Chicagogirl72
You are very clear and 100% fluent but you sound Asian
Maleficent-Face-1579
I am surprised people chose Polish and slavic as I would have said asian. It’s slight but the combination of the cadence of how you speak the TH’s and sounds coming from the top of the throat make you sound like a non native speaker. 
Jmayhew1
Very comprehensible. I would suggest speaking naturally rather than reading a phony sounding text. Work on liquid consonants and speech prosody.
howdidyouevendothat
This is who you sound like to me: https://youtube.com/shorts/u1fag21kypQ Chef Chris Cho
Far-Significance2481
You have a really pleasant speaking voice, and it's easy to listen to. My first instinct was that you were East Asian because you sound like East Asian Australians who come to Australia as a child but weren't born in Australia. You also have a North American accent going on there, but there is something about how you pronounce the words and the cadence of your speech that sounds East Asian. There is absolutely nothing off about your accent. it just isn't an American or Canadian accent. I could be and probably am very wrong about this. I would not pick you as a native English speaker though
WitnessChance1996
You sound like someone who is not a native speaker (I mean to say it's not about something being "off"). Sorry if this sounds harsh. But i'm not able to discern your accent.
Untitled_poet
Ethnic Chinese maybe? I would say you are conversational in English, but perhaps the enunciation and focus on where to put extra emphasis on tones and stuff sound a bit "forced" in the sense I can tell you are holding up a passage to read from. It is scripted and does not come naturally to you.