This is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever come across. People from around the world are asked to read the same paragraph in English. The paragraph has been designed to include most of the consonants, vowels, and clusters found in standard American English, so that one can really get a sense of all the variations in an accent.
I love the gentleness of Lebanese Arabic (perhaps I associate it with the charming, well-educated, velvet-voiced Lenanese gentleman at work). The interesting thing is that it sounds completely different from Palestinian Arabic. As a small example, the former has a more exaggerated “ee” sound, while the latter has a windier “r” sound.
I hate the painful sounding Cantonese accents. Somehow, each one is so uniquely bad that it’s passed humourously bad, and gone back to uniquely bad again. None of them can properly pronounce “pl“s, “th“s and “ll“s, and the consonants are harsh to the ear. There are also very subtle differences between these Cantonese speakers from Hong Kong, and a Cantonese speaker from China. One can hear the slightly more delicate letter combinations from a person surrounded by Mandarin speakers on the mainland.
For me, the most interesting comparisons are between native English speakers. I let Shirley listen to the Glasgow version, and she couldn’t get over how hot it is. Of course, the most neutral accent to me is from Toronto, seeing as how I grew up there. I hear this accent the most, and always find it amusing when foreigners can pull off a fake accent (I’ve been told we sound very bland). Jackie had the most adorable New Jersey accent, and at one point Angie admitted that she had somewhat of a Southern drawl.
Perhaps my fascination with (and attraction of) things speech related stems from an early study of Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. One of the scenes in My Fair Lady that really stuck out in my mind was the ability of the protagonist (whom Shaw describes as an “energetic phonetic enthusiast”) to distinguish 130 vowel sounds from a simple, short recording of a voice going through A–E–I–O–U in one fluid motion with no consonants.
Usually I can recognize someone from a voice and accent, sometimes better than I can from a face.
I think Heather’s voice matches her name perfectly—modest, demure.
That Cantonese-from-China accent doesn’t sound too Cantonese, as the subject didn’t grow up in Canton province, she probably has Cantonese parents, much like your case. Russel Peter’s take sounds more Cantonese to me.
The typical Mandarin speaker pronounces need as “nee”, dropping the last consonant. Joan Chen does that only occasionally. Some would, as if to counter the deficiency, pronounce it as “nee-de”.
That Glasgow accent has been quite naturalised. I’ve met people straight from Glagow, and I could barely understand what they said.
The Canadian accent does sound bland, because it’s very “standard” (barring Newfoundlander). Most Canadians still have that “about vs a-boat” distinction. Some people say that the standard American accent is the Canadian accent.
That New Jersey accent surprised me, as I always thought that the New Jersey accent was non-rhotic (e.g. Danny DeVito).
Quite amazing that an Indian guy doing an impression of a Cantonese person is more accurate than an actual Chinese person!
I don’t notice at all that Mandarin speakers drop the last consonant from “need”, probably because I can understand them enough, so my brain fills in the blanks.
I’ve also heard the same thing said regarding “about” vs “a-boat”, but I’ve personally never experienced it.