Asian American Accent?

[infomercial]

yes there is. asian americans seem to speak much more monotone and with a different cadence that americans that are from a non-immigrant family. the same way latino-americans have a discernible accent, so do asian americans, at least in my opinion.

[SixHundredAndSixtySix]

Yes! You are doing it right now! It comes out most when you say "r" sounds and "th" sounds. Like when you say, "Where" you stress and drag out the R sound more than most Americans (which is significant because Americans highly stress the R, it's almost like overcompensation for the R). Also, in this video you say "there" with the accent, as your "th" has a hint of "d" sound in it toward the end. Like a cross between a "th" and a "d". You didn't do it for the first few "there" words. But play this video back and listen to the first "there" vs. the last "there." Your first "there" sounds like standard american english. Your second "there" spilled out a bit of the Asian american accent.

[cristianna_jasmyn]

okay I'm not Asian American or a linguist BUT I have noticed an accent! and it's not like the Hispanic American accent where you hear hints of the foreign language but there is something to the sound.

[angelusvastator]

You have an Asian American influencer accent

[kathleencove]

Your voice sounds exactly like Lauren Tom, the actress who plays Lena in The Joy Luck Club (in the movie, watch the movie— her accent has become more like her east-coast Chinese-American friends, and has deepened, as she had gotten older, but in her younger years she sounded exactly like you). I’m not a linguist by academic degree, however, I am both a musician with near-perfect pitch hearing, and I worked abroad as a language teacher in Lima, Peru (a place with a very high Chinese immigrant population) and on top of that, in the younger part of my childhood I grew up in a very diverse community that had a significant Chinese-American population. I’ve noticed that Asian-Americans don’t all have exactly the same accent, a Japanese-American person speaks slightly differently from a Chinese-American person, but the “Asian-American” accent I’m most familiar with sounds like a mix of Chinese immigrants speaking and the Trans-Atlantic accent. There’s an almost elongated sound on the vowel that’s very common in both the Trans-Atlantic accent, and Chinese immigrants who have learned English as a 2nd language. Another thing I’ve noticed is that Asian-Americans often then to “curl” their r’s and l’s, so that the r and l sound very similar when speaking English words. When Ming-Na Wen (voice of Mulan, and June from The Joy Luck Club), speaks you can hear this “curl” on some consonants, and the elongated vowels sounds a lot. Note, I don’t count this as mispronunciation or lack of English proficiency, because it’s not on every word that has these letters, and in Chinese-Americans who grew up here, it’s very natural and subtle and not as easily discernible, so it’s not more “incorrect” than the “mispronunciations” of the Southern accent in America, or people in the rust belt who say “warsh” instead of “wash.” You’ll hear it on some words but not all. Like the word “child” you will hear the curled l, and in the “wonderful, ” but she doesn’t always do it on the word “world” because the l is so strong in that and she pronounces the vowel very strong there too. But in “child” the vowel is more open, and in “wonderful, ” the r and l are next to an f, which requires a little bit more effort because you’re utilizing teeth and then not utilizing teeth in the consonants next to each other. The t’s will have a similar effect on the r’s and l’s, as the letter “f” does. The word “culture” she pronounces like “cuwture, ” or “cuwrture”, curling the l to sound almost like a w and r. This is very common among Chinese immigrants who speak English as a 2nd language, but it’s also common in many Chinese-American people who speak English as a first language, probably from hearing their parents speak this way. The Chinese sound on the vowels is often heard when she says words like “of course, ” saying the word “course” almost like “cars”, instead of like “horse”, elongating and stretching the vowel into an almost “ah” sound. The amount of vowel elongation in the Chinese-American accent seems to me to be modulated by one of two things: whether you grew up on the east or west side of the US (east-coasters have a stronger elongated vowel because white people in New England, New York, New Jersey also have elongated vowels of their own, while west-coast Asians tend to be a little more subtle in their elongation), and, what generation of Asian-American you are. If your parents grew up in China, the accent is a bit stronger usually, whereas most Gen Z Asian-Americans are almost indistinguishable from white Americans of their generation in how they speak. Gen X and Millennial Asian-Americans who I grew up alongside, seem to me to have the accent the strongest. You can even hear this while watching the Joy Luck Club. The children who play the roles of June and Waverly sound just like any other “standard American” girl from their generation. While Ming-Na Wen and Tamlyn Tomita have much stronger accents. The vowel elongation is often strengthened by the fact that language tutors that were often hired for Gen X Chinese-American kids, had a strong Trans-Atlantic accent on the eastern side of the country.

[hhectorlector]

You sound Asian American af. A lot of American Latinas and Asian American women have similar accents tho so maybe not an “Asian American accent” as much as… something else (I personally haven’t had the same experience with hearing American Latinos’ and Asian American men’s accents)

[Tiffany-bdeb]

i notice this with 2nd gen cause they grew up with their parents speaking their native tongue. i don’t really see this with 3rd+ gen or those adopted into white families for example

[djheatt]

it usually sounds like a Valley Girl accent with alot of bacon voice. like yeah

[jaxcgerard]

Yes, cos y’all vocalize from your throat. But my personal opinion, it sounds better than white who sound more nasal and black who tend to use the back of their mouth. You guys sound chill and also sound ‘huskier’/ ‘breezier’

[Thomas_]

Actually yes. There is a difference. I’ve noticed that with the Asian American accent “the” is often pronounced different. At the beginning of a word “th” will almost sound like a d. not quite but close. And for girls there’s a cadence that’s undeniable. Also, a lot of the pronunciation is syllaballically shorter that normal. It can sound very stochastic.

Edit: I’m not Asian. But went to an Asian church for almost a decade.

Also a good example to hear the accent is YJmoonie’s short “real questions I’ve received”. The girl in the video very obviously has an Asian accent and the guy too, but less noticeable

[aaronearnedanironurnn]

Sometimes the women have laugh that sounds specifically Asian. Or a really throaty deep tone. And the sh sound sometimes. But usually the voices fall into a "whiter" sound. Most people have something like that. Like the "Joe Mama Villain Speech" guy. He almost sounds like a white guy but in the pocket from when he says "you see" and "existed" you can tell he's black. And you can probably guess the part of the complexion spectrum he's at.

[donnadupont]

As a person who studies languages the answer is not necessarily. Some people do some don’t it depends on where you grow up and who you are surrounded by.
And other factors.

[mangopepsi]

😢 you said pacifically instead of specifically 😢

[Mr-pneh]

As a white guy i can say

NO THERE ISN'T

You sound like any other northern girl i met

[oneispispike]

I dunno
But Your voice is as pretty as You