I recently started podcasting and noticed the more I talk and the more excitable I get, the more my Chicago accent leaks through. Sometimes I feel like I sound like one of the SNL Chicago Bears super fans…
Does anyone else notice the similarities between Stephen’s “accent” (my linguistics undergrad would have me call it an “idiolect”) and the American English Siri voice 3? They both have a few flattened vowels, common in some Southern US dialects (saying “I’m” like “ah’m”), and a very distinctive bright (aspirated) T sound where other American dialects would have a duller sound. That last one might be a result of his careful pronunciation that he learned as part of childhood speech therapy.
All this to say that linguistically I find Stephen’s way of speaking fascinating and as a Relay listener I find him very easy on the ears. 
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Maybe we should be able to get Stephen and Sparky as Siri voices?
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My dad and his whole side are from Talladega and Clay Counties and I concur.
He made is way to Boston and married a native here–talk about different accents!
The most interesting fact in all is, that there is no physical reason for the ability to pronounce a language in the “right” way, or not.
For example my Nickname “Ulli” is pretty common in Germany, and everybody knows, how to pronounce this name.
While I live in the US, or while I am traveling around there, nobody was able to pronounce this name in the “right” way, just because a native english speaker has no comparability with the way the “U” in my name is pronounced. Therefore, if I place an order somewhere, where I’ve been called later on, to pick up that order, I always introduce myself as Joe or Jim. 
And I’m, for some reason I didn’t understand now for 30 years, be not able to order “milk” in the US… 
This is not, because there are any differences between the “physical” way someone grew up in Germany is different, from someone in Arizona, but it is a question of the “culture” you are grown in, and the language you are used to learn as a child, to lay the foundation for the way how we are able to pronounce foreign language as a grown up.
There are a lot of people with the great luck, to be raised with multiple mother languages who can pronounce both (or all) languages without any problems.
While, if I would try something similar (even e.g. with the different german accents) I would at least run into some limits, due to the area, in which I grew up.
Accent?
PoorBC
resident of Perdido Key, part of the Redneck Riviera
born and raised hell in Mississippi
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So true. I think it behoves us all to be aware of, and respectful of, these differences in people. It makes the world such an interesting place. There is nowhere more appropriate for this to be always in mind than on the internet, including podcasts. The internet has no (well, few) borders.
I can only speak English, the language I grew up with. I took German classes for four years so have a very basic grasp (enough to do reasonably well on the occasional quiz questions!) and can at least pronounce most of it reasonably well. Maori is the native language of New Zealand and, frankly, it’s very easy to learn to pronounce well as the rules are very, very simple, though my grasp of the language proper is close to nil.
(Side note: taking German classes made me appreciate not having to learn English as a foreign language — it’s a mess!)
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I didn’t realize my Discord notifications have been off. That’s awesome! I am from and still live in Talladega county! I thought I was the only nerd in ‘Dega that follows MPU.
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I seen you tree guys over by da Jewels.
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Oh yay, that’s so cool @Brianford9676! My dad grew up in the West End of Talladega and I now have family all over the county. I visited in March 2020, flew home to Boston and the pandemic shut the world down so I haven’t been able to be back since. Hoping for 2023.
Well if you get down this way, don’t hesitate to say hi!
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Love Perdido. Used to go to there when my family and I wanted to go to the beach. It’s an easy trip for us Arkies.
Their, there, they’re my friend, what’s so difficult about English?
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I dan’t think ya talk funny at all.
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You can decide for yourself!
A colleague is from Pakistan. For a while when he got to New Zealand he spent some time teaching English as a second language to compatriots here. He told me a story of a student who was astonished, even horrified at the concept of “catching a bus.” 
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And now think about a poor student, back in the 80´s, who was forced in Germany to learn the “British-English” according to the teaching plans, and being teached by a french native, who stayed a long time in the US, to learn English there.
I can still not order “Milk” in any restaurant in the US… 
And it is a miracle, that we don’t crashed during my first week as a Flight Student some decades ago in Arizona, as my Instructor came from somewhere deep in Texas, and I wasn’t even be able to say for sure, that he said “Hello” during the first week.
It startet to get better with the time, but that was tough…
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Too bad he didn’t speak Texas German.
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