American Accents Ranked From Easiest to Hardest | How to Improve Your Accent in English

- Hello guys, and welcome to my YouTube channel.

So, as you can see, I have a new setup.

I have this orange light here, I hope you like it.

I hope you think it looks better,

let me know in the comments.

But today, we're actually gonna be

talking about the American accent.

And I'm gonna be ranking American

accents from easiest to hardest.

Today, we're only gonna look at five American accents

because obviously America is a big country.

And in a lot of states and regions,

people have their own unique accents.

So if you want part two, make sure

to give this video a thumbs up.

So we're gonna start with the

standard American English accent.

I decided to start with this accent

because this is probably the accent you're learning

if you want to speak in American English.

And this is probably the accent you are taught in schools,

or in college, again, if you are taught American English.

So this is practically the accent

you're gonna hear the most in the news, and on the radio.

And this is actually the accent that

I'm trying to replicate when I speak in English

because I personally love the American accent.

So let's listen to this clip from the CBS news report.

- President Biden is back on the road

promoting his social spending plan

which remains in limbo in Congress.

On Friday, he discussed the plan's benefits

at a childcare center in Connecticut.

- So the woman in this video has a standard American accent.

She's a news reporter, and usually news reporters

have a very good, clear, accent.

Guys, if you feel like you don't understand her speech

this is probably because she's speaking

really fast, not because of her accent.

So the other reason why you're probably struggling

to understand her is because she is

connecting all her words together.

This is a very important part of the

American accent, connected speech.

If you want me to make a video about connected speech,

make sure you leave your comments.

But here, I'm just gonna say that

she's connecting all the words together,

and this is probably why for you,

a lot of her words just sound like one long word.

Because it is kinda true.

So right now, let's just note some

of the interesting expressions here.

So she uses the expression, in limbo,

when she says, "President Biden's social spending plan

remains in limbo in Congress."

So when we are limbo, we are in a situation

where we don't know when something will happen,

or even if something will happen.

So we're not sure.

And so here, Congress hasn't approved Biden's plan yet,

but they also haven't rejected it yet.

So we're not sure if his spending plan

is gonna be approved or not.

So his plan is in limbo in Congress.

And another interesting fact here, accent wise,

is how she pronounces the word, center and Connecticut.

Instead of saying center,

which is gonna be a little more British,

or even center, right? Without pronouncing the letter R,

she says, center, center.

So she drops the T sound completely.

It's very common in American English

to drop the T sound after the letter N.

Like in the words, center, internet,

interact, intermission, et cetera.

And I've talked about this rule a lot

in my previous video about the American accent

so make sure you check it out right here.

So now that we've watched the video

one more time, let's watch the clip again.

- President Biden is back on the road

promoting his social spending plan

which remains in limbo in Congress.

On Friday, he discussed the plan's benefits

at a childcare center in Connecticut.

- Now let's move on to our second accent,

and I decided to pick two accents here.

The Boston accent and the New York accent.

Obviously they are not completely identical

but there are certain parts that are very similar.

But to illustrate the accent,

I decided to choose a clip from a

speech of a former Boston Mayor.

- Another one, important aspect to the education,

last year, the university's first residence hall on campus.

I was excited, that was not easy.

In '98, we had a conversation in the neighborhood

about building a dorm, and it was pretty difficult.

- So guys, did you hear how he said the words,

important, dorm, so these words,

instead of just saying dorm, important,

he kinda took his time, right?

It wasn't that fast, as for example

in the standard American accent.

And we can see the same pattern in

the expression residence hall on campus.

So obviously my Boston accent is not as great,

so I'm not going to try to replicate his accent.

I just want to show you guys that

American accents are different.

And I want you to be able to hear the different.

But still here, when he uses the expression last year,

he says it in a very good American way.

So instead of saying last year,

he connects those two words together.

Remember the rule of the connected speech?

So he connects these two words and he says last year.

He adds this ch sound like for

example in the word cheese, right?

He says last year, so this is a rule.

When one word ends on a T, and another begins on a Y,

we'll just add this ch sound.

For example, next year. It's gonna be the same rule here.

And now let's watch this video again.

- Another one important aspect to the education.

Last year, the university's first residence hall on campus.

I was excited. That was not easy.

In '98 we had a conversation in the

neighborhood about building a dorm

and it was pretty difficult.

And before we jump to our next accent,

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And now let's go back to the video

and talk about the next accent. The Minnesota accent.

And I'm sure this one is going to be

a lot more difficult for you to understand.

So to get acquainted with this accent,

we're going to listen to a short clip

with a former wrestler, actor,

and governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura.

- My father had boxed a little as a kid.

My grandfather ended that. He said you're not

going to be a boxer, but my dad was a pretty tough guy.

So my dad would come up to my brother and I's room

and the three of us would gather around the radio

to hear the blow-by-blow of who, whether it was...

- So guys, interesting facts to know here.

Did you notice how he said the words father and boxer?

So the sounds are a little bit different, they're more open.

His mouth is definitely more open and the sounds are longer.

And the same is true for the words boxed and boxer.

And he also used an interesting adjective here.

Blow-by-blow. So a blow-by-blow description

contains every detail and every action of an event.

So let me give you an example right now

so that you understand the meaning

of the expression blow-by-blow.

You'll have to tell me about your date with Sam.

I want a blow-by-blow account.

So here a person says that I want you to tell me

everything about your date with Sam.

I want a blow-by-blow account, a blow-by-blow description.

I want you to tell me everything.

Every minor detail of your date with Sam.

So this is what the expression means.

Jesse's a former professional wrestler,

so it's only natural that he's

using this expression, blow-by-blow.

Now let's watch the video again,

focusing more on this phrase blow-by-blow

and on how he pronounces certain vowels in English,

like in the words father and boxer.

- My father had boxed a little as a kid.

My grandfather ended that. He said you're not

going to be a boxer, but my dad was a pretty tough guy.

So my dad would come up to my brother and I's room

and the three of us would gather around the radio

to hear the blow-by-blow of whether it was...

- So now let's move on to our

fourth accent, the Missouri accent.

Guys, I absolutely had to include this accent

in this video because it is the accent in Ted Lasso.

And I absolutely love this show. I'm a huge fan girl.

So let's watch this short clip right now.

- Well, as my doctor told me me when

I got addicted to fettuccine alfredo,

that's a little rich for my blood.

Uh, how bout this? If you win,

I'll let you pick the starting lineup

of the last two games in the season.

- So guys, here we have a couple of things to note.

First of all, how he says my and this I sounds.

And the phrase up on the word I as well.

So instead of saying I believe,

I believe, he said I believe.

It's more like I, instead of I.

Yeah, he doesn't pronounce this yeh sound

because he speaks incredibly fast.

The same is true for the expression my blood.

When he says my blood, he says my blood, my blood.

Instead of saying my blood.

And we also notice that something is different

when he says doctor this ah sound again,

just like in the previous accent.

In a lot of American accents the

vowel sounds are going to be different.

And in this clip, you don't see that but

if you are going to watch this TV show,

you are going to notice that Ted Lasso says y'all a lot.

So what does the expression mean?

Y'all. Y'all means you all. And using y'all

is very common in southern American accents.

Sometimes you'll come across y'all in

African American English and in

South African Indian English as well.

And I believe that it's very important for you

to know this expression, y'all because guys.

People use it a lot, even if they're

not from the South, they will still use y'all a lot.

So you should know this phrase.

So now let's watch the video again

making sure that we can actually

understand everything he's talking about

because he does speak incredibly fast.

- Well, was my doctor told me when

I got addicted to fettuccine alfredo,

that's a little rich for my blood.

How bout this? If you win, I'll let you pick

the starting line up for the last two games of the season.

And now guys, let's move on to our last accent.

The Tennessee accent, or just southern accents in general.

So guys, here we need to talk about

a lot of different things.

First of all, in the south, people usually

speak incredibly fast and again their speech is connected.

Connected speech is very common in American English,

so it doesn't matter if it's a southern accent

or if it's just the standard American English,

they are going to connect their words and speak very fast.

So to learn more about this accent,

we're going to listen to a short clip

from the movie called Inglorious Bastards with Brad Pitt.

And Brad Pitt is going to speak with a southern accent.

- My name is Lieutenant Aldo Raine,

and I'm puttin' together a special team

and I need me eight soldiers.

Eight Jewish American soldiers.

Now y'all might have heard rumors

about the armada happenin' soon.

Well, we'll be leavin' a little earlier.

- So yeah guys, right now your head is probably exploding.

You're like, I can't understand a single word

because he is speaking really fast.

So first let's talk about the oo sound.

In the south, this oo sound is closer to

the front of the mouth, right, so when we say soup,

it's like right close to the front

instead of just soup in standard American accent.

So again, you'll notice that he's using y'all a lot

because it's extremely common in the south.

And guys, did you notice that he said

I need me eight soldiers. Instead of just saying,

I need eight soldiers, we don't really

need this me here, but it's again a very

interesting way of phrasing a sentence.

Instead of just saying, I need eight soldiers,

he said I need me eight soldiers.

And I think this is probably where you lost him.

When he said we'll be leaving a little earlier.

First of all, obviously he's said it very fast,

and he connected all of these words so naturally.

You know, it was like water, like one word

was connected to the other.

It was all like fluid, right?

His speech was very connected, very natural and fluid.

Another thing you need to know about a southern accent

is that it's also called a southern drawl.

So what does this word drawl mean?

So if a person drawls, they speak in a

slow lazy way with prolonged vowel sounds.

Prolonged means long, right? So the vowel sounds are longer.

This is actually what we saw with

the Minnesota accent, right? With Jesse Ventura

when he said father, the ah sound was very long.

- My father had boxed a little as a kid

and my grandfather ended that.

- So a draw is just an accent where people

speak in a slow, lazy way with prolonged vowel sounds.

But obviously hearing all of those accents,

you're probably wondering but they're

not really speaking that slowly, right?

They're speaking incredibly fast.

And here you just need to remember,

it usually applies to vowel sounds.

That vowel sounds, some of them are prolonged.

So this is one of the patterns of a draw.

And now let's watch the video again.

- My name is Lieutenant Aldo Raine.

And I'm putti' together a special team.

And I need me eight soldiers.

Eight Jewish American soldiers.

Now y'all might have hear rumors

about the armada happenin' soon.

Well, we'll be leavin' a little earlier.

- So guys, I think that's going to be it for today's video.

You just learned five American accents

and I try to rank them from the easiest to the hardest.

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See you next time. Bye.

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