Help with Californian accent!

Im performing in the musical "Thoroughly modern millie" and I need to do a californian accent but I don't know how it differs from the "satndard american dialect". Can anyone offer any help with this? Thank you in advance x

 

Watch the movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
The accent you want to study is from the character "Spicoli." That's pretty much what we sound like out here.
Drift

 

Ooo thanks for the reply! I'll definately check it out! Love love X

 

I have to disagree, Californians do not have an accent different to other Americans. The Spicoli reference is what kids sound like. Otherwise, adults dont speak that way. I was born and raised in San Jose and I never heard others speak any differently and surely not like Spicoli.

 

we just speak relatively properly but throw in some hellas and dudes in there

 

well i think the most, maybe only, distinguishing 'accent' of california speach is the abscence of the accents of other regeons like the south west, the south east, the atlantic seaboard. each of those named regeons has a discernable accent in how the language there is spoken, though tecnicly they all use the same dictionaries.

here in california we just don't sound like texans, or red necks or yankees. so if the abscence of those sounds is an accent, which perhapse it is, well that's us. our sound is just the abscence of the sound that we're not.

southern california has a lot of mexican influence though. well all of the state does, but it doesn't show up in pronounciations all that much here in the north, even though we have a lot of places and things who'se names are of mexican/spanish american, origen.

like i say. the best way to sound like a californian is just to not sound like a new yorker, or a mississippian, or a texan.

i think that's what is ment by saying we don't have an accent. well i mean that IS part of the deffinician of an accent. it never sounds like having one at all to those who speak it. and since i've lived pretty much only on the pacific coast and never further south then nevada and utah, well people in oregon, washington, and northern california all speak pretty much the same that i can tell.

now once upon a time, before about 500 years ago and all the invasions since, the california regeon had all sorts of seperate little regeonal languages, like europe. that's one of the things today's dominant culture has lost.

=^^=
.../\...

 

When I visited cali I never noticed an accent. I'm Canadian and it all just sounded normal to me.

I did however experience my first US/Canadian language barrier in Ohio this year.

 

That's because you lived in San Jose. Southern Californians are a lot different, especially young one's (not to say that you are old!).

 

Well, I lived in San Jose and Sacramento, and now I live in Las Vegas. I go to Southern California a few times a year. Mainly to Big Bear Lake and San Juan Capistrano. The only accent I ever hear is the Mezcan accent. Heck, the Mezcans have invaded the whole southwest, but that is another story all together. But as for a California accent, I dont believe there is one. If anything, it is more a younger generation accent which is common all over the US. It seems the younger generation have picked up on a lot of slang and black language. I cant explain why this is, I guess the younger generation is typically rebelious and they need to make a language of their own. I have also noticed, and I will probably catch a lot of flack for saying this, but there seems to be a lot more of the younger people who want to act or talk like black people. I really dont understand this. Oh well, I guess I am getting old. Old and cranky.

 

^^ Sounds like the "Kids these days...." speech. The answer is "Yes," you are getting old and cranky

I Hope Jennyflower isn't on stage right now sounding like Spicoli. It was mostly meant as a joke. Although, when I get excited by something I start throwing in all of my surfer slang words when I talk.

I 'm not sure about an overall accent, but when I traveled overseas, I was told that I spoke slowly and my words were drawn out. Maybe thats part of the Cali accent (or it could just be me??). I do have roots in rural northern Cali so that could be where I picked it up.

 

Oh well. 42nd birthday tomorrow(Sept. 14). Guess I am just looking back at what could have been and looking forward to what will be. I am grumpy, grouchy, cranky, and all of that. Time for a bottle of Jack and a many bong hits I guess. :<))

 

Hey, yeah. I am from California and I travel a lot. I have had strangers come up to me telling me i had a "California accent" Of course people who live there won't notice one because they've always been around it. I think that because of movies and show from california being published all throughout the world we have spread our accent and made it like the "normal" english, and everyone who doesn't talk like that has an accent. Because REAL English was created with what people call and english, or British accent, so anything from that would be an accent, rite?

Yeah, so I guess I would have a "California Accent" then...rite?
Ok. RULE NUMBER ONE. One thing californians DO NOT say. We never say CALI. Thats just wat people NOT from "Cali" say. We only use that if we're playing around.. or if we dont feel like typing the whole word C-a-l-i-f-o-r-n-i-a

CALIFORNIA SLANG.

HELLA- could mean a lot or very. "You have hella jewelery on" or "this test is hella hard" Hella is sometimes considered a curse word in some parts of california.
HECKA- The substitute word for "hella"

Oh, sorri i live in the ghetto/hood of california. Woops... but i lived in Los Angeles for a while and i go every sumnmer.

K, words..hmm.

STUPID/DUMB- An adjective desribing something.
Def 1- could be used in place of "hella/hecka". "That boy is dumbass tall!" "She got stupid money in her pocket!"
Def 2- something cool.
"My new shoes go stupid" "her braids go dumb"

OME MORE THING. WE DO NOT SPEAK LIKE VALLEY GIRLS. Although I do admit, we use the word "like" way too often. But totally? Barely.

Let's see. How we speak. How do we speak?

Oh, the word "yeah".
It's not pronouced "ya" "yah" or the traditional "yeah" that I hear in other states. It's more like "yee-uh" I get made fun of for the way I say that word in louisianna.
we pronounce our words more clear than other states apparently. Because in California I'm considered normal, and eveen sometimes ghetto, but in lousiana they say i talk "proper" or "white".

I live in Oakland California, which is right over the bridge from Frisco (the cali word for SanFran) It's about 5-10 minutes away without traffic, but there's usually always traffic. So my part of Cali is a place called "the Bay" which is famous for our talent. E-40, Too Short, Keyshia Cole, Keek da Sneak, and other aretist are all from the bay. E-40, who reps it the most doesn't have that strong of a california accent at all. I think you should look up videos of Too Short and Keyshia Cole talking.

Last thing we say a lot "you know what I'm saying" "you know what I mean" "understand" after almost everything!!!!! LL Cool J is like famous for that.


K. Good Luck. Duces...

 

i'm a young southern california person and i'm pretty sure i dont have an accent... it's boring....
oh well.

sorry i can't be more of a help to you...

 

well around here lots peeps believe that all of Calli is caught up in what was called the "valley girl" syndrome,but that was a while back

 

Do it early 90's style you mark bitches!!!!!

 

"Frisco"? The way I know someone is not from California is if they call SF "Frisco" ??

I'm born & raised NorCal and been told I say "like" and "totally" more than most folks in other places. Hella true.

 

California does not have a separate accent than the normal american accent. there's so many cliques and types of groups, but overall, no its the same. hella is not a common word at all.
i know people my age and younger that use "like" a lot, but i think its more like a nervous habit.

 

Don't forget 'bro', 'man', 'wicked', 'savage' and a bunch of other perplexing slang words.

 

I've only been to LA very briefly and I did not recognize an accent.

:xmasnut: <---- Me in California.

 

I lived in Los Angeles for a year and I didn't really notice any stereotypical "Californian" accents. But that may be because a lot of people in LA aren't from LA.