I'm from the U.S. I think a lot of Americans prefer British English over American English, mainly because it's something different! We aren't bombarded with British accents all day long, so it comes off as somewhat exotic. As has been said so many times before, it also denotes a regal or otherwise "uppercrust" background. For some reason that has a high appeal to Americans, probably because we have no royalty of our own. Of course, this is ironic because we rejected monarchal rule.
I think however, that this mostly applies to recieved pronunciation. While I find the increasingly popular estuary accent enjoyable to listen to, it does come off as somewhat quaint. Also, there are some accents in the UK that I just plain cannot understand at all. Of course, this comes from a person who turns on subtitles in American movies, so take that with a grain of salt. It's amazing how many movie actors mumble nowadays. I do find it hilarious though that they often cast a British actor as the main villain in Hollywood movies.
As has been mentioned before, there ARE stereotypes associated with different regional accents, for better or for worse; usually the latter. I personally don't have a problem with any accent, as long as I can understand it and the person can get their point accross.
If you are going to work at a call center, I'd recommend simply looking at your primary customers, whether they be Americans or otherwise. For international companies I doubt it matters. I will say this however: Nothing is more irritating than calling about a problem you're having with a product and not being able to understand the person you're talking to. As long as you enunciate and speak slowly when necessary, you should be fine no matter what accent you choose.
British people hear AE all the time in the media so I can see why many would view it indifferently. That's the way I see it too. And yes, if you do master AE and are travelling abroad, you are probably best off saying you're Canadian. :-D
I think however, that this mostly applies to recieved pronunciation. While I find the increasingly popular estuary accent enjoyable to listen to, it does come off as somewhat quaint. Also, there are some accents in the UK that I just plain cannot understand at all. Of course, this comes from a person who turns on subtitles in American movies, so take that with a grain of salt. It's amazing how many movie actors mumble nowadays. I do find it hilarious though that they often cast a British actor as the main villain in Hollywood movies.
As has been mentioned before, there ARE stereotypes associated with different regional accents, for better or for worse; usually the latter. I personally don't have a problem with any accent, as long as I can understand it and the person can get their point accross.
If you are going to work at a call center, I'd recommend simply looking at your primary customers, whether they be Americans or otherwise. For international companies I doubt it matters. I will say this however: Nothing is more irritating than calling about a problem you're having with a product and not being able to understand the person you're talking to. As long as you enunciate and speak slowly when necessary, you should be fine no matter what accent you choose.
British people hear AE all the time in the media so I can see why many would view it indifferently. That's the way I see it too. And yes, if you do master AE and are travelling abroad, you are probably best off saying you're Canadian. :-D
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