I'm talking with different accents and I don't even realize it

[Weakminded]

Ok ive been in situations where people have mocked me in different accents I'm from Texas so there's no reason for me to be speaking in any of these accents. The accents are usually British or Australian sounding sometimes even a Brooklyn accent or Boston accent. I've never been to any of these places and I don't realize * *I'm even speaking like this and *it's created much more * * Anxiety on top of the social anxiety I already have. I've asked my friends if they ever heard me talk with the accents but they told me no and I sensed they were lying because there has been many times when I say something and right after a friend will say something with an accent and laugh for no reason and it's obviously because of me I've picked up on it solo many times. Every time I open my mouth I'm afraid I'm gonna talk with these accents when im in front of strangers or even close freinds and family and im scared i will obviously come off as odd and fake and I am not a fake person. Here's an example of one of these situations.. I was at a party and stArted talking to someone when I noticed a group of people started talking to eachother with a British Accent.. I thought it was weird but shrugged it off and went out back. I asked some girl a question and she answered me with an over exaggerated london accent but when she spoke to everyone else she spoke with her normal American accent. This is when I realized people where messing with me and since then I've pieced other situations like this together and it all makes sense. And this isn't all in my head I'm not heAring voices I've been evaluAted I only have bad Social anxiety . My Therapists told me they never heard of this and one of them said that people are doing it to be closer to me or they say people wouldn't just do thAt which is lie because the world is a cruel place. I dont always sound like this it just happens some times i just know *when I let my guArd down and rrelax and start to talking to people this happens so Im scared to speak up on top of already being scared to speak up. And when i heAr
*different accents on tv i get very uncomfortable .If I could stop doing this i would feel much better about my social anxiety because I would no that I could talk to people without sounding weird. I also know that im afraid that when i speak ill sound too girly or something and i deepen my voice and i think that mAy be causing the east coast accent or i wont talk clearly and that may be producing the accents?If you can give me some kind *of explanation why I *might be doing this I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

 

[kilojoule]

hmm I imagine if you're trying to deepen your voice that could be causing it. You don't need to worry about your voice,nobody likes the sound of their own voice! My best mate has a real issue with her voice I tell her,her voice is fine and it is but she hates it. Her accent changes depending who she's talking to.It becomes very clear or heavily accented depending on the person she talks to. And EVERYBODY has a phone voice!!!! My sister sounds so posh on the phone haha. Some people come away from talking to an english person with a hint of the accent-especially london it's an infectious accent!!!

I don't know how good my advice or if you should follow it but here's what I would do

1) Limit exposure to these accents eg. No British /Aussie films/tv to stop it climbing into my subconscious
2) Listen to local radio/tv instead
3) Realise I dont need to deepen my voice-it sounds higher to my ears than it does to others! Fact!
4) Realise it`s what I say and not what accent I say it in that counts
5)Next time someone answers me in an exagerrated (I can never spell this word) accent I will respond in kind even more exaggerated and even louder and laugh along thus joining in on the joke and removing myself from being the butt of it.

 

[KnuffleBunny]

My accent changes a lot too but it happens to me personally when I am tired or have been exposed to an accent, I can catch them easily. In public if it happens I just laugh about it and explain that I just catch accents easily, people are understanding of it. If you're actually trying to do things with your voice and it happens then I can assume it is because of what you are physically doing to your voice. Accents happen, don't be embarrassed by them. Pull it off as something comedic perhaps, or you can apologize and do like me, just say 'I'm sorry, I catch accents easily and they just pop out sometimes.'

 

[MaliceInWickedland]

Pheeww. I thought I was the only one with this problem. It doesn't happen too often, but once in a while I notice that my voice changes a bit when talking to certain people. I especially noticed this when I was dating this Russian/Moldavian guy a while back. We called each other over the phone a few times and whenever we did I noticed that my accent changed into sort of a mix between Italian and Spanish, which is strange because I don't speak Italian (although I am half) and I've never really had much of an accent when speaking Spanish. Maybe I subconsciously changed my voice through my insecurity towards my voice, which I really hate because of its husky and somewhat raspy tone. I honestly don't know why it happens but it makes me feel like a total idiot sometimes.

 

[lurknomore]

I don't think I've done it where other people really noticed, but I've found myself slipping into the accent of whoever I happen to be talking to at the moment- like a few of my coworkers are from New England, and I find myself getting a little less "southern" when speaking to them sometimes. And I did talk on skype a while back with a member here who is Russian (I learned it in high school), and he said that I didn't even sound like I had an American accent (I was just answering questions in one or two word phrases though). I think that I do it because I'm trying to "fit in" with my surroundings and not stand out too much.