Of foreign accents, the British accent is the #1 most liked, chosen by 69% of respondents. In addition to being the general favorite, it also ranked among the sexiest and most intelligent.
Perhaps the two most iconic English varieties in the world are British and American accents. Both of them have a form of “general” accent which is perceived as more educated or correct than the other varieties, as if having an accent-free speech was a sign of social status.
A new study that surveyed 2,000 members of the UK public has revealed that Scottish is the nation's favourite accent, beating out Queen's English, Geordie, and more.
Accordingly, we asked people what the most and least pleasant accent to listen to is. Overwhelmingly, people like the Southern accent best, followed by British and Australian accents. Southern accents tend to be thought of as friendly and welcoming, while British and Australian accents are more exotic.
The French accent is considered one of the most sensual. After all, the language is known as the language of love – so is it any wonder we find it so sexy? Interestingly, the appeal in the French accent isn't limited to the language.
Of the 2,000 respondents, nearly a quarter (23%) found the Yorkshire brogue the friendliest.
British, Australian, and Irish accents are the top 3 foreign accents people find to be most attractive. When it comes to attraction, 80% of people feel that accents make someone more attractive, with 77% saying someone's accent was what attracted them to a person.
The Northeastern accent topped the category of smartest sounding accents. Prebly noted that there are more than 7,100 languages spoken around the world and more than 30 dialects in the United States alone.
According to a Big 7 Travel survey, the accent found among New Jerseyans has the least sex appeal compared to the state accents. "Poor New Jersey dropped down one place from 2019 to end up in the last spot this year, making it the least sexy accent in America.
The results revealed that women and men find different accents attractive, and the only common accents on both lists were Australian and Southern. While men desired Israeli and Colombian accents the most, this was not mirrored amongst the women who were surveyed, who ultimately preferred British and Spanish accents.
The French accent has been considered for many years as being the sexiest accent in the world.
Option 1: the American accent
The most popular English accent of them all. Spread around the world by American cinema, music, television and more than 350 million North Americans (including Canadians, eh), this is the easiest accent for most people to understand, whether native speakers or non-native speakers.
For example, the United Kingdom has the largest variation of accents of any country in the world, and therefore no single "British accent" exists.
1. Japanese: Japanese is the fastest recorded language. It has a rate of 7.84 syllables per second.
The New Zealand vowel system has undergone what linguists consider a “shift” in pronunciation. This means that a letter, such as “e”, no longer has the same pronunciation that the rest of the English world uses. For example: “Test” in New Zealand is pronounced as “Tist” = /e/ has become /i/.
According to a poll conducted by YouGov, Americans believe Boston is the one place in the United States with the strongest regional accent, with the Southern Coast trailing behind in second place.
French accents are also perceived as the most “sophisticated,” “intriguing,” and “sexy” (30 percent, 19 percent, and 37 percent). And Swedish accents are thought to be the most “intelligent” and “trustworthy” (24 percent and 15 percent, respectively).
The New Zealand accent has been rated the sexiest in the world, and that's sweet as bro! With almost 7000 languages in the world and even more varieties of accents and tones, the Kiwi accent came out on top in an extensive poll conducted by Big 7 Travel in April.
Accents and stereotypes
People often use an accent to group speakers into categories based on a general set of attitudes and behaviors that they think represent those speakers (and more broadly, the countries they come from). In other words, people think certain accents sound attractive because of stereotypes.
She stands out, even in the thickest of crowds.
Men are attracted to ladies with accents because of their ability to stand out in a room full of other women. When you're trying to meet as many people as possible, it's pretty common for some of these people to slip through the cracks of your memory.
According to a survey, which was conducted by international dating app Happn, 2,000 people said that they found the Scottish accent most attractive. A total of 21 per cent of voters chose the Scottish accent, with Geordie in second with 17 per cent as the Welsh accent came in at third place.
The United States and India have the most total English speakers, with 306 million and 265 million, respectively. These are followed by Pakistan (104 million), the United Kingdom (68 million), and Nigeria (60 million). As of 2022, there were about 373 million native speakers of English.
Fastest talker
Steve Woodmore could rapidly articulate at a rate of 637 words per minute, four times faster than the average human. Woodmore first realised his skills at rapid speech when he was seven years old.