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It’s a question often debated: what are the sexiest accents in the world? But the answer is highly subjective and depends on a variety of factors that have little to do with the accents themselves. In our final episode of Multilinguish season 1, we discuss which accents we find sexiest (and the ones we find…not so sexy), and why we feel that way.
First, our American panel has a spirited debate about the sexiest accents in Europe, and then our European panel chats about which regional American accents they find most and least attractive. It’s chaotic, it’s hilarious and we learn a lot along the way.
Part I: The Sexiest Accents In Europe
We start the episode with a panel of American Babbel staffers — executive producer Jen Jordan, producer Thomas Moore Devlin, social media producer Taylor McIntyre, designer Ally Zhao and me (Dylan Lyons) — as we listen to clips of many different European accents and discuss which ones they find most appealing (Sorry, Germany).
Then the winners of Babbel’s sexiest European accents survey are revealed, and the team reacts to these results. Finally, producer Thomas Moore Devlin explains how the accents we find sexiest may say more about us than they do about the accents themselves.
Part II: The Sexiest Accents In The United States
In the second half of this episode, I’m joined by a panel of Babbel’s European employees — designer Alix Briard, project manager Elin Asklöv, developer Aleksei Miasin, and video producer (as well as audio engineer of this podcast) Ruben Vilas — to discuss the appeal of several American regional accents.
There’s a Babbel survey for sexiest American accents as well, which we reveal to the panel at the end of our discussion. Spoiler alert: the Europeans are a little nicer than the Americans were.
Show Notes
Special thanks to actress Amy Walker for providing many of the accent audio clips.
What Is The Sexiest Accent In The World? | Babbel Magazine
This Is The Sexiest American Accent, According To Europeans | Babbel Magazine
The United States of Accents | Babbel Magazine
Accent samples by:
Amy Walker, Actress amywalkeronline.com
SpaniardWTLE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWn02FabJhk
Maggie Hebrew https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwPOSe2hVrY
New Age Creators https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2Q9EFDAsW8&t=87s
trumpetface https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbK4cL3QSc0
Rick Nuthman https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpBu3g0COrQ
We’d also like to give a special shoutout to Ruben Vilas for editing and mixing our podcast, and Ally Zhao for designing the Multilinguish logo.
Episode Transcript
Jen: From the language app Babbel, this is Multilinguish. I’m executive producer Jen Jordan. We have already arrived at the last episode of our first season. Thanks for sticking with us! I think you can tell we’ve had so much fun putting together these episodes for you, and I’ve learned a lot in the process. There’s some great bonus content coming soon and we’ve already started planning for another season, so stay tuned. As we plan, we want to hear from you. Please visit today’s Babbel Magazine article linked in the episode description and take our listener survey. We’d really appreciate it.
Jen: Today, we’re tackling one of the most pressing social issues of our time: what is the sexiest accent? But actually, there are some interesting reasons about why you may be drawn to a particular accent and we’ll get into that research as well. If you enjoy learning about accents and how they develop, you’ll enjoy our United States of Accents series on the magazine, written by our own producer, Thomas Moore Devlin. First up, our American panelists discuss European accents. In the second half, producer Dylan Lyons leads a panel of our European colleagues in a discussion about American accents. A big thanks to actor Amy Walker who voiced many of the accents on this episode. Which accent comes out on top? Let’s get into it.
Dylan: This should be fun. I should qualify, it’s the sexiest European accents in English, so when people from these countries speak English, not their own languages, because that would—
Jen: That’s an important—
Dylan: Might change things. Yeah.
Jen: … Distinction.
Dylan: Yeah, so actually Babbel did a survey of about 15,000 people from Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, the UK, the U.S. and Australia to get a sense of their favorite European accents, which they think are the most attractive, and we have the survey results, but we’re not gonna tell you just yet because we want to ask our panel their thoughts first.
Jen: We should probably qualify that we’re all American.
Dylan: Yes. We have a panel of Americans to give their biased and non-scientific thoughts on the most attractive European accents, and we should also qualify that European countries and all countries, have a lot of different accents and dialects and these are just kind of the standard, generic ones.
Jen: Yes, this is in fun. Not scientific analysis—
Dylan: This is fun. Yes, so I guess let’s start by introducing our panel. Just say your name and what state you’re from to get a sense of where you’re coming from, accent-wise. I’m Dylan. I’m from New Jersey, but I learned to talk in California, so.
Taylor: Cool.
Dylan: I don’t know if that has to do with anything. I was two to three. Okay.
Jen: Okay. Where were your formative years spent? I think that’s more important.
Taylor: Wasn’t it Kentucky?
Jen: And what’s a formative year?
Dylan: Yeah, what is a formative year?
Jen: When your brain is like the most jelly-like, impressionable, like in their teenage years.
Taylor: So he’s still in that.
Dylan: Teenage years? Kentucky and New Jersey.
Thomas: All right, so Dylan’s from the United States. Hello, I’m Thomas and I’m from Massachusetts. Period.
Taylor: Hi I’m Taylor. I’m from Ohio, the good old Midwest.
Ally: Hi, I’m Ally. I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jen: I’m Jen. I’m from Maine.
Dylan: Yay.
Jen: The best state.
Thomas: I have a question, you said European, but then you mentioned Australia.
Dylan: They were surveyed.
Thomas: Oh, okay, just making sure—
Dylan: So was Brazil, but the accents are not from anywhere other than Europe.
Thomas: So that’s not an option.
Dylan: Correct.
Thomas: Just making sure.
Dylan: Sorry. Sorry to disappoint—
Jen: Thomas is very … I think that’s already Thomas’s favorite accent.
Taylor: So we know his favorite accent.
Jen: So we’re gonna play some accents so we’re all on the same page.
Dylan: Just to give you a sense, so I’m gonna play some accent samples from actor and accent coach Amy Walker. She does some great accents. She’s studied a lot of different accents and really perfected them over the years, so let’s start with English, shall we?
Amy Walker: Hello. My name is Amy Walker. I’m 25 years old and I was born in London, England. Right, I’m Amy Walker. I’m 25 years old and I was born in London, weren’t I? Yes, hello, my name is Amy Walker. I’m 25 years old and I was born in London, England.
Dylan: So those are three different parts of London.
Ally: Which parts again?
Thomas: What were they?
Dylan: I assume it was standard London, then Cockney, and then like posh, royal.
Taylor: I really like the posh accents.
Thomas: Is that like received pronunciation?
Dylan: That’s what it’s called, right?
Thomas: Yes, RP.
Dylan: The third one?
Thomas: Yes. It’s funny, if you look at the rankings, like they have rankings of one of the best English accents is received pronunciation is always at the top because if you’re British, you’re trained to be most sexually attracted to the queen and then—
Taylor: What? What?
Dylan: Ooh.
Thomas: The lowest is when people try to fake received pronunciation.
Ally: Wait, what is received pronunciation?
Thomas: It’s basically how you’re taught to speak if you’re a royal or just any high ranking, it’s like a speech of the nobility very specifically. And if you’re trying to fake it and somebody knows that you’re faking it, then you automatically are seen as an idiot.
Dylan: Great. Well, I will say that I personally find English accents to be very attractive, not received pronunciation and not the queen but—
Jen: I do. I feel very basic again.
Dylan: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jen: I have a thing for British accents.
Dylan: Yeah like the standard British—
Jen: Even the queen.
Taylor: I like British accents—
Jen: Especially Claire Foy playing the queen. I’m very into the way she says thank you. I can’t do it. Her vowels are very like specific.
Dylan: Thank you. No, that was bad.
Thomas: I can’t do a British accent.
Jen: Yeah, let’s not try.
Taylor: I’m not even going to try.
Ally: I can only copy what she said. My name is Amy Walker.
Dylan: I’m 25 years old and I was born in London.
Taylor: It just sounds at the beginning like she’s gonna go missing like really.
Dylan: Well.
Ally: I mean as we know in this office, I have very strong opinions about how the sexiness of British accents is only perceived because of colonialist ideals.
Dylan: Well, we’re gonna actually go into the reasons behind why we think certain accents are sexy, but we’ll wait to have Thomas bring the mood down later on.
Thomas: Yeah. Captain Buzzkill.
Jen: I feel like you’re very socialized to think that British people are smarter and that whole running bit in Arrested Development where they have Charlize Theron just because she has a British accent, like everyone thinks she’s a super creative genius.
Dylan: That’s true.
Thomas: Yeah, okay. I was just gonna add by saying usually it’s smart rather than attractive that’s necessarily associated with them—
Jen: But smart is attractive.
Taylor: Yeah.
Dylan: I’m also not a fan.
Taylor: Neither am I.
Thomas: I didn’t say because I spent a semester in London and at the end of it, I was just like, why y’all talkin’ like this?
Dylan: I was still charmed even after four months living there.
Taylor: I think it’s cute, but not sexy.
Dylan: Okay.
Taylor: Yeah.
Dylan: That’s fair.
Thomas: That’s a good qualifier.
Dylan: All right. Let’s move on to Ireland.
Amy Walker: That’s right. Me name’s Amy Walker and I was born in Dublin, Ireland.
Dylan: So what do we—
Taylor: It’s a no for me, dawg.
Dylan: What do we think about Irish?
Taylor: No. Absolutely not.
Dylan: Thomas? You’re Irish.
Jen: You’re sitting right next to Thomas.
Thomas: I’m not Irish, but I am descended from the Irish.
Dylan: Oh, that’s pretty good.
Thomas: Thank you. I can only do my Irish accent if I’m imitating the bus driver that I had when I had a trip to the Cliffs of Moher.
Taylor: Make it end.
Dylan: I don’t know, it’s not like, but again, if we’re using specifically sexy, I find sexy hard to equate with the Irish.
Dylan: Yeah, it’s cool. It’s fun.
Thomas: It’s rad.
Ally: It’s whimsical.
Dylan: Yeah.
Ally: It’s very whimsical. It has a cadence that’s very up and down and it’s very fun, but again, I wouldn’t say that it’s sexy.
Thomas: I find it’s one of the easiest accents to pick up if you just spend a bit of time in Ireland.
Dylan: All right.
Taylor: Yeah, I’m not—
Jen: Let’s move on so Thomas stops.
Dylan: Ruined it. All right—
Thomas: Keep it in.
Dylan: We’re gonna go to take a little trip to Italy now.
Amy Walker: Bongiorno. My name is Amy Walker and I’m from Italia.
Taylor: It’s like a close second for me ’cause I think it sounds like, it was just like sexy hand movements I’m doing right now. I don’t know.
Dylan: No one can see your hands, Taylor. This is a podcast.
Jen: I think female Italian accents are very sexy.
Taylor: Yeah.
Jen: And male British accents.
Dylan: Okay.
Jen: That’s a gender line for me.
Dylan: Interesting.
Taylor: Yeah. I mean it sounds nice, fancy. I don’t know.
Ally: It sounds warm.
Taylor: Warm.
Dylan: Yeah. I could see that.
Thomas: It’s a warm country.
Taylor: It just sounds sexy, like it’s just—
Thomas: Temperature-wise.
Ally: Just makes me think of sunshine.
Dylan: Oh.
Taylor: And pastas.
Jen: And food.
Dylan: All right, well, speaking of sunshine, no. This is Germany.
Amy Walker: Guten tag. My name is Amy Walker. I’m 25 years old and I was born in Bahn in Germany.
Dylan: I don’t wanna say it’s not sexy but—
Taylor: I will say it’s not sexy. 100 percent will say it.
Dylan: German is interesting and I think that’s another thing we’ll touch on when we talk about why we have certain perceptions of accents. I agree, though, I personally find it a little more harsh, I guess, in terms of … It’s a guttural language, right?
Thomas: Yeah, I mean, they’ve got the … and the … and the … You notice the—
Taylor: And the …
Ally: Hugs and kisses?
Thomas: Yeah, you know, that’s how you pronounce X and O actually, that … and …
Jen: Yeah, I’ll say as someone who has a lot of German family, many of whom have accents, I don’t find it appealing in any way, but I’ve heard a lot of it, so I just don’t like it.
Thomas: One time when I was in Bavaria when I went to Neuschwanstein Castle, which is what Cinderella’s castle is based on, I had this tour, and the person’s accent who was giving the tour was like, sounded fake. I’ll do my imitation of it because it was welcome to Neuschwanstein Castle, home of Ludwig II, built in honor of his favorite composer Wagner. And I’m like, you sound like you’re jumping up and down.
Jen: Yeah. To be fair, as Bavarian, I feel like that’s a whole just like cartoon area of the country. Germans will make fun of Bavaria, don’t they? At least my German family—
Dylan: That’s like very traditional, old fashioned.
Thomas: Well, I mean, I went to a big castle, so obviously, that’s my—
Dylan: Maybe it’s a little put on ’cause they’re a tour guide. I don’t know.
Thomas: Maybe, I don’t know.
Taylor: Yeah, maybe he was just doing his job, Thomas.
Thomas: To be ridic.
Jen: Moving on.
Dylan: Russia.
Amy Walker: Hello. My name is Amy Walker and I’m from Moscow in Russia.
Jen: I love Russians.
Thomas: I feel like Russian can be sexy.
Taylor: I don’t know. I think I have a lot of PTSD. I had a Russian coach, so I just associate it with getting yelled at.
Dylan: That’s fair.
Taylor: Yeah, but not in a sexy way. It was like do push-ups in a non-sexy way.
Dylan: I feel like in the past maybe, but in the current political climate, I have trouble because I just picture Putin.
Taylor: I do think Russian, at least Russian women are over-sexualized, so maybe that could—
Dylan: Yeah. That’s true.
Thomas: I mean I just think of James Bond whenever I hear Russian, which is not great.
Dylan: James Bond is not Russian.
Thomas: No, I know James Bond isn’t Russian, but Russians always play the villains or the seductresses who turn on the villain and sleep with James Bond and then they’re murdered by the end of it. Femme fatale.
Dylan: Spoiler.
Jen: That’s also the reason why I think British accents are so sexy on men.
Thomas: ‘Cause of James Bond?
Jen: Because of James Bond.
Thomas: Huh.
Dylan: Do you have any Russian thoughts, Ally?
Ally: I feel like I’m looking for words to describe these accents and I think the Russian accent is very rich sounding, like it feels very rounded.
Jen: That kind of makes sense though, I mean like Russian culture in general has so much history and so much pain, I guess in a lot of ways, just studying movies and literature from there, it kind of makes sense there would be like a lot more behind the accent, but that’s also me kind of giving more context myself to the accent, which I think is part of the reason why I like it.
Dylan: Interesting. All right, well, next up we have … what do we have? We have French.
Amy Walker: Bonjour je m’appelle Amy Walker. J’ai 25 ans and I was born in Paris in France.
Taylor: I love a good French accent. Let me tell you.
Taylor: Yeah, right before you played the clip, Taylor and Thomas made very different faces.
Thomas: What face did I make? I was trying to keep myself from sniffing too loudly.
Jen: He looked extremely pained.
Dylan: I find French to be pretty sexy for men and women.
Taylor: It’s like just enough, the right amount of pretentiousness, if that makes sense.
Jen: They’re definitely better than you. I’m into it.
Taylor: Yeah, but it’s like, yeah, yeah, you are better than me.
Ally: I don’t know. Having spent four months there, in Paris, it’s okay.
Taylor: I mean, yeah. I—
Ally: I mean you spent four months there too and you have the opposite—
Taylor: Yeah, I fell in love.
Dylan: Whoa.
Ally: Love in the City of Love.
Taylor: In the City of Love. No, but I think I just like … I don’t know I think I just associate it because I studied there and I had such a good time and I was so young and maybe, it’s just I always associate positive vibes to it. But also, I just love, it’s weird ’cause I don’t really like hearing the French language, but I like it when they’re trying to speak English, if that makes sense. ‘Cause I just think it makes the English just sound like a cursive English.
Dylan: I like that.
Jen: Accents are a cursive English.
Dylan: I like that a lot.
Ally: I feel like I just associate the French accent with mean Parisians who judge you for not being able to speak French as well as them and just like that’s the whole point. I’m trying to learn. I’m trying to talk to you.
Jen: They do get really angry. That explains a lot—
Taylor: Yeah, they do.
Dylan: Interesting. Okay, well, we are leaving Amy Walker behind and going to someone else for a Swedish accent.
Maggie: Hi guys, and welcome to another kind of Swedish lesson. I will not teach you some real basic Swedish—
Jen: I’m gonna put it out there, I don’t really care about the Scandinavian accent at all. Any of them.
Taylor: I’m not familiar with any of them.
Dylan: Yeah, I agree. I haven’t come into contact with many—
Taylor: I’ve tried their candy, not a fan, so.
Dylan: We know.
Ally: I quite like the accent, I’m not sure I would call it sexy necessarily, but I think that it’s very fun to listen to. It’s a very delightful sound, so it’s fun, but it’s not sexy.
Dylan: Yeah.
Thomas: Yeah.
Dylan: Okay, that’s fair.
Jen: It gets a shrug from Thomas.
Dylan: All right, Spanish from Spain.
Juan: Hi, how is it going? I hope you’re having a nice day and I’m Juan from Spain.
Taylor: I think Spanish can be sexy. There’s just so many different dialects though.
Jen: They all sound so different.
Dylan: Yeah.
Taylor: Yeah, extremely different so.
Dylan: It depends what part of the country you go to but—
Ally: Do we know where that person who just spoke comes from?
Thomas: Certainly seems nice.
Dylan: Nope.
Taylor: Does he have the type—
Dylan: Someone said like standard. I don’t know if that’s—
Ally: But what is standard?
Dylan: Yeah, exactly.
Ally: Nothing is standard.
Dylan: Nothing is standard. Because if you go to Barcelona and Catalan.
Ally: Catalan?
Taylor: Yeah.
Dylan: It’s like—
Ally: It’s like a—
Dylan: Very different sounding than other parts, but in general, I find Spanish accents very sexy personally.
Thomas: But for standard, standard would be it’s not marked in any way about the region. Standard American is the accent that newscasters use because you can’t really pinpoint where it’s from.
Taylor: So the shouting? That’s…
Thomas: No. Well, it’s just they talk—
Dylan: What news do you watch?
Thomas: Bostonians are like they don’t have Rs, but standard is just, it’s defined by a lack of characteristics rather than a presence of them, so standard any other language, because every language does have some form of standard. There’s usually what’s spoken … It’s not spoken by any actual people, so this person’s probably as close to standard, which probably means that they live in a metropolitan area, maybe have had the edges of their accent brushed off because that’s what happens when people move.
Taylor: Interesting.
Ally: So you just said that there is a standard, but no one uses it?
Thomas: Standard exists as like an ideal, like a platonic form, there’s a standard, but no one actually speaks a standard, but you can try to approximate the standard if you want to, but that’s not how people speak. It’s like how English, when you speak in the English language, there is a standard, perfect way to speak English by grammarians or whatever if you wanna follow grammarians, but no one actually speaks that way.
Jen: Yeah, everybody has some sort of accent or affectation or something that affects your speech.
Thomas: Yeah.
Ally: Okay.
Dylan: For Spain, I think part of it for me is that I really love Spain. It makes me feel like I’m there hearing the accent and being on the beach and eating paella, so I think that’s part of the reason I like it but—
Ally: Sounds like a sandy paella.
Jen: Yeah, would you eat paella on the beach? Sounds really uncomfortable—
Dylan: Okay, I’ll eat it first and then go to the—
Thomas: Take like a massive bowl to the beach.
Dylan: Okay, I’ll go to the beach first and then I’ll go—
Jen: I’m gonna rain on your dreams.
Dylan: … back to shore and eat, anyway.
Thomas: I just associate Spanish with like … I took Spanish for so many years so I associate it with like the those little dialogues. It’s like, hola Juan como estás? It’s like, hola Maria, soy bien.
Dylan: Those dialogues aren’t sexy to you?
Thomas: Not particularly. They’re usually just trying to teach me beach vocab, like la playa and-
Dylan: Paella. Anyway.
Jen: Those are the only things you need to know, right?
Ally: How do you say “There’s so much sand in my paella”?
Dylan: The last accent we’re going to hear is Portuguese.
Ana: I decided to take this free week quite literally and do something a little liberating, which is make a video in my own language.
Jen: I like Portuguese.
Taylor: I kinda like Portuguese now.
Dylan: I like it.
Ally: Yeah, that was nice.
Dylan: I like when our editor Rubi talks to me.
Taylor: Do you think it’s sexy?
Dylan: No, I just like his accent.
Ally: So you don’t think Portuguese is sexy!
Dylan: No, I don’t not think it’s sexy, but I don’t think … I plead the fifth.
Jen: I think it’s probably my third favorite.
Dylan: Okay.
Taylor: Yeah, I definitely like it. It’s a unique kind of accent, like a little flare to it.
Jen: Was the Portuguese accent we heard Brazilian Portuguese or Portugal Portuguese?
Dylan: No, it was Portugal.
Jen: ‘Cause they are quite different.
Dylan: Yes.
Jen: I do think Brazilian Portuguese and their accents are gorgeous.
Dylan: I love them too, but they’re not European so we can’t include them.
Jen: Think of our—
Dylan: ‘Cause this is European accents—
Jen: Very scientific rigor and research.
Dylan: I guess, should we all just go around and say our favorite and least favorite?
Jen: Sure.
Dylan: Okay. Jen, would you like to start?
Jen: As I’ve mentioned several times, my favorite is probably still British as basic and annoying as I feel saying that. My least favorite, I just don’t like Scandinavian accents. Sorry, coworkers who are Scandinavian, I think you’re lovely. I don’t find your accent sexy.
Dylan: Okay, I will go. For me, it’s a tie for sexiest between English, like British, and Spanish. I like them both a lot, and my least favorite is probably German, but I love this German company that this podcast is made by. Thanks.
Thomas: I don’t know. French is sexy, but it’s like, we get it.
Taylor: You’re sexy.
Thomas: We get it. It’s just, it’s defined as sexy practically. It’s fine. I don’t know.
Dylan: So was that your favorite or not?
Ally: I wish listeners could’ve seen Thomas’s face when he said all that. He’s grimacing right now.
Thomas: Sure. I don’t know. I didn’t viscerally respond to any of them.
Dylan: Thomas only likes Boston accents.
Jen: He only likes Australian accents.
Dylan: Oh yeah, yes.
Taylor: He only likes American accents.
Dylan: And then—
Ally: Should’ve played an Australian clip.
Thomas: Well, and then least favorite, I don’t know. I don’t like this game.
Dylan: You don’t have a favorite or a least favorite?
Thomas: They’re all equal in my heart of hearts.
Dylan: They’re all equally not your favorite.
Taylor: Sounds boring.
Dylan: Okay. Taylor?
Taylor: My favorite obviously is French.
Dylan: Obviously.
Taylor: Obviously. My least favorite is a lot, but I’ll keep it short. Definitely German.
Thomas: You’ll keep it short?
Taylor: Yeah.
Thomas: So you have more to say on that?
Taylor: German, Russian, Scandinavian, but no, like—
Dylan: If you’re not French, don’t mess with Taylor.
Taylor: Yeah, pretty much.
Ally: Only speak to Taylor in a French accent, even if you’re not French.
Taylor: Yeah, I don’t know I think maybe just ’cause like, also I just feel I maybe haven’t been exposed enough to the other languages I don’t like, so hearing it is kind of different for me, so I don’t really have patience. I don’t know.
Jen: It’s interesting that your Russian fencing coach PTSD doesn’t play more of a factor in you choosing Russian though.
Taylor: Yeah, no ’cause everything was like … honestly, I picked up a little bit of Russian but they were probably all curse words or things that should not be said again. It was just like people yelling. But yeah I don’t know, I think I was around it so much that it kind of gave me the reverse effect versus with studying abroad in Paris, I got kind of like a positive effect so—
Dylan: Interesting.
Taylor: Yeah, definitely—
Dylan: Exposure plays a role.
Taylor: Yeah, exposure definitely plays a role.
Dylan: All right. Ally?
Ally: I feel like I was kind of the wrong person to ask to be on this episode, because as we have discussed this, I’m now realizing that I don’t, like accents aren’t a huge factor for me, it’s rather like what the person’s voice sounds like and if they have an annoying voice, then it’s game over. You can have a French accent, but have like the most nasally voice and it’s ugly as hell.
Dylan: I feel like you like Australian too. A lot.
Ally: That’s one way to put it. I think Australian accents are whimsical, as I think many accents are whimsical, but I think, for me, looking at accents is also a matter of looking at the way that we’ve been trained to believe certain accents are sexy and how we’ve internalized certain ideals and in the process of unlearning that, is it’s also a matter of thinking “what do I actually like?”
Dylan: Sure.
Jen: I think that’s a great segue actually.
Dylan: Yeah, so Thomas has done some research on what makes people think certain accents are sexier than others, so please enlighten us.
Thomas: Probably there’s no really way to like measure why does someone think this accent is sexy? Because they’re just biases that are built into us, but there are two main theories. The first is that it has to do a lot with just like the familiarity of sounds. If you are more familiar with a sound, you’re more likely to like it because, despite the fact the we’ll say familiarity breeds contempt, it does really the opposite. That’s why people still like listening to the song Africa, ’cause you’ve just heard it so many times and eventually it comes around, and you’re like, oh yeah.
Thomas: But, so obviously, these accents are not the same as English/American accent, so they are different, but they are familiar enough that we recognize certain aspects of them. For example, a lot of people complain about total language accents when they hear them because it’s not familiar to them and that just bothers their brain ’cause they’re just … Your brain is taught to focus on certain aspects of language and when people diverge from that, then your brain kind of gets annoyed.
Dylan: Interesting.
Jen: What are some examples of tonal languages?
Thomas: So like Mandarin is a big example. It’s one of the largest. A lot of Asian languages merely tonal. Norwegian’s technically also tonal, but I don’t think you think about it that much and it’s not as pronounced. But when people complain about certain voices that is often coming back to a lack of familiarity, but that doesn’t really explain like why … Have we gone over the results of the survey already?
Dylan: No.
Thomas: Oh.
Dylan: Don’t give any spoilers—
Thomas: I won’t give any spoilers away. A lot people agree that one of the accents is sexiest and it doesn’t really explain like why would that language happen to be chosen by so many people when it’s not necessarily the most familiar. So really it goes a lot down to how we’ve built these stereotypes and schemata in our mind. For example, we talked about how English is kinda a colonialist mindset of like, we were taught to like the English accent. But also it just comes a lot down to representation, so we see German as an angry language because we see World War II films and German characters are often presented as more angry and yelling, whereas English characters represented as the smart, lead characters, and Russians are always the villains so sometimes we see that as more sinister sounding. It can seem weird because when you’re making these judgements in your own head, you’re not like oh well, it doesn’t seem like, it just seems like a more visceral response.
Dylan: But it’s related to pop culture a lot.
Thomas: Yeah, when you hear Italian and you think warm, you’re not like, “Oh well I watched these shows which show Italians on the beach having fun, and Australians are whimsical because I watched The Crocodile Hunter or Dundee. I don’t know.
Ally: Lost track of the crocodile people.
Thomas: Yeah, so you’re not making that judgment, but you are kind of on a deeper level and that’s not 100% proven, but it does make the most sense because the accent that we find sexy are usually presented as sexiest people. I feel like I’ve talked a lot now.
Jen: No, that’s interesting though. I mean, just I think that what Ally said, it’s kind of personal to their actual voice, but also like what society has told us is, this is sexy and we’ve told that like over and over. We can come up with so many examples of the ways that British people are positively shown as being the sexy, smart ones and—
Thomas: But not the cockney people.
Jen: That’s true—
Dylan: Because they’re presented as dumb.
Taylor: Yeah, that’s true.
Jen: That’s actually interesting. But yeah I mean, that’s like the still the first thing I hear I think of when I think of the cockney accent, it’s like the chimney sweep, which is so horribly dated and awful.
Thomas: Wait from like—
Jen: From like Mary Poppins.
Dylan: Yeah—
Thomas: Wow, Dick Van Dyke apologized for that accent.
Dylan: There’s some classism involved there too.
Jen: I know. That’s how bad it is.
Taylor: Those accents, oof.
Dylan: Yeah.
Jen: Was that a oof or like I’m sweating, oof?
Taylor: Bad oof, a bad oof.
Dylan: Should we go over the results of the survey?
Jen: Please tell us.
Taylor: Yes.
Dylan: Based on the people around the world, the 15,000 people that Babbel polled. So number one, was French.
Taylor: Whoo. People love France.
Dylan: Taylor, congratulations. Interestingly, the only countries that … Well, I guess you couldn’t vote for yourself, so French people voted and said Italian was the sexiest and then the only other country that said Italian was the sexiest and the only other country that said French was not the sexiest, was Spain, who also said Italian was the sexiest.
Taylor: They’re so close though.
Dylan: Yeah, that’s interesting.
Taylor: In language.
Dylan: And then second was Italian. Third was Spanish. Fourth was English. Fifth was German. Sixth was Portuguese and so on.
Jen: Portuguese is so low.
Taylor: I’m surprised that English is so low, but maybe I feel like, well, I mean like you said with like—
Thomas: Some people probably have a less positive interpretation.
Taylor: Yeah, less positive—
Taylor: Representation.
Thomas: But this was done before Brexit so—
Dylan: True.
Dylan: And the other thing I can share is we actually put a call out on Facebook to see what our followers think are the sexiest European accents, so I’ll just read off a few I guess. Jess said “British is great, but that’s pretty basic, so I’ll go with Italian.”
Taylor: Was that Jen?
Jen: Yes, one of my many fake Facebook accounts.
Dylan: Yes, exactly. Kate said, “Irish, swoon.” Elizabeth said, “French because it’s just so smooth and romantic.” Donna said, “I don’t know why, but I think British is the sexiest.” And Nazarena said “Mine. Well-aged Italian, slightly noticeable yet dare to tease curiosity.”
Thomas: Kinda like wine.
Taylor: Wow.
Jen: Nazarena knows what she wants.
Dylan: Yes, that’s how I like my cheese actually.
Taylor: What?
Dylan: Well-aged.
Taylor: Oh.
Jen: With a slight accent, enough to tease you.
Dylan: Yeah, not too sharp. Anyway—
Jen: That’s another episode for another day.
Dylan: Yeah, we should have cheese.
Ally: A cheese tasting?
Dylan: I think that’s a great idea.
Ally: I think so as well—
Thomas: I don’t like cheese.
Jen: Great podcast content.
Ally: Well, Thomas isn’t invited.
Dylan: Any other final thoughts on accents?
Thomas: I think if you think an accent’s not sexy, you should find media that presents it as sexy. I don’t know what that means exactly. Find some sexy Germans out there if you don’t think German’s sexy.
Dylan: That’s a good idea. I like that.
Thomas: Yeah, it’s kind of a weird, happy moral, but just examine what you think and introduce yourself to the world of sexiness. Everyone’s sexy in their own way.
Jen: I think also just like diversifying your media consumption. Even just on Netflix now you can see shows from almost anywhere either in their language or with accents representative of those cultures, I think that’s a really healthy way to diversify some of your media and perception diet.
Thomas: Yes, exposure’s great.
Ally: And also just not making a value judgment about a whole culture based off of whether or not you individually find something sexually appealing, a very important thing.
Jen: A very important moral, yes.
Dylan: Multilinguish is brought to you by Babbel, the language app. With Babbel, you can speak a new language with confidence. Convenient lessons are only 15 minutes and you can choose from 14 different languages, including Spanish, French, Italian, and more. So Jen, what’s your favorite lesson on Babbel?
Jen: Well, right now, Dylan, I’m studying French. I wouldn’t say the lesson I took this morning was my favorite ’cause it was a really boring grammar lesson. Basically, I remember a lot of French vocab, but none of how it fits together, which is a real problem if I use it mid-conversation in France. I will say my favorite French lesson so far of all time in Babbel is the one where it’s a dialogue where she’s going to a wedding and she knows none of her family, which I find really odd and it’s a situation I hope to never find myself in. But that’s, I would say, the most useful lesson was the grammar lessons that help you like fit it all together.
Dylan: Grammar is important and we’re offering Multilinguish listeners 50% off a three-month subscription. New customers can get this offer by visiting babbel.com/podcast. That’s B-A-B-B-E-L.com/podcast.
Dylan: Welcome back. We have another panel here, this time of Europeans to talk about American regional accents. Babbel actually did another survey on American regional accents. We teamed up with Generator Hostels, a hostel chain, and we talked to 400 hostel staffers from 43 different European countries to get their take on the sexiest American accents. Welcome to our panel. Can you all just go around and say your name and where you’re from?
Alix: Sure. So my name is Alix Briard and I’m from France. I’m from Paris.
Elin: And my name is Elin and I’m from Sweden.
Aleksei: My name is Aleksei. I’m from Russia.
Ruben: My name is Ruben and I’m from Portugal.
Dylan: Great. Welcome everyone. Excited to have you here.
Elin: Thank you.
Dylan: We’re gonna go all in on some American accents. Don’t be afraid to be harsh. We were harsh on you guys, so. All right, so first up is, because we’re in New York, the New York accent, so. Oh, and I should say that, once again all of our, not all of them, but once again, many of the accents will be performed by actor and accent coach Amy Walker, and we’ll also have a couple from other people after.
Amy Walker: You know, and just focusing on New York for a minute, you get kinda this trumpet effect. I call it the trumpet ’cause it’s like here we are in … and it’s really crowded in the city, so you gotta make your space.
Dylan: That’s a New York accent. What do you guys think?
Ruben: I think actually it’s my favorite accent from the U.S. I don’t know why. I don’t look at the accents like as sexy accents, but the ones that make me laugh the most—
Dylan: So you think it’s funny?
Ruben: I think it’s funny, but at the same time, I really like it, not like the Boston accent, which I just think is really funny.
Dylan: We’ll get to the Boston—
Ruben: We’ll get to that, yeah.
Dylan: Okay, so you like it, but you don’t think it’s sexy. You just think it’s funny—
Ruben: No.
Dylan: Or nice to hear or something.
Ruben: Yeah, I don’t know. I think it’s, also because I live in New York, I actually don’t hear it that often. I don’t hear the New York accent in the street, which is weird, but yeah, maybe in Brooklyn, mostly. Yeah, yeah.
Alix: Yeah, I like it ’cause it’s pretty international, super easy to understand, but yeah, not especially very sexy. I don’t know.
Aleksei: I think I hear this accent pretty often—
Dylan: Really?
Aleksei: … here, yeah. I mean but, it’s hard to say if it’s the sexiest one because you need to compare and that’s the first one that we’re just heard.
Dylan: Fair.
Ruben: Yeah.
Dylan: Elin?
Elin: I like it. Maybe not sexy, but it does remind me of a lot of popular culture that you’ve seen, right. I don’t know all of these—
Ruben: Yeah.
Elin: TV shows and sitcoms and so on that are set in New York, so it definitely has something. It’s charming, maybe not sexy, but as Aleksei said, it’s a matter of comparing I guess, also.
Dylan: True, all right, well, let’s take a trip down South.
Amy Walker: Now in general, y’all slow down a little bit, you have to lean on something a little bit more ’cause it’s hot.
Elin: This definitely has something.
Aleksei: Yeah.
Ruben: Yeah. I think this may be the one that I could consider sexy.
Dylan: Why?
Ruben: I don’t know why. Something about, more the, I always think about the Savannah accent. Like the “I do declare!”
Dylan: Aleksei?
Aleksei: But I would say that it’s a matter how the person say it. Maybe it’s not mostly about accent, but how the person pronounce it.
Dylan: So it depends on the person?
Aleksei: Yeah.
Dylan: And their voice?
Aleksei: Yeah, and the voice and the temper.
Alix: Yeah, me I really don’t know if I find it sexy or not ’cause it’s kind of very chewy, very kind of lazy attitude, like … Like it’s cool if I’m drunk, you know?
Dylan: Okay.
Alix: Not sexy.
Elin: I don’t know. I kind of like it. It’s chill. It’s laid back. You kinda wanna sit on a porch and sip on something with someone.
Dylan: Sweet tea?
Elin: Nice, yeah.
Ruben: Yeah, and I think there’s so many different Southern accents. I think this one is like kinda nice, but then there’s like maybe, I don’t wanna offend anyone, but the Kentucky accent or something, it may sound a bit different.
Aleksei: I would say that this one is sexiest than the first one for me.
Ruben: Yeah, and I think that the reason I mention the Savannah accent, it’s because in TV or movies, Savannah is like the Southern thing, very chic and people will also speak French. They have these huge houses, like in the swamp stuff, like I don’t know. It’s like the elite people of the South I guess.
Dylan: Okay, so next up, so Amy calls this Midwest, but kind of, it’s more Northern Midwest, specifically, we’d consider it on our survey Minnesota accent, but it’s kinda Minnesota, Wisconsin, up there.
Amy Walker: When you bring it up to the part of the country where the land is wide and flat, you’re gonna get more of a wide, flat sound to your accent up in Minnesota, Wisconsin.
Ruben: Yeah, this one for me, this is reminds me always of Canada, so I guess it’s because it’s way up there.
Dylan: It’s very close to Canada, yes.
Aleksei: Yeah, I found this one as a funny one.
Dylan: Funny.
Aleksei: Yeah, and also maybe it’s, as I said before, it’s like what the person’s saying, like yeah, of course I can differentiate how it’s been said. But I mean this is kind of funny.
Alix: Yeah, I agree. It makes me very simpatico, so not especially sexy but simpatico.
Ruben: Yeah like a town of people, everyone is very nice to each other.
Alix: Exactly.
Ruben: Everyone says good morning and thank you.
Alix: Yeah, yeah, yeah, not like here—
Dylan: Small-town feel.
Elin: Is this usually more nasal than the other ones, or is it just this example?
Dylan: I think it usually is like that, yeah. It tends to be a little more nasally.
Ruben: Also it seems like everyone has a cold.
Alix: Yeah.
Elin: Oh, right, yeah. Yeah, that’s not sexy—
Ruben: ‘Cause it’s very cold so. It’s too cold.
Dylan: All right, we’re gonna head to the West Coast to Southern California.
Amy Walker: And then, you know, if you bring it sort of, to the West Coast and really more like to California, you know, just get a little bit heavier, a little bit, kinda louder and just kinda “Here I am,” you know?
Ruben: Yeah, that’s gnarly bro. Yeah, I cannot find this one sexy as well because I always think of like accents normally remind me of funny stuff, so this one always reminds me of the Californians in Saturday Night Live. It’s so exaggerated that I cannot hear it normally. It’s like surfer bros in the beach, just hanging out dude.
Aleksei: Yeah, I like this accent. It’s like, yeah, it’s about California, California lifestyle. That’s what Ruben been saying, so yeah.
Dylan: Do you find it attractive?
Aleksei: Yes.
Dylan: Yeah, okay.
Aleksei: I do, yeah.
Dylan: Elin-
Elin: I don’t that much, no. This is, first this is the only one that I would be able to really put on the map, I think. Because it’s so specific, but I’m not that into it, no. I know it. I know that a lot of people have this accent, but it’s just hard to know. Is it a statement or is it a question?
Dylan: That’s fair. Alix?
Alix: I don’t find it sexy as well ’cause I find it young. Kind of immature, you know?
Dylan: Yeah, interesting.
Elin: That’s the connotation—
Alix: Exactly, to be sexy, you have to be mature.
Dylan: Fair.
Ruben: And it’s weird because in Portugal, I would compare this accent to the Southern accent that we have because it’s like the beach area, where the weather is the best. Everyone lives super close to the beach and I mean it’s very different, but it’s the closest I would say, so maybe it’s like region related.
Dylan: Interesting. The beach life?
Ruben: Yeah, because like—
Dylan: I can believe that.
Ruben: On the East Coast is kinda, more raining, everything. Summer is great, but we have seasons here and on the West Coast, it feels like it’s summer most of the time. Maybe it’s the chill of summer.
Aleksei: Also it reminds me of when I was in California, the guy was riding skate and he was at the same time, writing something, writing some notes. And the dude next to me said, “Oh, this is so California.”
Dylan: Writing notes while on a skate—
Alix: Super true.
Aleksei: Yeah, exactly. That’s a kind of Californian style.
Elin: But this is the one that’s often referred to as valley girl, right?
Dylan: Yes.
Elin: Because I think, I rarely hear men speak like this, like in a tempo.
Alix: True, true.
Elin: I’m not sure if it’s also a little bit of a gender thing.
Dylan: A little bit.
Elin: I’m not sure. Maybe I haven’t even—
Dylan: There are surfers though—
Ruben: Yeah, I think like the stereotype of the surfer bro—
Dylan: Totally, dude.
Elin: I mean it is very sympathetic, but maybe not sexy.
Alix: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dylan: Now we’re going onto Texas which is in the South, but they have a slightly different dialect going on that was kind of called out in the survey as a separate, distinct accent, so.
Amy Walker: Well, hi there, how are ya doin’? I’m Amy Walker. I’m 25 years old and I was born in Texas.
Dylan: That’s all you get of that one.
Ruben: Yeah, I really like this one.
Elin: I like it too, I like the Southern ones.
Ruben: It’s like the cowboy, reminds me of a cowboy.
Alix: Me too.
Ruben: I know.
Aleksei: Yeah, I have the same association with the cowboys, but it was really too short to be able to say something—
Dylan: Are cowboys sexy to you?
Ruben: Sure.
Elin: Yeah.
Alix: But I think it probably would be a bit more challenging to understand if I had to hear and talk for a full conversation with the vocabulary ’cause like they tend to like speak very fast and the accent is slightly different. It is different, like a … I don’t know.
Ruben: Why did they single this out as a different Southern accents?
Dylan: I don’t know. I mean—
Ruben: Is there a reason?
Dylan: I think obviously in every region, there are distinctions, but I think Texas really is known to have its own kind of flavor, as compared to like what’s considered like deep South, which would be like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana. Although, Louisiana has its own thing too, so. Anyway.
Ruben: Yeah, I just think it’s also weird that it’s such a different accent from the other Southern ones, but it does not have any Spanish influence, which I would think it would have more. I mean, maybe it does, maybe that’s the Spanish influence, but I cannot really single it out, especially because Spain is next to Portugal so we have a lot of Spanish influence, but I cannot hear the same in this Southern accent. If that makes sense but—
Dylan: Yeah. I’m not sure.
Ruben: The cultures are so intertwined—
Alix: It’s true.
Ruben: … for so many years that it’s strange that it’s not more like a singy, even though like the Mexican Spanish is also very slow, so maybe that’s it. I don’t know.
Alix: Yeah, that’s why it’s so special to Americans, yeah.
Dylan: Interesting. Now we’re gonna go way up to Boston.
Paul: I certainly agree with both of my colleagues and it’s not just Cummings Park, it’s Carr Park. It’s Playstead Park. It’s throughout the community. I think at this point too, I’d like to send an official resolve to the DPW to do not only the clean up on all these parks, but do a preventative maintenance plan on the top lots as well.
Ruben: Yeah, I love the Boston accent.
Alix: Yeah, me too.
Dylan: You love it?
Ruben: I love it. It’s so funny. It’s like everyone’s always mad. You don’t have time, like into the park. I’m going to the park. I gotta find my car keys. Your car keys or your khakis?
Dylan: So you love it ’cause it’s funny.
Ruben: It’s really funny and it’s super rough and sometimes I don’t understand it all.
Elin: But is it sexy funny or funny funny?
Ruben: No, no, not sexy at all.
Elin: Oh, not sexy at all.
Ruben: I’m sorry, people of Boston.
Dylan: Other thoughts?
Aleksei: Yeah, I haven’t been in Boston as well so it’s, I would say that’s the first time I hear it, and it’s, yeah, it looks different from what I’ve heard before so I mean, I cannot say it’s a sexiest one. No, I don’t find it sexy.
Elin: I’m not sure, maybe I do, it has a lot of aah sounds. Yeah?
Dylan: Park your car in Harvard Yard.
Elin: Eh, yeah. Nah, no. Okay, well, maybe not.
Alix: I don’t know, I kinda like it. I don’t know. Like you said, they’re always … they sound like they’re angry or very serious.
Ruben: Yeah, there’s this roughness to it.
Alix: That’s funny—
Aleksei: That’s finally a man saying it.
Alix: Huh?
Aleksei: Right? That’s funny that a dude said it.
Alix: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dylan: And you like maturity as we’ve heard.
Aleksei: Maybe so.
Dylan: Maybe their anger is mature-
Alix: I love how he says, but maybe, I don’t know.
Elin: A mature, angry man. From New England.
Ruben: I don’t even know if it’s anger. It’s like they’re always in a hurry, but I guess they don’t, they’re not like really going anywhere, but it’s like everything they say is in a hurry. They don’t have time to explain anything.
Dylan: All right, and lastly, we have kind of the generic Midwestern, not up in Minnesota, but kind of in the middle of the country. It’s also called the American Midland accent.
Rick: I’m originally from Dayton, Ohio. I’ve actually moved around quite a lot, but I think my accent is pretty standard, what’s known as the standard midland accent.
Ruben: I would actually call this the standard American accent.
Elin: Yeah, I was gonna say the exact same thing, yeah.
Ruben: Like this is what a—
Elin: News, I don’t know, news anchor, American.
Ruben: Yeah, exactly.
Aleksei: Yeah, the guy clearly stated that it’s a kind of standard so very clear, very easy to understand, especially for me, so yeah. I don’t know if I find it sexiest one, but just very clear—
Ruben: It’s the most neutral accent.
Aleksei: Yeah, exactly, neutral.
Ruben: Yeah this is the accent I hear normally in New York because so many people are from all around America. In Brooklyn, I can definitely hear the New York accent way more, but here in Manhattan, this is what I hear from Americans that are not from New York.
Elin: Yeah.
Alix: Yeah.
Elin: Are Americans, like if someone moves from, say, the South to New York and kind of blend in with everyone, are they a bit like … do they tend to be ashamed of their accents and try to speak more standard or how is that—
Dylan: That’s a good question. I think it depends on the person and where they’re from. I think there are some stereotypes up here about Southerners, so maybe Southerners who are ashamed would temper that, but I think a lot of them are proud of it. Other parts of the country, I don’t think they even try. Yeah, I don’t think they care to change it or anything. Not sure.
Ruben: I feel like, I mean I only have been here for a year, but I feel like the accents kind of morph into this Midwestern accent.
Dylan: ‘Cause you start to lose—
Ruben: Yeah, and I don’t know if people do it on purpose or not, but I feel it’s just the evolution of their accents. Maybe when they go back home for Thanksgiving, it comes back or something but—
Dylan: So this is standard American, I guess, your thoughts on this would kind of paint a larger picture of how sexy you think Americans are in general.
Ruben: Well, they’re cool. I don’t know.
Dylan: Cool, not sexy. Great.
Ruben: They should think more about when they’re voting and stuff—
Alix: That wasn’t sexy.
Ruben: I’m not gonna name any names.
Dylan: This is not a political podcast.
Ruben: Yeah, but this is not America’s problem. Every country has its problem, so I don’t know. I still think New York accent is—
Elin: Yeah.
Ruben: It’s hard for me to call it sexy, like I don’t find it particularly sexy, but it’s my favorite accent I think.
Dylan: All right, so do we wanna go around and say our favorite and least favorite?
Elin: Yeah, sure.
Ruben: I don’t have a least favorite.
Dylan: You don’t?
Ruben: No, I think accents are—
Dylan: None of them you think, okay, how about least sexy though? That’s different.
Ruben: I would say like … okay, the regular American. The Midwest, the middle America accent, I would find the least interesting.
Dylan: Okay.
Ruben: But I still like it.
Aleksei: Yeah, I don’t wanna offend anybody.
Dylan: It’s okay. We offended you guys. It’s only fair.
Ruben: We’re from Europe. We don’t wanna offend anyone.
Aleksei: Probably the least sexiest is the Boston accent and the sexiest is the Southern. The accent that we heard like second.
Dylan: Okay, the deep South.
Aleksei: Yeah, so that’s my—
Dylan: Okay.
Aleksei: Yeah.
Elin: I agree on the Southern actually. It has a lot of personality, a lot of charm. But I also like the just very standard American. I guess I prefer American. I think American accents generally are sexier than, say, Australian or New Zealand.
Dylan: Thank you. What’s your least sexiest choice?
Elin: Yeah, maybe I have to go with the Southern California one but—
Dylan: Okay.
Elin: Yeah. I’m sorry everyone that I know from California.
Aleksei: Sorry, California people.
Alix: I have the same choice, least favorite is probably California and my favorite would be the standard American, I think.
Elin: Yeah.
Alix: Yeah.
Dylan: Interesting.
Elin: But I do like New York too, actually.
Alix: Yeah, yeah, but it’s very close, these two American, the standard.
Dylan: Okay, well, would you like to hear the survey results?
Alix: Yes.
Dylan: All right, so remember these are 400 European hostel workers from 43 different countries and overall rankings, number one, deep South. Yep, 20 percent.
Ruben: This is… People from Europe are saying this.
Dylan: Yes.
Elin: Yep.
Dylan: Sexiest. Number two was New York with 18 percent, not far behind. And number three was Boston with 17 percent.
Ruben: Interesting.
Dylan: And even California wasn’t far behind with 16 percent, then you had Texas, then Midwestern, which was the standard, and then last place was Minnesota with only 5 percent.
Elin: Oh.
Dylan: Are you surprised by these results?
Elin: No, I’m not that surprised. It’s pretty much in line with what I thought—
Alix: No, yeah, maybe Boston. I could’ve thought that people don’t like this accent.
Dylan: I was surprised by how high Boston was too.
Aleksei: Yeah.
Ruben: It’s such a distinct accent as well. It’s very hard to not think about it like—
Alix: I think people like it because it has this British vibe kind of.
Dylan: True.
Alix: Which is what I like in the accent.
Dylan: And so the interesting thing is that they also broke it down by which countries thought certain things. For instance, Brits are most attracted to the Southern California Valley girl accent.
Elin: Ah, okay.
Dylan: And so were Swedes.
Elin: Oh, yeah.
Ruben: Wow.
Elin: Yeah we consume a lot of popular culture from California. I guess we are conditioned.
Dylan: For French, French people thought New York was the sexiest. And so did Italians. German, Spaniards and Dutch people thought Boston was the sexiest. Only Ireland actually ranked deep South number one, but it had the overall highest ranking—
Elin: Oh, okay.
Dylan: … which is interesting. And almost every country said Minnesota was the least attractive.
Aleksei: I’m just curious, do people find more attractive the accent which is common to their accent?
Dylan: So yeah—
Aleksei: Probably there is some relationship—
Dylan: I think there is and we kind of discussed this in our first panel about why people think certain accents are sexier and we talked about exposure. We talked about either in real life or in pop culture, and we also talked about kind of some tropes and stereotypes. For instance, a lot of Americans find the German accent a little harsh and angry based a lot of it on World War II pop culture, so there’s definitely an element of bias in there, yeah. I think we should leave it there. So thanks very much to our panel for joining us.
Alix: Thank you.
Elin: Thank you for having us.
Aleksei: For having us.
Dylan: Yay.
Jen: Multilinguish is produced by the content team at Babbel. We are …
Thomas: Thomas Moore Devlin.
David: David Doochin.
Steph: Steph Koyfman.
Dylan: Dylan Lyons.
Jen: And I am Jen Jordan. Ruben Vilas makes us sound good. Our logo was designed by Ally Zhao. You can read more about this episode’s topic and even more on Babbel Magazine. Just visit B-A-B-B-E-L.com/magazine. Say hi on social media by finding us at babbelusa, all one word. Finally, if you liked what you heard, please rate and review this podcast. We really appreciate it.
Dylan: Thomas?
Thomas: I don’t know. I don’t find any of them particularly like mmm.
Taylor: You don’t find them appetizing?
Jen: Ew. Cut that.