With the Paris 2024 Olympics in full swing, people worldwide have descended on France’s capital city, speaking various languages with unique accents. I love hearing a variety of accents, from the Scottish brogue and the Irish lilt to the broad “ocker” accent of the Australians.
But what makes an accent appealing and friendly? A joint study by the University of Chicago and Hong Kong Academics found that six in 10 people believe they’ve been judged based on their accents. This bias can simply shape perceptions of friendliness, attractiveness, and intelligence through speech.
Image Credit: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0/WikiComms.
A Survey of Accents around the World
A survey of 5,000 people revealed that Americans are most likely to be seen as friendly, with 1 in 5 respondents (19.5%) naming the American accent as the friendliest.
| Rank | Accent | Percentage (%) |
| 1. | American | 19.5% |
| 2. | British | 13.6% |
| 3. | Australian | 8.8% |
| 4. | Canadian | 8.7% |
| 5. | German | 5.7% |
| 6. | French | 5.5% |
| 7. | Scottish | 3.2% |
| 8. | Italian | 3.0% |
| 9. | Austrian | 3.0% |
| 10. | Spanish | 2.8% |
| 11. | Irish | 2.8% |
| 12. | Indian | 2.2% |
Although the Canadian accent closely resembles General American English with similar pronunciation rules, it received 10.8 percentage points less, with only 1 in 12 (8.7%) choosing it as the friendliest.
The British* accent is the second most favored, with 1 in 7 respondents (13.6%) identifying it as the friendliest. This aligns with another study that found 45% of participants enjoyed hearing their native language spoken with a British accent, making it the most likable accent globally.
The Australian accent ranks third, with nearly 1 in 10 (8.8%) considering it friendly. Despite its similarity to the Australian accent, the Kiwi accent from New Zealand ranked 15th, with just 1 in 100 respondents choosing it as the friendliest. This starkly contrasts its previous recognition as the “sexiest” accent in 2019.
Dr. Christopher Strelluf, Associate Professor of Linguistics at The University of Warwick, explains why certain accents are perceived as more friendly than others. He explains, “Our attitudes toward different language varieties often mirror the perceptions we hold about the people who speak them. If American English is widely considered friendly, it’s a positive reflection on Americans themselves. More detailed accent distinctions would likely uncover even greater variability in these perceptions.”
Survey conducted by Minimum Deposit Casinos.
*The United Kingdom has the most local accents of any English-speaking country. As such, a single “British accent” does not exist. Someone could have an English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish accent, although these all have different subtypes. We used the term “British,” as it was defined in the survey as such, but we wanted to point out the discrepancy.
