Hi everybody, American (sorry) here.
Can anyone hear settle a debate?
This guy's name is Ren, he's an amazing musician. He was born in Bangor, Wales, and lived the first 23 years of his life there. Then he moved to Brighton, England-been there for 12 years or so.
Here's a video where he's speaking Welsh and then some English (warning, curse words). I believe it is his first language.
But folks on his subreddit say he has a Brighton accent.
I know a few people from Anglesey and to me Ren sounds Welsh. But others disagree-and I'm thinking they may be confusing Brighton slang for an accent…

What say you oh Welsh cousins?
Cymru am byth!

by thrwawyorangsweater

27 comments

  1. Sounds Welsh to me. I’m Welsh and also live in Brighton.

  2. He doesn’t sound welsh to me but i’m from the south so I don’t really know what a north walian accent sounds like

  3. You can definitely hear a Welsh accent,I dont know how people are hearing Brighton

  4. He has an English accent when speaking English, meaning that his voice sounds as if it is from England.

    To me, I can hear it even when he’s speaking Welsh. His voice carries through both languages.

    His voice does change to be more traditionally Welsh accented as he gets into the flow when speaking Welsh, though. Especially on some words.

  5. This guy is born Welsh, he busked in Cardiff (Welsh Capital) during his earlier years. The accent in Cardiff is pretty weak as far as Welsh accents go

  6. When he’s speaking Welsh he has a recognisable North Walian accent, but he speaks English with a clear MLE/Estuary English accent. For example, in English he uses a lot of T-glottalization, Th-fronting and merges diphthongs – all features in South East English accents but not common in the English spoken in Wales.

    If you compare with how [Llinos Medi speaks English here](https://youtu.be/ES1lWQQNa6E), I think the difference is very noticable.

  7. Related: “is the narrator from Peppa Pig Welsh? He sounds like he could be” – lo and behold, he is!

    “Oh dear, George does not want to be a worm, he wants to be a butterfly!”

  8. My Dad was from Bangor. I can hear the Welsh in there for sure – but it has been overlaid with something else. I’m not familiar with the Brighton accent so I don’t know if it’s that… but sometimes people can keep their accent but pick up words and syntax from a new place. (When I lived in Scotland I didn’t pick up an accent very much but I definitely started using Scottish syntax and vocab – I still do, even though I left Scotland in 2001). So maybe people familiar with a N Wales accent hear that, and people familiar with Brighton hear the things they’re more familiar with?

  9. It sounds like a London “urban” accent sometimes, and Welsh sometimes, as if he’s putting on an English accent to imitate famous streamers. I knew someone from Anglesey and they sounded like they were from Liverpool to me. My Newport accent sounds West Country to some people from Merthyr.

  10. There’s a hint of Welsh there. Maybe 20 % actually. The rest sounds English, north and south accents, and others, London urban accent maybe…

    The Welsh he’s speaking is Wenglish. He definitely has more of a NW Wales accent then.

  11. Hint of Welsh with a lot of south-east English overlaying it, resulting in a hybrid that sounds more English than Welsh. Some people never lose their ‘primordial’ accent when they move to a different region or (in this case) a different country; others are more chamelion-like regarding accent and pick up the accent of wherever they move to. His ‘southern’ accent sounds contrived, but he probably acquired it without even being aware of it, because, like anyone else, he wanted to fit in. Ex-footballer Malcolm Allen sounded south London when he played for Millwall but now that he’s doing colour commentary for Sgorio on S4C he sounds full gog again.

  12. Sounds like a West Walian accent, which is a lot more English sounder than other areas.

  13. He speaks with an English accent in English. (I couldn’t narrow it down personally) But his Welsh is quite clearly NW Wales, and I’d say 1st language or early in school 2nd language.

    Welsh accents in English aren’t as easy to detect in NW because people just speak a lot more Welsh. Could be perfectly possible he grew up speaking it first language and then moved to uni in England and stayed for the last 13 years. If that the most exposure he’s had to English then the accent would change quickly.

  14. Ren is an incredible musician

    When he speaks Welsh it sounds very north wales accent to me. His English has a different twang to it

    I believe he is a very proud Welshman tho

  16. His English accent is weird to me but he’s speaking in some sort of affected way too which makes it harder for me to determine but his Welsh accent is really strongly north Wales for sure, maybe out Anglesey way? If anyone is on Instagram listen to Dr cymraeg, they have similar accents 

  17. Welsh accents vary hugely. They are all authentic and reflect their communities.

  18. When he speaks English, that’s not a Welsh-speaking English accent, no. There’s little to no Welsh in there at all really.

    The Welsh is different, but when he speaks English, no, it’s not a Welsh accent.

  19. What is this? Ren on a non ren sub?! Fantastic.

    But yeah sometimes he sounds super English, but I hear that gog accent when he speaks Welsh.

  20. As others have said, can hear the Welsh accent when he speaks Welsh, but having lived in England for so long now, he sounds more SE English when speaking English. Maybe with occasional hints of Welsh.

    But that’s inevitable in many ways when living somewhere so long, surrounded by English accents.

    I’m from N Wales too (Wrexham area), and also moved to Sussex (23 years ago now), and I’m similar – not much of my Welsh accent there when speaking English, apart from certain words maybe. But when I speak Welsh (sadly rarely, same as Ren), it kind of naturally comes back.

    Ren is excellent I agree. I’ve got a similar chronic illness to him (ME/cfs), so his song “Hi Ren” was stunning, and really draws attention the realities of living with a debilitating chronic illness.

  21. He sounds English when talking in English but he’s got a distinct North (Wales) coast accent to his Cymraeg.

  22. Soundcloud rapper accent in English, gog in Cymraeg. I wonder if his mam even recognises his English accent 😂
    Chwara teg be bynnag, ma Ren yn grêt

  24. My missus plays Ren semi frequently, I’ve never heard him speak, only sing / rap and I just assumed he was from Essex or London.

  25. Very coincidentally I also grew up in Bangor and ended up in Brighton. Went to one of his gigs for my ex bf and didn’t pick up on his welsh accent at all when he spoke on mic. Feel he has the same as me where Brighton accent has taken over. My accent tends to jump out when I’m more upbeat or if I’ve had a few to drink haha. But yeah, TLDR speaking welsh with a Brighton accent (and I imagine Canada isn’t helping with either of accents).

  26. Hilarious to me that people think there’s only one accent for Welsh people…

  27. Grew up in the same village as him, didnt know him personally but my brother sure did. Poor lad’s suffered for a long time.

    Edit:

    For context anglesey north wales to be exact. For those who wanted to know

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