consider brushing up on your fake accent(s) or flaunting your real one

We recently asked our Lonely Planet Facebook pals ‘What’s the world’s sexiest accent?’ Nothing if not scientific in our approach, we tallied over 700 responses to come up with the sexiest accent you can have. (We advise you use this information with caution – or complete abandon, whichever works for you. Just remember, a French accent might be sexy, but a really bad impersonation of one? Not so much. So play to your strengths.)

So whose accent won the most hearts? (Click on the image for a larger view of the graph.)

Graph by Andy Murdock.

The Spanish accent came in at top spot, beating perennial title-holder French to the hot language crown. Spanish was buoyed by the accumulated sexiness of its regional variations (Colombian and Mexican Spanish were big factors in the win).

Similarly, 8th-place getter Portuguese was pushed into the top 10 by its Brazilian incarnation.

Canada was notable in its absence – looks like our readers have done an aboot-face on the nation – though the Newfoundland accent did get one vote.

Some other statistical outliers (accents with ‘un point’ worth a mention) included: West-Flemish – Belgium, Serbian, Chinese, Sicilian, North Korean, Scottish-Jamaican and Natalie Tran‘s Australian accent. Which just goes to show there’s conversation out there for everyone. (Weird supermodel trans-Atlantic accents did not rate a mention however. Probably because they’re just a bit creepy.)

So now do you want to brush up on your Spanish? Download our free language cheat sheet featuring some very handy phrases. Results have been vetted by independent election observers from the UN.