Discover Your Regional Speech: A New American Dialect Quiz

After so many readers enjoyed the earlier accent test, we wanted to share a newer, highly regarded American dialect quiz that maps regional speech patterns across the United States. This interactive quiz, produced by the New York Times and adapted from linguistic data collected at Harvard, asks a series of pronunciation and vocabulary questions to determine where your speech most closely aligns on the dialect map.

The quiz focuses on everyday language choices and subtle pronunciation differences. For example, it asks how you pronounce specific words and which terms you prefer—questions like whether you say “firefly” or “lightning bug,” “semi-truck” or “tractor-trailer,” and “yard sale” or “garage sale.” Those small choices help the algorithm narrow down the regions where your particular combination of features is most common.

Once you complete the questions, the quiz generates a dialect “heat map” of the continental United States. The map highlights areas where your responses are most and least typical, and it lists the three cities whose local speech most closely matches yours. The visualization makes it easy to see whether your speaking patterns are widespread or concentrated in a specific metropolitan region.

My own results were surprisingly accurate. I grew up just outside Washington, D.C., near Arlington, Virginia, and the quiz placed me firmly in that general area. My map showed broader regions of similarity—what you might call a more generic or widespread set of features—rather than a narrowly concentrated local dialect.

By contrast, Sherry’s results reflected her upbringing in northern New Jersey. Her map was intensely concentrated around the New York City and New Jersey region, showing a clear cluster of features that mark that area’s distinct speech patterns. The comparison between our maps illustrated how regional speech can range from broadly common to very localized.

One interesting thing about this quiz is how it can vary each time you take it. The questions you see may change, and that can produce slightly different results on different attempts. For example, one time my results even included a match in Richmond, which shows how the quiz captures overlapping regional patterns rather than strict boundaries. These variations make the experience both informative and fun to repeat.

The quiz serves both as an entertaining pastime and as a neat illustration of how language differs across regions. It highlights the vocabulary choices and pronunciation traits that linguists use to map dialects and demonstrates that even small word preferences can reveal a lot about regional identity. If you enjoy language, geography, or cultural differences, the quiz is a playful yet informative way to explore how your speech connects with others around the country.

Whether your map shows a wide swath of similarity or a tight, local hotspot, the dialect test provides a clear, visual way to reflect on language and place. It’s a reminder that speech varies across communities, and that those differences are part of what makes regional identity so interesting.

Give the quiz a try to see where your answers place you on the dialect map. Results can be surprisingly accurate and are always a good conversation starter when you compare maps with friends and family.