>Ya know: I heard Markus say "y'all" once, and it sounded pretty native to me:-)

<bg>
my wife usually says that she can't understand much of what Markus says. I personally don't think that he has such a strong accent... on the other hand, there some Americans that I just cannot understand even a single word, but I think that's mostly because of slangs or regional talking that I'd never know anyway. :)