The Irish accent has beaten its French counterpart as the world's sexiest, thanks to stars like Colin Farrell and James Nesbitt.

Men with an Emerald Isle brogue came top in a poll of 5,000 women worldwide, while the French accent only came fourth, just ahead of Australian.

Italian, the native language of stars such as jockey Frankie Dettori, was second.

In third place was the Scottish burr, made famous by actor Sean Connery.

English was sixth and Swedish was seventh, with Spanish, Welsh and American completing the top 10.

A spokesman for
www.OnePoll.com, which carried out the international survey, blamed French president Nicolas Sarkozy for the French accent's fall from grace.

"The French accent is nowhere near as popular as it used to be," he said.

"You can probably blame Nicolas Sarkozy for that, he has single-handedly changed the perception of how the world sees French men.

"It is good news for the Irish that they have come top, they have been in and around the top five for years now.

"But high-profile stars such as Colin Farrell have helped bring the accent more to the fore."

The study also found three fifths of women admitted they had been seduced by someone purely because of their accent, while two fifths said they would much rather sleep with a man who had a nice accent, compared to a harsh one.

World's Sexiest Accents

1. Irish

2. Italian

3. Scottish

4. French

5. Australian

6. English

7. Swedish

8. Spanish

9. Welsh

10. American

日前，爱尔兰口音击败法国口音，获评全球最性感口音。这都要归功于柯林•法瑞尔和詹姆斯•内斯比特等明星。

这项有关口音的民调共对全球五千名女性进行了调查。其中，说爱尔兰语的男性最受女性青睐。法国口音仅名列第四，排在澳大利亚口音之前。

意大利口音名列第二。代表明星包括职业赛马骑师弗兰基•德托等。

以“小舌音”为主要特点的苏格兰口音位列第三，这主要归功于男星肖恩•康纳利。

英格兰口音名列第六，瑞典口音位居第七。排在前十位的还包括西班牙口音、威尔士口音和美国口音。

开展该全球调查的www.OnePoll.com网站的一名发言人称，法国口音“失宠”的“罪魁祸首”是总统尼古拉•萨科奇。

他说：“法国口音远不如原来那么受欢迎了。”

“你可以怪尼古拉•萨科奇。仅因为他一个人的不足，就改变了全世界对法国男人的看法。”

“此次爱尔兰口音登上榜首对于爱尔兰人来说是个好消息。这些年来，爱尔兰口音一直排在前五名左右。”

“但柯林•法瑞尔等一些著名明星也是让爱尔兰口音人气增长的重要原因。”

调查还发现，五分之三的女性坦称，自己曾仅仅因为某位男士的口音而被对方吸引。五分之二的女性称，与口音难听的男士相比，她们更愿意和口音好听的男士上床。

全球最性感口音排行榜

1. 爱尔兰口音

2. 意大利口音

3. 苏格兰口音

4. 法国口音

5. 澳大利亚口音

6. 英格兰口音

7. 瑞典口音

8. 西班牙口音

9. 威尔士口音

10.美国口音