No need to duck. I agree with you.
For those for whom english is their first language, then english speakers have no excuse.
Everyone else can be and is excused.
London East End or Yorkshire, good luck with those. The last time I had dinner with Pinkmouse, he was getting a little frustrated with me having him repeat things that I couldn't understand the first time through.
Since you didn't do that to me, apparently Texan is easy to understand.
Sloppy English leads to sloppy thinking and then it's only a short slide into the confusion of audio subjectivism.
I have to differ. English is very difficult.
Take ghoti, for example. At first, you'd pronounce it as you'd first expect.
However,
gh from "laugh" makes an F sound;
o in "women" makes an I sound;
ti in "station" makes an SH sound.
So, ghoti can be pronounced as fish.
There are lots of other examples where a word written (though not always pronounced) the same way mean completely different things. Mastering all these can be very difficult, so I always do my best to make allowances for people that set off with another language first.
As a teenager that cares at least a little about these things, I try to maintain at least reasonable grammar and spelling while texting - practice makes perfect.
Chris (who has a broad Lancashire accent)
With the spead of television in the 50's, 60's and 70's I believe that the ability of Americans (and maybe others) to understand each other has improved. When I was in Viet-Nam, we had a Cajun kid in our outfit that hardly anyone could understand. To tell the truth, the Vietnamese with their broken English were far easier to comprehend. Come to think of it, there was an Australian outfit stationed there and it was really hard to make out what they were saying. If they hadn't used F**k, or F**kin' every fourth or fifth word, I wouldn't have had any idea what they were saying most of the time.
Best Regards,
TerryO
tu meke! The korero here is forgetting that the language changes - English isn't locked down in the way that, say, Franco-phones have to contend with.
At least we don't have to contend with the portmanteau monstrosities the germans build to try and express detailed concepts in a single word...
Kia ora to you'se all anyway and ttfn.
At least we don't have to contend with the portmanteau monstrosities the germans build to try and express detailed concepts in a single word...
Kia ora to you'se all anyway and ttfn.
English spelling is fairly hard- easier than French, more difficult than German. But the grammar is vastly easier- no grammatical gender, articles and adjectives are not inflected... Still a lot of irregular verbs, but there's no helping that and it's no worse than any other European language in that respect.
Television probably contributed a lot to that, I'm still amazed when I am down South to hear what I interpret as "Northern" accents on the media and indeed in most public places.
I grew up overseas and my mom is English, perhaps that explains a lot. 😀
SY I found your "Texan" quite comprehensible.. 😛
I grew up overseas and my mom is English, perhaps that explains a lot. 😀
SY I found your "Texan" quite comprehensible.. 😛
You've made a good point. English has, unlike many languages, a descriptive grammar rather than a prescriptive grammar. IOW, what you learned as being correct during your school years, may have become incorrect.
Best Regards,
TerryO
You say Puh-Tah-Toe
So that's why many British rock bands sing in "American" but the members speak in "British"... 😉
John L.
So that's why many British rock bands sing in "American" but the members speak in "British"... 😉
John L.
You obviously need to watch more British TV: Eastenders and Last of the Summer Wine, respectively. For the former, a better bet might be some of the classic films staring Michael Caine (e.g. the original 'Italian job' or one of the Harry Palmer stories). Although my native accent is similar to 'Eastenders' I can't stand the show myself, as it makes us all look like stupid drunken stupid argumentative stupid ignorant stupid dishonest stupid sad stupid people - I'm not like that at all!SY said:
After 5 minutes of Eastenders, I gave up. I needed subtitles.
Unfortunately, I sound like a character from a John Waters film.
Unfortunately, I sound like a character from a John Waters film.
In broadcasting there is subtle, and not-so-subtle, pressure to conform to some kind of "neutral", homogenized, non-dialect, language. I don't know who decides what that is . . . as soon as you claim to be free of dialect, you have defined a dialect.
When I briefly dabbled in commercial radio during my college years I made a misguided effort to train the regionalisms out of my speech. I was successful enough that many decades later I feel self-conscious and embarrassed when I hear myself using them. Dontcha know I shouldn't have done that, eh?
Dale
We have wandered a bit from the original topic of this thread. I recently stumbled across this quiz, which claims to identify the regional dialect of North Americans:
< Which American Accent Do You Have? >
(and a similar exercise at < What American Accent Do You Really Have? >).
I'm curious about how it would classify ESL speakers. Would it reflect the dialect of the person's teacher(s), or would it reveal a convolution of English pronunciations with the customary sounds and voicing of the person's first language?
Those quizzes emphasize vowel pronunciations but it seems like there should be clues in the consonants and blends, as well. For example, the previously mentioned "amongst": are all four letters in the "ngst" voiced, or does the "g" get lost in a slide from "n" to "s"?
I'd also argue that regional dialects are identified at least as much by preferred words and phrases, idioms, and constructs as by pronunciation. I don't know anybody whose car is equipped with either a bonnet or boot, but among (not "amongst"!) my acquaintances there is disagreement over the customary word(s) that identify a carbonated, sweetened beverage.
Dale
p.s. - Will the Punctuation Police be grading the posts in this thread?
Hmm, according to the first quiz, I have a Southern accent. That will come as news to anyone who has ever spoken with me. 😀
edit: Second quiz nailed it- mid-Atlantic.
Proud to speak Dutchlish.
Interestingly, English forms such a vast vessel for the accomodation of different detectable intonations. Worked for a Brit once who claimed that he could pinpoint a guy to within 30 miles from where he/she grew up in the UK. Tested him a couple of times, and he was right on the mark.
Interestingly, English forms such a vast vessel for the accomodation of different detectable intonations. Worked for a Brit once who claimed that he could pinpoint a guy to within 30 miles from where he/she grew up in the UK. Tested him a couple of times, and he was right on the mark.
First one says "Northern" Western New England or Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent which really isn't that far off the mark.. (I spend some time every summer in Western NY and I fit in quite well accent wise) No one ever guesses I live just south of Boston, but they always peg me as a New Englander.. 😀
Same exact result on the second site.. Guess that makes me a "Northerner" 😀 (I am)
Same exact result on the second site.. Guess that makes me a "Northerner" 😀 (I am)
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