A question about accents around the world...
RogueAgent
Speeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
On my job, we usually get clients or employees from different parts of the world and an episode happened this morning in which one of the managers stuck his foot in his mouth trying to make a joke about a client (think an episode of The Office) in a light-hearted manner during a staff meeting. I won't repeat the joke because it's in ill taste IMO.
Instead of asking, he assumed the man was from South Africa when in fact the man was from Auckland. To no surprise, the NZ man was beet red from embarrassment/anger or both and the manager, who shouldn't have even been called in to this meeting, looked like he wanted to melt through the floor. In the end I think that the episode was repaired somewhat.
Sad thing about it all was I cringed, knowing that this guy was sitting in on this. I've heard this guy around the watercooler; he's a nice person but let's just say he's lacking a little upstairs when it comes to thinking before speaking.
Okay, I know how to distinguish a Scot's accent, an English or Welsh one pretty much and an Irish accent even though all three have various subtleties. If I'm not mistaken, alot of these other derivative tones (Austrailian, New Zealand, S. African) all originated from the UK in some form or another.
Is there something that can be discernable in manner of speak that you guys can automatically pick up? That incident just compells me to pose this question...although if I'm in the presence of someone under the circumstances, I'll just ask them instead of assuming.
I have known some people getting offended when you get their nationalities wrong just from hearing them talk..like mistaking a Bavarian for German.
Instead of asking, he assumed the man was from South Africa when in fact the man was from Auckland. To no surprise, the NZ man was beet red from embarrassment/anger or both and the manager, who shouldn't have even been called in to this meeting, looked like he wanted to melt through the floor. In the end I think that the episode was repaired somewhat.
Sad thing about it all was I cringed, knowing that this guy was sitting in on this. I've heard this guy around the watercooler; he's a nice person but let's just say he's lacking a little upstairs when it comes to thinking before speaking.
Okay, I know how to distinguish a Scot's accent, an English or Welsh one pretty much and an Irish accent even though all three have various subtleties. If I'm not mistaken, alot of these other derivative tones (Austrailian, New Zealand, S. African) all originated from the UK in some form or another.
Is there something that can be discernable in manner of speak that you guys can automatically pick up? That incident just compells me to pose this question...although if I'm in the presence of someone under the circumstances, I'll just ask them instead of assuming.
I have known some people getting offended when you get their nationalities wrong just from hearing them talk..like mistaking a Bavarian for German.
Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Comments
I'm learning to distinguish German accents- my own German comes Berlin-flavoured (saying "Nay" rather than "Nein" for instance), since that's where my wife and her family (from whom I've picked it up) have spent much of their time- but have a lot further to go in that direction. Bride Of Barbel tells me that the Governor Of California, to pick a well-known example, speaks with an unmistakable Austrian sound even when he's speaking English but I can't distinguish it. And that's not a True Lie
I've found that Continentals can generally tell that I'm from the UK but not which part, usually assuming I'm English (England does have the highest population in the British Isles, so that's fair enough). I do have a Scots accent, as The Cat or Moonraker5 can confirm, although naturally I tone it down when abroad.
When I was stationed in Spain, from '81 to '83, I became aware (for the first time) of how a country's citizens view accents within its own border...
(I don't know why it took me that long, since in the U.S.A. we have countless variations of just a 'Southern' accent: Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, the Carolinas, et al...and then, elswhere in the country we have those from Minnesooota...there's the Boston/New England, the different accents even within New York City, etc...! Perhaps it was the dawning awareness that this wasn't exclusively a United States, 'melting pot' issue)
A buddy and I frequently took weekend trips with our (native) girlfriends to the Spanish Riviera (the towns of Sitges and Salou) on the Meditteranean coast. I have vivid memories of us watching the newscasts on TV, and the girls laughing. I asked why, and Isabel replied: "Their Catalan accents are terrible!"
Then of course there were the Basques, the Aragonese, ad infinitum...
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
On the whole I'm not too bad with accents. I think working in a a city like London helps. So many nationalities to mix with.
My own accent is rather non descript now. I was raised in Liverpool but have spent all of my adult life in London. Most people think it has a Northern twang but can never place it.
And Rogue, just to show how confusing the whole accent thing is and why you will never totally get it, when I was 10 and had a fairly strong Liverpool accent, I went to the US. Everyone there thought I was Canadian!!
I think in this cosmopolitan world we live in it is only going to become harder to place accents. My daughter has started developing an upward inflection in her voice at the end of every sentence which is undeniably an influence from US television programmes.The world is a smaller place and and its only getting smaller.
I get teased quite abit here in the south because my Brooklyn accent stands out so much against the usual Texas drawl here.
Of course when I go home, my family just laughs at my son's proper, Southern speak as if he doesn't want to succumb to it totally. They think it's hilarious.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
It keeps things simple, Dan. Certain vowel sounds have distinct regional pronounciation which foreigners may not be familiar with. I don't have the kind of Scottish accent which renders the word "house" as "hoose" (cf "Oor Wullie", fellow Scots!), but having lived mainly in Scotland for nearly 50 years there's no way I've avoided sounding like what I am, and nor would I normally want to.
However... being used to speaking and singing in public, as well as being on radio fairly often (yesterday was the latest time for that) and spending a fair chunk of time abroad (usually Germany) I've become quite adept at modifying my tones as appropriate to ensure clear communication.
Funny you should mention that, Barbel when last year I watched a Scottish film on IFC one night.
The brough was sooo heavy that they apparently had to subtitle it. I couldn't understand a word that they were saying and I knew that they were Scottish.
I cannot recall the film unfortunately...
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Gregory's Girl, perhaps? Trainspotting?
I can understand where you're coming from, Rogue- sometimes Scottish comedy shows ("Chewing The Fat", "Rab C.") are unintelligible to our Southern neighbours. Admittedly those are pretty extreme examples, especially the latter.
To show it works both ways- a few years ago I was watching TV in my mother-in-law's house in Leipzig (she's moved since) one evening. First up, the news. No problems, understood every word. Next, a romantic comedy (three girls, three guys)- I got most of that. Then, a detective show- I was completely lost! Strong accents, lots of slang...
No I understand Trainspotting even if I got lost in the venacular of the region; the dialect in that film was tame compared to this one.
This film came out sometime in the 90s I'm sure and soccer was the basis of it I believe.
If it weren't for the subtitles I would've been totally lost. The english was annuciated so extreme that I had to strain just to make out what they were saying.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Is it My Name is Joe? I think the protagonist in that has 5-a-side team. Been a while since I've seen it. The only Scots soccer movie I can think of is A Shot at Glory.
I honestly can't tell the difference between a NZ and an Aussie accent though I'm told there is one. I work with a South African and her accent is difficult to place. Most people tend to think she is Australian. As far as my own accent goes, foriegners tend to have a hard time placing it. A Dutchman thought I sounded American. A Swedish guy thought I was German, ?:)
That could be the name of it because the main guy in it, was dropping F-bombs that I couldn't quite make out was in a horror film titled Session 9 I recently saw for the first time. That's one of the things I remember about that movie was this guy. So you may be right.
Hmmmm....that's what you want us to believe, J.D.? Or is it Martin? Bruno?
I mean when you're not stealing formulas or microfilm, huh? :v
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
That sounds right. Peter Mullan is the name of the actor and he's in both those movies.
You've nailed me. I am Val Kilmer, man of a hundred accents.
Incidentally, speaking of the U.K. as origins for a number different accents, it is also, in a roundabout way, supposed to have led to the New York accent of "toity-toid and Vine" fame. I read somewhere that it was the result of Northerners, a more immigrant-heavy culture, wanting to emulate the speech of Southerners (who derive their accent from U.K. countries) in the pre-Civil War South. I guess you could say they were not entirely successful.
It's UK sayings like this that just cracks me up!
It reminds me of when I saw the original GET CARTER some years ago and a guy asked his mistress if she had... "gut trouble".
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
I have always admired a "Brit" accent ( I'm sure oo7 has nothing to do with it) and love listening to a British speaker. I can deduce a Scot and an Aussie.
My best pal just returned from Europe. The only language he could not make out on the TV was a broadcast from Scotland!!!
We also just had a visitor from the UK. She hails from Birmingham - and is a delight to the ears! I had the honor of screening her first viewing of Casino Royale. She loved the movie, but thought DC sounded very American?
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Although I like the sound of it anyway, when Michael Caine really gets down to his roots in a role, I can barely understand a word out of his mouth. And that's just his accent. From what I understand, his people were Cockney. I saw him explain Cockney rhyming slang once on a talk show. It's creative as hell, but I'm still not quite sure how they communicate even among themselves.
I have a friend that uses it all the time ( London born and bred) so I'm quite fluent these days . Its also great to use as code infront of the 'saucepan lids'
Here is a guide to all you need to know ... even contains the rude one
http://www.phespirit.info/cockney/english_to_slang.htm
But in the county I'm from (of 390,000 people), there's subtle differences and different terms used in the north, south and east. There's a distinct difference in the Fife accent to Edinburgh or Tayside, despite only separated from each by rivers.
As for English-speaking Commonwealth countries, I think South African is very distinctive. Their accent sounds like it's a bit of an effort to overcome (I don't mean that as an offense, just mean that certain vowels sound like they don't come naturally). Kiwis are softer and and milder in their accents than Aussies, likewise Cannucks to Americans. Not that long ago a woman I met locally squeeled with delight when I asked her what part of Canada she was from, she'd been taken as an American for her whole trip.
Same here. Though I'm told (and Barbel might clarify or reject this) I don't have a strong west of Scotland accent. I'm apparently well spoken and not heavily regionalised (Barbel, would you believe I've been accused in the past of having a "Largs accent"?
Similar to JD (wherabouts are you in Scotland, by the way? I'm assuming somewhere north of Perth!
(Alex has seen it, but how many from beyond these shores - indeed, beyond this wee nation's borders, understands this lot... Taysiders In Space)
No, you don't have a strong accent. That's a Scottish accent I mean, not a Largs one! A LARGS accent
(Quick plug- The Skunnered return to The Sheiling, Largs, on November 17th. Now back to our regular program.)
You're quite right about speaking quickly making translation difficult, but it's not limited to Scots.
Ah well, it could be worse. I could have a Brooklyn accent! No offense Rogue!
-Roger Moore
(And maybe 11000 is just on a sunny day!
Look forward to seeing you- and you can look forward to hearing us and becoming skunnered
PS Of the 11000 in Largs, how many are under 65? (Cue the scene in LALD when Bond & Leiter go to St. Petersburg...)
None taken
I've gotten jabs here and there but nothing too bad. Some just give me a hard time for being too "city". I didn't think one could be just from talking.
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Yup. Up in the NE with the sheep and the heather.
(Alex has seen it, but how many from beyond these shores - indeed, beyond this wee nation's borders, understands this lot... Taysiders In Space)[/quote]
Brilliant. Love this sketch. "Set phasers to malkey." Although my favourite Chewin the Fat sketch involves two young boys, an ice-cream van, and a lifted skirt.
Do you remember the running gag about the boy entering puberty whose mother kept humiliating him in public? He was at school with my elder son (Ghost Of Barbel) and was once being teased by his schoolmates along similar lines to the show. His response? "Laugh it up, boys, I'm earning £2K a week." They didn't tease him after that...
I used to have real trouble distinguishing any uk northern accent, but I'm better now. I can pick out quite a few parts of lancashire as i have friends there.
Go south and i'm completely lost though.
My best has got to be midlands as that's where i live.
American accents I never used to be able to get, but i've recently learnt to pick out a new york accent. TV of course.
My own accent is a real mixture. I go to school ten minutes down the road but the change in accent is enourmous. Theirs is much more well spoken. I've never had any trace of it in my voice though. Mine has a bit of Cannock, that is where I currently live, but the rest is pretty much Black Country. I prefer that part. I used to live there and nearly all my family do. My parents still have their Black Country accents. However, my accent is definitely not full Walsall any more.
I remember those sketches and I wondered at the time if the kid would be getting the same treatment off-screen. I'm glad he was getting decent money.
My accent is very nondescript. All my life I've lived in the US, but in many different parts of it. Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan... Then my mother was from Wisconsin! This lead to a mixture of all kinds of accents rolled into one. I've found that I mainly speak a form of Southern, one which you pick up when having lived in northern Florida for a while (southern Florida is very different
Mind you, I don't sound much like a 'Redneck' as they say, since I've since lived in Oregon for about four years now. I've inevitably picked up a form of the Pacific Northwest accent, which is mainly a different way of pronouncing vowels. For example, when saying something that has a long "a" sound, you'll add a long "e" sound to it. It's actually very subtle, and I have trouble noticing it. Although the most noticeable trait of this is when they say the word "measure" (usually pronounced as "mehsure"). For some reason, they like to say "maysure"... I try my hardest not to pick that one up!
I've been told that this inevitable mixture of dialects and accents leads me to sound like I'm from Seattle... Makes sense. Although the fact that I speak Japanese will undoubtedly influence my speech when I study it further at university...
Set phasers to malkey. That was my sig for a while. But I had to ask M-Five what it meant first.
"Stop keking (sp?) at my arse!" Had to ask what that meant as well
All in all a hilarious sketch.
Though apparently non-descript in Scottish accent terms, I do confess I occassionally use 'hee-haw' meaning nothing. Most of the affections from this part of the world though, adding "nae" for "n't" (isnae, doesnae, cannae) and "tae" for "to" do creep in as well. Also, I almost always use aye for yes.
And stereotypical it may be, but och and ach are very much part of the volcabulary for oh and ah.