> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of > Bob Sullivan > > My god man, you folks have to get some national TV announcers showing > the rest of your countrymen how things are pronounced. I think the TV > network news did a lot to standardize the desirable accent over here. > What you've got would drive me batty! > Regards, Bob S. >
when talkies were first shown over here they had to have subtitles because British people didn't understand the American accent. It's a matter of familiarity, and over here regional accents are very much in favour for TV announcers, national or not - it's cultural treasure. Variety is the spice of life. > On Thu, May 5, 2011 at 5:08 PM, mike wilson <[email protected]> > wrote: > > On 05/05/2011 20:28, Bob W wrote: > >>> > >>> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of > >>> Boris Liberman > >> > >> > >>> On 5/5/2011 16:55, mike wilson wrote: > >>>> > >>>> Southern Scotland. That's not bad for a native speaker to > understand. > >>>> Here's a selection of more extreme versions from the same area. > >>>> http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rab+c+nesbitt&aq=f > >>> > >>> Hmmm. I think you live relatively close to there, right (*)? > >> > >> Mike lives in the part of England that has probably the most > impenetrable > >> accent of all. > >> > >> People here like Scottish accents, although the chap in the BBC > video has > >> a > >> rather difficult one - Glasgow, I think, like Rab C Nesbit. But > people > >> with > >> Scottish accents are much sought after to work on telephone help > desks. > >> It's > >> probably something to do with the way they pronounce "See you, > Jimmy". > >> > >>> Also, I > >>> suppose you meant to say "non-native speaker" if you were referring > to > >>> me. But I appreciate the slip of your tongue :-). > >>> > >> > >> Plenty of native English speakers struggle with some of the regional > >> accents. Especially people from the South, but I was barred from a > pub in > >> Manchester once because the landlord didn't like my accent. > >> > >>> One of the popular science programs here has a presenter that > always > >>> raises his voice towards the end of the sentences. He sounds > vaguely > >>> similar to this accent except that his is perfectly clear. Well, > he's a > >>> popular science program presenter after all. > >>> > >> > >> Send a Youtube link if you can find one. It'd be interesting to > hear. The > >> rising intonation is a new thing to British English, having come > here from > >> New Zealand within the last 20 or so years, and is generally > restricted to > >> young women. Maybe your presenter is not British. > >> > >> The British Library has an interesting archive of regional accents. > This > >> is > >> what Mike Wilson sounds like: > >> <http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/text-only/england/byker/> > > > > I actually live no more than ten miles away from there and the accent > is > > this different: > > http://www.bl.uk/learning/resources/sounds/mp3/world- > map/england/sunderland-canny.mp3 > > > > A few miles further south and you get: > > http://www.bl.uk/learning/resources/sounds/mp3/world- > map/england/cockfield-fell.mp3 > > > > Whereas go the same distance west and: > > http://www.bl.uk/learning/resources/sounds/mp3/world- > map/england/whitfield-gan.mp3 > > > > The one from the north doesn't seem to be working: > > http://www.bl.uk/learning/resources/sounds/mp3/world- > map/england/england/holy-island-granda.mp3 > > > > There are people I know who claim to be able to place a person to the > part > > of the village they were brought up in, by their accent. > > > >> > >> B > >> > >>> Wondrous, wondrous indeed. > >>> > >>> (*) No hint, no pun, nothing, merely pointing out something that > >>> occurred to me. > >> > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > -- > > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > > [email protected] > > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above > and > > follow the directions. > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
