September 29, 2004

• Nice. Reminiscent of the Strine compiled by Afferbeck Lauder in Let Stalk Strine .
• The accent on the "Mr. Thingamajig" talking head sounds really strange. I can't tell, though, if it's a non-American faking the accent, or an American forcing an unnatural sort of California accent.
• It sounded like a standard Gay Male accent to me.
• Sure, but I tend to think of Gay Male Standard as a derivative of Californian, and this one sounds fake to my ears. Like Phil Hartman doing San Francisco.
• "Jeet?" "No, Jew?" See, he's anti-Semitic! How did he know I was a Jew? (paraphrasing Woody Allen in "Annie Hall")
• Looks like somebody's copied the Rhode Island Dictionary, which, BTW, is a wicked pissah of a book.
• Why the fuck would I want to talk with a nasally-sounding whine?
• Yeah. "American" here definitely doesn't mean "southern." Texas dictionary!
• Itz a vizuel ting az mutch az it is oral.
• On lak of pree view, I mint "aural".
• It's funny how a lot of British singers sound distinctly American when they sing (e.g. Phil Collins, Mick Jagger, etc). Maybe the holy grail of the American Accent is just to sing it out.
• It's perfect! (The transcription anyways, I don't have sound right now.) This reminds me of someone I used to know who once worked on a radio prgram in Taiwan - it was called something like "Learn Everyday American English." But he was fired soon after he started there - they found out he was Canadian.* In case you didn't know, most Canadians find it hard to differentiate between Canadians and Northern Americans, and vice versa, which is how many Canadians can work in the US as actors and newsreaders without any most on either side of the border noticing. But this Taiwanese station was convinced that he would confuse everyone by using the wrong accent.
• Come now jb you can't tell me that a Newfie sounds the same as a Saskatchewan grain farmer or a Montrealler.
• In case you didn't know, most Canadians find it hard to differentiate between Canadians and Northern Americans... Um, jb, Canada is part of North America.
• That's why I said Northern Americans, and not North Americans - it's a confusing name, but no other way to say it. Perhaps I should not have capitalised "northern", to be clear that it was an adjective modifying "Americans".
• Oh, yes, squeak, you can pick out a Newfie. But could you pick out the Torontonian from the Minnisotan? (Other than the way they mangle that spelling) I go to school in the States now, but I can usually never tell if someone is Canadian before they tell me, though some Americans say I have a slight accent (My roommate guessed Wisconsin when we first met). It's the urban, and educated accent, that is very similar across northern North America (though I do sometimes hear twangs of California, or Mid-West in people's voices, most notable if I know where they are from - Southerners are, of course, quite notable). Vocabulary is the biggest difference (easiest way to pick out a Canadian overseas is to hear a shiboleth like "washroom"), but the pronunciation is incrediably uniform when compared to other places in the world, like the UK. And now I've proved the incrediable arrogance of the Canadian, in that we can turn any discussion into one of Canada. (or maybe just that I really like talking about accents). :) I really did like how the transcription picked up on the ways of slurring in North American accents, and that sort of tight lipped approach to vowels. When I was in Britain, I knew I was feeling especially North American when my vowels got tight and more nasal (? - Really non technical terms - maybe someone has a better way to describe?). I can't wait to go hear the audio.
• Shhhh jb don't let our little secret out the world thinks we are the nice peacekeeping nation with no enemies to speak of. Now I did some looking and found some audios of Canadian Raising and Regional accent variations (scroll down a bit) that may come in handy in picking out those Canucks who stray south from time to time.
• That Canadian raising site is great - and by someone at my old university! Okay, Canadian-filter off now :)
• You Canada-ians have it easy - my father in law says I speak spanish with a Tom Brokaw accent. "'Hole in one?' Why the hell would you want to put a hole in Juan?
• A couple of years ago I was riding up the chairlift at an American ski resort I was working at. There was a middle aged lady sitting next to me who I began talking to. After about a minute or so she stopped me and asked. "That's a lovely accent you have, whereabouts are you from?" "Australia" I replied. "And how long have you been in America for?" "About a month now" To which her reply was "OH MY GAWD- And you speak the language already!?"
• True story? Awesome.
• I kid you not. Also true is the question that a college graduate asked me: "Do they have roads in Australia?" I am assuming his Major was Ignorance.
• This computer is powered by a wallaby on a treadmill.
• Slightly off topic, but this reminds be of a conversation I overheard on the subway yesterday. Two kids, probably students at some international high school in Tokyo, were talking about friends of theirs that had gotten in to Japanese Universities. Japanese Universities are notoriously difficult to get in to for Japanese speakers. There was some confusion in the conversation as to how the kids from the international school (English only) got in to the Japanese Universities. One of the kids suggested that the international school kids were able to get in as "American speakers".
• Bondurant - My surprise about Australia was when I learned that, though there are roads, how few roads there are in the outback. I imagined that, Australia being the shape it is, that it would have been crisscrossed by roads much the way the US is - instead I find (at least on the map I was looking at) that like Ontario north of the Great Lakes, central Australia has just the few highways that everything goes along.
• mexican, the English cram schools in Taiwan actually prefer the North American accent to the British accent. They advertise as teaching "Mei Yu," which literally means "American Language." So, while I posted this site because I thought it was funny, I'll actually be able to use some of the info from it when I teach my private students.
• A proper Newfie North American would say somtin loike dis: "Stay where ya be b'y an' I'll come where yer to."
• TSH, is this "Mei Yu" of which you speak anything like this? [self link]
• mexican - Here they write it 美語, but it's the same concept. I have no idea if those unicode characters will show up or not...
• I had some serious people in Califoria ask me if we had power/money/malls/supermarkets in New Zealand on a variety of occasions. It was always entertaining making up good answers.
• I used to tell students that I rode a kangaroo to school when I was younger. I think part of the reason there is such a large misconception is because of all the drunk Aussies (and Kiwis) making up such ludicrous stories. The poor seppos son't know what to believe! Oh and JB, I've never been "outback" but I believe you are somewhat correct. There aren't many roads as the land is mostly desert. I think there are however, a lot of unsealed roads which are unlikely to show up on any maps. It's also worth noting that a lot of these roads have no speed limit.
• mexican: the other weird thing about that sign is the pasokon next to it. If they're using it to mean 'personal communication', then it is horribly non-standard. ('Personal Computer' is how I'd read it.) Maybe a non-Japanese made the sign? PS: have you yet had the fairly common experience of being called an eigojin by a little kid? (I'm assuming you're white.)
• It's also worth noting that a lot of these roads have no speed limit. It's true. You can drive as fast as you want or can handle or your car can go in some places.
• D'oh! Not just the secret roads, but also the official ones. That's right, no speed limit.
• fuyufare, I think the "rice conversation" school in question taught American and computer classes. That's why パソコン was on the sign. I have yet to be called an 英語人, or much anything else by a little kid. I usually only get stares. I just stare right back and say in my best low, scary voice, "お前を俺の夕飯にしてやるで～". Then I lick my chops. Maybe I've never been called an 英語人 because I'm usually not speaking English.
• Bondurant: Of course you didn't ride kangaroos to school. Everybody here in the States knows kids go to school in the pouch.
• D'oh! Not just the secret roads, but also the official ones. That's right, no speed limit. Mmhh, I always knew that Mad Max was a documentary.