this&th@ english...
TRANSCRIPT
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 1
Accents
#4
THIS&TH@
ENGLISH
W/DAYNE&KATIE
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 2
A note from Dayne
G’day, Superstars! WOW! Episode 4 already. Can you believe it? This one sure was interesting. I think my accent caused an accent mapping site to crash. Oops! I hope you enjoyed the discussion about accents this month. It’s important to remember there’s no such thing as just one correct accent when learning English. As you can see there are many English speaking accents, and perhaps it’s due to English being a non-tonal language. Your accent is what makes you a brilliantly unique English speaker. Embrace it! Thanks for joining us again. Don’t forget to get in touch to tell us if you smoke, as we’d love to know for our next show! Connect with me and chat about the show, you can find me at www.facebook.com/academiaesl or www.twitter.com/acamediaesl
Bring on episode 5! Dayne.
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 3
A note from Katie
Hello, and Welcome!
This month as we head into May our topic is “accents”. I had a lot of fun taking two quizes about accents and dialects. The links for them are in the newsletter.
Accents are a huge part of a language. They identify the background of the speaker. I come from the USA and there are American accents that I have difficulty understanding. The reason for this is that I am not used to them. I don't have a lot of exposure to them.
I live in Tokyo where there are many English speakers from many countries and my American trained ears have to strain to understand. One key point is my “trained ears”. Listening and understanding accents is about exposure. Don't worry about understanding all accents. As an English language learner another key point is to have the courage to say:
“I am so sorry. English is not my first language and I am not used to your accent. Would you please slow down a little for me?”
What do I say? “I'm so sorry. I didn't catch that. Would you repeat that please?” I have gotten nasty looks and tempers have flared when I have to ask too often. In that case, I smile and nod—even if I don't understand!
Understanding 5%, 25%, 75% or 100% is progress. Please email your questions to: [email protected]
Have a good one!
Sincerely,
Katie Adler
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 4
We asked the listeners what accents they understand easily, and which accents they find it difficult to understand. Do you agree with their responses?
Perhaps comprehension of an accent is subjective to each
individual. Accent preferences may have more to do with im-
mersion and exposure than anything else.
Some learners are actually unable to tell the difference. Can you?
We’d love to know if you’re a smoker. We don’t mean to be
nosey, but your answers will help us out with the next show!
I feel like a health insurer… however, if you’re willing to share
your smoker status with us, simply let us know via one of the
options. Thanks in advance. www.facebook.com/academiaesl
www.twitter.com/acamediaesl or [email protected]
Do you smoke?
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 5
The History of the English Language
All you have to do is listen to Dayne talk, and talk, and talk about the history of English to understand why it’s so confusing. Now you probably understand why there may be so many dialects and accents… can you believe that that’s the shortened version? Oh, my! Nevertheless, it is a truly fascinating story. I recommend you go here http://youtu.be/H3r9bOkYW9s and watch this brilliant, short, and entertaining explanation on YouTube!
American English & its International Influence Katie chats about American English, the vast array of accents, their influences on dialect, as well as the influence that American English has on the language globally. It’s also very interesting to note how much influence pop culture has on a language.
What is The Australian Accent? Dayne did a little research about his own accent. What he came up with was interesting, but not as interesting as the 3 myths he discovered! Look out for those flies, Dayne!
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 6
Read With Us!
Accent (sociolinguistics) – Wikipedia
In sociolinguistics, an accent is a manner of pronun-
ciation peculiar to a particular individual, location,
or nation.[1] An accent may identify the locality in
which its speakers reside (a regional or geographical
accent), the socio-economic status of its speakers,
their ethnicity, their caste or social class (a social ac-
cent), or influence from their first language (a for-
eign accent).[2]
Accents typically differ in quality of the voice, pro-
nunciation and distinction of vowels and consonants,
stress, and prosody. Although grammar, semantics,
vocabulary, and other language characteristics often
vary concurrently with accent, the word 'accent' may
refer specifically to the differences in pronunciation,
whereas the word "dialect" encompasses the broader
set of linguistic differences. Often "accent" is a sub-
set of "dialect". - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accent_(sociolinguistics)
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 7
Accent Tag!
The accent tag may have originated on Tumblr, but it went viral on YouTube. People gladly shared their answers to a series of ac-cent and dialect related questions via video responses online. Sure, we are a little bit late to jump on the bandwagon. However, this is a perfect activity to tie this podcast together. Pay attention to our answers and listen for any subtle or obvious differences. I wonder what your answers would be. Go ahead and give it a try! The Words: Aunt, Roof, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught, Naturally, Aluminium, En-velope The Questions: 1. What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house? 2. What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball? 3. What is the bubbly carbonated drink called? 4. What do you call gym shoes? 5. What do you say to address a group of people? 6. What do you call the kind of spider (or spider-like creature) that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs? 7. What do you call your grandparents? 8. What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket? 9. What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining? 10. What is the thing you change the TV channel with?
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 8
The Accent Maps Katie found some great sites with similar questions. Furthermore these websites match your accent to a geographic location in the US! It even worked for Dayne, so why don’t you give them a try? Accent Mapping Quizzes
HTTP://WWW.YOUTHINK.COM/QUIZ.CFM
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 9
HTTP://WWW.NYTIMES.COM/INTERACTIVE/2013/12/20/SUN-DAY-REVIEW/DIALECT-QUIZ- MAP.HTML Accent Jokes Enjoy some well meaning, good humored accent jokes here! http://www.manwalksintoajoke.com/dodgy_accents Thanks for listening! Please enjoy this bonus article about accents for English Learners. :)
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 10
Accents (in English) By Dayne Collins – via EnglishClub.com
Writing this article is a calculated risk, I may be-
come unpopular in the EC universe, lose a few read-
ers, and receive some disapproving comments. I am
aware that a lot of learners who read my content are
borderline obsessed with mastering a particular ac-
cent. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to discourage
anyone from achieving their desired accent, I just
want to share my opinion on accent acquisition in
ESL English education.
Perhaps your native language is a tonal language,
and there are many. Words in a tonal language are
pronounced with specific tones and accents gener-
ally dictated in writing. When learning a tonal lan-
guage, mastering the appropriate accent is an inte-
gral part of becoming fluent in the language. How-
ever, this is not the case when learning English. Eng-
lish is a non-tonal language, and perhaps that is why
there are so many different native English speaking
accents around the world.
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 11
If you are concerned about your accent effecting
your ability to master the English language, then re-
lax. You may think your accent is stopping you from
speaking clearly, however, that is not the case. The
problem may be simple, perhaps you need to work
on your timing and rhythm, especially if your native
language is syllable timed. English is a stress timed
language, this means certain syllables are stressed.
The stressed syllables are usually pronounced
longer, clearer, and articulated. Unstressed syllables
are weakened, or softened, they sometimes seem to
disappear entirely, or join to the next word (con-
nected speech) and thus we have rhythm. Similar to
syllable stress, we have sentence stress. This is when
certain words in a sentence are spoken louder, and
clearer. This is also related to the timing of English,
but sentence stress can be manipulated to change the
entire meaning of a sentence, native speakers will
recognise this instantly. Sentence stress is also
closely affiliated with the intonation. Intonation is
the rise and fall of the English language. All of these
factors, as well as correct pronunciation rely on each
other to create the English language as we know it
today.
© Dayne Collins and Katie Adler page 12
You see, accent training doesn’t really have a place
in English language education. Accents may be ac-
quired over time, based on those you communicate
with every day. Accent training in reality, is more of
an acting skill, rather than an English language skill.
Work on the pronunciation of the sounds you strug-
gle with most, master rhythm and intonation, then
discover the almost natural next step of connected
speech. If you work on this, I promise you will
quickly realise how natural, clear, and fluent you are
able to speak. You will be speaking English with ab-
solute clarity and confidence.
Good luck to you.