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Difference between British and Australian English? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7145 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 17 of 31 10 January 2010 at 4:00am | IP Logged | ||
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A big difference between British and Australian English is the pronunciation of vowels. In Britain, the accepted pronunciation of day would be deh-ee. In Australia we would say, dah-ee.
New Zealanders (and South Africans) have a different pronunciation of the short I's. In Australia we say a short ee, as in leeft for lift. In New Zealand the I sounds more like uh, so they say luhft. In the north of New Zealand the short A sounds like the British and Australian A as in cat and fat. The further south you go the A changes to a short E so it sounds to us more like Ket and Fet. When I first arrived in New Zealand I wasn't even aware of the differences in pronunciation. I did recognise when I spoke with my family in Australia that they seemed to have developed broad Australian accents. The American short A and short E are different as well which has caused me some difficulties in America when I lecture. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5837 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 18 of 31 10 January 2010 at 1:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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My last comment just came out completely wrong. It sounds snobbish somehow, which was not the intention. Plus there is nothing to be snobbish about, it's just another way of speaking English. So far as I know Australia even uses British spelling.
I just want to say that British people have a very high view of Australians, and any joking about accents is 100% good natured. At least a 3rd of all Brits are probably dreaming of emigrating there... The accent doesn't sound unpleasant, Very familiar in many ways. It could have been the accent of somewhere in the UK, instead it's a hybrid of lots of UK accents from the 19th century... And now it has branched off on its own, like US English. Australian soaps are liked by almost everyone in the UK - familiar in some respect, yet exciting and different. Because of those, everyone knows the accent even if they don't know any Australians. Many people have family there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| SteveB Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5943 days ago 14 posts - 15 votes Studies: Portuguese | Message 19 of 31 10 January 2010 at 1:30pm | IP Logged | ||
I'm from the South East of England and I spent a couple of years abroad where I was often interacting with American tourists and expats, and I was asked on a number of occasions if I was Australian. So, I know that to American ears, the accent of London and the South East of England (the non BBC/RP one) can sound very similar to an Aussie accent. I read an interesting book many years ago called 'The Fatal Shore' which covered the penal colony period of Australian history and I'm quite sure that quite a large number of the original convicts transported to Australia were from London which possibly explains the similarity. On a similar note, I read another book by Bill Bryson called 'Mother Tongue: The English Language' where I am reasonably sure it was stated that the majority of the original British settlers in what is now the USA came from the rural part of the South of England (often East Anglia) and the North American English accent has a similar sound as a result. I once worked with a recently arrived South African, who on hearing the accent of a colleague from Somerset, asked if he was American. I habitually tend to subtly mimic the accent of whoever I am speaking to, but with Australians I have to take extra care because I find their accent so easily mimicable it could seem like I am making fun of them. I am sure if I moved there I would very quickly sound just like a native. Someone posted this youtube video upthread:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJkGJ5U2hvk Just listening to this bloke talk normally is instructive. Its quite interesting for me watching this as it is quite difficult to put your finger on exactly what the differences are. The differences he gives for the pronounciation of 'A' and 'the' at 5:00, well that's pronounced exactly the same way where I come from. Similarly at 5:35 when he talks about 'you' and 'your', that's exactly the same where I come from. One of the differences that is often noted is the rising inflection. You can see this right at the start where he says "My name is Eugene" and also at 1:30 where he he says "I want to share with you". Someone from my part of England might do this but Australians would do it more. When he says "Australia" it sounds slightly like Oshtraalia, with emphasis on the middle a. At the start he says "I've decided", it sounds a little bit like "oi've decided". However, at 2:25 he say "for example". The 'a' in 'example' is pronounced the way an American or a Northern Englishman might pronounce it. Someone from my part of England would say ex-arm-ple. So, I agree with a previous poster, the Australian accent is like a bit of a mix up of British lower class accents, but mostly London/South East/Cockney. The Kiwi accent sounds to me a little like a mix of South African and Aussie. As a previous poster noted, Aussies and Kiwis are well liked in Britain and are so culturally close they seem more like long term expats than proper foreigners. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| victor-osorio Diglot Groupie Venezuela Joined 5431 days ago 73 posts - 129 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: Italian | Message 20 of 31 11 January 2010 at 1:17am | IP Logged | ||
Well, I can recognize between Uruguayan and Argentinian accent. That's because I've known a lot of people from Uruguay and from Argentina at the same time. The difference is so subtle that you may think that difference between an Argentinian and an Uruguayan are just individual variations and not dialect variations. But in fact, when you happen to know a lot of Uruguayan people you understand that the variations you though were individual were are in fact shared by all Uruguayans. So... I think Uruguayan is a little softer, and that's all. E.i, the tone play that's characteristic in both Argentinian and Uruguayan, is less pronounced on Uruguayans. Is doesn't come up and down so hard as it happens with the tone when Argentinians speak. And this thread has been GREAT for me since I'm studying English. By the moment, I can only make a difference between British and American accents. I know there are a lot of other accents but I just put them somewhere in the middle of those two. For me, they're like poles. That's maybe because I haven't been conscious when someone from Aussie is talking that any particularity in his speech may be a colective variation shared by Australians, since I've never met an Australian. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| oz-hestekræfte Senior Member Australia Joined 5677 days ago 103 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish | Message 21 of 31 11 January 2010 at 5:13am | IP Logged | ||
This depends on where in Australia you come from. Mostly the eastern states will use the more american sounding vowel. But in S.A. where I'm from, and in N.T. and W.A. you are much more likely to hear it pronounced ex-arm-ple. But it charges from word to word. Chance can also be charnce Dance, Darnce Plant, Plarnt Answer, Arnswer I remember when I started to notice differences in Aussie accents, I started to take note of what vowels people use. I found it is strangely very common for one person to use both pronounciations, even in the one sentence. I remember a tv ad where a lady was saying something to the effect of: "This is your last charnce, ring up now you won't get another chance like this." Most people don't notice. But Can't is ALWAYS Carn't And there's many other words which are always pronounced A where a northern Eglishman might pronounce them ar-. Also I feel like noting that South Australia (S.A. my home state) was not settled by/with convicts at all. And I'd also say that Australians actualy descending from the convict settling days, would be close to a minority. Edited by oz-hestekræfte on 11 January 2010 at 5:21am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| SteveB Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5943 days ago 14 posts - 15 votes Studies: Portuguese | Message 22 of 31 11 January 2010 at 11:25am | IP Logged | ||
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I can't recall ever talking about it with Australians in real life about the penal colony thing but I suspect it may be a sensitive subject.
Although Australians are probably familiar with the history, I think its worth adding some context for the benefit of other readers. What is now the USA was to a great extent a British penal colony. It is estimated that some 50,000 British convicts were sent to colonial America, representing perhaps one-quarter of all British emigrants during the eighteenth century. The American State of Louisiana was a French penal colony. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penal_colony In the novel Moll Flanders (written in 1722) Moll's mother is transported to the Virginia penal colony (USA). Its a novel, but it was written at the time and reflected real life at that time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moll_Flanders Also, many people may think we are talking about hardened criminals, rapists and murderers etc. However, in Britain at that time the law was very harsh indeed and you could be hung a vast number of 'crimes' many of which would not be considered crimes today - such as forming a Trade Union. Anyone in Britain who has been involved in Trade Unions would have heard of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolpuddle_Martyrs These were agricultural labourers who were convicted of the 'crime' of setting up an early Trade Union and were sentenced to transportation to the Australian penal colony. The law in Britain was so harsh, with the sentence of hanging for so many 'crimes', that judges would often sentence minor 'criminals' to transportation to a penal colony as an act of mercy - even though this was itself as grim as slavery, at least they might survive. Also, it's worth remembering that London at that time resembled the grimmest third world cities of today with destitution and poverty which is difficult to imagine. The convicts transported to Australia, where they had committed crimes that would be considered crimes today, committed crimes of property. Crimes against the person would have resulted in hanging. Many of the people transported to Australia were convicted of crimes such as stealing a loaf of bread to feed their starving family. The details of these stories and the historical records they come from are in the book "the Fatal Shore". Also, this was the age of revolutions, with revolutions such as the American Revolution and the French Revolution. At the time, the ruling class in Britain were terrified of a revolution in Britain. They solved the problem by arresting and transporting potential revolutionaries to the colonial gulags. Sorry for going on, but I am quite into history and I think its only fair to provide a bit of clarity as I was the one who brought up the penal colony part of Australian history. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| darkwhispersdal Senior Member Wales Joined 6039 days ago 294 posts - 363 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Ancient Greek, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Latin | Message 23 of 31 11 January 2010 at 5:26pm | IP Logged | ||
True I have a Welsh Valleys Accent (or I speak Wenglish depending on who you ask) and thats linked to a working class background. People from Crickhowell and Abergavenny which is literally down from the Valleys (or further East of the Valleys on a map) have a more Queen English Accent and come from a more middle class area. The nickname for that part of Wales is Little England. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5837 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 24 of 31 11 January 2010 at 7:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Wales is a very special place.. The disappointing thing for me is that I have never really heard anyone there speak Welsh. Even though I been in the valleys of central Wales on a retreat, in Llandudno on a very interesting holiday, and sailing/sightseeing on the West coast. Have not been to Cardiff but I heard it's generally English speaking.
Where are the Welsh speakers? Or are there hardly any left? 1 person has voted this message useful |
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