Mensagens: 20
Idioma: English
erinja (Mostrar o perfil) 17 de dezembro de 2010 02:06:07
I've met Americans with difficult accents, for that matter. I worked with a guy from Mississippi who was nearly unintelligible to me, I had to really listen hard when he spoke, and it was only after I knew him a month or so that I could understand him with relative ease. Until then, he sounded a lot like that mumbly character on "King of the Hill" - one endless mumbly drawl, with no recognizable words.
ceigered (Mostrar o perfil) 17 de dezembro de 2010 03:19:22
Alciona:So much so that our Dean recommends academics from our faculty try to fake American accents when presenting at international conferences. It's a lot easier for someone with English as a second language to understand American English rather than an Australian drawl!Haha, sounds as if we'll end up being taught "international United States-ish" as the Australian second language as choice
(well, it is different enough to fake with it only sounding slightly suss(pect) and not obviously a fake 
).So much for Rudd's plan to push for Aussies to learn Chinese! I was looking forward to someone actually doing something about our multilingualism issues (except on Christmas Island).
erinja (Mostrar o perfil) 17 de dezembro de 2010 13:37:52
sudanglo (Mostrar o perfil) 17 de dezembro de 2010 14:07:39
And it is not just vowels. As Erinja points some Americans make 'water' sound closer to 'warder' or 'wadder' or 'wodder'.
Ironchef (Mostrar o perfil) 17 de dezembro de 2010 17:28:26
or the more common announcement:
"We're sorry to announce that the 13:55 to London Liverpool Street has been canceled due to leaves on the line. A replacement bus service will be leaving at 13:57 from outside the station building. Network Southeast [pronounced i]Nedwook Sarfeest][/i] apologises for any inconvenience..."
qwertz (Mostrar o perfil) 17 de dezembro de 2010 18:12:07
Alciona:There excists theories at the speech recognition software field that humans already knows 70% of what other persons will tell. That means that native speaker don't concentrate at every single word and pronouncation and they just hear at keywords which confirm what they expect someones would say at this or that context.
The consonants and vowel sounds of most American accents are very clear compared to other international English accents.
ceigered (Mostrar o perfil) 18 de dezembro de 2010 03:35:25
qwertz (Mostrar o perfil) 18 de dezembro de 2010 10:51:11
This software has to hold the whole keyword sound patterns inside the active store (RAM) before it can make any statistical presumption what phrases the regarding folk could talking about. For humans that means: Someones only can recognize what someones still knows. Everything else is some kind of creative phantasy and not clear understanding with the help of full clear spoken sentences. Humans getting bored quite easly with full concentration hearing. But for someones full concentration hearing and creative idea converting is their job. I.e. Live Interpreters. Maybe the highest scale of open-mindness and the E-o "mal-" of self-centred-ness.
Alciona (Mostrar o perfil) 19 de dezembro de 2010 02:50:08
sudanglo:Alciona, as a speaker of British English (RP) but exposed through radio and TV to American pronunciations, I have to say that in general American English seem less differentiated, and often to wander across phonemic boundaries - so I wouldn't call it clearer.True, but most American accents are more likely to voice 'r' when it occurs after a vowel, something that disappears in RP and can confuse ESL listeners. It does depend on which American accent you are listening to, though. Many non-Americans forget that there are a huge variety of accents in the US.
And it is not just vowels. As Erinja points some Americans make 'water' sound closer to 'warder' or 'wadder' or 'wodder'.
I have to admit when I teach international students I lean towards RP (a 'Cultivated Australian' accent to use the proper terminology) rather than adopt an Americanised accent. However, other teachers I've spoken to who have taught English overseas have said that the students preferred the American teachers over any other nationality because the American teachers' speech was so clear.
It's probably best to ask non-English speakers what accent they find easiest to understand rather than quibble among ourselves. After all, they're more likely to have firsthand knowledge on the topic!
3rdblade (Mostrar o perfil) 19 de dezembro de 2010 02:53:58
Alciona:So much so that our Dean recommends academics from our faculty try to fake American accents when presenting at international conferences. It's a lot easier for someone with English as a second language to understand American English rather than an Australian drawl!I hope they are all choosing to speak with Fonzie's accent. My second choice would be Yosemite Sam's.