Seriously, I'm from Boston. Talk about Hollywood mangles an accent! Get in line, Julia.
3
"This has revived a long-held resentment about the fact that we so often appear as caricatures, fools or comic figures onscreen..."
Really? I'm shedding crocodile tears. Try being an Italian or African American, where if you're the former, you're portrayed as a mobster or a buffoon, and if the latter, you're likely a drug dealer or other criminal.
1
The beautiful thing about being an Australian in America is that it doesn't matter a toss whether they can understand you, they love you anyway. There is no better place to be an Australian man than any bar in America - just open your mouth and you won't have to buy another drink all night and you'll be beating off the girls with a stick! (Whatever pun you want to read into that, you're welcome!) Think the "Love Actually" scene with Colin the Sex God walking into a bar in Wisconsin - Americans are so little exposed to other Anglophone cultures, any accent is exotic!
The reason Americans can't do Australian accents is they have so little motivation to even try. It's not like there are a heap of jobs out there for American actors playing Australians. When they do try ("The Pacific" is the example I'd pick) it is almost always a failure. The nuances being debated about Meryl Streep's Lindy Chamberlain won't be picked up by a non-Australian - and in that case, she was imitating one specific accent, we all knew the sound of Lindy Chamberlain's voice.
The flipside is, as demonstrated by Hugh Jackman and dozens of Australian actors now populating American movies and television, Australian actors are exceptionally good at getting an American accent down pat. An acceptable American accent is now virtually a necessity for any Australian actor wanting to make it big. Now if you're an Aussie actor you haven't really made it until we see you on a screen and we believe you're a Yank.
5
Perhaps the accent migrates along with the migrant because inhabitants of their adopted homes do not recognize words such as dunny, hoon, galah, “Nicar-AGG-YOU-AHH” and “bow-joo-lis”.
1
"But the people best placed to mock Australian accents are Autralians..."
For instance the wonderful old Toyota Hilux ad (www.youtube.com/watch?v=u91WGac2mbI), where "Buggah!" is used throughout.
My gf was born in Melbourne and although her accent has pretty well disappeared now, she gets some strange looks from her university students (in Bellingham WA) when she blurts out "Buggah!" when something goes wrong.
2
What a beautiful piece. I'm glad I read it here in Sydney. If I was far from home this would trigger a severe case of homesickness. The other inauthentic accents are those of politicians overplaying theri Aussie accents. Fair dinkum DScotty!
2
Oh please. I’m from New Jersey (“Nyu Joisey”). Think Americans mock Australian accents? Try being from New Jersey.
2
I do not know the Australians' attitude to an average Australian accent, to the incomprehensible to others West Australian accent, and the accents of other English-speaking countries. But the rigid distinctions in the pronunciation of English-U and Non-U are a rather endemic feature of England, not necessarily of the U.K.
Trollope wrote of the Usans or Americans "speaking through the nose". The Americans refer to the British as "mumbling Britishers".
As a whole, the attitude toward regional accents in the U.S. is fairly liberal, even if the Southern accent is spoken of as of mentally retarded people. Since the 1950s, only two or three elected US Presidents spoke without any ethno-regional accent -- General Eisenhower and Comedian Regan.
It is a sign of failure of the great universities that could not cure their students, the future Presidents and their future spouses, from their accents. In a televised interview of some years ago of Orson Welles and Vincent Price, both claimed that their Midwestern speech is "the correct US accent".
1
The Coen brothers, despite their long tenure one suburb over from the one I grew up in, didn't get the Minnesota (Fargo) accent right. What they got was funny. And that's the point: they weren't trying to get it right, they were trying to get it funny. No one I knew in the state thought they were being mocked. We thought we were experiencing comedy. I knew several of the actors, having worked with them in Minneapolis theater, and while they all had something like a Minnesota accent, none of them thought that that was what the moviemakers were calling for. Accents have been mocked, in nasty derision, by idiots for millennia, but when I say g'day mate to my friend in Melbourne and she tells me how horrible my accent is, we know we are having fun.
3
Great topic. Would have been good if the author actually knew something about language and linguistic analysis that could contribute to an interesting and/or enlightening treatment of it. Australians "replace T with D"? So do Americans ("wader" not "water", like the Brits). The common element there is a voiceless consonant becoming voiced in between two vowels. Nothing unique to Australian English there. Quite common in other languages, too. Missed opportunity, NYT. Next time get someone who knows something about the topic. Just some random Australian doesn't cut it.
2
@baka yaro
I agree. Intelligent comment from a "baka yaro" ;-)
"Well, there you go, eh?"
(and that's an Australian, NOT a Canadian, saying).
Ted Danson's bogus Aussie accent in The Good Place was of course part of the joke. Mate.
1
That’s all well and good, but can we talk about “fair dinkum?” What the heck is that about?
1
I do not understand half of what the kiwis speak and they don't get my strine
Should've been ' born and lived!' not born and died!
I love the Australian accent what we mock is the southern american accent that kept jim crow laws alive and birth crontol expensive. We are mocking the rascist and misgoynist accent.
A bartender in NZ cut me off after she overheard me repeat something a Kiwi had told me: Aussies say feeesh and cheeeps. Kiwis say fush and chups. Seemed accurate to me!
1
Ironically when British people move to Texas they sound Australian.
To be honest, for the last 20 years eastern staters have started to sound more like kiwis and saffies. And only in Sydney have I found that hilarious leb-oz accent. If you want a teeth-achingly education in awful oz accents just tune into an NRL game on tv. I’m not a Victorian, but at least you don’t get that on AFL coverage.
And I’d by bloody happy is Scott Morrison would shut his pie hole. He sounds like a bad version of my childhood.
I didn't know anyone tried
On a recent trip to Europe and the UK we met(my wife and I) many Americans, they stood out in a crowd because of their accent, nothing to do with being loud. No, just the way they spoke and the way that all Yanks have a twang when they speak, it makes them sound far louder than they actually are.
At a Paris hotel at breakfast I introduced myself to an American couple in their 50's and after pleasantries were done, all they wanted to know was how to say G'day without it sounding like 'giddy'.
Much hilarity ensued as we tried to get them to say it and even more as they said it.
How'd we go? Was that close? That was close wasn't it?
They couldn't do it and every morning for 5 days we all tried and tried and in the end parted as good friends.
What did we learn from this? I finally understood a lyric from a Grand Funk Railroad song and now know what a burlap bag is and they now know what 'fair dinkum' means.
2
OK, having lived a couple of decades in both the US and Australia, I read this article again to see if it would get better, but it got worse. I realize I'm swimming against the tide of the comments here, but this reads like something mailed in from the 1970s, when Australian middle-brows were so obsessed with what they called the "cultural cringe" that they went about stirring up national pride based on resentful ockerism instead of Australia's globally important achievements in areas like medical research, physical sciences and human rights (eg, one of the first nations to adopt the secret ballot, 40 hour working week, women's sufferage).
Apart from the irony of using an imported American word ("gas" instead of "petrol") as the basis for the opening, getting it wrong about Lindy Chamerlain's hybrid Aussie/Kiwi accent, missing the fact it was Churchill who made the remark about "two nations divided by a common language" (even though mentioning him in the very next paragraph) AND the fact he was referring to the USA and the UK (not Australia), there are many other oddities here.
You were a university student, Mr. Jackman was older than you, but you viewed him as a star of high school musicals?! The best example you can come up with of "poms" "razzing" Aussies is the long dead Churchill?! And "fee-yu-cha" would be either self-parody or extreme ockerism, but is not standard Strine.
The problem here isn't that foreigners are ignorant about Australia; it's that Ms. Baird is.
In all fairness to "The Good Place", Ted Danson's character thinks he doing a brilliant Australian accent, and everyone around him thinks he's lost his mind.
Since when do Americans look down our noses at Aussies or their accents? Our own roots are rough hewn, and our speech was similarly condemned by the Brits. Love your lingo, mite!
Just accept that Winston Churchill was right. It is the most unpleasant accent in the commonwealth.
1
“the most brutal maltreatment that has ever been inflicted on the mother-tongue of the great English-speaking nation”
Surely, that distinction belongs to Scotland?
@Jorge Larangeira
Scots English actually retains features of English that were lost in England after the medieval "great vowel shift" (one of the funnier terms to be found in the world of linguistics). So, if you were to go back to an early enough form of English it might sound more like what the Scots speak.
As for who brutally inflicted what on whom, I think you'll find many Scots take the opposite view to what you propose.
1
Remember that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! My own mangled attempts are hopefully good enough for forgiveness.
1) Having been in Australia the sum total of one week, my wife and I had dinner at Buon Ricardo in Sydney's Paddington. I had noticed that Aussies' laid back language resulted in shortening of many words: breakfast became "brekkie" and mosquito became "mozzie". It was to the horror of my waiter when, asking for a new napkin, I requested a "nappie". In Australia, a nappie is a diaper...
2) Australian rules football ("footie", btw) is a local sport. It is organized at the neighborhood level. players are paid a pittance yet the real payout was prestige. These blokes were tough ("built like a brick shithouse") but down to earth. A common job for a footie player was as a garbage collector-runvseveral miles every morning and hoist heavy garbage cans is a good workout.
My foot-in-mouth moment came when I asked an Aussie woman about her interest in the sport. I asked her casually, "do you root for the home team?" Her aghast response required a hasty recalibration: "to root" is a verb synonymous with "shagging" or more boisterous euphamisms.
3
Which Aussie accent? Queensland? South Sydney, North Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin, Perth?. I guess its assumed that you are talking about fellow White Aussies, and dont mean the accent of Indigenous Peoples, which also varies quite a lot? And do yuou mean the broad accent, the posh accent, the one in the middle? Cute opinion piece, but not front page material. Is the Times now imitating the Guardian? Last point. There is no USA accent, and no one from California has ever done a decent New York accent, and i don't by that mean am Italian tough guy Brooklyn, fuggetaboutit accent, just one of over a thousand accents in New York City alone. Just compare Bernie with The Donald , both New Yorkers, other than that they both say Uge instead of Huge, there accents tell you exactly from where and from which class they hail.
1
@eyton shalom
Too right. This wouldn't be front page material in Australia either. Reads like something from the more blinkered corner of the Anglo enclave in Australia back in the 1970s or before. This missed a lot of obvious points like the ones you mentioned, and was nowhere near ready for prime time.
1
Love Australians, been there many times ! However, they are
as bad at an American Accent as we are at Aussie !!
And the Brits are worse than both of us !!!
The kids are getting better at it on all shores
Huggs to my Aussie friends.
Steve
Manhattan
Even our current Prime Minister has trouble imitating a 'working class' Aussie without sounding like a goose.
1
Hey, I’m born and bred in New York City, the Bronx actually! We are mocked and imitated all the time in movies, shows, TV, and basically all communicative forums!
And yet they never get it quite right, unless they grew up here too.
And they make us sound so dumb! I have two graduate degrees, but it doesn’t matter. As soon as I open my mouth, fuhgeddaboudit.
2
I believe itvwas Churchill who said of the English and us Americans, "We are two peoples divided by a common language".
Perhaps we should also stop hiring Australians to play Americans with midwestern accents. Fair’s fair.
1
Speaking Australian is easy.
If a word starts with a vowel, remove it.
Inside a word, if you encounter the letter "a", make it a long "I".
Strilea, for example.
I think the quote the editor used was probably Shaw's "England and America are two countries separated by a common language".
I’ve never had the nerve to even try an Australian accent, but I have to say to all the British and Australian actors attempting American accents- you aren’t fooling anyone, except maybe your fellow countrymen. I was watching Foyle’s War and an “American” general (who probably proudly lists accents on his CV) managed to mix Seattle, Boston, Atlanta and who knows where into an awful soup. My advice to anyone who tries, pick something easy, like Ohio newscasts, and don’t listen to anything else.
Meryl’s accent in ‘Evil Angels’ (‘A Cry in the Dark’ here in the States) sounded fine to me.
But her Bronx accent in ‘Doubt,’ was, well, very doubtful. I was born and raised in the Bronx — in fact, near the parish where ‘Doubt’ takes place. Streep’s accent was interesting, but it didn’t sound like mine or anyone else I knew in the Bronx.
When you love Australia and Australians, you also love the accent - or should I say, accents.
Who's losing any sleep over Aussie accents, of which, incidentally, there are more than one?
The real question is who will breach the last redoubt of the inimitable, namely Trump's vapid New York Queens. Even Alec Baldwin has struggled to master that.
I have a science background and worked in New England.
We say the New England accent has the conservation of R law.
They drop Rs some places - pahk the cah
And add Rs other places - warsh the clothes.
:-)
50 + years ago, In Vietnam, I was a Corporal in the only USMC rifle company ever commanded by an Australian officer, a fine man by the name of Ivan Cahill (pronounced "Kyle"). We all admired him for three reasons: 1. He was fearless, 1. He had a brilliant sense of humor, and 3. He could swear in two dialects, American and Australian (sorry: no printable quotes available).
3
Ms Baird is very young.
Back in the day the ONLY accent you heard on the radio, and later TV, was a 'posh' British one. Broadcasters were trained to sound 'like the Queen'.
That persisted into the early 1970s until being finally trashed during the 3 revolutionary years of the Whitlam government.
Not only did people - especially young & coming performers - appearing on air speak in a natural way, they also reverted to their non-Anglo names.
As for 'doing the accent', I always thought Robert Mitchum captured it perfectly in The Sundowners, but Deborah Kerr totally missed it.
BTW despite being born here, until I was 15 & saw it written down, I thought 'Good onya mate' was 'Good onions might' - and I wondered what the onions might do.
Running out of "gas"? You mean running out of PETROL?
Pretty ironic that your very first paragraph is built on using the imported American word instead of the native Australian one, given the whole article's stance against that kind of thing.
I can't tell if Ms. Baird is asserting pride or a grievance here, but either way the basis on which she's building the point seems thin ground indeed. Talk about "first world problems"!
Such a beautiful accent, it's such a shame that Americans and British english speakers can't properly mimic it.
Geeez. As much as I love Hugh and Nicole, their attempts to do American accents are horrendous. Like chalk on a blackboard.
As a resident (in Canada) I had an attending (Aussie) who told a patient on rounds “We’ll send you home to die (today)”. I had to repair the damage after rounds
2
A wonderful article! "On social media and in newspapers, Australians are baffled — if not outraged — by hearing American actors mock and mangle the way we speak." I suggest we simply accept the accent for what it is: unique to Australia and (to my ear) pleasant to hear.
I'm not mocking, I'm enjoying.
2
I teach high tech courses for a large network equipment vendor. The work will see me flying all over the place which is how I found myself in Australia for the first time 2 years ago. I had groups of 20 students in 1st Sydney, and then Melbourne. After a bit of an adjustment I was able to understand the participants’ questions with about 90% accuracy, interpolating the rest of it as required. My only stipulation with the students was that they tried to ask their questions while subtracting Aussie vernacular to make it easier for these Canadian ears to understand. They accepted the challenge good naturedly. On the other hand, I don’t believe I was asked to repeat myself once. I think some of the reason for that is because very early on in my teaching career I taught mixes of foreign audiences while working at our department of Foreign Affairs. You learn very quickly to scrub your vocabulary of vernacular. It wasn’t a piece of cake but I used it as a rule of thumb. ;-)
2
I loved the movie Australia with Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman! Who could not love Hugh Jackman speaking in his native accent! I loved each and everyone of the cast's slightly different accent.
Don't lose a bit of your accent - you beautiful Australians!
2
"Jules" leaves out the five year running Australian soap opera; A Place to Call Home. It has a wide international audience now... But the only actor to have a consistent Australian accent seems to be Roy Briggs played by Frankie J. Holden. And he seems to be carefully enunciating his slang so the audience can get the drift.
I moved off of Long Island at age 18, fifty years ago. Two minutes into any conversation the topic of my origins comes up. But actors have no problem doing the different variations of New Jersey, New York's five Burroughs accents as well as the Island. Bet they can do the same with Australia if they turned their minds to it...
4
I was once almost stranded after a typhoon in eastern Taiwan had wiped out the major roads, trying to return to the capital, Taipei. Standing near the airline office, after purchasing tickets leaving in a few hours, I ran into two Australian working-class guys with long beards. Troubled that they would not be able to catch their flight in Taipei back to Australia, they asked how I got my tickets, as they were told there were no more seats left. I had to embarrassingly ask them many times to repeat themselves, as I could not understand what they were saying. I had a much easier time using my limited Chinese talking with the ticket clerks. Once I figured out their problem I was able to take their passports to the ticket window and convince the agents to find two seats for them. They were real nice, but clearly spoke something approaching a non-mutually understood language from mine; like Cantonese and Mandarin -- the written form is the same, just don't expect to communicate by speaking.
1
This is all very well Julia but I was born and died in the North of England for the first 27 year my life. I remember when I first came to Australia 40 years ago that I had terrible trouble making myself understood when I said the words 'butter' and 'sunhat'. It gave me a complex for a while. But I've got over it now!
1
When I was visiting New York with my mum and sister, my sister asked a local for directions. She needed to find Bleeker St. The New Yorker had no idea what she was saying even after repeating the name a number of times. Eventually she put on an American accent and said Blee-kerr St (as opposed to Blee-kah) and everyone was finally on the same page.
1
When I was in New York in 1983 I had to repeat myself several times to be understood. Fast forward more than 30 years and a visit to the Big Apple in 2011 with my family and not one issue. Our accent didn't pose a problem for any of the locals. Perhaps the influx of Aussie actors into mainstream Hollywood movies in the intervening years has made a difference. Thank you to Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Rebel Wilson, Paul Hogan, Geoffrey Rush and all the Hemsworth brothers (among others). Gone are the days when actors like Errol Flynn, another Aussie, had to put on a foreign accent to be understood. Evidence of a more global world. I wonder!
1
The South African accent is another one that is often mangled by actors. An amusing anecdote. In the 1970s I moved to London from South Africa. I was in a taxi and struck up a conversation with the driver. He of course recognised from my accent that I was not British and tried to guess my nationality. After a few minutes he confidently announced - New Zealand! I was quite offended and told him I was from South Africa. Unabashed, he responded - one of the colonies!
I have now lived for more than forty years in Australia. Australians think I sound South African and South Africans think I sound Australian. I can distinguish quite a few different Aussie accents but it took me quite a few years to distinguish between an Aussie and a New Zealand accent.
2
My voice is Home Counties, Queen’s English (I get told it’s ‘posh’ sometimes, despite being skint and common as muck), yet once when talking to a stranger he asked if I was from South Africa because I “sounded like” someone from there.
I remain baffled by the exchange.
The worst imitation ever of the South African accent was in the otherwise excellent movie, Muriel’s Wedding!
Very interesting and refreshing article. Especially, it relieves you from reading other articles about political, environmental and other issues, still you learn something! Thanks.
I am in fact very curious to hear more details about Hugh Jackman at the filling/ petrol/ gas station!
Cheers and have a good Sunday everyone!
12
To speak of an Australian accent is to imply there is only a single accent in the entire country, which is absurd. The fact is there are several accents. The problem is that most commonly heard on TV is the kind that is audibly offensive. Whether it is common to a specific state, is part of the city v country divide, or part the bogan v educated divide I can't say. That it exists however is undeniable.
3
@Andrew Mason
There is some variation of accent in Australia by region, but the differences in accent are much more about socio-economic class. Regional differences tend to be more about idioms, slang and certain oddities like the Queensland habit of inserting "eh?" frequently into conversation.
My sister left Kansas to teach math and science in Australia in the 1970s. Her students could not comprehend her American voice.
Many parents complained.
She, however, was not going to give her students such a convenient excuse to do poorly and used her ear for language to blend in. Forty years later she’s still teaching, quite successfully, down under. I marvel that such an accent comes out of the sister I grew up with!
2
Last year we went to see the Academy Award nominated short films here in the US. One was Australian and the dialogue was no problem. Another was British, and was presented with subtitles! I have to admit we sometimes rewind and replay parts of British films or TV shows at home because we actually don't understand some of what they say. But just watched the Aussie film "The Dressmaker" and didn't miss a word.
2
I don't find Australian accents at all difficult. Scottish people, I often really can't understand at all.
8
I always thought Australian accents sounded cool, but I guess I learned something new today.
4
I arrived in Australia as a mid-West accented youngster. It took a decade before I developed my present broad, Melbourne 'Strine accent, of which I am quite proud. (The accent varies from most British in Adelaide followed by Hobart with increasing harshness as one moves North from Melbourne through Sydney to Brisbane and up towards Far North Queensland). Having sought for years to acquire the accent, I do not agree at all that Australian speech is lazy - it is true that "t" become "d" (one cannot live in Melbourne without following Australian Rules football, otherwise known as the "foody", - a word that sounds and means nothing like "foodie", viz. a connoisseur of food) and that many articulator muscles remain unused. But to speak "Strine" one must project sound through the top of the mount towards the nose, with an upward inflection - giving the accent its inaccessible harshness. It requires continual muscular effort from the tongue and mouth. To the contrary, the American accent requires a relaxation of the upper mouth with sound projected by a slurring or rounding of the sound in the lower mouth - the further South one goes, the rounder the sound becomes. I call that, perhaps, unfairly, muscular laziness. The British accent is somewhere in between. Indeed, if one listens to the upper-class British accent (say recording of the Queen in the 60s), the beginnings of the Australian accent may be heard - just ignore the clarity of diction and listen to the sound.
6
@Bear. Bet we'd still pick you for a Yank, though. Yer mates are jus' bein' noice.
I lived in the UK.
I also have a good friend who is Australian.
And I always like his accent better than a British accent.
Never thought about it before.
2
I may not be able to mimic it, but I know it when I hear it! And I love it! Nothing sexier than a male Australian voice. Anything in my possession that can be programmed for a human voice is always default "male Australian accent". Phone, GPS, IPad, et al. When I had to attend workshops, I would only sign up with the lovely Australian fellow with the sparkly blue eyes, rolled up white brooks brothers shirt, and that adorable accent. * sigh *
7
Interesting topic, but a rather narrow and misleading telling. Julia doesn't mention that within Australia we have many and varied Australian accents, from downright broad and often indecipherable (to city dwellers) within rural areas, to the much sharper elocution of Melbourne and Sydney's inner (wealthy, Anglo) areas. Within Sydney you'll have a north shore dialect, and in Melbourne there are local dialectics split north and south of the Yarra, east and west of the city, some tinted the many waves of migrants that add so much to our culture. In the far north, Adelaide and Perth there are slight variations to other cities, with flatter or higher vowel sounds (graph in Melbourne is 'grarph' in Adelaide). We are also much less concerned with overseas stereotyping than suggested; in fact, I read this article as a reinvigotation of a cultural cringe and stereotyping that has largely passed.
7
@Shannon
I totally agree with your point about the cultural cringe at the core of this article. It reads like something composed back in the 1970s by a disciple of John Singleton or Bazza McKenzie (if he were real and not a parody). Amazing to read this kind of thing in 2018, especially from a writer who seems young enough to have been born after that time. There are plenty of groups who cop a lot of flak, disrespect and even persecution in today's world, but Aussies are not among them. (Or are we going to compare spats over cricket matches to wars and attempted genocides?) This whole whinge was done to death years ago--and trying to relaunch it in today's world makes Australia look way more parochial and shallowly self-absorbed than is necessary for a country that has matured a great deal socially in many ways. BTW, no consideration of any impact of Australian aboriginal languages or culture on Aussie identity, Ms. Baird? You might want to dip into the Hawkesbury River trilogy of novels by the excellent Aussie writer, Kate Grenville, to spark some insights. Or some writers of Murri or Koori background? Or the many decades of interaction and influence or migrants speaking other mother tongues on Aussie English? This article is curiously locked inside an Anglophone-only view of multicultural Australia's linguistic culture. Again, the POV here is way out of date, and was probably more myth than reality even back when such ideas were more in currency Down Under.
Hey, Ms. Baird. Some of us are catching on, thanks to Acorn and other streaming services. I just finished watching three seasons' worth of The Heart Guy and loved every single dropped "i" and every added vowel. Born in Brooklyn, I've no reason whatsoever not to love someone else's version of English. Now that Brooklynites and Australians are all the rage, let's champion our gorgeously different accents.
8
As a New Jersey native I totally understand the frustration of having my accent mocked incorrectly. There is a total misunderstanding of what a true Jersey accent sounds like.
5
Hey Carl from Newton NJ! It’s been 38 years since this Newton native lived in NJ, but people still know my origin not just from my accent but also my choice of words! When I lived in Columbia SC, I phoned in a pizza order. When my husband went to pick it up, the clerk asked if the person who ordered was from NJ! My bewildered husband shockingly said “yes...how did you know?” The clerk said “because she ordered a PIE!”.
1
Of course no one in Australia runs out of gas. We run out of petrol. We don't go to the gas station; we go to the servo (service station).
11
I have a lot of relatives in England and spent time in Wales. I. could understand the French better when i was in France then the english thw Welsh were speaking.
1
I lived in Sydney recently for five years never ever had any problems understanding Aussie’s now a few Scottish friends whole other story. What I did have a problem with was identifying Kiwis verse Aussie’s, but then again they have a tough time with Canadians and Americans. Really really miss Australia!
2
The Good Place mocks the fact that one of the characters firmly believes that he can imitate a good Australian accent.
1
People generally hear what they want to hear. I’m British and speak what is known as RP (also known as BBC English) but I’ve been called Australian or American dozens of times depending on the context. Unless you’ve got a very broad accent it can be difficult to pin down exactly where someone is from, add educational level in to the mix (yes a generalisation but often very true) and it becomes less than obvious. Oh and The Good Place is a comedy not a documentary.
2
Monica Dickens, the author, was on a book-signing tour in Australia. A person asked her to inscribe the book to Emma Chisit. Strange name, she thought. But the person was only asking "How much is it?"
9
Speaking as a person whose New York accent is regularly mocked in the state to which I moved almost 30 years ago, I don’t mock the Aussie accent. I love it. I’m delighted when I can find something on Netflix (or whatever) of Australian origin and starring Aussie actors. I can’t get enough of their accent and, even if I sometimes miss entire sentences, they make darn good TV series, too.
3
Florida is in no position to mock anyone for any reason!
A few years ago I, a Canadian, was working at a sawmill in Mississippi where I encountered a female Australian electrician who had lived in the American South for a number of years. Her combination of Australian accent with southern overtones made her almost unintelligible to her coworkers, but weirdly, I had no trouble understanding her. Go figure.
4
The fun American visitors provide us here in Australia.
A few years ago a friend visiting the US made arrangements to meet up with an acquaintance. Apparently, the were going to "The Sarvo". When my husband and I could finally contain our laughter, we explained to the bemused friend that he was going somewhere this afternoon.
5
She is right. About the imitating part. I for one have never mocked the Australian accent and am fascinated by it.
1
The Aussie's love the C word even more than us Brits too. It's not normally used in the same way as it is here. Gotta love them for that!
On a slightly related note. There is no one British accent. English, Scottish, Welsh etc are all British.
1
A couple of years ago I arrived at Sydney airport from New York and was a bid nervous about my communications with the locals. My first interaction was with an official to figure out if we had arrived on time for a flight connection to Perth. His reply was: "Most Assuredly." He turned out to be an Indian immigrant - I was totally relieved.
4
Not sure why Australians would think - as expounded by Julia Baird - that they are rather unique in having a unique accent that is mimicked or mocked uniquely.
The British had colonized MANY parts of the world in the last three hundred years or so and where they introduced their own language, of course. In just about EVERY colony English had evolved uniquely, including in Australia also.
This local evolution of English, of course, affected the local accent strongly. The colonies developed their own unique accent - as Australia did. No surprise here.
Almost all British colonies by now are independent countries.
When the people from the ex-colonies - now independent - move to other English speaking countries and live there for several decades, almost certainly their accent will get colored - if not totally altered - by the prevailing accent in the host country. From personal experience, I know that this gradual change is also involuntary and stealthy.
From personal experience, it seems this not a surprise either.
Just about every English speaking country make fun of other English accents - even WITHIN their OWN country where there are very distinct local variations in accent.
Once again - no surprise!
So, will it be terrible to say that Julia Baird's concern is quite misplaced? Was there a real need to write this op-ed and what did it really accomplish???
6
@S. Roy. I'm pretty sure the essay is meant as light entertainment.
Agree - misplaced indeed. Puff piece and nothing more!
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will get better at it with practice.
4
Well done, "Jules", for confirming in the first paragraph the stereotype in every US reader's mind that we live in one big hick town were everyone knows everyone else. But the Aussie accent IS lazy, which means if you try too hard to imitate it you invariably get it wrong. Or even try too hard to speak it even as a native. I used to mumble a lot as a child and when I tried to speak clearly people asked me what country I was from. The problem seems to be getting worse for come reason. US actors used to just do a passable cockney accent but now you hear a mangled mess of cockney, South African and New Zealander. Maybe they do it to be understood by American audiences. I have seen subtitles used for Australian speech in news items and documentaries for US consumption.
PS Saying Kiwi and Australian accents are the same is like saying American and Canadian accents are the same.
6
Beautiful piece that made me adore the bogan nature of the Aussie accent; I'd never realised the Australian phonetics of future is "fee-yu-cha" but you really hit the nail on the head.
To the same degree a fake accent aussie accent is awful, there's nothing quite as special when they get it right - and to that we respond with, onya mate.
2
"But we also add vowels in surprising places (future becomes fee-yu-cha)."
I'm Australian and I don't know anyone who says the word future this way...(I think it's more commonly spoken as "few-cha" by Australians )
I've noticed a subtle change in accent in different part of the (very large) country, mostly in Northern Queensland, but overall it's pretty homogeneous
1
Meryl Streep did a great job of impersonating Lindy Chamberlain... who was NOT Australian. She was a New Zealander who moved here. Different accent.
The Australian accent is the hardest one tp adopt and the easiest to lose. Look at Mel Gibson or Russell Crowe or Sam Neill or Nicole Kidman. None of whom were born here although the lived or live here now.
4
In Meryl's defense she wasnt playing an Aussie in "Evil Angels" retitled "A Cry in the Dark", for religiously zealous American audiences, She was playing a New Zealander.
6
I work at a company with many folk from the world over. At lunch one day I was introduced to a woman. Her accent was familiar to me. So I asked, “ Are you from….” I saw this look on her face that said, “Here we go, he’s going to ask what type of Asian I am….” I continued, "Are you from California?” She was shocked, “Yeah! How…?” “You have a California accent.” “I do? Wow!”
To be fair I had just come back from California and the accent was strong in my memory. We’re talking a subtle accent, not beach surfer stuff. This article made me think that…how’d you pull off a teaching that to an actor?
1
This Texas-born bloke who lived in Oz for much of my 20s and 30s loves the accent, be it the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) version or the 'Strine' of the outlanders. But never have I been able to mimic it, even though I imitate the Brits with ease. Aussie actors, on the other hand, nail the American accent so well you'd never know they weren't born here.
35
@Fred DuBose Which is all about the tv we grew up watching: Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, etc. etc. The first Aussie accent most yanks ever heard was Paul Hogan.
6
Half the problem is that North Americans seem unable to distinguish English accents from outside the continent. Living in Canada for 6 years people couldnt tell if we were British, South Africans, Kiwis or (what we really were) Australians.
Best example?
My (Perth raised) wife was on the phone to a realtor. "Ma'am you have such a wonderful accent. I just LOVE Scotland."
30
@Grant R Sometimes English people fail miserably. I'm an American immigrant in the UK and usually get Canadian, which is understandable. But I've had a couple English people asking if I were Australian!!!
A lot of my English/Welsh friends in the US would often be mistaken for Australian.
I have a pretty good ear, made better by having been here for nearly two decades; but I would never presume to think that I can impersonate any other accents.
@Grant R The realtor just was confused to which Perth your wife was raised in! I'm not entirely clear if she was raised in Scotland or Wester Australia!
Although Scottish Perth Accent should be distinctive enough from an Australian Perth raised citizen!
@Grant R
And when we lived in South Africa, I was repeatedly asked which part of Scotland I was from.
(We also were in Perth but never mistaken for Scottish)
1
Australian is hardly the most incomprehensible accent. I worked in a shipyard in Glasgow.
13
Unfortunate secondary headline. We all mock each others' accents, and aren't usually good at imitating them well. But Julia Baird assumes there is one accent for Australia, as a whole. In the US, even the boroughs of NYC cling deeply to subtle differences in accent and vernacular, and short trips to Lon-Gisland and upstate NY finds very different takes on English, to the ear. The Midwest starts to homogenize, but a sharp ear might distinguish Ohio and Wisconsin. The Coen brothers satirized the more ethnic tone of outstate Minnesota by putting that (slightly-exaggerated) accent in the mouth of a Japanese American. We all hear, and cringe at, Southern accents, even by our own, when there's an attempt at North Carolina's Queen's English or a Texas drawl, or one from Georgia. All different from the "alley girl".
Certainly there's a bit of satire and cliché in how we create accents, a more recent example of which is the lip-synced white accent in "Sorry to Bother You". But class is at the basis of the English language accents, as our colonial overlords in Great Britain taught us, so welcome to [the/a] tribe.
18
@ManSkyBook Which may be why the egalitarian nature of Australians renders only slight differences in our accents - even though we are spread across such a vast continent. Adelaidians sound somewhat English, Melburnians have a broader "el" sound, as in MALbn. But I think the biggest variation is between the rural and the metropolitan accents.
7
Might I add to that: growing up in the Midwest prior to settling in TX, I promise it’s easily detectable to a Midwesterner if someone is from Wisconsin, or Chicago, or Iowa —it’s definitely not a homogenous accent (although I would agree we flatten our vowels and tend to be nasally).
Having lived in TX now over 27 years, a drawl would be different from a twang, and again, it’s definitely not homogeneous accent here either (although here we do tend to be a little lazier about pronouncing sharp sounds—maybe it’s the heat!).
We do all have an American accent, but it’s tremendous the variation between those American accents from Maine versus say the American accents from Mississippi, or that of the American accents in North Carolina.
I love it!
4
Best smile of the day, at a time when there is often little to smile about! Thanks!
2
“Even the great Meryl Streep failed to capture it when she portrayed Lindy Chamberlain in the 1988 movie ‘Evil Angels,’ about a woman whose baby is killed in the Australian outback.”
Most Americans won’t know what film you’re referring to, Julia: here it’s called “A Cry in the Dark.”
As for “Self-parody is a national sport. On Twitter, we lampoon our country by calling it #Straya.”
Appropriately, at least in the way it’s spelled phonetically, the form of English spoken in Australia, or the adjectival form of the country’s name, is pronunced “Strain.” And the reason few non-Aussies can master the accent is the complexity of the vowels, filled as they are with diphthongs and mordants. American vowel, even in the South, are much simpler to hear, comorehend and reproduce.
2
@A.L. Hern ...and Meryl was playing a New Zealander, after all.
3
@A.L. Hern
Dev Patel totally nailed the Australian accent in the movie: Lion. :)
1
The journalist who wrote this must be from the eastern states... Coming from South Australia, no one I know pronounces Australia as 'Austraya'. It's uh-stray-lee-uh. Pronouncing Australia as 'straya' is a uniquely QLD or NSW thing and makes me cringe every time I hear it. Also future would be pronounced 'fyu-Cha', not 'fee-yu-cha'. No wonder foreign actors can't do the Australian accent, they've probably got Queenslanders and people from Sydney as dialect coaches.
5
@Teo Rich Adelaidians accents are much more English sounding than most Aussie accents
2
Love this article and its related comments for a linguistics buff like myself. Also, I think I find some similarities between South African and New Zealand accents, some Australian and Southern US drawls, especially how some vowels are pronounced in words like, let's say, "great" or "mate" (sound more like "grite" or "mite"). Great stuff!
2
It has taken many years of evolutionary improvement to produce this, the most finest vocal expression of English - i.e OZtraylian. There were a few historical mutations along the way (such as the North American trajectories, each local variation obviously sculptured with linguistical influences introduced from outer space travellers). And even the English themselves were too weighed down in their own cultural gravity, to be to move forward. Crikey, Cockney should be a type of Gin, not a southern eastern vocal affliction! So then along came Oz-English - the evolutionary peak of expression of this most bastardised of beautiful languages. As sure as Christmas day lunch will be eaten on a day of 105 degrees 'farren-hite' (American speak for temperature), we know we do it all the right and different ways down here.
3
Love this article - it’s given me so much amo for the next time someone teases my accent. Currently my favourite thing to say, when I feel people are being rude, is - “would you say the same to an African person about their accent?”
2
I think Australian English may alter vowel sounds to such a degree that it makes it difficult to understand. Vowels link the consonants and this distortion may be the primary reason. British English is comparatively intelligible. Scottish, impossible. My New Jersey English, certainly distinct, but easy to understand. In my humble opinion, anyway.
13
Intelligibility of a dialect depends on the difference from the hearer’s own dialect and upon the hearer’s exposure to that dialect. Your Noo Joisey accent is almost certainly difficult for some speakers of other dialects, e.g. Scots and Australians...
12
When I lived in Tokyo, I worked at an English-language daily newspaper and there was one Australian co-worker whose accent I simply couldn’t understand. I felt so embarrassed asking him to repeat himself! The hilarious thing is he had the hardest time understanding my thick Chicago accent - “hizzoner da mare” (his honor, the mayor), etc.
The Japanese staff was baffled -“But you’re both native English-speakers!” they cried. It was starting to hinder both our jobs until we found another co-worker who was born and partially raised in Australia and had been living in Los Angeles for many years. (Though even he had trouble with me -“Jane, again, where did you say you’re from...?) H would end up serving as INTERPRETER between the Aussie and the Chicagoan. For a few beers after our shifts, he gladly did it and we all had great fun.
40
I so enjoyed this opinion article. For once, no anger, just joyful ribbing and pure fun.
I've often commented to friends and family that advertisements, ala Outback, movies, and television shows should hire only true Australians (and Britons, Scots, and Irish) to play roles that should be spoken correctly. Why? Because we arrogant Yanks need to open our ears to the beauty of the English language in all its forms.
Along with that, more of us need to learn other languages so we can understand their uniqueness and beauty.
One of the things that separate humans from the other inhabitants of Earth is our culturally influenced diversity of language. A question that has always puzzled me; does a barking dog or meowing cat in France do so in a different language, or accent, than one of my dear household friends? I have asked them but I am not yet wise enough to dicipher the answer.
31
Love your dog and cat ponderings.
When I was learning Japanese I was fascinated to find the counterparts of woof woof and oink oink, as Japanese people hear them:
wan-wan, and buru-buru!
10
@Paul Downie My thinking is that one can never
"learn" Japanese. One can only "study" Japanese.
3
@Angelsea as an Aussie actor living in NYC for 26 years I can tell you that casting breakdowns often request native speakers for Australian characters
2
Unfortunately, this piece doesn't even manage to break the skin of why accents exists (something linguists call 'sound change'), what they are (seeds of different languages), why they're hard to imitate (because the imitator also has an "accent"), etc.. Instead, the piece just perpetuates harmful stereotypes about language variation and accents, ones which continue to contribute to real differences in opportunity in our society.
If anyone, ANYONE, at the NYTimes opinion editorials had ever taken even a single linguistics class they would probably realize that this should not have been published.
6
Australians run out of petrol, not gas. It’s too ironic seeing an article about our accent using language that is so wrong!
11
My guess is that is an editorial decision.
Cheers! Or as they say it: Cheese!
3
As one who had been yelled at in 2017(by a person-- used to--known for 20 years) that "You Have An Accent" I really LOVE this article!! Accents make the world go round and round. This article made me think of a pun I heard recently "Bacteria is the only Culture many people know"
7
Ah...ah....Let’s Talk Strine ,a book that has been around since the ‘60’s......used to be available at every newsagency in Australia.A sort of “bible” for tourists and newly arrived migrants. It “translated” the Australian language phonetically,with humoUr. Another book that clearly identifies the inability of the rest of the world’s difficulty with the Aussie accent, was the cheeky and very realistic best seller comic novel “They’re a Weird Mob”, by John O’Grady, it follows the life of a new Australian Italian migrant,who attempts to navigate his new life and the hurdles of misinterpreting the Aussie language.
What is ironic is that Australian actors can effortlessly take on US regional accents, the current new film releases proof of that.
3
@AdrianB So nice to see someone quoting the fine work of Afferbeck Lauder. He wrote four books on Stine, Let Stalk Strine, Nose Tone Unturned, Fraffly Well Spoken and Fraffly Suite. They all sent up the Australian Accent of the time (1960's). They're a weird mob was hilarious too.
How about British-born former radio host Emma Ayres as the bullfrog in "Tubby the Tuba"?
Nothing is more jarring to the finely tuned British ear than a “low class” accent. Of course, these would be the accents sported by the working class and by unschooled colonials such as ourselves, Canadians and especially outback/Alice Springs rowdy footballers with a pint too many onboard. For those of us believing to be above such notions of class distinction allow me to point to recent former-colony interest in British Royal nuptials.
Yes, it’s sadly true that we Americans are not immune to slotting people into the low-class bin by means of someone’s lowly back-woods southern/western/farm hand/redneck accent. How else to explain Jeff “you might be a redneck if...” Foxworthy or Larry the Cable Guy.
The grim unfunny reality of language as a decoding ring for class is that “class” isn’t just socio-economic status, its your race. For Americans, this is a lasting legacy of our British roots, one we seem unable to rid ourselves of.
1
@Confusedapotamus You hear way more "down market" accents on BBC than I did when I lived in Britain some years ago. RP was never indiginous speech but a fashion that caught on with the"upper classes" in the 19th century. Good to see English in Britain devolving to its formative roots, while we in the US are losing our regional accents.
1
Thanks for that maaaaaaaaaate. I can't do it with my California speech and wouldn't try, even when I was in Australia.
Julia, I truly enjoyed this article.
1
Good onya Julia, thanks for the language lesson!
2
i love the australian accent (and the new zealand and south african). it's wonderful to listen to and so dramatic and colorful. my wife worked for an australian for 20 years and would come home with funniest and wittiest words and phrases. no other language compares.
please, if australians read this - do not try to bury your wonderful accent - it sets you apart in the most positive light. it has a tone, pitch, pace that are almost melodic.
i will not close this with any australian cute phrase - i'll leave that to the australians.
bye, bye!
6
NYT coverage of US politics and culture is thorough and always insightful. I am appalled by the inanity and irrelevance of the NYT articles on my own country. Kind of shallow flim flam written for an ignorant American audience - after all we know that the US educational system has failed to help Americans realis(z)e there are other histories and cultures in the world (Trump being a fine example of adult ignorance about nations other than the USA). Lift your game NYT and when writing about other nations don't just write to 'entertain' an American audience.
I walked the bridge on Sorry Day. Did you? Two words, one band name, Midnight Oil. Start with Blue Sky Mine.
Cheearse
4
Southerners wince through countless mangled Southern accents in movies and TV. Welcome to the club.
3
What do you mean "we CAN conduct entire conversations while barely moving our lips"? You bloody well DO conduct entire conversations while barely moving your lips! Most of the sound comes through your nose. If that's something you are proud of, stop making fun of the kiwi accent!
1
There is no one Australian accent. Up here in the Wet Tropics of Far North Queensland, we talk differently to those 1500 kms south in Brisbane, let alone in NSW or Victoria.
Aboriginal Australians in FNQ have a different intonation to Torres Strait Islanders — even when they're speaking English — and both indigenous groups have an accent that sets them apart immediately from whites.
Julia Baird is from beachside Sydney. That's not the real Australia. They're all stuck up in Sydney and Anglicised. Too much surf and beach parties — and no salties. Up here's where we get real.
5
@Colenso I noticed subtle differences of accent and vocabulary between SE Qld and Melbourne on my last visit to Australia a few years ago. I grew up in Brisbane as a kid in the '50s and '60s and even then on interstate visits to Vic. and NSW and once up in Cairns Tully and Atherton I could spot differences and that was well over 50 years ago. I dimly recall that Mt. Isa was also a bit different. Mind you, the differences between Broad and General Australian plus the rarer Cultivated seem to overlap or override the geographical differences. Broad Australian speakers in Melbourne and Brisbane sound quite similar, more so than General Australian speakers. Strine is really quite complex. Something the stage and screen imitators wouldn't know much about.
1
Dame Edna’s all the way, down under.
Sorry. Can't have the Aussies play themselves.
All of Australia's actors are currently busy playing Americans.
All with the same "American" accent, BTW
18
great article except for the title. We call it petrol not gas
4
Just one thing Julia (or your subeditors)- a petrol station has
Never, ever, been called a gas station in Australia or in Australian.
3
Dear Dr Baird
My experience in presenting papers and/or giving talks like this to USA audiences is that it some times takes a few minutes for American ears to adjust to the way Australians talk. So I've learned to prattle on a bit for a few minutes to give USA ears a chance to calibrate their hearing apparatus.
In particular one vowel sound ( The long a sound)seem to cause me most problems.When an aussie says the long a sound most Americans hear the long i sound. For example I once needed an an American friend to go slightly out of her way to drop a book off at the library and I said "Lauren, I need a favour". I knew there was something seriously wrong when she looked at me a bit strangely, smiled and opened her pocket book and gave me a five dollar bill. I realised that I needed to a quick vowel shift, and quickly responded:
"No not a fiver—a fever"
5
On yer mate, bonza article. But don’t forget Lindy Chamberlain was a Kiwi who moved to Australia in her early 20s. M. Streep did a great job of that mishmash of an accent.
Aussie Aussie Aussie!
1
Jim Jeffries. Discuss.
Jim's commentary is funny enough but this American just loves his intonation of our common mother tongue.
1
The unfathomable Aussie accent. Yeah, no.
1
Yeah, no; no, yeah. Another world of confusion for non-Australians
1
Frankly I don't know what she's on about! I served in Viet Nam alongside the Royal Australian Regiment. I never heard then, or now, anyone who ridiculed their accent. I had the enormous pleasure of R&R and the only thing an Australian accent arouses in me is a sense of gratitude for the way the people I encountered treated me, unlike my co-citizens upon my return. Their accent is different, but so are the thousands of accents of people ranging from New Zealand, through South Africa, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Boston, New York, New Orleans, and Texas, for examples. SO what!
Perhaps actors don't get it right, SO WHAT! That is not ridicule! That is just acting.
5
I think the (lighthearted) mocking referenced in this piece stems from a sense of mild frustration/bewilderment that, instead of casting one of our many very fine actors, overseas productions so often cast a non-Australian actor who then can't recreate our accent.
Also, although we may be perceived as incoherently charming by many, cultural cringe is definitely a thing for many of us, especially if you don't identify with the whole outback/barbie/surfing/straya thing.
This is especially true for those who become successful overseas, maybe not so much now but definitely pre-2000 and especially for those who found success in the UK. Most of my friends (me included) spent time in London after high school, and the general opinion amongst the Brits seemed to be that we were drunk, vulgar louts. Australian entertainers (especially women) appeared very keen to distance themselves from this. Kylie Minogue is a great example. Ironic, given she found fame on a soap as girl next door Charlene (a name which, when she said it in her broad Aussie accent, sounded a bit like fingernails being scraped down a blackboard).
If it helps, Australian actors aren’t that great at doing American accents either. Even the great Hugh Jackman doesn’t sound authentic, although he comes close.
Hey, regardless of how bad some American and British interpretations of an Australian accent might be, I'm not sure they're as cloyingly annoying as the real thing. Still, Australians can find consolation in knowing that regardless of how much their accent is mocked, it doesn't come close to being as outlandishly annoying as a Scottish one.
I had English parents - although born in Australia so have a 'global accent.' My husband though, is third generation Aussie and when he was in hospital in America I had to interpret for him. "He said - can I turn over!" The nurse couldn't understand a word he said, and no, he wasn't drugged at the time.
No one really cares about your accent. I'm from Brooklyn. And you got the movie wrong, it was "Cry in the Dark". Pity, dissing Meryl Streep while getting something wrong about her. Or as a friend said, but it's not fair to generalize, the problem with Australians is that they got two chips on their shoulder. But that's a minimal prob as chips go.
3
@Tom Amico The author has her facts correct; it's you who need to do a little more research. The movie was released first in Australia, where its title was "Evil Angels." It was retitled "A Cry in the Dark" for the USA and some other markets. IMDB lists it as "Evil Angels" with "A Cry in the Dark" as an alternate title. Dissing this writer while getting something wrong about her -- heal thyself.
1
Cultural imperialism much. “Evil Angels” was renamed “A Cry in the Dark” for the American market.
On a related subject, am I the only one who feels that there should be, I don't know, a United Nations resolution or something that BANS American actors from doing foreign accents? Okay---maybe we'll exempt Meryl Streep. But my skin absolutely crawls to hear Americans "do" British: it always comes off sounding ridiculously Monty Python-ish. As for 'Australian', only a fool would attempt to wrap their tongue around all those elastic vowel sounds and not come off like an outback rube even crocodiles would pass up.
Hey, you're right about Hugh Jackman. I absolutely adore the guy---and I'm straight. (and props to Mr. Jackman for a sublime turn as a 19th Century Englishman-American in 2001's 'Kate & Leopold' with Meg Ryan. Perhaps the U.N. could resolve that Hugh Jackman can play ANYTHING HE WANTS, thank you).
3
@David Bartlett
"But my skin absolutely crawls to hear Americans 'do' British"
An Englishman I once knew described Dick Van Dyke's speech in "Mary Poppins" as "music-hall Australian."
2
An Aussie told an American to visit the Gradation Road on his visit to Melbourne. When he got there, the American found nobody in Melbourne who had ever heard of the Gradation Road. American visitor finally figured out it was the Great Ocean Road he was seeking. True story.
10
Love this! But accents go both ways - lived in NYC and a visit to the local post office produced anguish and confusion. My friend could not post a parcel without the necessary “melon tape”. We left disheartened and discussed what this item was, looked high and low for it at Staples, asked about its likely provenance in an attempt to find it. By chance, one day we heard it in the mangled vowels - it was mailing tape. True story.
2
The British love to say that Americans can’t do their accents as well. In fact, most people from most places love to say that people from elsewhere can’t do their accents. New flash for this author and people everywhere, people can do your accent, and yes that includes Americans as much as you want to say they can’t. Doing accents is very similar to singing, in that some people can do them, and some people can’t. For some reason, the British and the Australians love to say that no one can do them. Case in point. I was with a British friend and when we were watching the show Luther, he said that Idris Elba’s British accent was “rubbish.” He felt pretty stupid when Google confirmed what I had said, which was that he was British. People can do your accent and yes, plenty of people can’t do it as well. Get over yourselves.
4
LOVE the accent. LOVE the people. LOVE the place. I can hardly wait to visit again!
4
Re Meryl Streep's portrayal of Lindy Chamberlain in the movie "Evil Angels" (released outside of Australia as "A Cry in the Dark") I beg to differ. An Australian friend told me Meryl's accent was "bang on".
1
Australians and their accent are not the object of rapt fascination as they once were here in America. It has been years since I was asked how I learned to speak English so well.
2
You're much easier to understand than the Kiwis. Now THAT is a strong accent.
1
Oy, Mite, "Gas'" and "Gas station," in Oz? How bout petrol, and servo? Comin the tall poppy, are we? How bout speakin with minimal lip movement so as to ingest the minimal number of flies?
Just Sighin,
1
I always found the Australian accident to be annoyingly nasal. And my grandmother’s Australia.
Early in my move from Sydney to New York I purchased a bag of dates at the local supermarket. The lady at the checkout asked me what they were. "They're dites," I replied. "What?" she said. "They're dites," I repeated. "Price check on the dites!" she yelled into the microphone. I've never lost my accent, but I do take care with the letter A :)
2
My favorite 'Stryne word is phrase is "Eckka-Deckka". (That's the band AC/DC in case you didn't know and I wrote it phonetically based upon my hearing of it, so there could certainly be 200 variations on this sound.) G'day!!
As an old Edwardian ladyfriend of mine once said: "One does not have an accent."
1
The film Ms. Streep and Sam Neill
starred in was called "A Cry In The Dark" everywhere except Australia and New Zealand. There it was called "Evil Angels," the title of the book on which it was based.
1
Comedian Jim Jefferies has a great Australian accent, as far as I can tell. He’d be as great as anyone at hawking a bloomin’ onion for Outback, as long as a few we’ll-chosen and particularly appropriate cuss words were allowed.
1
There is a TV channel called MeTV which shows reruns of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson every night at 10:30. A couple weeks ago two of the guests happened to be Sean Connery and Michael Cain. They discussed the difficulties they had early in their careers-- as late as the late 50s/early 60s-- finding work in Britain as actors because of their regional accents when Oxford/BBC English was the requirement. As for me I love to hear any English accent spoken except for a few from the American South and more recently a particular speaker from Queens. After hearing two or three words spew from his gullet I will be diving for the remote.
I am of the American Midlands folk myself and therefore apparently have no discernible accent. But of all the dialects of all the English speakers in the world there are none I'd rather listen to than the lilting brogue of a Scot or Irishman, then an Aussie and finally an English speaking Afrikaner. But as I said, I love to hear them all save from those regions so associated with white racism and general backwardness, exceptions being some speakers from Virginia/Piedmont, Georgia a la Jimmy Carter, and that Louisiana Cajun I guarantee.
2
The Aussie accent is god-awful, it hurts the ears to hear it. Keep it down under! :)
2
...said the guy from Jersey
7
Taking a trip back in time on the accents front: what's with the wildly different accents of the Von Trapp children in the beloved musical "The Sound of Music"?
The plot tells us they are in the same family, living under the same roof. How did their wide range of UK, British and German accents not get noticed by the producers/continuity team?
2
My family is Scots on one side and Brooklyn/Long Island on the other. It makes my ears bleed when anyone tries to fake either of them. It's just wrong because there's never one confluent accent in a region. Even small places like Long Island can be broken down into regional differences. North shore is different from the South shore and Riverhead is VERY different from Massapequa, etc. Glasgow is very different from Edinburgh and the cities are less than 30 miles from one another! There's just some accents or dialects you have to be born and raised listening to and Aussie is one of them.
1
I love the Australian accent so much that I have set my Siri to speak in an Australian male voice. I agree that most of the American actors we hear do not do a very good job with the Australian accent although the Aussies are excellent at sounding American for the most part.
3
I am an Australian who has lived in the US for 25 years (dual citizen) and still use my accent to advantage in business - as an icebreaker, or to charm a gate-keeper.
Also, Australian actors manage to pull of an authentic American accent, I believe, because we grow up watching US TV and movies. American actors don’t have that advantage when imitating Australians.
2
Look, I had a hard time with the accent in “Bodyguard” (UK), had watch the whole thing with subtitles. I’d like to give an Australian series a listen. Any suggestions?
(I’ve always thought of the Australian accent as friendly and upbeat.)
2
Rake! It stars Richard Roxburgh as a lawyer in Sydney and it's brilliant.
4
Try “A Place to Call Home”. Takes place in Australia after WWII.
1
@Pezley I second that! The language use in Rake is brilliant. Three seasons now. Hope they produce more.
1
All joking aside, my job involved frequent and sometimes lengthy stays in Australia -- Sydney mostly. It was not long before I ceased to hear Australian English as much different from US English. The exaggerated colloquialism, played up in TV characterizations, rarely was heard -- just as "the deep south drawl" and the 'Hollywood Brooklyn" accent are rarely heard any more hear.
It often seemed almost unreal (except for the reverse seasons) that the shores of Hawaii and California were actually so far away when in Australia. Being in Australia was much like being in neighboring Canada. A seperate country, very definitely and properly, but family, so to speak.
1
Lived in Brisbane three years and love the accent. Can't imitate it but if you live with Strayans for a while it becomes a pretty heartening sound. Good people.
You have to let people lampoon it though. It's the last available PC accent. Australians are (mostly) good natured, white, successful, established. The culture is similar enough that it's not super insensitive to joke about the accent. (See how a bad Asian accent comes off at a dinner party; 15 years ago considered good fun, now off limits, and rightly so.)
Everybody I know wants to visit Australia. Don't feel bad when people butcher the accent. It's an artifact of love.
2
Yes the Australians have an interesting accent. I'm not a huge fan of accent discussions. I never had much trouble understanding Australians when I met them in Europe while traveling as a student. But weren't they fun! Loud, funny, quick wits, so much fun! I never met a shy Australian, but they were down to earth, friendly, and an absolute pleasure.
8
I traveled with several Australians when hitching through Europe. God, they were fun. And the only people I met who could drink anyone under the table.
3
Jules! Just wanted to say I've always loved the accent, and had no trouble understanding it. Don't people realize there are Scottish folks going about trying to make themselves understood in English?
2
Julia Baird does not mention the old classification of Australian accents into Broad, General and Cultivated variants, which (so they say) do not necessarily or always correlate with class or even geographical origin, which may be something of a myth. The mock or stage Strine cringingly imitated by non-Australian speakers is a kind of pastiche of Broad Australian often with a few outdated words like 'cobber' or something similar thrown in. I learnt to speak General Australian as a migrant kid in Brisbane in the '50s and '60s but I've found that I have to tone even that down in some places where people speak English just to be understood. Important elements of Australian speech that go hand in with its accent(s) are its brevity, trenchant expressions and verbal economy, not to mention the skill of putting the bon mot in the right place. There's more to Strine than just the accent.
9
I’ve been a geography, history, language, dialect, and accent nerd since I was a little girl. What sparked that fascination or the impetus for it was being a military brat, thus I had to be well versed in a plethora of languages and truly listen to people. Plus, I’m a voice-acting geek too, sooo...my passion for the human voice has always been a constant.
Best immersive experience was studying abroad in the Pacific, New Zealand to be precise, but taking flights back and forth to Australia were crucial to really really hearing the particulars of the accent and dialects across the continent of AU versus the islands of NZ. Furthermore, the men and women speak and enunciate differently in AU and NZ. Slight detail for some, but noticeable if you truly listen. Plus, the Aborigines and Maori have their own unique sound, verbal, and vocal inflections/ differences to the white persons that speak “English” in AU and NZ.
I do and I don’t know why people are so univested in learning about the globe and all of its unique nuances and idiosyncrasies. Languages are amazing! Accents are amazing! Learning about how the mouth, tongue, and jaw operate differently to form cultures and nations is not only fun, but educational.
16
@Danielle: strangely enough, while the differences between AUS and NZ accents may seem small to you (and to many that are not from that hemisphere), to the natives they are completely different. It all depends on how familiar you are with a particular accent.
1
@Andrew I hope I didn’t imply that to native speakers the accents didn’t sound different. I only spoke of the little nuances of inflection, enunciation, etcetera that the women and the men use when speaking.
I know that in general men and women speak differently globally. This is due in part to: socialization especially in regards to sex/gender, class, race, ethnicity, and culture.
I spent 3 months in Australia (North Ryde, Sydney) in 1991. Loved the accent, as do most Americans. No matter how hard I tried, never managed to pronounce "mate" properly. No ear, I guess.
But its not just words. There is a rhythm to the speech different from America, and there is an upward inflection at the end of many sentences, similar to but not identical to Canada. Without those two elements, no matter how well you say the words, it won't sound authentic.
As an aside, you can often identify a Native American by their speech patterns, too. Considering the diversity of NA languages and language roots, its curious how widespread and similar those patterns are.
4
My mother was born and raised in Australia before immigrating to the US with my grandparents and one of my uncles as a teenager, while another uncle remained in Australia working on his university degree. My mother and my US-transplant uncle have both softened their accents over the years - my mother is almost always id'd as British, rather than Australian, by Americans - while my Australian-remaining uncle retains the full Aussie flavor. I only picked up a few traces of the accent, mostly when I'm swearing (thanks Mom!).
When I was a kid, my family made the long flight back to my mother's hometown, Sydney, where she was dismayed to be clocked as American by all the cab drivers and hotel receptionists she met. The immigrant's dilemma: marked as an outsider by your accent, wherever you are.
7
I wasn't crazy about Nicole Kidman and Jude Law in the movie Cold Mountain--wrong Southern accent. Not all foreigners can do our regional accents well.
11
@Dismal
Renee Zellweger, however, nailed it and I grew up in Western NC.
@Dismal
Our Nic may identify as an Aussie. But, I think she was born in the 50th state.
Speaking as an Aussie, the best imitation Australian accent I've come across is British actor Dev Patel in 'Lion'. He nailed it.
12
Typical sexism from the male professor and boring classism from the British. Men alone did not determine the accent of all Australians, we are not plagued by flies anymore than any other temperate to tropical climate, we are not a lazy people by nature, and in reality, very few of us are descended from convicts, most of us, the vast majority, are descended from the hopefuls who left their homeland, a desperate brave act, to create a new life in a developing society that offered them respect, wealth, hope and democratic rights. The upper class anger at losing the artisans and help, which forced their hand in offering humane working conditions and pay to what they considered to be their lower classes, has never acted abated.
However the Australian accent, fairly uniform the country over, is very much a combination of all working peoples English and Irish accents, but mostly inner London.
4
@Annie There’s a lot of Cockney influence from inner/East End of London, south western England & Ireland I believe. I agree with your other comments especially re the convict associations. My family traces back to early 1800s with not one convict ancestor.
Lot of great Australian actors can pick up our generic American
accents, but i'm baffled why we can' do theirs. They've also done well recreating our American invention, Rock an Roll. ACDC, INXS, Midnight Oil, The Church, just to name a few and they don't sing in an Australian accent.
3
@cbarber
Probably because Aussies grew up hearing American accent via films and TV.
1
Like most places, there are differences between accents in urban and rural areas and in social classes within Australia. When people try to imitate an Australian accent they trend towards the broader end of the spectrum, which makes it even that much more cringe-worthy unfortunately.
I take exception to two things: I actually think Kylie still sounds Australian, maybe a little Euro-Aussie, but still clearly Aussie; and like others, it's petrol from the servo, not gas.
2
The current streaming of TV shows and films has been an education in international cultures and accents, and there are many from Australia. The people in the Australian productions really stand out due to talent, boldness, humor and warmth. We watch a British comedy and sit there stone-faced, while an Australian show cracks us up. Many dramas are heart touching.
Admittedly, closed captions are greatly appreciated.
7
@JLC-AZ South This American watched all 6 seasons of "A Place to Call Home" on Acorn TV and did not have a problem understanding native Australians.
1
My Siri is set to Australian male. Maybe it’s not authentic, but it makes me drool every time I hear it. Take that however you like. At my age it is all about me.
30
Mine, too. “Regular” (female) Siri says my name suh-zee and Oz Siri says it correctly. Go figure. Whatever I enjoy “using” him every single time. And I call him Sir E.
1
I lived in Canberra (“Canbra” NOT “Kan-bear-a”) for two years. When Americans would come visit they’d ask “What’s with the Australian accent?” I had no idea I was picking it up. Happened to my wife as well.
6
there has never been a better time to favorably compare Australia's use of the Queen's English and America's use of the President's lexicon.
9
Australia has many beautiful women - all named Shelia. That is Aussie shorthand for a young lady, I came to Australia - south Asia - to scuba dive. The first thing that impressed me is the young Shelia telling me - nobody locks their doors down here. I took the key anyway. While walking about town I noticed parked car doors had their windows down. Saw a small Aussie bar and went in and had a beer. Apparently Lee Marvin was one regular customer and somebody would yell something and all in the place would lie down on the floor and shake their legs in the air with enthusiasm.
Went aboard a 55' sailboat built by Barbara and Peter Wright - whose parents lost their lives in Rhodesia during their war of independence. While sailing out to our dive site - I caught a King Mackeral. Peter took charge immediately and brought this 6+ foot fish aboard and immediately slashed it's throat. He later showed me the scars on his chest - he said that was what a cousin of his did to me. Peter and Barbara then only ate the steaks intended for us. Barbara even prepared a salad made of the fish.
I noticed a 10' or so shark with very large fins and a unusual dorsal fin. That fin had a lot of white on it and the shark was clearly coming for me. Not to worry the German owners said - they eat shell fish. Well at home I learned these sharks ate over 500 sailors on the USS Indianapolis. Jacques Costeau said it was the most dangerous shark in the world!
5
Yeah, well, have you ever heard Mr. Jackman’s imitation of an American accent? Not bad, but ....
3
@GARY nyc This time, in The Front Runner, he managed to get a perfect American accent.
surely Ms Baird meant "petrol" (not gas) and "servo" (not gas station)?
6
How can I possibly pull off a real Australian accent? I can hear the word "phone" a million times and seriously not know what sounds are involved. (Is it FuOiN?)
4
My favorite accent of all time -ok so not an aussie but a kiwi- has to be Murray from Flight of the Conchords. Absolutely epic. Can still hear him taking roll call " ok guys band meeting. Bret present. Jermaine present..... Murray present"
8
I wonder if there is any German influence in our accent? South Australia was a free settler colony and attracted many Germans. I was surprised to discover that my grandaughter's beautiful name Adelaide (also the name of the SA capital after the British (but German) Queen Adelaide) is from the German Adelheid. If you say that in German, it sounds just like a very broad Aussie accent. "Adel -eyed"
9
I concur with Winston Churchill. To my ears it is the most unappealing accent. In the 1980's it seemed every rock radio station had to have at least one Australian (I will not stoop to call them "Aussies") DJ. The fact that it cannot be duplicated by outsiders gives me some small comfort.
7
When we visited Sydney a little more than a decade ago, we attended a production of Mozart's Magic Flute in the Opera House. The entire cast performed in classic costume, virtuosic voice, and impeccable German except for the performer cast as the folksy Papageno. Attired as a dusty Outback ranch-hand, he swaggered about with beer cans dangling from his waist and interjected brief but outrageous commentary in exaggerated Down Under English. It provided a jarring and distressing contrast to the Mozart's lyrical arias. (What would Joan Sutherland have thought?)
Nonetheless, we left Australia convinced that we had met the world's friendliest and most generous people. I'd love to return.
8
There are several Australian accents. The trouble is they don't seem to be strictly regional, like Great Britain. I can hear differences between many people from country Victoria and many from Melbourne. People who went to private schools can sound less Aussie. Then there is one that sounds like people talking with a mouth full of marbles, that I find nearly impossible to understand. Usually just nod my head.
4
I am currently listening to an audiobook that is an Australian novel read by an Australian woman. The book has a character in it from Texas. Although I am enjoying the narrator‘s reading, her version of a Texas accent is, well, not that accurate. So I guess it can go both ways. Oh, and I cannot copy the Australian “no” for the life of me.
4
It’s not just the Australian accent people have trouble replicating. Texans cringe when non-Texans try to speak the way we do. We can spot them a mile off. We have many different dialects in our state—something that seems lost on Hollywood.
7
Mock? No! I love the Australian accent.
8
Yup. As an American living in Australia, I have noticed how mangled the accent is on TV/Movies etc. When Aussies speak, it is not as harsh sounding as an American accent. And some of the expressions kill me :)
1
I changed my Siri to a male Aussie voice. Couldn’t be happier.
5
evil angels wasn't the title of the dingo bay bee movie in north America.
my best friend is from Melbourne and I had a girl friend from wagga wagga (i'm canadian).
I once read a piece about aussie accents and decided to test it.
I had a100% success rate.
I asked if the person had an 'egg nishna'; most people said yes.
I laughed. they asked me why.
I said, 'I asked if you had an egg nishna and you said yes'.....
that's strine for air conditioner.....
8
As a Kiwi my first thought was why anyone would want to imitate an Aussie? But I'll give them this, rugby success might elude them but look, they were very successful with "virgin wool", once they taught the sheep to say no mate, just no.
11
Don't let pompous twits like Winston Churchill fool you. People who study these things know that the whole idea that the English spoken in the UK is more pure or more connected to its origins than the Australian or American varieties is pure nonsense.
The surprising fact is that it's more accurate to say that present day speech in the UK, the US, and Australia (among other variations) share a common ancestor, namely the English spoken in the days when people began to leave the British Isles for the Americas and Australia. However, the current day UK variety is no closer to this original than the American or Australian varieties are.
In many ways in fact, English as spoken in the US sounds closer to the way Shakespeare and his actors sounded. Scholars can deduce what Shakespeare's plays sounded like when first performed, and when they've done performances based on this research, the voices sound nothing like the round accents of the current day UK, they sound in fact vaguely American or some combination of that and a Yorkshire accent perhaps.
I've heard all kinds of arguments from people in the UK outraged by this idea and trying to refute it, but they all seem fairly ridiculous. If someone wants to claim that they're standing on the same soil where English was first spoken therefore whatever version of it they speak now is more "correct", this is like an Italian telling the French that they're speaking bad Latin. Neither party is speaking the accent of origin.
8
@Jeo The only language that doesn't change is a dead one like Latin. The continuing success of English results from its tolerance of accents, idioms and new or borrowed words that are useful.
4
@jeo: I think Shakespearean English makes most sense when spoken with a Scottish accent. Other accents don’t pronounce the first ‘h’ in ‘wh’ in ‘which’.
The closest UK accent to standard American is probably West Country - one of the British rhotic accents.
For those of you in America who haven't heard the writer Julia Baird speak, hers is what I'd call an 'educated' Sydney North Shore one, an Australian accent most prevalent on our public broadcaster the ABC, be it TV or radio.
While Hugh Jackman sounds closer to the average Aussie like Rachel Griffiths does, this cannot be said of Chris Hemsworth or Cate Blanchett who both have accents similar to Julia.
To truly confuse you non-Australians out there though, there are more Aussie accents beyond the stereotypes you may already know. The Southern European/Middle Eastern as spoken by Eric Bana in his earlier days of Poida, having a Croatian background or Akmal Saleh of Egyptian heritage.
Then you have Asian influences from Vietnam like Anh Do or Chinese like Ronny Chieng. Finally there are the Pacific Islander style of Aaron Fa'aoso & our Indigenous accents like David Gulpilil.
So we do have a bit of variety beyond the stereotypes of Paul Hogan thank God.
12
There are actually different accents within Australia, too. Most people overseas don't realise this, and I note that the vast majority of your reporting comes out of the posh suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne where they speak only one way so your reporters have probably not encountered it, but the differences exist.
Perhaps one day your 'Australia' bureau will realise that Australia doesn't magically fall away at the boundaries of the two biggest eastern states capitals, but honestly I am not holding my breath.
3
What? A whole article and 253 comments so far about the Oz accent, and not one mention of one of its most famous exponents, Dame Edna Everage?
5
Ability and agility to blend in is critical for success. The only way is to lose the accent ASAP. It's the overall quality of the person that counts.
2
I love the Australian accent, but what is remarkable is how Aussie
actors just ours!
1
Interesting article, but the claim for accent exceptionalism is premature (although tempting to most people).
On the topic of origins, I find significant connections with the UK Birmingham and Liverpool accents and the Irish accent, all of have similar tendencies, with the sound placed further back in the mouth.
Everyone thinks their accent is special and distinctive. We are all so much more sensitive to variations from ours. At the other end, so many think that their accent is “neutral” because they have no way of understanding what their accent sounds like to others.
3
In my experience people have trouble with accents because they aren't accustomed to actually listening to what people say. It's a skill I acquired in a multicultural work-place, where my colleagues were from India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, New Zealand, and, of course, Australia. We all communicated in English, but obviously all had different accents. Listening carefully was the key. People who complain that "I can't understand him/her" either don't know how to listen properly, or they're just too lazy to bother trying.
10
Two actors who have pretty much nailed the Australian accent on film - Liev Schrieber (married to an Aussie, I think), in the comedy Mental; and Jason Issacs, in the film Red Dog: True Blue (not sure where he gets his gift). Fair dinkum bloody marvellous.
There should be a special Oscar category for this feat.
5
There is a dialect very close to NYC that is sometimes not recognized and rarely appears on TV. It is the Delaware Valley/Philadelphia accent that is also found in New Jersey south of Perth Amboy. So many words have individual pronunciations e.g., merry Mary marry, sun, son, that imitation is rarely attempted. The pronunciation of final "R"s is growled out unlike other East Coast areas. Supposedly this reflects earlier forms of English c. 1700.
9
No movie has ever got either a Boston or Maine accent right. You keep hoping they’ve got it finally, and then they slip. Credibility of the performance goes right out the window, disbelief is no longer in suspension. A lot has to do with pacing and intonation. Even Matt Damon makes it clear he was raised to speak in an upper class Cambridge manner, by over emphasizing the “ah” in “caaah”.
I was so hopeful for the very fine movie Manchester, but Casey Affleck, once again a Cambridge boy, just could not master the fluent alternation between saying his r’s and not saying them, something most New Englanders do now that we all have TV.
Sometimes i think that speech coaches have a sort of quaint Irish leprechaun attitude toward New England speech. Which, by the way, varies dramatically from place to place.
Personally I find Australian English easy to understand. Maybe there is a connection to New England roots.
12
@Munjoy Fan There is a school of linguistic thought that connects the Boston accent with the Australian accent. The connection is the English spoken by sailors from the Bristol Channel region of West England. A disproportionate number of sailors from the Bristol Channel on ships across the Atlantic and later to Australia carried similar vowel sounds and speech patterns on the world's maritime shipping routes. For example, the famous speed-record clipper, the "Flying Cloud" was constructed in the Charlestown shipyard in Boston and made many trips across the Atlantic and to Australia. Crew? Veterans from the Bristol Channel were certainly among them.
This theory posits Australian English as a hybrid of sailors, convicts and dock workers - the shipping industry which connected the world in the 18th and 19th centuries.
2
@Munjoy Fan
I'm with you. Though Casey Affleck came pretty close. And of course many. BOstonians have multiple linguistic influences.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rLwbzGyC6t4 (A fake trailer for the movie Boston Accent.
1
Great article. Of course, it can't contain every bit of Strine for your readers, but I'd like to add my favourite - avagooweegend
Often said to a fellow Aussie on Friday arvo [that's afternoon]...
7
It's "petrol," not "gas" -- a funny thing to get wrong in the opening paragraph of an op-ed piece about Australian English.
10
Think that was deliberate. But I get your point.
2
G'donya Skippy.....
3
The interwebs say Ms. Baird was born in 1967 and Hugh Jackman in 1968. If correct, that makes her the older woman chasing him.
4
And we Americans are tired of everyone else thinking they know what an American accent is. That lousy whitebred-Buffy and Biff country club accent. Or the classic Brooklynese. "Hey! Whadabout dat!?"
Sorry, have never heard anyone but a trained voice actor, correctly mimic that one.
Things is - we have hundreds of them, and most non-native speakers cant do mot of them justice.
Put that on the barbi, mate!
1
That’s universal mate.
Use your noggin.
1
Yeah, nah, Jules, mate: no one north of the Tweed has ever said 'fee-yu-cha' - that must be some weird southern accent.
3
Rule 1 for speaking Aussie: every sentence must terminate in upspeak. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
4
Those readers wishing to decipher and/or speak Low Australian should consult "Nose Tone Unturned" and its companion volume "Let Stalk Strine" by Afferbeck Lauder.
6
"Spice Inviters" = How to say "Space Invaders" in Aussie.
7
I think you're getting us mixed up with our Kiwi friends now, who interchange vowels at a whim - like six, sex and sux.
3
@GregTo be fair, they are different words.
Fair suck of the sav, who cares how we speak and as for mangling the mother tongue nothing funnier than watching a program with English speakers with subtitles just in case you don't get it. Welsh and certain Yank accents come immediately to mind
2
What comes out of a conversation between two drunk guys, one from N.E. New Jersey and the other from Australia? Nothing.
It seems it's OK for a woman to say or write a man is "impossibly hot" but if a man says or write similarly about a woman, all hell breaks loose.
4
feesh and cheeps!
1
Strooth Mite!
2
An audible version of the submitted comments would be AWESOME!!
9
Re Meryl Streep’s iffy Australian accent depicting Lindy Chamberlain, perhaps someone should have mentioned her character was a New Zealander.
9
I am not a Churchill fan but as far as Australian accent I agree with him whole heartedly
2
1) I have often been impressed with how well Australian actors do American accents- you are saying it doesn't work so well the other way? I wonder why that would be.
2) I must say I like Richard Roxburgh's accent in "Rake." Do you view him as a sell-out like some of the others you mention?
1
This discussion reminds me of a joke related by my Indian friends, apparently popular in India:
An Australian says to an American - "To you, a bison is a wild animal. To me, it's where I wash my hands".
14
@MJ Many visitors to Sydney in Australia think that the Sydney accent is universal to Australia.
There, Peter becomes "Poider", and as you say, "basin" becomes "bison". Others commenters have noted the substitution of "to die" for "today" and a crazy way of saying "no".
Another quirk of Sydneysiders is to add additional syllables to words, such as "know-wen" rather than "known", "schoo-well" for "school"
5
My favorite import from Oz? Richard Roxburgh in 'Rake'. Hilarious, irreverent, and biting, it depicts the adventures and misadventures of a dissipated but glib and articulate Sidney barrister. Famous Aussie actors frequently put in an appearance, obviously because it's fun. Check it out!!
7
The Australian pronunciation of "no" is epic, cycling through multiple vowel sounds in an almost multi-syllabic slur: Nah-oh-ooh-ee
5
A question for our Australian friends - was Robert Downey Jr's accent in Tropic Thunder accurate? He was an American playing an Aussie actor playing and American.
2
@David not even within cooee of a recognisable Aussie accent. However, it's not as cringeworthy as the final scene in 'Point Break' where the 'Australian' cop yells, "You let him go" to Keanu Reeves.
1
David, heard worse to be honest. A passable performance.
Julia. Maaaaaaaaate! If it's bad imitations you're looking for, get your average Aussie to do a Kiwi accent. Or "eccent" as we say on this side of the deetch.
5
Beast for best-so in Oz if you say you're the beast it is a compliment and not an insult
I think that this article is testament to the cultural cringe that exists in Australia amongst those who want to appear more intelligent and of a better class than the rest of us. I think that this cringe probably stems from our isolation from the rest of the world before mass communication and our uncertainty of our place in the world.
I personally am irked by the monotone and slow American accents which appear to have many similarities with the Irish accent. I much prefer the lively and colourful English accents and Irish as spoken by the Irish.
The Australian culture has been subsumed by American culture and more and more we speak in a language I call "American sitcom language". Many Australians are starting to adopt the dumbed-down grammar and spelling of the US and the substitution of concise language for vague American slang. But thankfully we still have our own accent.
2
Anytime a culture forgoes normality to adopt "the cool" of what they think to be another culture, they kill off another piece of that which makes the rest of us appreciate what we learn when we travel to their foreign lands.
Sorry, as annoying as theybcan be at times, I like the French, the Belgian, the Dutch, the Italians, the Swiss, the Germans, the
Spanish, the Irish, and all of the other peoples of this world.
It is both fun and enlightening to find out how they deal with the lives that all of us have to live...the food, the entertainment, the history, the knowledge, the families, the character of the people, and the generous efforts of strangers when they see you trying hard but struggling to enjoy what their societies have to offer.
Some of our most wonderful times abroad have been spent in the bistros and pubs, churches,and shops,even the museums and galleries off the tourist tracks where The people live their lives. Good food and good conversations always conquer language culture, and even racial barriers if one only tries.
4
The Australian is the only person who came home 'to-die' and you won't be allowed to bury him!
9
On the other hand --
I am always fascinated by foreign actors who are so good at speaking with an American accent -- especially those from Australia - such as Errol Flynn, Rod Taylor and Anthony LaPaglia -- and it's always fun when you can hear a little bit of their Australian accents creep into their dialogues --
Turner Classic Movies recently added a couple of new on-camera hosts - one of whom is Alicia Malone - who has the Australian accent everyone wishes they could imitate --
Also --
My wife is from one of the Caribbean countries which was under the British Crown until a few decades ago and - as such - was educated under the classic British School system --
On more than one occasion - she has had trouble understanding my speech (that of a native New Yorker) - and said to me in exasperation --
"I speak English! -- YOU speak Amurcan!" ...
5
Ahh...the West Indian lilt to standard, spoken English...Like being immersed in a worm Piña Colada-filled soaking tub surrounded by soft light and a calm, glimmering sea.
1
I'm sure I butcher your accent, but I love doing accents - all accents, because it's fun! Of course I might not try it on a trip to Australia. Sorry to hear that our actors are incapable of conquering your accent. Heath Ledger and Nicole Kidman did just fine playing Americans.
3
Yes, the Austrailian accent is deceptively difficult for an American. I think the key is to be comfortable with the fact that that much of the time, whole phrases or sentences simply just sound "accentless" to your American ears. You have to be very selective with the sounds that you actually do aussie-fy. Failure to exercise such restraint is usually the most glaring error people make when trying to do the impression.
1
I think my American accent is boring. If we're going to be silly, how authentic is the accent in Outback Steakhouse commercials? Was Steve Irwin's okay?
In 6th grade, I lived in rural Georgia and couldn't understand some of the oldtimers. Once, I watched Scottish citizens being interviewed about a terrorist incident in their country and had difficulty deciphering them.
Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
3
When I order cider in the USA, I got served a soda!
4
LOVE these comments, because NO ONE, especially not ANY actors, can manage to sound convincing as a CAJUN !!
As with Oz-Speak, the Cajun accent is relaxed, and it's EASY to overdo it !!
Justin Wilson did NOT speak like ANY Cajun spoke, yet he built an entire comedy & PBS Cooking career on his false Cajun accent !!
We Cajuns are SO relaxed about our accent, we just don't care, & in fact, find it hilarious when others try to copy our Beautiful Cajun-English we speak softly & naturally.
7
I fully understand this funny, brilliant piece.
My accent, comes on really strong when angry or when I'm rushing to say what's on my mind. Not that I would ever pass for "native", but most times people have a hard time guessing where I come from. (A spanish-speaking country, if you must know).
I hope I never lose my accent. It's me, it's who who I am, mistakes, mispronunciations, and all.
(but, I'd dare any native-born to a game of meaning of words, and old-fashioned grammar).
3
@c,
Uruguay?
1
@Miss Ley
nope.
further south and west of Uruguay
:-)
I've just been watching season 5 of 'Rake' on Netflix, so this piece is timely. No fake accents there. One hopes you have better politicians than those portrayed, esp. Cleaver Greene.
1
I think “Rake” has many many worse politicians than Cleaver!
1
Admit it... this very common argument is never really about the quality of the impersonation as much as it is about the audacity of the person to dare to impersonate them to begin with.
The argument is always "they can't do it", regardless of the nationality that's being impressed, when it's really veiled "they shouldn't do it".
2
Trust me, I feel the same way when Australian actors try to do Southern accents, only to sound like Foghorn Leghorn, yet for some reason Hollywood is in love with hiring them to do so.
2
I wish actors would stop even attempting the Boston accent if they are not from eastern Mass. It is painful to listen to.
3
What do you think of Liev Schreiber's accent. In the 2012 film, "Mental". Better than most, I thought.
1
I learned early that Americans immediately made judgments based on my slight accent - slow, stupid, uneducated - and now-a-days the prejudice is unbelievable. During college, while working in radio, I was "educated" out of my southern accent.
One of my favorite scenes in Disney's The Kid is Bruce Willis' character advising a news anchor new to LA that "you're Y'all is your trademark!"
Today I take pride in my father's Tennessee heritage. He used to admonish folks frequently with "I'm not a hillbilly, I'm a hill william!"
3
Not to be picking nits, but wasn't the Lindy Chamberlain portrayed by Meryl Streep a Kiwi and not an Aussie?
Despite spending most of her life in Australia, Chamberlain was New Zealand born and raised by New Zealander parents.
Possibly not the purest Australian accent to test Meryl Streep against.
5
The Aussie accent is like the Boston accent...really, really hard to get right.
6
Just guessing, but I imagine the part which Americans and Britons fail to get is the part that’s neither vowel nor consonant: the lilt. It’s beautiful.
As a native Alabamian whose parents had deeply Southern accents, I somehow escaped having one of my own. Instead, I am told all the time that "you don't sound Southern!" But invariably this comes from people who expect me to speak like Jeff Sessions or Minnie Pearl.
Half of the "way we talk" is in the ear of the listener.
1
Right their with you. Born and raised in the South (FL & VA). I moved to the PNW over 6 years ago. People time and time again after telling them I am from the South, they reply, "oh yeah? But where in California born and how old were you when your family moved East?" This has played out hundreds of time in my 6 years in the beautiful PNW.
Pertinent to the article, I found it largely sad. It's sad that people anywhere have to "change" who they are to get that job. Even more so is the apparently common disconnect, even barrier to their past and Homeland. I have always found accents as something of beauty. I am aware however around the world, accents can be a barrier and source discrimination. When we celebrate our difference, we are a better people around the globe.
1
I’m an American who lived in Sydney for several years as a kid. When I came back to the States, my friends could barely understand me! Funny, though, I don’t recall having difficulty understanding my Aussie (and one Kiwi) neighbors at all. Though my accent has since returned to its native Pittsburgh, and I’m aware that my attempts at an Aussie accent are poor...my American friends honestly can’t tell the difference. I also seemed to have introduced them to several Australian idioms that I never managed to lose. Perhaps the Australian accent simply defies definition.
2
My family moved from Newcastle, Australia to Edmonton, Canada in 1979, when I was a child. Shortly afterwards, my new teacher put me into speech therapy to erase my Australian accent.
Although I don't remember this part, my sister once heard over the school intercom "would the Australian boy please return to the principal's office." I did not like the speech therapy.
Occasionally little bits of my former Hunter Valley accent return, but these episodes are fewer and further between nowadays.
My most over-heard Aussie accent joke is one my friend's father would say every opportunity he could, when introducing me to people. "Everybody, this is Ryan. You know, as in precipitation!"
8
There was a great series on the evolution of the English language - oral as well as written - that ran on PBS back in the early '70s. One of the episodes was devoted to Australia and the growth of the language from the penal colony days. Highly recommend the series for those interested in why we may speak the same words but can't manage to understand each other so often.
4
@Paladin Yes! "The Story of English"
2
Easy, the answer is: demand.
There's so little demand for an Australian accent that cannot be met by Australian actors lounging around on Sunset Blvd, no non-Australian really tries to perfect the Australian accent; particularly the Queensland variety.
Now, as for a New Zealand accent... whomever perfects that would really hit a six.
6
And why in the world would anyone want to affect an Australian accent? To this American’s ears it was novel at first, then affected-sounding, and soon, tiresome. I worked with, or in proximity to, Australians for 20+ years and I have visited Australia. Did I mention that they drink too much?
3
There's the other thing about the accent. It can be great fun. An old, dear, friend from Sydney loved to tell the one about the "Yank" visiting down there and being hit by a car (he looked the wrong way while crossing the street).
He woke up in a Hospital Operating room, filled with doctors in white coats. "Did I come here to die?" he asked one of them. "No maaaate, you came here Yesterdie."
347
That’s an old joke... usually a recent arrival at the airport. Immigration officer asks if he came here today (to die)... “no I came here to live”
14
@Brian Reminds me of a saying we have here: if someone says they lost their car keys, the response is "how could you lose your pants?"
16
One of my uncles was British, then moved to Australia as an adult. When he moved to Canada a few years later he sounded 'different' but I couldn't pinpoint what had changed. When a bona fide Australian entered the fold, meaning more exposure to more new relatives, it became clear. Warmth. Australians speak like they're talking just to you.
136
I can do a reasonably good impression of Australian artist Kevin "Bloody" Wilson. What makes some of his bits more interesting is how he'll translate some of the Australian specific terms so that the rest of us will have a clue as to what he's singing about. The various versions into which languages have evolved into from a common source is both fascinating and often simultaneously amusing.
2
I love the Australian accent. It reflects the friendliness and openness of the people of Australia, at least the ones that I've been lucky enough to meet. Good onya.
166
It's not just Australian accents. Americans can't even do American accents. Unless they grew up in the South, few actors can do a really convincing southern accent (or know the difference between, say, North Carolina and Texas dialects).
On the other hand, I'm amazed how good British and Australian actors are at imitating a generic American accent. I was several seasons into "The Wire" before I knew several of the main actors were British!
193
@jrinsc Ah, the giveaway though was Dominic West doing some kind of "Brooklyn" accent. No, he didn't betray his Irish roots but he could NOT master that B'More accent!
Idris Elba as Stringer Bell, OTOH, spoke marvelously. And you're right, I've been impressed by how many Brit or Australian actors speak a pitch perfect American accent, while wondering how many American actors can do the same.
22
@jrinsc, Yeah well same with the Boston accent. Hardly any actors can nail that one correctly or at all.
23
@jrinsc
Welll... some people have a better ear for that sort of thing than others. I knew immediately Dominic West was a Brit and never thought his accent was very convincing.
Brits in general don't do American accents very well. They tend to comically overemphasize American rhoticity. Aussies are much better at it.
7
I grew up in the UK and my cohort adored the bawdy, beer-swilling Australian community that settled around Earls Court in London. Australians held nothing sacred (ecstasy for teenage boys), making fun of royalty, the church, and anything else that carried the slightest waft of class or propriety. Their slang was to die for. Australians have a hundred words for vomit (again, utter joy for teenagers just starting to drink). And the humor of the likes of Barry Humphries was reviled by the polite sensibilities and loved by the rest of us young rebels. The Australian slang for an American is “seppie.” Google it and feast on its brilliant progeny.
4
It’s Seppo (septic tank, yank)
2
@Gerald correction. seppo.
2
@Edmund I had not heard this. Another rhyming slang example: steak and kidney for Sydney.
1
As a transplanted SouthAfrican to NewYork with myriads of family also in Australia, Great Britain, Israel and Canada, al, I can say is that chatting with my Oz relatives is the most enjoyable, aurally, interestingly and laid-back-ally. Don’t change a thing, maaaaaaates!
7
It must be a slow news day in the Southern Hemisphere if this is the best you can come up with.
That said, special attention must be given to the many Australian actors who have not only come to our shores, but have also perfected our native tongue.
Unlike yourself, we not only embrace their prowess -- but take it as a compliment...Mate.
1
Come on mate. The reason we can all do American accents is because, and there is no offense intended here, it’s so simple and phonetically straightforward.
I’m not talking about extreme rural accents.
Please don’t get me wrong-I’m fascinated with language and accents and find them all charming in their own way.
Let’s just all enjoy our differences and revel in the aural kaleidoscope of the modern world. And agree that no-one in cinematic history has butchered any accent like Don Cheadle in Ocean’s 11.
Any poor American or British attempts at Australian accents still beats the pants off my reciprocal efforts any day!
1
You aussies have tripthongs. Good “day” becomes d-ah-ih-ee, but really fast and slurred together. Pick vowel will ya.
4
I just spend the last ten minutes cracking everyone up by reading this piece out loud in my terrible but maybe passably fake accent. Woohlvahreen!
1
Disrespect Aussies???? Are you crazy? I could listen all day...and watch too...Hugh Jackman and Chris (gasp) Hemsworth (plus entire family), half the actors in the Hollywood stratosphere that are not Brits, male and female; Billy Slater, Nicole Kidman, Richard Flanagan, Helen Gardner...did I mention Chris Hemsworth? And there is Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth and, of course Hugh Jackman. And Cathy Freeman. And Chris Hemsworth's wife and family. NOT ENOUGH RESPECT???? I'm doing my best!!! They are all welcome to fill my gas tank.
4
Fact check: 1988 film where the “dingo took my baby” starring Meryl Streep was “A Cry In the Dark.” Unless it was named “Evil Angels” in Australia?
1
@Scot Schy it was evil angels in oz and nz. a cry in the dark everywhere else.
Been to Aussie a number of times and frankly love the sound of the many accents I’ve heard down there. And don’t worry, the award for American actor with the worst British Commonwealth accent still goes to Dick Van Dyke in “Mary Poppins”!
11
@Jim McNeely Oh God yes. And the character is supposed to be a Cockney.
@Jim McNeely
oh man, Dick Van Dyke's faux-Cockney accent is as bad as the "French" accent that Peter Sellers adopts for his character Inspector Clouseau.
As an expat Australian (20 years), when homesick for my native tongue, I get my fix from "Rake" and "Kath & Kim" on Netflix -- a favorite line from the latter that still cracks me up, when Kath says to Kim after giving birth: "I tolja that baby bulge is a bugger to budge."
4
"Evil Angels" was released in the United States as "A Cry In The Dark."
1
Those raised in the American southeast easily sympathize. I have virtually never heard a person raised outside the southeast, especially actors and actresses raised elsewhere, successfully come anywhere near a real Southern dialect. I used to think filmmakers and theaters just didn’t know any real Southern artists. It’s all in the vowels, articulations, metaphors, figures of speech and pitch.
It’s in all of it, actually.
4
When my soon-to-be Aussie husband first came to my home in Kansas City (1986 - Crocodile Dundee time) we went to a Halloween party at a local bar. He dressed as Mick Dundee, including crocodile toothed hat and a 'knife.' When he stood up on stage to be judged he quoted the famous "That's not a knife.... this is a knife" line, the guy behind our table said, "That's the worst Australian accent I've ever heard." True story.
26
This article is just a gripe looking for a foothold. The fact is, most people in most places are pretty bad at accents: understanding other accents, imitating them, even recognizing what they sound like.
This is borne out by the fact that someone like John Oliver (a very funny man) is repeatedly hired to play roles on US TV with a Received Pronunciation UK accent - even though that's not his native speech pattern, and he's not very good at it.
And this is because the main audience - Americans - can barely recognize one or two of the hundreds of regional UK accents: RP (like the Queen) and Cockney (but so, so poorly).
The rare occasions on which British actors have been permitted to use their authentic accents on US TV (Ashley Jensen in "Ugly Betty", Chris Geere on "You're the Worst", David Thewlis in "Big Mouth"...) have been, for this viewer at least, a delightful and invigorating change that increases the authenticity of the characters.
4
I am married to an Australian and she's a country girl with roots to the first fleet and I can barely imitate the accent!
3
@rdfabella
I'm an Aussie who has lived in the US for 37 years. My 4 brothers live in Australia, and when I visit Australia (not often enough) it usually takes me a day or so before my ear becomes attuned to their accent. Until then I can only understand part of what they're saying. So don't be embarrassed.....unless you hear the accent very regularly it's a difficult one.
1
Inflection, Julia. It is also the way a sentence may end on an upward note. When I moved with my family to the USA, admittedly with an American husband, my children gradually, chameleon-like, merged with the local accent here in Middletown, PA. I can understand that they did not want to say "b-ah-sketball" and I did not want to say "tom-ah-to". I even suspect the hero of your story is able to change accents on a whim.
1
I have Aussie friends who can't do an American accent, California friends who can't do a noo yawk accent...but in terms of sheer, pain, no accent is more like a dentist drill than a hahd coah Bahston chowdah accent. Hollywood insists on having actors try that one and it never works...My Boston-born mom hasn't lived in Mass for more than 40 years but she still can still make us wince when it really slips out.
8
Americans can't distinguish between Australian and New Zealand accents. Just like we can't tell the difference between Canadians and northern USA accents. When I was in Lansing,MI, most people understood me but in the shops, someassistants said they couldn't understand anything I said. Many asked if I was from England. I suspect the English would be horrified if they thought they sounded like colonials! I hate the way American movie makes use Australian actors to play a New Zealander. They may not be able to tell the difference but we antipodeans sure can.
5
Jackman is a great actor, but he can't do a Canadian accent to save his life. Could never take him seriously as Wolverine.
It's also the context that American movies and TV shows get so wrong when they use Australian settings. From The Simpsons to Modern Family to Finding Nemo there are glaring inaccuracies and grating anomalies. The Simpsons effort with the outback was forgivable due to it being a satire anyway but in Modern Family's 'down under' episodes (you do know we hate that phrase don't you?) the main "Aussie" character was actually a New Zealander who did an even worse Aussie accent than Elisabeth Moss in Top of The Lake. In Finding Nemo the little girl went to a Sydney dentist who inflicted that bizarre 'only in America' headgear on her after treatment. We have never seen that used here - ever. A whole slew of Aussie kids lived in fear of their next dental check-up! Mind you, I think Aussies are great at doing US accents because we grow up with American TV and movies. The Hemsworths, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Eric Bana, Naomi Watts, Cate Blanchett to name a few. We may appear quaint down here but we're much more worldly and much wider traveled than most Americans. We also actually love to heap praise on any non-Aussie who can really do our accent convincingly! We're waiting :P
4
Love. Love. Love. Wonderful piece. X
2
Try a Maine accent. Kathy Bates’ attempt in Dolores Claiborne gets an A for effort, but most of ‘em are terrible.
4
The issue with Australians is not how they speak but, more often, what they say. The invariably excessive drinking doesn’t help. Essentially, Australia is the boorish frat house of the anglophone world. And most people who “do” the accent get it right enough.
5
@Ralph Boorish frat house indeed, but you're the ones with Trump as president. And any country with the likes of Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court bench better not throw stones about excessive drinking.
And yeah nah, you don't get the accent.
7
Australians consume a little more alcohol per capita than Americans, but while Australians consume mostly wine, Americans consume mostly spirits and beer. Not sure the boorish frat label fits.
They also have the 9th highest life expectancy while the US is ranked 53rd. They must be doing something roight.
3
LOL! I’m British and Canadian. I merely live in the US. I abhor Trump and Kavanaugh, and know full well that both would fit well in either Sydney or Eyre’s land. I know whereof I speak regarding Australians, and the typically boorish comments from them in response to mine prove the point...as will any time spent in Earl’s Court or an Oxford College bar. And yes, Australians are inordinately proud of their drinking and abysmal, easily imitated diction. Admittedly, some few of them have a worthwhile sense of humour.
1
Also, an absolutely charming editorial. Thanks.
1
Stuff that! Much more significant to me is the fact that Julia apparently had a Beetle that ran on LPG - and it was the only fuel the petrol station Hugh worked at supplied. Wow!
2
Kate McKinnon’s Aussie accent is brilliant.
I once asked a New Zealander how to distinguish a New Zealand accent from an Australian accent.
He told me, "When in doubt, always assume the speaker is from New Zealand. New Zealanders hate to be mistaken for Australians, whereas Australians are flattered if you think they're from New Zealand."
24
@Allen Rebchook
Oooooh mate! I hate to disabuse you, but you seem terribly confused. The boot is actually on the other foot. Kiwis are incredibly flattered to be mistaken for Aussies.
2
Yeah, it was a kiwi that told you that, mate. All fun and games though, no harm done. We’re essentially the same people. Brothers in arms at the other end of the world.
They just have a ridiculous accent.
2
@Allen Rebchook
Every Aussie, and Kiwi, knows that the easy way to spot the difference in accents is the Kiwis pronounce a short "i" as if it were a short "e". Hence, one, two three, four, five, sex. This is so common a source of ribbing for Kiwis in Australia that anyone from either country not telling you about it is probably hiding the fact from you deliberately.
I was always fascinated with the subtle differences between the Australian and New Zealand accents, and the similarities between the New Zealand and South African accents.
2
@AJD NZ has a heavier Scottish influence similar to Canada, Australia has more of an Irish influence.
I do think that one of the great misnomers of Australian english is that it is laconic, or spoken in a laid back, slow manner, whereas my experience as an Australian in NY is that we speak comparatively quickly even in the north east, and decidedly so in the south. Or it could just be me.
6
@Matthew:
In 1998 in Nha Trang, Vietnam I met a bunch of young male Aussies in a bar owned by a Portuguese woman. All of them seemed to laugh their way through life. Listening to their jokes with one another took tremendous effort, mostly trying to catch up with their swallowed English.
I'm originally from the tri-state area and their speech patterns were fast and hard to decipher. Quite funny as well, but my comprehension of their talk was always behind.
The Australian actress - Nicole Kidman - can do an American accent like she's from here. Don't know of any American actor/actress who can effectively do an Aussie accent. Julia Baird is on to something.
1
Accents...we all have one. As long as we don't attribute intelligence to certain accents, I think they can be fair game for good-humoured comments! However, I have to admit that I find myself slipping into a global accent when I'm conducting a meeting in the US, otherwise I may not be understood in one take...and there may not be a second chance.
In most cases, though, I have found that having an Aussie accent in the US opens doors. If you think American people are the most hospitable in the world, and I do, they become immediately more hospitable when they know you are from Australia.
6
@Joe
> I find myself slipping into a global accent
What's a global accent? Guessing it's BBC or PBS English?
@AT I assure you it's not meant to be sinister or even as pretentious as it might seem...for me, it's trying to pronounce Ts and Rs so Americans and Brits can understand them, and avoid the "oi" sound when saying words like "right" and "sight", for example.
It can be difficult for me to ask for a glass of water, and so I find myself trying to emulate the American
"war-trrr" in varying degrees across the US. I'm sure it still sounds comical!
You have to remember that when I hear an American say words like "right", I actually hear "raaart"or something similar. Make sense???
1
@Joe I lived in Sydney recently for 5 years and my Aussie girlfriend told a really funny story of her trying to get a glass a water at a restaurant in Orlando back in the 90s, that required pointing at a glass of water on the next table.
I have never had a problem with the Aussie version of english, maybe because I have been going there since 1980. I do wonder if the younger generation will lose some of it because of American media. In fact I did notice her 20 something year old children using American terminology on occasion.
1
I love the sound of the Australian accent. In fact, I think the English language is enriched by all of our various accents, I hope we don't eventually lose them to some homogenized mid-Atlantic TV accent. And I know what you mean about people making generalizations from your accent. I'm a native Louisianan and long-time Texan. Sometimes people in other parts of the U.S. hear our accents and automatically discount us about 20 I.Q. points. Conversely, anyone with a posh BBC accent sounds positively brilliant to Americans. Go figure.
11
I have been in two places where I could not decipher any of the "English" being spoken. One was at a dinner in a Western Australia restaurant with a bunch of locals and the other was a pub in Exmoor, England where the only other patrons were visiting from Birmingham. Strange experiences.
But the best was a chance dinner with a Belgian geologist who not only spoke perfect English as one of many languages but could imitate many of its variations in the United States.
4
At sixteen, our family moved to Baltimore from Larchmont - just north of New York City. The school year had just started, so I had a little difficulty adjusting to the new environment.
Plus, I couldn't, at all, understand Baltimore-ese. And, at school, they could not understand me.
So, before the end of the first week (it was a very small private school), the student body had me sit on a chair set on a table in the lunch room. I was surrounded by 400 guys, and the faculty. Of course I was nervous. I didn't know what was going on; some sort of initiation... so I asked "What?" and they said "Talk!" and I asked "What?" Back and forth we went. The faculty found this amusing, but for the most part, all I could see was the guys slack-jawed and dumbfounded.
3
Our midwestern family lived in Australia for 3 months in 1986, and the speech took some getting used to, but was enchanting. I still have, buried in a box of souvenirs, a local news clipping about how whale songs seem to have accents that vary depending on their native locale. The headline? “Whales Sing Along in Strine.” I think that captures “Australian” better than Strayan, but the reality is somewhere between. Strine a little too un-nuanced, but Strayan a little too drawn out.
It took me a week before I realized I was getting greeted with the famous “G’day!” when I entered a shop, because my midwestern ears weren't hearing it correctly.
We had a great stay and have been in love with Australia ever since.
12
As a native Minnesooootan, I worked hard to erase my "Fargo" accent when I moved to California. I know what it's like to have people ask you to speak as parlor entertainment. ("Say 'taco' again!")
In San Francisco, I had a lovely British neighbor from The Midlands, and I never understood a single word she said.
I find the Australian accent beautiful.
10
Cast people who speak as the character should, pay them for their time and travel, etc.. There must be actors who would like to represent their nation or heritage on stage or in films. Or television.
1
My Australian accent is not very strong so when I lived in New Zealand it could be well into a conversation before they realised there was a "convict" in their midst. At lunch once, a New Zealand woman complimented me (and she meant this seriously), that "you speak very well for an Australian".
32
The writer is under the impression that changing one's accent is a conscious choice, with the aim of somehow attempting to project a sense of superiority. In my case the exact reverse is true - one changes one's accent in order to fit in, and I suspect this is the case for most, if not all of the examples mentioned in the article. I grew up in the eastern suburbs of London, where the local accent was very strong. Having lived overseas (Far East, Australia, Texas) for more than half my life, I have completely lost that accent, and am aware that I adapt my speech slightly to suit the lingua franca of where I live. I believe many people do this, and once read that it is people who have a musical ear who change their accent, whereas those that do not (think many taxi drivers) may be somewhat tone deaf. Adapting vowels slightly to suit the Texas drawl greatly assists local Texans who may not be very familiar with an Australian/British accent, with the result that I am understood first time every time. This is far preferable to me, than hearing comments about my accent every time I open my mouth!
34
@Bob Davis I found when I got here that I had to modify my accent to be understood. Exaggerated Rs probably the biggest thing. Also had to drop lots of colloquialisms for the same reason. Whether i liked it or not, that drifted my accent away from pure Ozzie. But I still get plenty of "I love your accent" comments.
3
@Bob Davis
I agree. I too grew up in a place with a strong local accent--correction ACCENTS--and my family had most of them, but I've lived all over the world and like studying languages. My pronunciation has changed a bit with every place I've lived. I'm not sure how conscious this was.
1
I wouldn't change a thing about the way any of us speak, and I have relatives from Texas that I had a hard time understanding as a child. It's just a reflection of where we happened to learn the language, and a handy way of identifying where we are from. To me, all of the colloquialisms are fascinating, and if we can't poke a little fun at each other along the way, then the world is a much poorer place for it!
16
I can hardly believe an article on the Australian accent was written without mentioning how sentences can sound like questions or a rising pitch as some refer to it. I have googled it before and it is called a "high rising terminal" or Australian question intonation (AQI) - or maybe some other things. It is something I dislike so much (I am very auditory and sound is something I am sensitive to) that if you gave me a free ticket to visit Australia, I'd likely turn it down. In the least, I could never date anyone with that accent. It does also translate to me as feeling insecure, and lack of confidence. I know I am not the only one who thinks this -- plenty on google -- and I am sure Australians are kind, nice, smart people. And when others use that rising tone / question at end of sentence, even if not Australian, I find it as unappealing. Just gives off lack of confidence.
3
@Barb It's just an overhang of being a bastardised Irish accent. No biggie. Plenty of Irish accents still have the HRT feature this very day.... It's just called a lilt.
I'd suggest for you 'Russian tour guide English' - you'd love it!
You're right about the Aussie accent though - ugly as.
2
@Barb I think that is a generational as well as regional thing. I detest the sentence-as-a-question rising tone, but have only noticed it among younger Australians from certain areas. When the young cohort of graduates get together where I work, I am astounded at the difference in intonation in their speech from the rest of us. I agree - it is incredibly annoying!
1
And yet many people feel that Americans are cursed with an unnecessary overconfidence. So perhaps it all evens out.
“Sorry you feel that way”! :)
2
The comments, with few exceptions, are so charming I've recommended almost all of them.
36
My son can do a great Ozzie accent, thanks to a talent for such stuff, about 6 months at Killara High, and exposure to the populace over there. He favors the country accent, not that light one that is taking over in the cities (what fun would that be?).
3
@DKM
I believe it should be just ‘Oz accent’. No-one calls himself an “Ozzie”.
1
American, Australian, English. Who cares as long as you are coherent AND respectful.
21
@DENOTE MORDANT
Be kinda nice to have others be respectful in return. Just saying.
2
It's true, the Americans and Brits are appalling at imitating the Aussie accent. You think you've got it? You don't got it.
Us Newzilders can do it though, and nobody seems to be able to do ours.
10
@Anthony Flack You're right, we Aussies sound totally different. You Kiwis say "where's the car", where we sound more like "where's the car".
1
@Anthony Flack
Isn't the Aussie accent just an evil version of the NZ accent? My only source for this is Flight of the Concords.
2
@Jonathan
Thank you Jonathan, for setting that straight. Good luck finding your cars.
2
While it is popular knowledge that the Inuit have multiple words to describe snow - is it true that Austrians have multiple words for male urination and vomiting?
10
@Milliband Austrians MIGHT.... but yes, Australians certainly do!
3
@Milliband
Point percy at the Porcelain
Shake hands with the wife's best friend
syphon the python
leak
etc.
1
@Milliband. Sadly, yes - I could probably give you ten examples of each.
3
You have my sympathy. I grew up in south Louisiana and Texas. There is nothing more grating than some “feriner” (dialect for foreigner which for me means a native born American from somewhere else than my region) attempting to speak with a Southern or Texas accent. Painful, painful, painful.
5
I lived in NYC for several years and once had to host a dinner of Texan teachers. I whispered to my colleague who organised it: "Tom, i can understand a word they are saying!". He replied, "Neil, don't you think your the problem!"
3
No mention of the Australian way of ending sentences with a questioning inflection as if everything in life is in doubt.
42
@Bello We don't all do it and the ones who do don't do it all the time. Also, everything in life is in doubt. I am not 100% sure that I even exist.
8
@Bello
I think that's more than Aussies - give a listen to UK or even Irish talk...
3
@Bello Isn't everything in doubt?
2
I am 82, with a father born in Scotland, whose father spent over 20 years in the British Army, and who shared at least two battlefields with Winston Churchill in 1898 Sudan. I am a retired Air Force colonel and when I was sent to Vietnam in 1966, I took a collection of Kipling’s poems with me. So ship me somewheres east of Suez.
I was amazed to learn just a few years ago that the nickname “Aussie” is pronounced “Ozzie” as in “Ozzie and Harriet”. I value Ozzie’s as trusted and valiant allies.
27
@JSK how else could it possibly be pronounced? I've heard some Americans say it more like "arsey", but can't think how a pom would say it differently...
2
I used to pronounce Aussie as if it rhymed with flossy.
4
The Aussie accent is nearly as cringeingly bad as Northern Ireland's. Both mangle 'oo' vowels ('two' becomes something like 'toyoio') and both use upspeak.
An anecdote on the radio here a few years ago told of an Australian actor attempting the Dalek voice on "Doctor Who." But instead of a bone-chilling EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!, out came 'Ex-tuh-mee-NAYT? Ex-tuh-mee-NAYT?'
1
@Demetroula Nah, "toyoio" is that fake British accent the article talks about.
1
Take back Rupert Murdoch and we'll stop our bad imitations.
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@RF They won't allow him back unless we surgically remove the U.S. Citizenship we forced him to get so he could own some TV station. The Ozzies never forgave him - they woke up one morning and all of their newspapers were suddenly owned by an American.
7
@RF. No way - Murdoch gave up his Australian citizenship ages ago. He's all yours.
27
@RF Not a bloody chance of that.
11
I heard an Australian comedian joke that when she's abroad she sometimes forgets that she sounds like an 18th century pirate, until she sees the confused faces of those who don't know what she's saying.
31
It's a better world for the courtroom hippy-speak of Dennis Denuto in ' The Castle ' .
9
Ms. Baird, your old boss (the editor) was mistaken when he attributed the quote "We are separated by a common language" to a British statesman. It was playwright George Bernard Shaw who said it.
9
It's only fair. Your real Australian accent is terrible as well.
4
@Doug
I love you, Doug. Brilliant.
1
@Doug His real accent is heavy but not terrible, not like that of certain Americans who express themselves mainly through slang and have a shuffling accent as if they were chewing cats in agony. Impossible for anyone to understand what they say.
1
I have always found the the female version of the Australian accent to be extremely alluring sexually.
3
@No Study Keitha episodes from Flight of the Conchords and it might change your mind...
Nicole Kidman? Cate Blanchett?
I'll always remember the great travel writer Paul Theroux' quoting a New Zealander describing Australians- "Your Aussie is an enimal." Talk about getting no respect. Actually I think there is a special relationship between Americans and Australians, both being the poor relations of the English.
2
If you think our down under accent is bad, wait until you hear our French one!
28
I have been told I have the “thickest” Boston accent people have heard. I am
Constantly repeating myself whenever my wife and I travel. We were in Amsterdam this past April and the Moroccan born taxi driver after about a 10 second conversation said “I think you are from Boston,yes?” I always tell people it is not my fault that they talk funny.
I get where you are coming from but don’t change that accent. It represent where you come from. It’s not your fault everyone else talks funny.
21
I'm from Boston as well and on several occasions, while I was living in other parts of the US, people have thought I was Australian. I do find Australians easy to understand, so maybe there are some similarities. I can not bear to listen to actors speaking in a fake Boston accent; I had to stop watching Mystic River because of Laura Linney's attempt.
7
Lighten up, Juila.
Australians are so bloody precious. The woman in the 'Good Place' actually nailed it. And Australians are too self conscious to realise they sound exactly like her. (Or perhaps don't want to believe it).
I lived in the US for a long time before returning to Oz, and a lot of my friends there could do rousing imitations of my voice. Again, nailed it. Keep going America, don't let this Aussie wet blanket deter you.
11
@EC - if the woman you’re referring to is the actor who plays the neuroscientist at the university, she’s actually British. (Kirby Howell-Baptiste). There’s probably a whole different conversation about how well or poorly Brits, as opposed to Americans, can do an Australian accent.
The cringe-worthy accent in the show was Ted Danson’s, when his character Michael was pretending to be various Aussies.
And for what it’s worth, the show is well aware of just how bad his accent is. If you recall, in one scene Janet actually literally cringes after Michael mangles yet another Australian accent. Then she smiles and tells him, “nailed it!”
1
I come from the midwest and have visited Australia twice for stays of several weeks (once to their East coast and once to their West coast. I love their accent and would rather hear it than any of our American accents or British accents. I even set my smartphone to speak to me with an Australian accent.
5
@Errol I love this - we should have google maps talk to us in Australian "fang it for two clicks then hang a right"
2
@Errol that's what we need - google maps with Australian directions "fang it for two clicks then hang a right..."
There is no "correct" pronunciation of any language, all accents are variations on a theme. Even within a given nation there are variant accents. Depending on the nature of the accent, someone from another accent may have a relatively harder or easier time understanding. The RP version of English heard on the BBC is relatively easy to understand for me, but Cockney and other British accents in movies and film can be challenging. I actually find Australian accents fairly easy to follow, and I've visited 3 times without any difficulty. I find a pronounced Scottish accent among the more difficult to follow, but I speak Southern Californian accented English.
3
I am a transplanted New Yorker and my husband is British. Two lovely accents. I have always thought the Australian accent horrible. Sorry!
3
Was not aware that the Aussie accent was frowned upon. When I hear that sound, I think things like - relaxed, happy, friendly, down to earth, and practical. Can't wait to visit ya'll. I do love the dingo line and drop it into conversation when the opportunity arises!
14
Er, does that opportunity arise often? Where did you say you lived?
1
I’m a born and bred Boston Irish girl and I have cringed through so many awful imitations I almost won’t go to any films about my city in abject terror of the butchering it gets. I feel your pain.
23
As an Aussie living the US for 16 years I can say this: Americans are pretty terrible at differentiating Australian accents from British/Irish/Kiwi. They can tell we're not American but that's about it, although it is improving.
However, having spent time in the UK where the Aussie accent is mostly abhorred and Aussies looked down on (still), it's nice to be in a place where people generally compliment me on my accent instead of wincing.
26
@Sandy
Yep. The real Aussie accent is almost a cross between a Cockney accent and an American southern accent. Nothing at all like a "proper" British accent.
2
@Sandy: but then, unless you have spent some time listening to them, you are probably not much good at distinguishing North American accents. Can you distinguish between a Montanan and a Wisconsin accent (or even a Chicago accent)? Being able to distinguish accents comes with familiarity, and is helped by a good ear, which varies from person to person and is not limited geographically.
1
The Australian accent and the Cockney accent of London have quite a bit of overlap. And that's no surprise if you consider many convicts came from London. Rhyming slang, with its Cockney origins, is much admired in Australia, another clue to linguistic links. Siri hates my Australian accent, even softened by three decades in the United States. But if I do an exaggerated American accent, all my dictated emails are fine.
2
I grew up on farm in Minnesota. The farmers spoke slowly and silence often filled the conversation. It was not uncomfortable since all knew that careful consideration was taking place. It was better to say something with meaning than blabber on in a foolish way. It was commonly thought, and rightfully so, that someone who could not stand silence in a conversation was obviously trying to obfuscate and confuse. Again, that is absolutely correct. Fast talkers are generally liars.
When I went to college, even in the Twin Cities, I had to adjust my way of speaking to be understood. That was not not that difficult. The point is to be understood and have ones ideas considered.
If you want to see an accent butchered, take a look at the movie Fargo. Movies always make a characterization of accents. Another example is the valley girl accent of California. They want to accentuate the difference from other places by overdoing it. It plays better to audiences who are not from that place. People think it is cute.
6
Ms Baird observes the Australian accent with the same incisive eye that she painted such a rich picture of Queen Victoria.
However an alternative explanation to the barely moving lips than the flies or the alcohol, might be the brisk bracing temperature of our early morning Coastal swims - something that all Australians share as a cultural meme
I’m an American who has lived in Australia for 16 years, and I don’t even attempt an Aussie accent. I’m not sure what there is about it that’s so challenging for a seppo (septic tank Yank) lik me, but it’s definitely a thing. Years ago I spent a month in Ireland, and by the end I could produce a Dublin accent that even the locals said was hard to spot as counterfeit. Not so, here.
My Australian wife loves to point out Aussie actors with impreccable American accents (the latest being Sarah Snook in “Succession”) and compare them to Meryl Streep’s “A dingo got my bye-bye” travesty. In defense of my countrymen, I point out that the commercial incentives are much stronger for an Australian actor to play American than the reverse. Still there may be something intrinsic to the Australian accent, the flatness and nasality, that Americans just can’t grasp.
9
I honestly can't recall many instances of anyone I know "mocking" British or Australian accents. In fact, the general consensus usually seems to be that British accents instantly make virtually anyone seem more learned, refined, reasonable, courteous, attractive and/or responsible. If one is extremely predisposed to bias against the British for some reason, they might strain to hear some kind of condescension, but that's rare. And to my ears, it's as if Australians made a tactical decision to keep all the advantages of a British accent, but trade a in a few spoonfuls of perceived refinement for a half-gallon measure of perceived friendliness! There's only one accent that beats them in terms of pure amicability (in my opinion) and that's the Irish lilt.
This says nothing about the character of the person wielding such accents, of course, but the UK/Australian speech patterns always struck as being held in very high esteem. Heck, my phone's Siri is set to an Australian accent because it makes me more tolerant of her insolence and gross insubordination when responding to my voice commands!
22
My business partner moved to Australia and married a local. He has never been happier. He said Americans make fun of me because i am acquiring an accent. The locals know i live here so they give me a break, but I'm that American guy. All kidding aside it's good to hear your buddy cheers mate.
1
I lived as an expat in Asia for many years, and had American friends lament that when their Australian, New Zealand and UK friends all got together and started talking, they couldn't understand a word of the conversation. We all understand each other; it's just Americans who are the eternal outsiders who don't get it.
Nothing has changed there. We all still speak the same language, both literally and metaphorically, and you Seppos still just don't get it.
3
I was once the only Brit in a meeting in London with several visiting Australians and after a while they asked me how long I'd lived in London. I hadn't realised that I was sub-consciously picking up the way they spoke, especially by going up at the end of my sentences and they thought I was an Australian living in London. I definitely wasn't trying to mock them but it was a bit embarrassing!
2
Austrayan accents are best described as the dialect spoken by the British speakers who cannot speak proper English.
1
I speak near enough London cockney. When in America many people seem to think I’m Australian and I believe there is a proven link between the two accents. In New York I met a South African and she claimed the Americans we both knew thought she was English. That really upset me I can tell you!
2
Many years ago I let an Australian lad on a Texas walkabout crash at my place for a month or two. God bless him, every evening, somewhere around his ninth or tenth beer of the night, he'd say the following:
Roit nauw, all me mates a gowing offta wuk at the smeltah, and Oim ait thowsand moils aweigh, having the toim of me loif!
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@Three Bars
Abso ---lutely perfect. I'm not sure if you can pronounce it properly, but the spelling and phonetics you've written are spot on. Bewdy, goodonya.
I moved here from Oz, to find that Mad Max was released with english subtitles - we've come a long way ....
3
@Jacqui Brown That was before Mel Gibson got famous, and they did a dubbed over version. Especially funny, in the light of this conversation, if you consider Mel is from Peekskill, NY.
@Jacqui Brown The lowest ebb in Aussie talk was the dubbing of MadMax
Mock?
No. Not hardly.
Not since Nevil Shute’s ‘On the Beach.’
Americans love and admire Australians.
Sorry, we also love New Zealanders.
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@Wordy Or, as we used to say in my native Maine, “Not haahhdly.”
1
Australian has one of those accents that no one really wants to master. It is too much akin to the accents of our rural south. Close is good enough, spot on is far too much.
@Lee Elliott, I can't think you know the accents of the rural American south if you think they even vaguely approximate an Australian accent.
2
But--but why would we do that?
1
A lot US citizens mock everybody, not just one accent, because they think they're superior, or they imitate their parents who never travelled past twenty miles from home.
When I came across your article my first thought went to Monty Python's satire of Australians who were all named "Bruce", drank Foster's Beer, and wore funny hats. And "no rules".
But my first exposure to Australians was when I read the book, "Blue Water, White Death", by Ron and Valerie Taylor. The Taylors pointed out the racism of South Africa and it's impact on one of that counties citizens who helped with the work off S. Africa while filming the movie of the same name as the book.
I was really impressed by some of the scenes they filmed of Great White Sharks devouring whales which had been harpooned and waited for the factory ship for rendering.
Finally Ron's account of his attempts to prevent a White Pointer from killing his spearfishing partner after it had already attacked the man was particularly riveting.
As a white male of Irish and Dutch heritage I had often thought of moving to Australia, doing abalone aquaculture (which is better regulated and more successful there than here, esp in NZ) and learning to speak your language but the news out of Australia hasn't been too good lately with the pending demise of the Great Barrier Reef and the boom in coal exports, so I guess you're really not that different from us, aren't you?
There is this one beef I have about this guy Murdoch...
7
@lightscientist66 Murdoch's an american now, we want nothing to do with him.
And we're doing our best to stop the coal mining, but the politicians are all in the pocket of the miners, and get cushy jobs when their political careers are over.
Sorry about the Reef, but again, politicians see no value in nature.
3
@lightscientist66 for years my brother and I would imitate Val telling Ron how the shark had her leg during the Val-wears-the-underwater-chainmail-in-the-shark-infested-waters episode: "Ro-on, Ro-on, He's got me leg Ro-on
1
Here in Hawaii, the cable TV station carries surfing, and the commentators are mostly Aussies. We also get a lot of tourists from Australia and New Zealand, and the local campus of Brigham Young University is chock full of Kiwis, since Maori and native Hawaiians share cultural roots. (Your most famous actress, by the way, Nicole Kidman, was born in Hawaii.)
The thing is, we don't care to mimic the accent. Pidgin trouble 'nough.
But you got your chance to name drop Hugh Jackman in this piece, so goodie for you.
3
Prize for the worst Australian accent ever: James Mason in the film "Age of Consent".
C'mon, the Australian accent is easy. You just have to speak constantly in trochaic meter.
@Ambrose I'm sorry. I meant dactyls.
@Ambrose Just like Hungarian.
I would find it difficult to explain the differences between the British and Australian accents, but I know them when I hear them.
Example: What's a bison? It's what an Australian washes their hands and face in.
By the way, Australia got the convicts and America got the puritans. Australia got the better deal.
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@Alan R Brock
Remember that the Carolinas and Georgia were where the UK's convicts went until the American Revolution closed off that destination; only then did Botany Bay become the prison destination for transported felons.
11
@Alan R Brock Nah, that's a BAY-sin.
3
@Alan R Brock that's the kiwi accent not Australian.
2
Only tangentially related, one of my observations is that in the UK on television broadcasts, when the announcers were searching for an emphatic way to express some policy or change that was long past due, they would preface their comparative remarks with "Even in Australia..."-and if that benighted country had managed, surely the Brits could too.
I'm surprised that the author made no mention of the regional variations in Australia proper--at least to my ear there is a range much like in the US.
2
20 years in the States and still hanging on to my Indian accent...whatever that is. Never tried to lose it and never really struggled making myself understood. The head wobble on the other hand is another story : - )
6
Great piece! Lots of fun to read. Back in July there was this good article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/14/opinion/sunday/everyone-has-an-accent.html
I've lived in what could be considered highly accented places in the US -- Wisconsin, New Jersey, Southwest PA (Pittsburgh) and now Tennessee. For the record I can't do Wisconsin or Jersey reliably. My wife, who's from the South, says that as long as I keep it subtle, I can do a passable, generic, Southern accent. And a good Pittsburgh accent is nearly impossible for anyone not born and raised there. A friend of mine, a print and online TV critic of some repute, says that the reason you don't hear Pittsburghese spoken even on shows set in Pgh. is because the accent is so hard to master that it's better just to leave it out.
Now I was born and raised in (way) Upstate New York, which has its own peculiarities. And it's only now, in my 50s, that I'm actually hearing that accent in my own speech.
Everyone has an accent, to be sure. And to my ears Australian is lovely. And just recently I made the acquaintance of an Aussie couple, so I get to hear it regularly.
7
Shelby roit!
(She'll be right)
I lived in Aussie land for a while as a kid, and my siblings and I all came back with accents so strong that a train conductor asked my parents suspiciously why they had Australian kids.
Looking back, the Aussie kids--like kids everywhere--weren't exactly gracious about the way I spoke when we arrived. "Say Nescafe!" In American--NES-ca-fay. In Aussie--nes CAF-ay."
We probably developed Aussie accents faster because it was easier to fit it--and also because kids just pick up things like that faster.
But most of the "imagined" Aussie accents on TV are terrible.
8
@Talbot, same with my son when we moved from Atlanta to Boston. He arrived in July with magnolia blossoms dripping off his tongue, and by Christmas, if he didn’t sound exactly like his pals, there was not a trace of the South in his speech. He needed to be heard.
6
Australians have one of the coolest accents. It's as distinctive as a New Yorker's or Texan's. As a native New Yorker I am instantly recognizable as soon as I open my mouth - and I relish that fact. So should Australians. The fact that no one seems to be able to copy it is the icing on the cake.
44
I've grown up hearing my native accent mocked, maligned, and very poorly imitated by pretty much the entire world in ways that aren't tolerated for any other accent or region. Welcome to the party.
1
@TLibby Yes, same here. (I have heard so many bad attempted Southern accents...)
@Susanna
-Yeah, and personally I think the Brits and the Aussies are the worst at it. They cast a Brit as Hank Williams and he kept constantly losing "his" accent every 5 minutes. And his singing!!......
Thank you. As an Aussie who has been in the US only a couple of years, you've reminded me that there's not actually anything wrong with me when I am constantly asked to repeat myself in meetings and on the phone. But, yep, should probably slow it down.
7
Julia Baird writes: "Maybe part of it is that there’s something deeply laid back about the Australian accent."
This draws on an historic national myth that bears little relation to reality. Anxiety and depression are just as prevalent in Australia as in other industrialised nations.
Australia is highly urbanised and its city-dwellers are just as sensitive to the vicissitudes of a high-pressure existence as elsewhere. However, life outside the cities can be even more stressful - especially for Indigenous Australians - and indicators of social pathology are often higher than in the suburbs.
9
I love all accents. When on vacation in California last year, someone we met insisted I was from Europe. I told him that I was born and raised in Brooklyn. He didn’t believe me. I told him he needed to travel more. When anyone tells me they “love” my accent, I respond with a friendly, “I love yours too.” This almost always causes the other person to insist they don’t have an accent. Fun article. A nice change of pace from the hard news.
69
Back in the 80's I had the joy or otherwise of working for a short time in Birmingham Alabama and I managed to keep the locals amused with my pronunciation of their fair city which they heard as Bummingham and not their preferred Burrrr(pause)Ming(pause)Ham. At the end of the day we all laughed at each other.
BTW I live in Goonellabah (G'nelluhbar) a suburb just to the east of Lismore (Lizzmore) NSW.
13
American actors cannot do Shakespeare. I grew up in Belgium speaking French but, when I travel to France, the French know right away where I come from. And I will never be able to get rid of my accent my I speak English. However, i can do a very good Spanish accent. Go figure.
2
@AV
Is that because we can’t speak Veronese or Venetian Italian? Old English? Scottish Gaelic? Ancient Latin? Medieval Danish?
I have no problem with Britain actors speaking in their native accent when doing Shakespeare, and there should be no problem listening to good actors doing Shakespeare in American English. But it’s preposterous for anyone to use a modern British accent, even for the Histories, because pronunciation has evolved in the past 400 years.
And that goes double for R&J, Merchant, Othello,Lear, Macbeth,Julius Caesar, and Hamlet.
8
@Lawyermom
Perhaps it has to do with the training but there's something unique about good English actors doing Shakespeare. Good American actors try and do a creditable job but they don't quite get it.
@AV I think it has to do with the training, not the accent.
1
Hi Julia, there has been some speculation that the languid Australian accent actually developed as a product of the mixing of colonial (English, Irish etc) and Indigenous speech patterns. This was suggested by Bruce Pascoe in Convincing Ground and I imagine there has been some academic work carried out on the hypothesis.
6
@Craig Johnson I live in an Aboriginal community and I've thought this for years. If you listen to the old people that can still speak language then you will hardly hear any hard consonants or plosives. Despite the fact that the word Koorie is spelt with a hard K up here in Bundjalung country a lot will tend to pronounce it Goorie. However if an elder says it then it's not a hard K or a G but somewhere in between, more of a glottal.
1
@Charley van Rotterdam Very interesting! You can see some artefacts of that in the alternate spellings that have persisted of otherwise familiar places, such as "Gedumbah" instead of "Katoomba". Apparently some colonial authorities tended toward a harder interpretation of the consonant sounds.
Heh. A number of years ago some of us USians were standing on a London street with local hosts and, amongst various other languages, heard something that was teasing at the edge of comprehensibility. We asked the local hosts, and it was Yorkshire English. Still didn't understand it.
7
@AT I travelled to Edinburgh to Newcastle (93 miles by train) in 1962 to an interview to arena Durham University. The Geography Department was located in Newcastle.
As i exited the railway station an elderly man engaged me in conversation about a building that was being constructed opposite. I did not understand anything he said in his Geordie accent despite having an Aunt and cousins born and brought up in Sunderland and Newcastle.
Needless to say I decided to study at the University of Edinburgh.
Umiliviniq
1
@AT I agree about Geordies, first time in northeast of England my Billingham born cousin had to interpret everything her Geordie father-in-law said to me, her Geordie husband I could understand with great difficulty.
@AT: Back in the days before Netflix had closed captioning, I tried to watch the trilogy "Red Riding," which takes place in Yorkshire and simply gave up, even though I'm usually good at understanding other varieties of English.
I ordered the DVDs, which DID have closed captioning and finally figured out what the stories were about.
I'm an expat Aussie/British born living in Hawaii. A lot of people don't understand what I'm saying I have a problem understanding the unique Hawaiian/American accent that the locals have. It makes for some interesting conversations, phone calls and ordering at fast food drive though windows. But that's a tiny price to pay for living in this wonderful community.
17
I have met lots of Australians on my vacations in Europe, and the have all been wonderful. However, I can’t reliably differentiate between Australians and Britons. My apologies, to each party.
9
@Kam Dog
There are a variety of British accents; the closest to the Australian accent would be Cockney, but not very close.
2
When I first moved to the US I would introduce myself as Mark, "Nice to meet you Mack" I quickly learned to emphasise my R's and yes, slow my speech down a bit. I never even came close to losing my accent and was curious how people like Greg Norman almost completely lost his rather quickly. What amazes me is how we don't speak with an American accent now with all of the TV and movies that Australians watch. I shuddered when my daughter recently called lollies "candy" and of course "blokes" was replaced with "guys" many years ago.
30
@Mark Bau, How about them beaut Aussie Sheilas?
1
“God’s of Egypt” starred no Egyptian nor Arab actors. Big budget films need international audiences, so they cast international stars. Since we share a mostly common language, Australian producers should produce films for domestic and international consumption in the English language market.
1
A good example of poor Aussie Speak is the person who does those "Outback Steakhouse" commercials.
If You have access to FOX Soccer Plus, a number of Ausie Rules Football and Rugby h=games are broadcast. Then you can get the real idea of true Aussie accents.
Considering the number of US shows that end up on Australian TV, it is surprising that the population doe snot start talking like Americans.
One this not mentioned, after knowing a few Aussies, like in the US, the Australian accent differs in various parts of the country.
A great fair dinkum article.
14
@Nick Metrowsky Yes the Outback ads have the worst fake accents, not to mention that the food has nothing to do with Australia.
11
I think the character that Meryl Streep played in that film was a New Zealander who moved to Australia so she had to mash up the accents.
34
Exactly. And not only that – New Zealand by way of Mt Isa, specifically. If you've ever heard Lindy Chamberlain speak, you know that Streep nails it.
5
I have a sidebar complaint that some expatriate Australians and British Isle folks, years post living there, continue to “put on” the accents in a much heavier way than they would, I believe, naturally. In my experience the put on is solely to draw attention and often to attract clients. I’m not aware of folks mocking these accents.
I recall my Ireland born mother telling me that the neighbor was putting on her Irish accent, which my mother found quite irritating :-). Probably why I’m sensitive to this idea.
I have a close friend who moved here as an 18 year old 50 years ago. In all the years I’ve known him I don’t know that I ever heard any accent. He can put it on, however, at will - just like my mom could put on the brogue.
That being said, I moved to California in 1973 and people still catch my New York occasionally.
9
@Myles Corcoran
My in-laws immigrated from France to the US in the 1950s. One of them has a faint accent. The other sounds as if having cleared ICE for the first time. The latter also can’t carry a tune.
Some people have an innate ability to adjust their accents, and others do not.
26
@Myles Corcoran you need to avoid saying "coffee", "order" or "camera" in to pass in California. I did for nearly 30 years during which time I was only bust as being from New Jersey when I awded a cawfee.
Oh, and "water". That's the big one, apparently.
2
My elder daughter Jackie (how Australian is that?) does a wonderful Australian accent imitation to mock me (I've been in the US for 31 years, she was born in Melbourne but we moved here when she was 12 weeks old). Her best quip: Australian is the only language in which "no" has 9 syllables - naaoooeeeiiiiooo.
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@Colin
I’ve been trying to imitate only that word for years and have failed miserably. I think there is a nasally “y” in there somewhere.
1
Thank you! The Australian “no” is impossible to imitate. Although you exaggerate — it only has about 7 syllables!!
1
As a bonafide bihemispherical (Aussie and US citizen), I couldn't agree more that most assumed Australian accents are excruciatingly off-key. But to be fair, it's a tough one to master. I've lived here for over 30 years, and I'm still working on a 100% dinkum "g'day." One quibble though - Lindy Chamberlain's accent was actually a Kiwi-Aussie hybrid. (She was born in New Zealand.) So, weird though it sounds, I reckon Streep actually nailed it.
47
I agree - I initially thought that Meryl Streep stuffed our accent up until I heard Lindy Chamberlain speak - she did absolutely nail it! Hardly anyone speaks like that though, so it won't do her much good for any future Aussie movies...
2
Australians are not unique in having an accent difficult to imitate. French Canadians also speak in a way French people from France, Belgium etc can't replicate. In both cases their language and pronunciation evolved separately from the mother country due to distance and a different type of society.
55
@Jean Papillon I speak decent French, though not as good as I used to, and understand a variety of french accents, including Midi, Arabe and Ouest Africain. Quebecois, not so well!
8
@Jean Papillon
Yes. I don't have much French, but can pick up on Québécois after a few words.
2
@Jean Papillon
The same thing happens with the Cajun French language (yes, it is one). No actor has ever been able to pull it off.
1
Wonderful piece about nothing important. Really lifted my spirits. And not a word about Trump.
I rarely have trouble understanding Aussie talk on the Doctor Blake Mysteries. The show reminds me of the several happy visits we have made to Oz, especially the signature bird call that opens it. We have no bird that can imitate that call.
19
Very funny and interesting piece for someone who TRIES to hear the different English accents since that marvellous song Let's call the whole thing off:" You like tomato and I like tomahto"... But English is not the only langage with these problems: French is spoken outside France and we French laugh at the trailing accent of our Belgian and Swiss neighbours. As for the French Canadians, we looooove theirs (sooo cute, and memory of the past), but they get subtitled on French TV! They are not the only ones: people from the French Caribbean get the same treatment. As for regional accents, they were anathema until fairly recently if you wanted to be taken seriously, on TV, acting... But things change -slowly- and I was pleasantly surprised to hear a Southwestern voice in my audioguide in Malta (!). Anyway, thanks... mate.
34
I spent 6 months in Toulouse. Putain con (excuse my French), do I love their accent! Too sad there are no French movies with actors from that region.
2
Spanish too - many years ago I had woman work colleagues from Madrid, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. Much fighting about who spoke the most authentic Spanish.
1
I have always been under the impression that Australians wrote in English, but spoke in another language. An interesting, if not unique, cultural phenomenon.
6
As a transplanted New Yorker who has been living in Australia for the past 20 years, I only try to do an (overly broad) Australian accent to annoy my Brisbane-born wife.
But I have to say that the best fake Australian accent has to go to Julia Louis-Dreyfus in "The Stranded" episode of Seinfeld.
14
@Phillip Thanks for the reference. After just watching a clip of that episode I wonder, has anyone ever shown such (deserved) delight at using an Australian accent?
1
The charms of the Aussie accent are highly gendered. Note the writer's female examples took on a global accent while the men remained true to the vowels.
7
There's something really misguided with this article, especially when referencing "The Good Place". For those that don't watch it, there is a character who is NOT supposed to be Australian who poses as an Australian. In other words, the character's accent is SUPPOSED to sound fake. What kind of country is this where people don't understand a simple joke. BTW, the show also features a Sydney-based Americana restaurant that gives waiting patrons a fake handgun that "goes off" when their table is ready.
2
@Gary We understood the joke fine, thanks! Ted Danson's deliberately poor accent isn't the issue. It's every other Australian character - the university students, shop assistants and most especially Simone (played by a British actress). Those ones aren't supposed to sound fake - in fact, on a podcast about the show, Simone's accent was praised for it's accuracy by Americans!
If anything, the joke about Ted Danson's accent being bad fell flat for me, because it sounded about as poor as all the 'real' ones.
Anyway, it's all in good fun - and recognise it's often Aussies ruining Americans accents - but personally glad they've moved away from Australia for now for this reason!
3
@Gary the writer is probably referring to the Australian female neuroscientist played by (British) actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste, whose Australian accent is atrocious. She is obviously not referring to Michael's faux-Aussie accent.
2
Okay but it’s the same deal with Hugh Jackman playing Americans; the accent, the persona just don’t fly.
Great piece, but still deeply impressed by the author's good fortune to know a high school-age Hugh Jackman. Just imagine!
61
As an ex-pat Aussie myself, I had to change the way I spoke or else my customers wouldn't know what I was talking about! I think Aussie slang is the biggest hurdle and I pretty much lost all of that in the year or so. I just want people to understand what I have to say so I don't care one iota that I've lost the pure native Aussie accent and slang.
14
During my 4 month stay in Richmond, NSW I never had a problem understanding the locals but then I was raised in NYC and spent many years in the Caribbean, I actually used my brain to understand what was being said using context. Too many people are lazy listeners.
36
Someone please gag the guy doing Outback Steakhouse commercials. I spent 4 months in Richmond, NSW and never heard anyone speak like that.
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@Paulie
Every time I see that commercial all I can think is "couldn't they have gotten a real Australian for this?"
14
@Paulie. Yeah, he’s almost as bad as the guy who does the terrible fake Irish accent in the Irish Spring commercials.
13
@Paulie
My daughter has learned to pronounce the last letter of her name "zee" but she still gets kidded about "out and about" and we can tell Americans because they don't know what "hydro" is and how the thing over your head is the "ruf" and not the long o's in "roof.
6
petrol. petrol station. PETROL!!!
60
@chinp - quite right. Australians don't put gas in their cars... it's a liquid.
6
@chinp Yes, petrol, purchased from a servo. SERVO!
3
The bible for all would-be faux Aussies is, of course, "Let Stalk Strine" by the justifiably pseudonymous "Afferbeck Lauder". After reading it you can effty at mipe lice.
9
@Daedalus, you remind me of the Brazilian English manual, "English As She Is Spoke".
2
@Thomas Zaslavsky
I prefer Lauder's masterful deconstruction of High English, in "Fraffly Well Spoken".
1
roight!
2
I am one of those in awe of Meryl Streep’s acting, but she didn’t pull off the Italian accent she attempted in The Bridges of Madison County, either.
10
I almost fell from my chair sitting at the bar of a Sidney hotel ages ago when I overheard a guy telling his female companion:" I'll knock you up later".
Shortly thereafter I learned from a local that the meaning of that phrase is to wake someone up.
7
Actually, I think it means “I’ll call you later, or see you later.”
1
@Sarah Its also a common expression in Britain.
1
@JSK
Yes, is also means I'll pick you up later, etc.
Delightful!
1. I love Aussie TV programs.
2. But, of course, it's the Scots who are the most difficult for other non-Scot English speakers to understand (and who are close captioned sometimes even on British TV, I think!). Or maybe the Geordis...
3. I'm no linguist, but in the private of my home I've tried to imitate the Aussies I'm watching on TV -- and, you're right, I couldn't come close. Sounded ridiculous even to my own ears.
47
@Bert
No maybe about it, the Geordie accent is definitely the most difficult for a fellow Brit to understand. I found the best way to communicate without an interpreter was to guess from the speaker's intonation which were the right places to say yes or no.
3
@Bert
Go to youtube, in the search put "Robin Williams the Scotsman." You will laugh so hard you'll turn stupid!
5
Not all Scots, pal - only Weegies. (Edinburgh accents are very posh.)
2
This is such a non-issue that my head is spinning.
I know of not a single American or Brit that "loves to mock" Australians' accent. In fact, when I met up with a bunch of Americans at an embassy event, most of them mistook my Boston accent for Australian. Go figure!
Kiwis on the other hand - now that's an accent worth making fun of...
58
@Equality Means Equal
Almost from day one since moving to the US nearly 50 years ago my Kiwi accent has been taken as of Boston origins. Of course I have lived only in California and Washington (State) so who would know the subtleties.
2
@Equality Means Equal
Absolutely outrageous! The Kiwi accent is an Australian accent with higher class
10
@Equality Means Equal, I love the way Kiwis say the number 'six', it sorta comes out sounding like 'sex'.
2
"We Australians are used to people being rude about the way we talk."
"Just kids havin' fun..."
1
You can't stop Progress! P.P. revisited!
Don't go all mental on me.
What, no mention of "budgie smugglers"? An Australian expression for the ages.
33
@Teele If you won't tell, I will. A budgee [parakeet] smuggler is a Speedo. :-)
4
@Teele
Maybe that's because no one wants to be reminded of the (ex) prime minister who made the expression infamous with his macho sporty posturing.
Winston Churchill spent most of his first military deployment correcting a speech impediment. He had both a serious lisp and a serious stutter. He essentially gave himself a college education reading classic works out loud in the tedious business of sitting around a military base. He was eventually a celebrated combat veteran through volunteering and family contacts. Initially though he couldn't speak coherent English even by Australian standards. Give the guy a break.
I will say pretension over pronunciation is a uniquely British thing though. I suppose this extends to the commonwealth as well. Personally, I find most Australians I know pleasant to hear but sometimes incomprehensible. I could say much the same thing about any foreign friend though. With enough beers, English becomes a second or third language. You should hear my South African friend when he slips into Afrikaan. I know you're speaking English but I cannot understand a word you are saying.
You could level the same criticism at me. I know how to control my accent. In a group of people who know the dialect though, I'm as unintelligible as any Australian. Only self-control and high-minded company keep me on the up and up. That's why I respect actors who can drop and retrieve an accent at will. That's not a skill everyone can master.
A personal favorite is Michael Caine. There's a man who owned his hometown accent. He turned his voice into a professional asset. There's a trick I'd like to learn.
7
@Andy There is a good reason you wouldn't understand your friend when he 'slips into Afrikaans'.
Afrikaans is an entirely different language. It is a dialect of Dutch which itself is more closely related to German than to English. English-speaking people from South Africa don't understand it either. (unless they have learned it as a second language.)
4
@Andy
Afrikaans is not English based, it is Dutch based.
1
@Andy, afrikaans is south african dutch...not english.
1
Oh sure we can. Try uttering the phrase "rise up lights" and you'll sound just like an Aussie saying "razor blades"
199
@Alison -... ummm... maybe to your ears you will. But to an Aussie... nup, no way, sorry mate.
12
@Alison That only true if you were trying to imitate an Aussie with a speech impediment. I see where you were going with this, but I agree w/ TonyHy: sorry, mate. Try again.
6
@TonyHy It's a joke, sir.
12
As an administrator of a university ESL program, I think I've developed a decent skill at working out meaning from the variety of world Englishes. Australian English is a bit hard to catch meaning from, especially if the subject is unfamiliar.
Lovely folks, but Northern Ireland's spoken English, for my money, is like listening to one of the made-up languages in Star Wars. I can tell if someone is happy or angry, but can't parse exactly how I'm about to fit into the next 30 seconds of their life.
75
Funny thing. Just this morning I had been wondering how British Criminals accents morphed into Aussie speak. Same way the Yanks took the English accent and mangled it. Still don't have an answer. Also, at home, my Aussie accent is just great, thanks.
3
@jeremyp -funny thing is, a lot of it was actually the British mangling the English accent. The New England accent is in some ways closer to 18th century English than the current English accent.
20
@jeremyp
The American English of northern New England is probably closer to the English of 18th century Britain. Over the next 250 years, the American accents changed, but so did British.
2
Actually, it was the british who changed how they spoke, not the Americans
3
Lived and taught high school in Victoria for 2 years in the 70's. What a beautiful country, and wonderful people. After a time, I found myself broadening my vowels and using words differently, but I never would have passed for a dinkum Aussie.
Great article.
15
My family and I often need subtitles for British TV shows, especially ones set in the Midlands. (Looking at you, Last Tango in Halifax.) But surprisingly, I don't have any trouble with Aussie shows. They may drop letters and run syllables together, but somehow the overall effect is still comprehensible, to this American anyway.
23
@Elizabeth A
Everything is relative, but no self-respecting Haligonian would take kindly to being placed in the Midlands, the northern limit of which is roughly defined by the River Trent.
2
And few things are quite as excruciating to an American as an Australian attempting an American accent. (Except, of course, for Hugh Jackman.)
10
Even Meryl Streep made a complete hash of the accent in Evil Angels.
1
But we all <3 that cute little gecko!
7
@KM
The gecko has a British accent, not Aussie.
4
Okay, so Americans can't imitate Aussies. Is this something we should work on?
The author perhaps doesn't get that to our American ears, the inept mimicking of the Australian accent goes undetected. The real one and the bad imitation sound the same to us.
I'm glad I took a break from my usual depressing NYT reads (world news takes a toll after the second article) and gave this article a shot.
When Narcos first premiered on Netflix, my family and I (we are half Colombian and half Cuban) sat in front of the TV screen laughing hysterically at Wagner Moura's terrible attempt at a Medellin accent (there are many others on the show whose accents are just as ridiculous--never mind that Colombian accents vary greatly depending on the part of Colombia in which you grew up). I wish casting would do a better job of selecting actors whose native accents reflect those of their characters, though I recognize this can be problematic for several reasons and is not as black-and-white as I or Julie would hope it to be. But I do think this is an especially important point when the characters portrayed belong to an underrepresented ethnic group and/or when there is a history of caricaturing the ethnic group's tongue, among other traits.
10
@ANYSTATEOFMIND
I though I understood Spanish (Univision, anyone?) until I started working with a Scientist from Columbia!
She was able to explain some aspects.
A Brooklyn accent, at least for those of us of a certain age, is also impossible to imitate. How I cringe when I hear people mockingly say "toidy toid street and toid avenoo" when the proper Brooklynese for those words is impossible to spell phonetically and equally impossible to pronounce for the non-native trying to learn it.
15
"I began to emphasize my R’s"
Julia, had you moved to Boston instead of New York, the "R" would not have been a problem. Bostonians don't have need for the R, helps to make conversation go faster.
I have lived outside my beloved Boston for the last 30 years and now reside in Atlanta. My accent is still strong and half the folks I converse with still don't understand much of what I say. But that's the fun of it, it helps to remind us of who we are, where we're from, and our culture.
10
I wonder what New Zealanders will have to say about all this?
69
@citybumpkin
Years ago a New Zealander friend relocated his family to London for a year for work. His young son Ben told us he was quite upset over how his new schoolmates incorrectly pronounced his name. "My name's not BEN," he complained, "it's BIN."
11
@citybumpkin I have a Kiwi friend. Do I get points for telling the difference between Kiwi and Aussie accents?
5
@Demetroula Same vowel situation down this way. (My father says 'pen' and 'pin' identically.)
2
Very entertaining article, and interesting to read about how "losing" the Australian accent is viewed by compatriots! But please allow me to correct a few things, based on my own 52 years of living in the US, but being a fairly global citizen. 1) I find it REALLY hard to believe that a typical American would find understanding the Australian accent as being anything other than a rather trivial effort, let alone at a scale of 80% lack of comprehension (as described in the anecdote). The Australian accent is not so unusual to an American ear as so many other accents of native English speakers (even from regions within the US itself). 2) Does anyone truly MOCK Australian accents? My experience is that the vast majority of Americans find the accent to be very charming - a somewhat universal attitude (I know of every few accents that are mocked in any country, in fact). 3) Imitating an accent is exceedingly difficult for just about everyone, not just Americans or Brits trying to do Australian accents. I would agree, though, that non-US native English speakers typically have an easier time imitating the Midwestern US accent than vice-versa (all bets are off for other regional US accents). 4) The (excellent) movie with Meryl Streep is titled "A Cry in the Dark." Yes, the title in Australia was "Evil Angels" (I don't know the back story to that), but nowhere else (nearly every country I know about translated "A Cry in the Dark" into the local tongue).
37
@cd
I'll give you point three. Point one and two though...
Yes. Australians are sometimes completely unintelligible. I remember we once needed three different interpreters to understand our Aussie friend at a bar in Munich. Everyone spoke English. Only the French speaking Swiss girl could understand anything. We ended playing a telephone game between English, French, German, and back to English before we could figure out what he was saying.
Yes. We LOVE to mock Australians about their accents. The joke never gets old. However, the gesture is made in kindness and good fun. No one ever resorts to cliches and you can expect to receive just as much as you dish out. You might call the interaction teasing more than you'd call it "mocking." We tease each other about our language barriers.
As for number four, all I can say is I learned about the Coriolis effect from watching the Simpson's episode featuring Australia.
8
@Andy - did you learn that the Coriolis effect only manifests in large bodies of water such as oceans, and makes absolutely no difference to toilets and plugholes? Lisa Simpson wasn't so smart that time.
My main issue with that episode was the nerve of Americans causing a diplomatic incident over corporal punishment - which in reality the Australians DO NOT practice - while the Americans put prisoners to death, no less.
5
@cd, is it possible that some Americans understand Australian easily and some have great difficulty, and some are in between?
4
Onya, mate!
1
Onya Jules! Spot on.
2
Onya Jules!
1
Dick Van Dyke attemped a Cockney accent in the film "Mary Poppins." He sounded like he was Australian to a lot of film goers and critics.
9
@susan His attempt at cockney is so bad that I have never been able to watch the film past his first words.
5
Only in countries other than Australia. To me he sounded as if he was strangling his tonsils.
7
@susan He actually eventually apologized for his mis-fired efforts.
3
Nice one Jules.
But come on, "gas station"? "Ran out of gas"? Yeah nah, you went to the servo for petrol.
171
No doubt a meddling American subbie changed it. Gas? Heavens above!!
14
@chinp
One of my favorite Australian sayings is "Yeah nah"!
2
@chinp yes I read that and wondered which editor had to change petrol to gas.
9
Generally yes, although an Aussie I once met said she thought I sounded like I was from Perth when I did my Australian accent for her... not that I was going for “Perth” of course.
3
What I find amusing about Australia speak is the way they add a 'y' or 'ie' at the end of EVERYTHING. Sunnies (sunglasses), tinnies (cans of beer), mozzies (mosquitoes), bikeys (motorcycle riders), sparkys (electricians) or chippys (carpenters) et al.
It cracked me up when I heard these expressions for it sounded sort of infantile. Think binky and blankey, doggie and poopy.
60
@MS—And “selfie” is one of theirs, too.
3
@MS
In Australia there is an unpleasant Sydney-pretentious voice that always sounds fake, and a Western Australian accent that adds a very clearly enunciated "w" onto the end of words ending in a vowel (think Julie Bishop pronouncing "too" as "tooow").
On the other hand, Aussies can pronounce a few things Americans just don't seem able to manage -- think "mirror" (US mirrRRRrrr), "laboratory" (labORrat'ry or LABraTORY), and the surnames Graham (Grammm) and Palmer (Polma).
6
@MS Sorry, Brits do the same thing...
1