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Britsh national TV employs regional New readers

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sggaunt

sggaunt

Programmer
Jul 4, 2001
8,620
GB
And a good thing too.

A few years back we had a Spanish exchange student working with us.
She had been taught English in the south (of England)
and caused much hilarity with her pronunciation of words that had a central 'u' which she pronounced as 'a'
e.g Bus, Button, Buckle, Buxton, Blue, Blouse, etc.
Which she pronounced
Bass (as in the brewery), Batton, Backle, Baxton, Blaa, Blarse, etc.
Now we have some TV presenters who can pronounce 'u' properly.
I can see our US contingent having real problems with this?



Steve: Delphi a feersum engin indeed.
 
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==> I can see our US contingent having real problems with this?
Why?

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Cause even 75% of England can't understand Cockneys.

Hope this Helps.

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant
 
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Because in the US (AFAIK) you usually pronounce all vowels hard (as you would say the alphabet) The word Delphi in my sig is a typical example,
I imagine you pronounce this Delph(eye).




Steve: Delphi a feersum engin indeed.
 
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Because in the US (AFAIK) you usually pronounce all vowels hard (as you would say the alphabet)
Click to expand...
This is not true...that would mean we'd (in the US) pronounce your first examples as:
Boos,Bootun, etc. Which is actually more of a Canadian pronunciation.
--Jim
 
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In the US, there may be more regional accents and pronunciation variations than there are actual regions.

I'm not sure I'd agree that vowels are usually pronounced hard. Some are, sure, but many are soft. If they were all hard, that might actually simply pronunciation rules, if you can call them rules.

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There are two common annoying US pronunciations that tend to tick people off in the UK.

word = UK = US
Data = Day-t' = dA-ta
Alluminium = Al-U-min-i-uM = a-lume-i-nuM


I think there are more dialect differences in the UK, and deffinately alot more extreme, but the worst thing, is not only the dialect of different areas of the UK, but the completely different language. In 2004, there were an influx of foreign, completley fluent foreign doctors moved into the UK, and they had to have special reference books for the area of the country they were working in, especially Yorkshire.

There is a little bit about it on this BBC report
Doctors Baffled by Lug'Oles and Ey Oops


Hope this Helps.

Neil J Cotton
njc Information Systems
Systems Consultant
 
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The Aluminium/Aluminum difference is not one of pronunciation, but one of naming. It's as different as the pavement/sidewalk one and not a 'you say tomato' difference.

As with pavement/sidewalk, neither is right or wrong.

Neil reckons that 75% of the UK can't understand cockneys, the percentage rises even higher in Glasgow or Newcastle. That said, one of the best political journalists working in television was (is?) John Cole, who has a Belfast accent that can be difficult to penetrate. Which is preferable, intelegent or intelligible news reporters? Personally I will happily struggle to comprehend the likes of John Cole rather than hear perfectly intelligible rubbish.

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy
 
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==> I think there are more dialect differences in the UK, and deffinately alot more extreme,
Just to understand, do you mean, "there are more English dialect differences in the UK, than there are English dialect differences in the USA?"

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A person born within the sound of Bow bells ;-)
 
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ncotton said:
a Cockney is the name for a "Landanu'"
Click to expand...

You could upset a lot of people with that comment ...... not all Londoners are Cockneys !!!!!!!

<Do I need A Signature or will an X do?>
 
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They are to everyone outside of the M25....


Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004
 
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Alos if our American cousins want a headache, they can learn my lcal dialect, Black Country (no NOT the same as Brummie).


Note:
The Black country is several regions in the middle of England, that covers a seam of coal that was used in the Industrial revoloution. So Wolverhampton, stop claiming to be part of the Black Country beacuse your not, so there!.

Only the truly stupid believe they know everything.
Stu.. 2004
 
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Whilst the definition of a Cockney is always given as 'born within the sound of Bow bells' this is actually not a very good description. This Wikipedia article gives more details. Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner, but I've never found the Cockney accent that difficult, and, contrary to the myth, they don't use rhyming slang all the time. On the other hand Laland (sp?) scots, or Jordy, are totally unintelligible to the outsider. Additionally, I was hitch-hiking in Eire back in the early seventies and, on one occasion, I was picked up in Galway, and it took some time to realise that the driver and his friend were not speaking Gaelic!

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy
 
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Thank you StuReeves - I'm enjoying reading through that dictionary.

Here are some that you also find enjoyable.

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The Aluminium/Aluminum difference is not one of pronunciation, but one of naming. It's as different as the pavement/sidewalk one and not a 'you say tomato' difference.
Click to expand...

Quite right! And in fact the so called familiar American version of "Aluminum" is actually the older English word for Aluminium.

This is also true of the "fall", which is the old English name for what we now call autumn.


 
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I was going to say. And you still use imperial weights and measures, but best not.


Steve: Delphi a feersum engin indeed.
 
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Actually, here in America we pronounce Aluminium/Aluminum as Reynold's Wrap.

James P. Cottingham
-----------------------------------------
[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]
 
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