BeckiNick Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Just wondering if anyone else has problems with Australians understanding them . I have been here nearly 3 years and people still struggle. I am originally from the West mids but I do not have a strong accent...Is it just me?? If anyone has any tips of how to tone down an accent id be grateful ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest59177 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 NEVER even THINK of changing your accent just to please people!!! You are who you are and so there. If your job were such that you interacted with people a lot that would be something else but for normal day to day stuff... I wouldn't think of that. That being said, I am myself a chameleon when it comes to accents. I will somehow take on the English accent of someone I am speaking with and it happens sub-consciously. I think its because in the end I don't have any accent myself at all... nowadays I would sound rather Americanized :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Pom Queen Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Lol no its not you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I sometimes have problems because of my northern accent but not half as many as hubby does,lol,,, Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisleylass Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 No problems here at all, I suspect as my accent is pretty neutral. Oddly enough, some Norwegians I was talking to back in February thought I was Australian - and I'd never stepped into the country at that point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flybyknight Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Just wondering if anyone else has problems with Australians understanding them . I have been here nearly 3 years and people still struggle. I am originally from the West mids but I do not have a strong accent...Is it just me?? If anyone has any tips of how to tone down an accent id be grateful ) Huh? :err: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malkitek Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Hi, As a nurse I spend pretty much the whole day talking, and have a Scottish accent. Just the occasional word really I have the problem with, and I have to try a really bad aussie accent to show the difference! If I say daughter, everyone thinks doctor? Another nurses name is May, and this causes no end of confusion as they think I'm saying me! Main problem though is that they all tell me how much they love my accent, so much that they don't actuallly listen to a word I'm saying and watch me like I'm some kind of entertainment! (worse if I'm talking to my only other fellow Scottish nurse, they look at us like t.v!) Gill x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fabricator Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 i struggle listening to some of my mates that ive known for 10 years , but they mumble , its not the actual accent , if you talk clearly the accent shouldnt realy make a difference . lee PS is i go down south people say im northern , when i the north people say i sound southern and in the midlands people think i was born with a silver spoon in my mouth ?? go figure ,, im just me :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starlight7 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I don't but my husband does. He still has a Manchester accent and if we go anywhere with a Chinese shopkeeper or waiter I have to speak ( my accent is Aussie)- they can't understand a word he says. Quite amusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Just wondering if anyone else has problems with Australians understanding them . I have been here nearly 3 years and people still struggle. I am originally from the West mids but I do not have a strong accent...Is it just me?? If anyone has any tips of how to tone down an accent id be grateful ) I also have a west midlands accent and once spent 10 min try to buy a bag of ice. the conversation went like this..... Me.............. Do you have any ice, Shop assistant..... pardon Me Do you have any bags of Ice.... Shop assistant ...... Blank stare ..... Me, Ice..... you know frozen water........ Shop assistant.... Oh Ice, I thought you asked for a bag of eyes..... So no its not just you..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 the only australians ive met thought we were irish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lozenger1967 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 so ur a yam yam r kid :] lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 a what!? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pablo Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Someone from the black country,according to when i worked in walsall for a yr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AKA63029 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I've looked and looked at a world atlas, and I still find find a country called 'Common'.:mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fabricator Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I wonder if the ozzies will ask me to say ekky thump , cos all yorkshire men say that dont they ???????????? tho my general greeting to people is aye up? or now then ? i must remember not to confuse people , watter will one again become water , frittened will be come frightened and my regional slang for many common words will no doubt be an interesting topic for partys , lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Ello duck, is that a sort of yorkshire saying? some of our words are similar, we say watter here but frightened is = feart. lol im sure we'll all be understood if we talk a little slower for the first while Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fabricator Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 duck is lincolnshire stacey , " me duck " my friend .... ill see the int pub bout haffan hour ?????????? its going to be most amusing , especially once ive had a few !!!!!!! lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest31881 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 so ur a yam yam r kid :] lol Born in West Bromwich, lived in Dudley, Tipton, and worked Walsall, Wolverhampton and all over the rest of the Black Country, Have a bumper sticker on my car that simply says "Baggies", not many Australians know what it is, But I like it..... I could be called a Yam yam .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 duck is lincolnshire stacey , " me duck " my friend .... ill see the int pub bout haffan hour ?????????? its going to be most amusing , especially once ive had a few !!!!!!! lee oops my bad! im rubbish with accents, someone on here asked if my accent was like the lady off taggart lol. i dont think i have that strong a accent but maybe others would disagree! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moirclan Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 ive been here almost thirty years , my accent is shropshire with a bit of black country as my family were from there so im bound to have a bit of a lilt ,ive been asked if im from Romania ????irish ?????? the girls i work with go cross eyed when they cant under stand me lol generally because im talking to fast my hubby [ aussie ] and kids dont even notice my accent , and are always suprised when some one mentions it , the street i live in is called southern cross when ever im on the ph im aware people hear sevencross , so conversation goes some thing like this " can i have your address madam " southern cross circle , southern opposite of northern " "you live in northern circle " "no southern cross " "seven cross ?" "no sourthern s o u t h e r n !!!!!!!" " ahh southern , its become a ritual now !!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 lol im laughing at them thinking your romanian! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Fabricator Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Im from Worcestershire ( Evesham) originally , i still say a few words with a tinge of country , even tho i left when i was 8 / 9 . And when i was in the army even my own family couldnt understand me , mainly because squaddies talk so fast ................................. Basicly im screewed ! ha ha ha lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest51810 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 you'll need to bring a translator with you lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boganbear Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I have a Devon accent and find that after phoning/skyping friends and family for days afterwards it suddenly gets stronger. My work colleagues find is very amusing but laugh most at what I say rather than the accent - Where's ee to instead of where is it? and Where ee bee instead of Werribee (a town just outside Melbourne). I haven't said Alright my handsome to anyone yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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