General Chat

http://www.sundayworld.com/top-stories/aye-up-chuck-yorkshire-volunteers-asked-to-tone-down-accent-for-tour

Yorkshire people are very friendly

When I go to another part of the world/country..........I like to learn 'their' way of life

I'm not broad Yorkshire, I lived in other places......BUT, I love the Yorkshire accent

So :-P

That's crazy.

If people visit another part of the world, they have to accept the way people talk.

Are people in Glasgow going to be asked to stop talking "Glaswegian" when the Commonwealth games are on?

:-|

If English was your second language you might not understand anybody with a regional accent.

In Namibia OH had to interpret what I was saying for them.

This could be because I talk gibberish but I prefer to think it is because I am a swede basher.

Regional accents are lovely.

And on a lighter note:-

Sir John Cheke (16 June 1514 – 13 September 1557) was an English classical scholar who wrote: ‘I am of this opinion that our own tung should be written cleane and pure, unmixt and unmangeled with borowing of other tunges; wherein if we take not heed by tiim, ever borowing and never paying, she shall be fain to keep her house as bankrupt‘.

ooooooooh Sharron, you'll never be allowed in Stockholm again

;-)

When you're talking to people who have English as a second language, it does help them if you speak more slowly and use more standard English phrases!

For the rest of us, watching regionally produced TV programmes does help us to 'tune in' fairly quickly to a local accent. The Game Makers would probably be only to pleased to explain a local phrase or word.

I am already not allowed in Namibia again!

funny thing is.......... we (and our British friends) had to speak slowly when we were in the US...... what's wrong with an Aussie accent? :-D

Full-on Aussie accent for Himself, mine not so much...... I have a mixed up accent because of the different places I've lived..... there's a wee bit of a Scottish accent still there, even though I left Scotland over 50 years ago (not counting going back for visits).

When my husband first heard the expression 'pooark' he hadn't got a clue that it meant 'pork'

He is Welsh :-S

I stay with my Aunt and Uncle in Perth WA and have no trouble with accent, however they will be coming here to stay with me in June and we will be taking them to where his family are from ( Yorkshire and Newcastle) so that will be interesting, 3 accents including Berkshire :-)

Bring back Rab C Nesbitt.

Rab, from the garden suburb of Govan?

:-D


btw..... Himself says the Scots don't speak English!

I nursed in Bradford before I became a midwife and had to laugh at all the old boys commenting on MY accent
Completely oblivious to their own
They used to ask me if I was from down South and I would say yes Waaaay down south

I quite like accents, its what makes this country interesting.

Have to agree with Gins and Foggy - i don't think accents should be toned down at all. It's just people being themselves and I would hate to think we all spoke with the same accent. It helps give an area it's character.

I once heard of a drunken lorry driver being taken to the cells for the night.

None of the officers could understand him, nor could they identify the language he was speaking but thought it might be some sort of Scandinavian one.

Interpreters were called and could not understand him. Conclusions were drawn about obscure dialects.

Once he sobered up he was a Geordie!

I do worry when I hear that sometimes we have difficulty in understanding a few of our own in conversation - even allowing for diverse regional accents.

I listened, enthralled, to some French & German politicians on a UK radio show recently, as they debated in flawless English. Can you imagine any of our vaunted representatives being invited on to a French or German chat show, and trying to converse in anything other than a laughable version of 'Pidgin English'?

Bearing in mind the forthcoming European Elections, it would be interesting to hear how many of these election candidates would be capable of conducting business at any level.

Maybe I'm being too harsh on our hard-working MEP's?

I love to hear different accents now being Scottish people say my accent is quite strong even though we left 30 yrs ago but it was brought home to me recently when niece from Aus came with her 5 yr old daughter who whispered to her Mummy ...."What language is she talking in"?...opps! :-S

cant stand Scouse, or Brummie,,,,,,,,,,,,, and some Scottish accents all set my teeth on edge,,,,,any on TV is quicky removed,,,,,, :-D.

our friend comes from Fraserboro and you'd have more luck understanding him if he did sign lanuage.

:-D

Am happy with my Geordie accent and despite enforced elocution lessons at school haven't lost it.

I'll drop the colloquialisms when I'm talking with people from outside of the region but as regards the accent, if people don't like it then that's their problem.