Job Discussion Forums

[Capergirl]

[Gordon]

[shmooj]

[Wolf]

I'se th'byze that builds the boat
An' I'se th'byze that sails 'er;
I'se th'byze that catches the fish
An'brinz 'em 'ome t'Lizer!

That's what anyone gets when they ask for my "natural dialect."

That and "Th'Jeezus ov'r'd'Ortons."

I'm from the same part of the world as Capegirl. However, due to TV (British, US) my "regional accent" isn't as strong as it might have been.

I teach what I was taught as "standard English." If there are some important US/UK/Aus/NZ phrases that I might know that are pertainant to what I'm teaching, I might include them if I think the students wouldn't be confused.

Some of my students have "male rooster" or Austrialian accents. I don't "correct" them.

What else can I do? Last I heard there was not one standard way of speaking. If my judgement tells me there's a pronunciation problem, I address it.

[chinagirl]

I was born and raised close to NY city amongst New "Yawkkers," it took 4 years of college to get the nasal Fran Dresher whine out of me. I now have a fairly neutral accent, due to so much moving about.

I consider myself to be very good at understanding accents. But I kid you not, when I moved to my present home in South Louisiana (that's bayou country, folks), I had no IDEA that I'd have to learn a whole new way of speaking. (Why donya come ova hea Sadurday for dat der crawfish boil at maw maw's?)

You just have to get used to different dialects - it's a reality of life - and we should be encouraged to share that fact with our students.

[Seth]

Chinese claim up and down that 'offen' is the correct British pronunciation of often. They even looked it up in their little electronic dictionaries and showed me. I lived in Britain for a time and I don't recall anyone saying 'offen.' They also claim the correct British pron. of 'usually' us 'u-ally.' But as those in East Asia know, they're obsessed with pronunciation and accents more than they should be.

I remember bartending in north London and some guy somes up and says 'canai ave a pie of woh-ah?' I got most of it but couldn't figure out what 'woh-ah' was, I thought it was some foreign beer we didn't have. I said 'We don't have any woh-ah' He looked a bit confused and it finally dawned at me that he was wanting a pint of water.

[khmerhit]

My colleague used to teach the neighborhood kids in Phnom Penh a little English on his way to and from home. Hello! Hello they would call out to hime, and he would say No No say G'day, mite! So there aer now swarms of nekked urchins running around saying G'day mite! to any foreigner they see. G'day sheila!

[Lynn]

I teach in New York, and the owner of the school wrote the textbooks. I teach: Excuse me, are you waiting on line?
Yes, I am waiting on line.
OR
No, I am not waiting on line.

I'm not from New York. Where I'm from we always say "in" line.


When shoppin or at the post office, they always say,"next on line!". So, I don't have a problem with teaching this. It's very authentic.
I believe English people say, "Are you queing?"

[dyak]

Yes, we are queuing...

'An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.'
--George Mikes

[Winmar]

I say offen, so there you go.

I went to Ireland a few years ago, and was given a lift by a couple of guys. Every time they spoke to me I had to say "pardon" at least twice. Could hardly understand a word they said. That was out in the country though, not in Dublin.

[Will.]

I say 'offen' too also cheers meaning thanks /fanks/
cheers... "be of good cheer" when toasting one who has had the decency to partake of your company and maybe pay for the beer. Be happy.
as to cockney my current example is reduction of a four word question to a four phoneme version, heard in most areas of the town other than Sloane Square and Chelsea.
/S m ae e (schwa)/?

Translations on a reply please. Sherbet dip for the winner.

[Frater]

'What's the matter (old thing)?'

In London, I also like the universal echo question 'is it?'

e.g.

A: Went down the pub last night
B:Is it?
A:Saw Lanky, Bullet and No Mates
B:Is it?
A:They was playing darts
B: Is it?

&c.

'Frater'

[FGT]

Frater -

Don't you mean "Innit?"

[Wolf]

Bad English?

Here you go.

Have a peek at the stories and reader comments on that. The horror. The horror.

[yaramaz]

From my experiences around the world (and I have a great many! ), I have found that it is generally white South Africans who say Izzit? whilst Londoners will say Innit? Since the South African population of London is so enormous, you may very well have easily confused the two. Know wot I mean, like?