I lived in and traveled within Australia long enough to realise that even within the three generally recognised classes of speech, cultivated (a.k.a plummy), general and broad, I was able to have an inkling that there was a Melbourne accent. But I was probably hallucinating. Aussie English is a continuum of accents.
Despite what some think, then kind of accent used reflects still class boundaries. The quinessential Australian phrase “plum in the mouth” describes speakers of cultivated accents that the unfamiliar would tend to confuse with British RP. Plummy speech is a sarcastic take on the elite class and could be understood in tandem with “cutting down the tall poppy”. But there are within Australia sarcasm. The official cultural introduction to Oz conducted by Australian unis and schools dwell a fair bit of time on these. But Australians today are loathe not to give the fair go.
There are not a quite few Asians who learned their English in Australia. Many Indonesians studied in Australia and I have known good friends that have caught a bit of that broad accent although their general accent is indeed, general. My Malaysian and Thai colleagues who studied with me there still haven’t rid themselves of all their Australianisms.
That class distinctions in accent is real is best demonstrated by this
A B C D E F G Haych, I J K…….. Those who pronounce H as Haych are likely products of the state school system. Those who say the plummy “H” are likely products of the Anglican and Roman Catholic school system. A prime example is actress Judy Davis who was educated in Loreto Convent.
I really don’t think that in Oz your accent can affect getting a job. But what may affect your getting one is by becoming a “tall poppy”. It is that Australian attitude that counts. All migrants are counselled to understand what that attitude is. This overlies the fair go.
English competency is indeed important. But that is not a mask that conceals poor thinking, cultural intolerance and insensitivity, at least in Australia.
Take this from one of our frequent bloggers
“or simply turning the text into an incoherent spaghetti-like mishmash of subject-verb disagreements, inconsistent multiple clauses, and appalling application of idiomatic expressions (in the context of those, minor spelling oversights can be forgiven). Tragic when one considers how so many otherwise insightful ideas are not done justice by the people who wish to convey them, all because we prefer to find comfort in the warm fuzzy mediocrity of the vast majority.”
Filipino English users have no monopoly on these slights. Australian English probably has the chock-a-block of them all of idiomatic expressions among world Englishes. I wonder if the late Steve Irwin was not able to do justice on his insightful ideas because of his apparent fuzzy mediocrity? (However many Aussies however proud they are of the Crocodile Hunter, say that his Strine is exagerrated for the American audience)
Australians speaking their own kind of English have opened doors as long as they recognise the diversity of world cultures.
Australian English does open doors. Cultural insensitivity shuts doors.
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Amen.
The thing about a shut door is physics — is the one outside can not be inside. This — the separation between those inside and those outside — is a good thing at times (evidence : houses ringed with fences-with-glass-shards or merchants locking down their businesses for the night). This is a bad thing at times, too — when you and the bong-austero Human Resources person are on opposite sides of a door-of-sorts (you with your job application).
Explain?
Re: that “haych” you speak of, there many other words like “lift” vs “elevator”, “chips” vs “fries”, etc. In maths, their division is often “3 on 2″ instead of “three-halves”, or “root 12″ instead of “square root of 2″.
Truly in my years of being in Oz, I have yet to experience someone having trouble understanding my “Americanised” [see that s instead of "z" I just used? ;) ] speech, as they hardly force their own manner to their visitors. They are very accommodating to diversity. But then again, I speak for myself, and I’ve hardly moved about outside the academic circles.
Two clerks at the United Nations Headquarters (New York) — a Peruvian speaking Peruvian English and a Cebuano with his Filipino English — can communicate. Helping facilitate the communication between these two English-speaking foren-djers is commonality (textbook English and the subject-matter they happen to be talking about at the moment) while their differences (deep-regional-idioms and expressions) rarely show during the interaction.
The myth of Oz. My sister works as a doctor in Sydney, earned a specialization something. Brother in law works, too, as bank manager, something.
What Aussie English or what not, are we talking about in here? Your credentials are what will open the doors, with the same, you can even shut some more (meaning, you don’t have to accept all job offers).
totally agree with this. Friends say the same thing. They don’t have to change accent like they would in the states or in England.
to blackshama: You may be putting the accent on the wrong syllA-bol. I agree with benign0′s assertion to the point where I will suspect that you (and your boss and your boss’s boss) do react when encountering a paper or even a blog-comment with … incoherent spaghetti-like mishmash of subject-verb disagreements, inconsistent multiple clauses, and appalling application of idiomatic expressions..
Without any survey (without asking any of the bloggers on this thread) I dare say all will agree that very-badly written comments (or papers, or job-applications) get chucked into the trash-bin. I also agree with benign0′s comment that many of the job-applicants (or academic writers) bring the tragedy onto themselves by not doing enough work to convey their thoughts.
And how would you answer your own thought — I wonder if the late Steve Irwin was not able to do justice on his insightful ideas because of his apparent fuzzy mediocrity?
What “fuzzy mediocrity” do you associate to the “Crocodile Hunter”?
If you say “intercourse” and there are some blushing Matilda faces.
You are in Australia.
The country was originally settled by British convicts. And British
ladies of the night. There was a White Australia policy before. It
is good they now accept non white immigrants, like Filipinos.
Tumbok mo sir!
i helps alot that people adore the australian accent. :)
in the US, there are lots of aussie actresses playing american. when interviewed, they all speak with their native accents. the interviewers are always “oh, you’re so good at speaking the american accent” all the time.
one, yvonne strahovski, commented in an interview that she noticed that americans are fascinated with her accent, and they ask her about that all the time.
Guys do you know that there are call center trainors whose task it is to teach ‘accent neutralization’?
Entiristeng :)
Check this out – http://www.americanaccent.com/
The Australian education system is trying to change their curriculum by teaching the basics of grammar and not through using the old-school and complicated English. There is even a website for this called http://www.plainenglishfoundation.com. Based in Australia. The people who created the foundation are with doctorate degrees and that goes to show – plain and simple is not stupid.
This group is created for the purpose of making learning and writing easier and remove the use of goobledygook and complicated writing. Old English is Old – panahon pa ni Mampor or is it before Magellan.
It is frustrating to know that writing in a plain and simple manner is to dumb down anyone. It is a quaint idea.
There is nothing wrong either in using the Filipino language. Some of us, think, speak, dream, and say “ouch” when you get hurt. Some of us have no idea nor sense of what “conyo”, “bakya”, “jologs” or “probinsyano” meant unless explained and you try to feel the meaning of these words.
As for accents, it does not matter, as long as you speak slowly, clearly and perople will understand you.