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I’m from New Zealand. It’s staggering how many people in the US will repeat what I say back to me in a British accent. It’s hard to be annoyed because they’re “
by elliottkember 3y ago
I’m from New Zealand. It’s staggering how many people in the US will repeat what I say back to me in a British accent. It’s hard to be annoyed because they’re “just having fun” but my god does it get old.
Fortunately I can do a bit of California surfer dude right back and that usually gets the message across
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ndsipa_pomu 3y agoI was taught by a kiwi friend how to tell apart Australian and New Zealand accents - just get them to say "fish and chips". "Fush and chups" - New Zealand. "Feesh and cheeps" - Australian
- nelox 3y agohttps://youtu.be/ZdVHZwI8pcA https://youtu.be/ZdVHZwI8pcA
- OJFord 3y agoThat's great actually, because it also works for South African (I often have a hard time with SA vs NZ) - 'fish and chips' with very short 'i', like it's reluctantly put in at all, I think.
- LouisSayers 3y agoThe whole fish and chips thing is well overdone... If you want to tell Aussies and kiwis apart, listen for "Chance" and "Dance". Kiwis will say the 'a' like in the word "aren't", whereas Aussies will say it like the 'a' in "ants". Much more discrete to ask about dancing than fish and chips ;)
- ndsipa_pomu 3y agoWell now I'm confused as Aussies tend to pronounce "ants" as "eents"
- hydrok9 3y agoCanadian: "What time is it now?" New Zealander: "Teeen." Canadian: "??????"
- fortuna86 3y ago[dead]
- ngngngng 3y agoWhen I'm talking to British friends they'll often repeat back what I said and exaggerate the rhoticity of my western US accent. I'll poke back with a "It's chewsday innit bruv?" Seems pretty common.
- hydrok9 3y agoHad a Londoner tell me that they "litchrally" invented the language so N.A. says everything wrong.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoDo New Zealanders ever speak with a British accent? I mean, the ones I’ve known, it seems different from a neutral American (Midwest accent) but not by much, I would be hard pressed to call them out as British or even non-Americans (well, there is one guy, but he was also born in London).
- talideon 3y agoThe Kiwi accent is quite different. It's certainly closer to your typical southern English accent than a US Midwestern one, but the vowel qualities and rhythm of speech are completely different from both. As somebody from Ireland, I don't have issues picking out somebody from NZ. I could understand getting a New Zealander mixed up with an Aussie if you don't notice with differences in vowel pronunciation between the two countries, but that's about it. That said, both AU and NZ have their own "TV accents", which in AU is referred to as "Cultivated Australian", which is relatively close to British RP (though not the same), and I expect NZ has their own equivalent, but most people would have something close to what you would generally think of people from that part of the world sounding like.
- calderknight 3y agoI dunno. Aucklanders sound different to Christchruchians. Maori sound different to Pakeha. etc.
- yamazakiwi 3y agoThat's just more exposure tbh, many people haven't even met someone from NZ.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoIn tech you'll run into at least a few during your career. If you lived in Asia, you'll probably see more than that (more common than Australians for some reason).
- jonnycomputer 3y agoI cannot say that your experience includes this phenomenon, but whenever people gather they tend to talk like each other, and pretty rapidly. I've found that I've a tendency to unconsciously modulate my "accent" when I'm with my in-laws in Europe, or when visiting the UK.
- pmontra 3y agoWhen I'm staying for a few days in a different part of my country (Italy) I end up switching to the local phrase construction pattern if it's notably different from my native one. Accent not so much, I guess it takes quite a long time. Words are easy to swap (like truck/lorry in English) and pronunciation quite easy too (change of vowel sounds in my case.) BTW, none of this involves speaking dialects, it's all Italian with regional differences that everybody understand.
- pbhjpbhj 3y agoAren't [geographically] localised linguistic characteristics (different words, different pronunciation) pretty much the definition of "dialects"?
- pmontra 3y agoNot in Italy. Dialects here are languages. They basically belong to the same family of Italian but I won't be able to understand a dialect 50 km from where I live if speakers don't want to italianize it a little. What I was writing about is standard Italian with regional inflections in accent, phonetic, dictionary and syntax but still understandable by any Italian speaker.
- pbhjpbhj 3y agoAh, interesting, thank you.
- renewiltord 3y agoYeah it's "accommodation". But people also do the other thing where they repeat what you say and honestly I think they're just relishing this other similar sound they enjoy.
- inanutshellus 3y ago"imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" comes to mind, though I get it's hard to take it as a compliment when it's so commonplace for you. That said, in that moment, they're not "having fun" (in the mocking sense) they're relishing the sound of your voice and wanting to imagine a version of ourselves being uniquely interesting, like you, in the mimicry. I get that it gets old, though, as your accent isn't novel to you.
- dev_tty01 3y ago> as your accent isn't novel to you. I would imagine that part of the reason it gets old is that it isn't "your accent." It is a NZ accent after having been filtered and ruined by US ears and speech patterns. Old joke. What do you call someone who knows three languages? Trilingual. Two languages? Bilingual. One language? American (US). Speaking as one myself...
- slap_shot 3y agoI watch a YouTube channel that frequently features a guest from New Zealand, and in every video in which he appears, different people in the background will parrot the guest after he says certain words that really show off the NZ accent. I think he's become numb to it, because he shows no reaction. I'm sure it gets very old, but hopefully it's seen as endearment. imo, it's the best accent one can have :)
- BerislavLopac 3y agoI'll just leave this here and see myself out... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6c4Nupnup0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6c4Nupnup0
- cancerhacker 3y agoCounter with Flight of the Conchords: https://youtu.be/qTwAoFR4DuM?t=104 https://youtu.be/qTwAoFR4DuM?t=104