The English language
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| is it such a big difference between UK , US and Ausse English that we should only call UK english for english? |
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| I myself would not think so in the least, for there is often more crossintelligibility between dialects in each group (I assume you mean English English when you speak of "UK English") than there often is between particular dialects *within* each group. For example, I myself natively speak a dialect of North American English, and usually have practically no problems understanding Received Pronunciation or Estuary English, which are both within the English English group, yet very often have trouble understanding African-American Vernacular English (I will use the term AAVE from now on), even though such is within the North American English group. |
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I only have a problem with one form of spoken English and that's the black culture
English - the West Indians who seem to hang on to their rap culture and rap speak
as a sort of ploy to isolate themselves and make it more difficult for the rest of
us to understand what the hell they're on about.
I have a bit of a problem with the black guys on the whole...not all of them by any means, it depends on their level of education. Many of them seem to think it's more important to maintain their separate identity than full integration, and using this Black English is one way of ensuring this. Black youths in the UK are the most deprived as far as education is concerned in spite of all efforts being made to help them, but no one can help anyone with anything if you don't want to help yourself. Sounds like a lecture! It's not a problem here in Edinburgh as we don't have much in the way of a black population at all - very few in fact, but I found it very prevalent in Leeds and much worse in London. |
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http://www.allura.net/media/dutch.mov (download first,but works great)
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/618/ (realplayer?) http://kontraband.com/show/show.asp?ID=294&NEXTID=0&PREVID=370&DISPLAYORDER=20030824000054&CAT=tvads&NSFW=5&page=9 (realplayer?) Lol,Dutch propaganda for learning English... |
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Damian,
What exactly is "Black" British English? Most Black people I've met from the UK speak the same dialect as where they're from. The black guys who host a "garage" music show on BBC radio don't sound much different to me from any other East Londoners, at least to my American ears. |
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You Know You're From Britain When...
You believe that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday are all good nights for drinking. Sunday day is also entirely reasonable. You're always a half an hour late to work ... no-one notices or cares. Coming to work with a hangover is entirely accepted and indeed expected at least once a week. You can actually give directions to some of those annoying tourists in Oxford Street! You step over a drunk in the tube station rather than offering to help them. You don't even bother looking out of the window when you get up in the morning to check what the day is like. You know it is overcast. You consider a suit to be normal attire for the pub. You expect men to actually cut, comb and style their hair (using hair products). And to wear decent clothes. You dissolve in laughter when listening to the funny accent of the Aussie international telephone operator (or on TV!). You think £40 for a haircut is quite reasonable. You can't remember what 'customer service' means. After a big night out you find yourself looking for a Curry house More than three hours sunlight on summer days seems excessive. You don't think twice about tipping your hairdresser You finish every sentence with 'Cheers' or 'Yeah'. You only just realise you have lost your sunnies, you left them in Greece 2 summers ago. You like English cuisine. I mean, it's hard to beat a full English breakfast. You are on to your 6th umbrella and your second overcoat... this year You've bought a disposable baby BBQ from Tesco. A day at the beach means wearing the warmest clothes you own while standing on golf ball-size pebbles and the thought of swimming doesn't even enter your head. You always call soccer football and you have a team and it's not Manchester United. You don't think twice about buying a packaged sandwich. A sunny lunchtime means searching for a patch of grass and stripping off practically down to your underwear You've accepted queuing as a way of life. You believe that every American is a fatass addicted to hamburgers and hotdogs. You despise the French (but then, who doesn't?). You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Britan. |
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NIB asks:
***Damian, What exactly is "Black" British English?*** The link below may give you an idea of what I was trying to convery. I have c/pd the relative extract from the text for ease of reference. I admit I've had little contact with black guys, but I know from listening into various digital radio stations, sort of messing around, I've heard rap stations and it's really hard to follow the chat...the music is cool but the rest difficult. Maybe it's me as I'm Scottish and when I was in London I've heard these guys chat together and they seem to chat in their own Language. I mentioned this in my post, and now this extract says the same thing more or less. Maybe they speak two Languages, Cockney as well as Black English. Late one night I was with two mates travelling on the Victoria Line on the tube and we were the only white guys in the carriage, the rest mostly black guys of similar age and I couldn't understand what they were talking about most of the time. I found it all a wee bit threatening at times to be honest and I was glad when we got to King's Cross station. It's only in London that I've been called "snowflake" by a group of black guys and they were not being friendly! I'm pretty sure I can tell the difference between Cockney/Estuary and the form of English these guys were talking. As I've said before, most ehtnic groups here in Scotland speak with Scottish accents as they were born and bred here..it's the older people who still have their own original accents. Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/feature1.shtml Extract: <<<r from Romford, Essex. Having lived away from the area for several years I have noticed a huge change in both accent and employment of language. When I was young there were broadly two types of language identifiers: Cockney and general Southen English. Today Cockney has been displaced to a degree by 'Black English' amongst both whites and people of colour. From Prince Naseem to Clinton Morrison, this form of regional language has entered into a once strongly Cockney area. I think it is sad as it lacks the creativity and expressiveness of Cockney, although I have never been inclined to speak in either forms and have a general Southern English accent, which I have found easier to live with. Employers, when one enters academic middle class arenas, tend to reject and look down on it.>>> |
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**You think £40 for a haircut is quite reasonable**
Cheapskate! Obviously got no style.....who'd go out clubbing with a rubbish forty quid haircut. |
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| And I thought the Scots were stingy ;) |
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| I don't have a clue of what this "Black English" that is being mentioned above is, as it's clearly not what the term "Black English" is used to refer to here in the US, that is, AAVE. |
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| It must be different... Personally, I don't find AAVE all that hard to understand... but then I've grown up around it. I could probably speak it, but I'd sound like a fraud. It's rather like someone in Scotland growing up around someone who speaks one of those Scottish accents that are unintelligble in the most part to me. They understand, I don't. In that respect, it must be almost like growing up a bilingual person... I think your minimal exposure is the problem Damian. |
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>I think your minimal exposure is the problem Damian. <
Agree with Tiffany |
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I Agree : ........................................................................................
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| hm |