I’ve made a couple of remarks this past week about differences in Australian, British and American English and thought they’d be interesting to share. First being the Australian and British alphabet verses the American, in theory the same letters, but said differently. H and Z are the main pronunciation differences and I finally realize that no, Australians do not have speech impediments when it comes to these letters, but rather they are pronounced differently. H would be pronounced Heych in Australian English and aach in American English while Z in America is pronounced Zeee and Zed in Australia.
This was noticed greatly when I was at dinner last night with friends. Among our group was two British and two Americans. When we Americans were asked how we would pronounce the word y-o-g-h-u-r-t it took us a couple of minutes to even figure out what word we were being asked to pronounce. At first hearing those letters spelt out and pronounced in British English was impossible to register. One problem stemmed from the alphabet pronunciation difference with the letter H, the other more obvious one that in England and Australia or in “proper” English, the yogurt is spelt with an H added in. Needless to say when us Americans finally figured out what the British were trying to spell for us, we died with laughter at how long it took us to figure out such a simple word.
Even though there is no real language barrier for me here in Australia, it has been a challenge at times to understand Australian English. Depending on who is speaking, the rate at which people here talk and the thickness of accent can be challenging to understand. Yesterday while I was working in the café is a great example of this. One guy came in and wanted to order a macchiato. It literally took him pointing at the menu for me to understand what he was trying to order, because I was hearing nowhere close to what macchiato sounds like in America. Apparently Americans say mocha really weird too, because everyone here who isn’t American gets a real kick out of my pronunciation of it.
I have found myself starting to use different vocabulary since being here and adding U’s and H’s where they “don’t” belong, and who knows I may come home speaking “proper” English.
…and I cannot forget my favourite (like my added U there?) experience of the week, trying kangaroo meat! Last night for dinner we went out to a real Australian restaurant where they served kangaroo and crocodile. No one was brave enough to order the crocodile (we’ll leave that for another time), but the kangaroo was delicious and tasted just like beef, although a bit chewier. And like beef you could pretty much get it in any form, burgers which obviously I choose because who can pass by a good side of fries (or chips if you want to be “proper”) with pasta or as a steak. Probably wouldn’t be my meat of choice all the time though, because it was a bit pricey and hard to eat knowing I had just played with and fed the animal lying on my plate a week ago, but still something to cross off my list… pictures to come soon!
Oh and I have finally tried vegemite. Lets just say I think I am okay that America is not in on the popular Australian trend to put it on everything, I can definitely live without the salty bitter taste of vegemite.
Au Pair Down Under 