Dear Native Speakers,
Here are two short audio clips from an episode of Northern Exposure.
http://www.antimoon.com/temp/ne1.mp3
http://www.antimoon.com/temp/ne2.mp3
I'm supposed to be a guy who managed to learn English very well, but I really can't seem to understand some of the dialogue in Northern Exposure no matter how hard I try. In the case of these clips, I ended up reading the subtitles.
I wonder if you would find it difficult to understand these, too. It would make me feel better about my English if you did.
Tom
Yes, but don't feel bad about your English Tom. I had to play them both twice and I feel that they are not speaking clearly. In other words, I could not understand easily. I literally had to think about it - what could that mumbling sound possibly be? And I came up with an answer that fit. Then I played it again to confirm what I had decided was the answer.
The first I had trouble understanding because 1) he had a accent, the Northern Cities Shift I think and I was used to hearing that so I had to adjust. 2). Well, he just wasn't speaking clearly. The words blended into each other.
The second one - well he just plain didn't speak clearly enough for me. Even now I am still not sure of the title of the book he is telling us we can catch up on.
DON'T READ this part if you want to listen to them without a preconceived idea of what you are supposed to hear!!!!!
///////////////////// SPOILER/TRANSCRIPT //////////////
This is what I got:
First clip:
"I never could get into golf."
"Did you ever try it?"
"Not my kind of game. The announcer's always whispering and the nearest course is six hundred miles away."
Second clip:
"Well I'll be reading excerpts from Young (?!) and a study on men and symbols all week, so you can catch up."
Correction: I WASN'T used to hearing that (in reference to the NCS)
Tiffany wrote down what I heard from the first and second clips, too.
In the second clip he probably meant Jung, as in Karl Jung, the famous psychologist, cuz the vowel sounds like [u], not [^].
Thanks Kirk, that makes a lot of sense, I knew Young didn't really fit.
Here's what I got out of it on first listen:
I never could get into golf
Did'ja ever try it?
Not my kinda game. Announcer's always lispin', and the nearest course's 600 miles away.
--
Well, I'll be reading excerpts from Jung and his study on ?? symbols all week, so you can catch up.
--
I think "whispering" makes sense in the context but damned if I can find a 'w' sound anywhere near the beginning of that word. Don't feel bad about this one, Tom, it's really slurred and hard to follow.
The words kind of blur together, but I understood them just fine the first time. It would sure be hard to understand if I didn't speak fluently, though.
Yeah, I understood them both the first time through, although it took me a second to figure out that he said Jung.
They're aren't speaking very clearly, though.
Guys, you're good -- you all got the "announcer" part right.
However, according to the subtitles on DVD, the second line is supposed to read "a study of man and his symbols", not "a study of men and symbols", so I'm pleased to report you all got that one wrong. :)
They aren't super articulate, but they are understandable. The last part of the first clip is really mumbled, though; I had to listen to that two or three times to figure it out.
Much of this would be impossible to understand within the context of a larger movie, though. But that's normal; it's typical to misunderstand or not hear a lot of the dialog in any kind of movie, even if you're a native speaker.
People tend to mumble a lot in movies. Sometimes I'd have to think about what the person just said. Interestingly, I don't usually have that problem with TV shows...
Hey tom well done, even Americans find it hard to understand each other very clearly. By the way, where can I find more of those clips?
Yeah, you shouldn't feel bad for not understanding mumbled speach. It happens to me sometimes. I'll be walking along, and then someone will mumble something to me. Then I'll be like "What?", and then I'll suddenly figure out what they said to me a second or two later. It's weird how that happens...
sometimes when i watch dvds with strong english accents i have to turn on english subtitles to keep from missing bits and peices. i am a native and i cant even understand my own language :'(
I couldn't play the clip. Did the clip have the jewish doctor and the radio DJ on it? The guy who plays the DJ, was on sex in the city. I've always loved his accent. Where is he from?
Friday, January 14, 2005, 23:53 GMT
