Im almost a native-speaker due to Iv been lived in Canada for almost 20 years since I was 5 years old, and I went to Liverpool for some stupid reasons. Now iv already been here for almost two years and i still don't really understand local(or really don't understand LOL),they pronounce "Work" like "why-heh" and "Clock" like "heh-lo-heh", I feel soooo frustrated here that I don't understand people especially when they speak very fast...and the worst thing is im Asian origin they think I don't understand english then just ignore me or just tell me "that's fine""that's alright" these sort of shit. The only friends here they were a newyorker and a funy guy from Chicago and a guy from Barbados(actually even bim accent is easier to understand), I feel sooo bad that theyd gone now!
do people in england they really speak "english"?
Obviously you have an innate desire for seemingly unconquerable challenges. What impelled you to choose Liverpool of all places? Unavoidable circumstances? Surely someone must have forewarned you about the mysteries of Scousespeak!
Anyway, give this one a whack: pop into W H Smiths or Waterstones or Ottakers and see if you can find a copy of "Yeach Yerself Scouse in Just One Week", which I think may also contain a CD which should go some way to ease the pain even more in your quest to get to grips with the problem of understanding Scousers and responding in kind.
Look on the bright side - it could have been worse - you could have ended up in Glasgow, in which case you'd probably be feeling suicidal by now. Not a cat in hell's chance there. :-)
Anyway, give this one a whack: pop into W H Smiths or Waterstones or Ottakers and see if you can find a copy of "Yeach Yerself Scouse in Just One Week", which I think may also contain a CD which should go some way to ease the pain even more in your quest to get to grips with the problem of understanding Scousers and responding in kind.
Look on the bright side - it could have been worse - you could have ended up in Glasgow, in which case you'd probably be feeling suicidal by now. Not a cat in hell's chance there. :-)
Ralph - I hate to say this, but are you sure you're "almost a native speaker"? Your English seems a little strange to me.
sorry about this I think it's why i said "almost"...actually whatever how many years you learned English, it still can be identified when you write something down, my friends and colleagues told me that my sentences sometimes are like "something u can't tell what is weird but it is weird", anyway thx Damian
and as a person with Asian origin I got another experience which normally doesn't apply on whites/blacks, I found that If u r a white/black whatever you have wrong grammar or something incorrect in your sentences the audiences they won't care about it or will just ignore it, but if you had a different face from others they would seize every slight mistake. also when you r in somewhere they have different accents, if you were a guy with different face they normally "don't understand you" at the first time, but whites/blacks don't have this problem(especially in the EU)
... actually i think the reason you feel weird about what i said is because the title is weird, how about "do they really speak 'english' in england?"
<< and as a person with Asian origin I got another experience which normally doesn't apply on whites/blacks, I found that If u r a white/black whatever you have wrong grammar or something incorrect in your sentences the audiences they won't care about it or will just ignore it, but if you had a different face from others they would seize every slight mistake >>
It depends. If you also speak with a distinctly foreign accent, that sort of thing probably will happen. If you're a native speaker and you only look Asian, people who do that probably are prejudiced (although they don't necessarily mean to be). As for me, I know both native and non-native Asian-American English speakers who sound perfectly fine, and I never have to correct their mistakes because they don't make any -- not any that a native wouldn't make, anyway. It's also possible that, for whatever reason, your errors just don't sound native-like, even if you're a native speaker.
Also, in the United States, many black people speak with a distinctly different dialect, called AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) or "ebonics", that is ungrammatical Standard English (although it isn't ungrammatical in their own dialect). If you're not black, you're probably going to sound funny if you speak in this dialect.
- Kef
It depends. If you also speak with a distinctly foreign accent, that sort of thing probably will happen. If you're a native speaker and you only look Asian, people who do that probably are prejudiced (although they don't necessarily mean to be). As for me, I know both native and non-native Asian-American English speakers who sound perfectly fine, and I never have to correct their mistakes because they don't make any -- not any that a native wouldn't make, anyway. It's also possible that, for whatever reason, your errors just don't sound native-like, even if you're a native speaker.
Also, in the United States, many black people speak with a distinctly different dialect, called AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) or "ebonics", that is ungrammatical Standard English (although it isn't ungrammatical in their own dialect). If you're not black, you're probably going to sound funny if you speak in this dialect.
- Kef
<If you're not black, you're probably going to sound funny if you speak in this dialect. >
The whole dialect sounds uneducated on my ears. It sounds like african-american are thugs. I listen to their dialect almost in every hollywood movie. Who would want to sound funny and uneducated thug?
Kef, if you are one of them, no offence mate.
The whole dialect sounds uneducated on my ears. It sounds like african-american are thugs. I listen to their dialect almost in every hollywood movie. Who would want to sound funny and uneducated thug?
Kef, if you are one of them, no offence mate.
I'm not black, but I think that stereotype is unfortunate. There are plenty of thugs who do talk that way, but there are plenty of ordinary people and plenty of great people who do, too. It's just how they talk, and when you're around people who talk like that constantly, it can be hard not to join them. I myself start talking a little like a black person when I'm around others who do, because I had so much exposure to this dialect in high school. (Public schools are attended by a very high proportion of black people.) I wouldn't go so far as to say I am one of them or that I know what it's like to be black, because I'm not and I don't, but I do have the insight that it's just another culture and it can peacefully coexist with our own. As long as I'm not forced to actually like hip-hop. ;)
- Kef
- Kef
hip-hop is still better than C+rap ! ;) I also dislike their dressing. What's up with all of this heavy jewellery they wear on their body? That stuff sounds good on girls if you know what I mean.
<<... actually i think the reason you feel weird about what i said is because the title is weird, how about "do they really speak 'english' in england?" >>
Erm, yes we do mate - stupid question to ask - if you ask me. You seem a tad naive geezer. You say you are a 'native speaker' so you assume you speak English. But in your very post you imply that the scouser’s don't understand you. So they can say the same thing - do YOU speak English?? Now the answer to both is YES!!! It's called having a dialect sunshine.
You generalised on how you imagined the English to speak, only to find it was not the case, but you then go on to say 'do they really speak English in England?' That is another generalisation, mate. You are equating scouse speak with how we speak in the rest of England.
I am from East London, if I came to Liverpool, I'll have many of the problems you have. And, if you came to my area you would not be saying do we speak English but more something akin to 'do they speak Martian??'.
It’s weird though, I am friends with a lady from Chicago, she has serious problems understanding the why we speak here in the South East and yet understands the Scouser's fine. She thinks that their pronunciations are closer to her own. Based on this, I'd have imagined north Americans would find it easier understanding our northerners (but that is me 'generalising'!!).
Anyway, good luck with the scousers, their a great bunch, and do take this opportunity to explore our beautiful land, I'd hate to think Liverpool will be your only impression of our fair and green land.
Erm, yes we do mate - stupid question to ask - if you ask me. You seem a tad naive geezer. You say you are a 'native speaker' so you assume you speak English. But in your very post you imply that the scouser’s don't understand you. So they can say the same thing - do YOU speak English?? Now the answer to both is YES!!! It's called having a dialect sunshine.
You generalised on how you imagined the English to speak, only to find it was not the case, but you then go on to say 'do they really speak English in England?' That is another generalisation, mate. You are equating scouse speak with how we speak in the rest of England.
I am from East London, if I came to Liverpool, I'll have many of the problems you have. And, if you came to my area you would not be saying do we speak English but more something akin to 'do they speak Martian??'.
It’s weird though, I am friends with a lady from Chicago, she has serious problems understanding the why we speak here in the South East and yet understands the Scouser's fine. She thinks that their pronunciations are closer to her own. Based on this, I'd have imagined north Americans would find it easier understanding our northerners (but that is me 'generalising'!!).
Anyway, good luck with the scousers, their a great bunch, and do take this opportunity to explore our beautiful land, I'd hate to think Liverpool will be your only impression of our fair and green land.
<<PUB LUNCH:
Do you have a Cockney accent? Why=way... :-) >>
Ha ha - your right, I probably did not need to correct myself!!!
I don't have a cockney accent - sadly, born and bred in Baahhsilduhn (Basildon - arrgghhh!!) but live in Romford at the moment - so it is probably a poor man's cockney (aka Estuary).
Oddly enough, literally a day will not go by without someone asking whether I am an Australian or an American - it is unbelievable!!! When I tell them I am an Essex boy, they won't have any of it, I have never worked out why ( The only people that believe me are the yanks and aussies!!). This is, in a round about way, how I landed at Antimoon.
Do you have a Cockney accent? Why=way... :-) >>
Ha ha - your right, I probably did not need to correct myself!!!
I don't have a cockney accent - sadly, born and bred in Baahhsilduhn (Basildon - arrgghhh!!) but live in Romford at the moment - so it is probably a poor man's cockney (aka Estuary).
Oddly enough, literally a day will not go by without someone asking whether I am an Australian or an American - it is unbelievable!!! When I tell them I am an Essex boy, they won't have any of it, I have never worked out why ( The only people that believe me are the yanks and aussies!!). This is, in a round about way, how I landed at Antimoon.