Accent/language differences

[Alsfia]

There's quite a few things we argue about actually, my biggest problem right now is to remember that a bowl doesn't necessary need to be a mixing bowl but can be what in Swedish is a deep plate or a soup plate... It's equally funny/irritating every time I do say things funny sometimes but he next to never can be bothered to correct me since he claims I'm fluent enough... I'm trying to teach him to pronounce R sharply and not so rolling and soft, he is getting better but it's ever so slow

[rufuz]

As we both aren't native english speakers but talk in English together we don't really have discussions about pronunciation. The only thing that gets funny sometimes is when I don't know the right word in English and try to describe it but he knows the word and says it then.

What was really funny was when I tried to teach him some German. For example I taught him how to say "I'm tired" which is "Ich bin müde" in german. It was so funny because he is just not able to pronunce the "ü" sound right I told him how to pronunce it a lot of times but he just can't say it right.

What he laughed a lot about was my way to pronunce words with "r"s in it... For example we were talking about Ferraris and I just can't pronunce the r in the way the spanish speaking people do. He was trying to teach me ... but I just can't say it this way

[BlueCat]

There's quite a few things that we "argue" about. :P It's always pretty funny finding these words though.

When I say "drawing" he tells me I tend to pronounce it "draw-ring" and add an "r" in. Which isn't too bad, when you consider the fact that whenever he says it, it sounds like "draw-ling" and it drives me crazy, lol.

The other one he says weird is Aussie. Short for Australia. Every australian pronounces it Ozzie. But my SO will say it like horse, without the "h" so it's "Orse-ee" or something like that, haha. It's just really strange to me. I've also heard people say "orse-stralia". But that's not how it's said, it's more like the "o" sound at the beginning of "octopus"

I know there's tonnes more. A common one seems to be car brands, then there's the obvious foods "tom-ate-oh" vs "tom-art-oh". I find the difference in oregano and basil to be funny as well. "Oh-reg-in-oh" vs "oh-ri-gahn-oh" and "bay-zil" vs "baz-ill"

It's surprisingly difficult to type out different pronunciations of the same word.

[Malaga]

I'm fluent in the language but English accents can be the WORST. Some of his friends speak so fast and unintelligible half of the time I've no idea what the hell they're saying. Also, some British accents are really grating. In comparison, my SO has a rather 'generic' English accent and speaks quite clearly. Except when he's around his uncle, then they both slip into North London accent.

I don't have a particularly heavy accent either, in fact most of the time people have a hard time guessing where I'm from based on how I speak English. Except if I'm really tired, then sometimes it shows. When I talk to Americans they think I sound more British, when I talk to the English they think I sound more American, go figure.

As for differences in pronounciation; he mostly teases me about some of my 'Americanized' pronounciations, and certain words like I used to say pyjama instead of pyjamas for awhile and now it's sort of a joke between us.

I never found British accents particularly hot and I don't really swoon over his accent alone, which I think annoys him a bit

[NI_USA_love]

Oh my gosh, YES, we do this all the time. He is insanely good at copying my accent but I am really quite bad at copying his especially for words like "around" and "phone" with all the extra vowel sounds I don't normally say. He thinks it's funny that I say important like "in-portant."

[AussieAmericanGirl66]

I love our differences and similarities, and the way we sort of switch off a bit sometimes, and pick up on each other's accents. The first time I heard his voice on the phone, I about melted, he sounded so sexy. It took me a few calls to get used to it, and to understand him, but I absolutely love his accent, and his slang. I've noticed too that he sounds different when he's relaxed and having a quiet moment on Skype with me, than when he is rushing around during his work day. Our quiet moments is when I really melt. But I love just listening to him interact with others around him. He's taught me some of the language, and different terms for the same thing, like petrol for gasoline, Sheilah for girl (the first time he mentioned that I wondered if he was talking to some girl, but he was really talking about me, his beaut Sheilah), bonza, reckon, and my favorite, fair dinkum. I was a bit shocked the first time he cussed, and said Bloody hell, I got cut off at the roundabout, and then she came round and was headed for me, straight on! But I like it when he compliments me with a 'well done!' I still get confused with the metric system, and with the Celsius temperature. He always talks in Fahrenheit, so I know how hot his weather is, compared to our freezing cold winter weather. It's been so much fun getting to know someone from another country and another culture.

One thing that is funny is that when I'm with my family, I sometimes slip into his accent without consciously doing it. My 14 year old grandson teased me about that when he heard me once. But I guess it's natural, when I have talked to this Aussie man who is such a part of my life, for almost 4 years, that I do slip into his way of talking sometimes.

[squeeker]

I love our differences and similarities, and the way we sort of switch off a bit sometimes, and pick up on each other's accents. The first time I heard his voice on the phone, I about melted, he sounded so sexy. It took me a few calls to get used to it, and to understand him, but I absolutely love his accent, and his slang. I've noticed too that he sounds different when he's relaxed and having a quiet moment on Skype with me, than when he is rushing around during his work day. Our quiet moments is when I really melt. But I love just listening to him interact with others around him. He's taught me some of the language, and different terms for the same thing, like petrol for gasoline, Sheilah for girl (the first time he mentioned that I wondered if he was talking to some girl, but he was really talking about me, his beaut Sheilah), bonza, reckon, and my favorite, fair dinkum. I was a bit shocked the first time he cussed, and said Bloody hell, I got cut off at the roundabout, and then she came round and was headed for me, straight on! But I like it when he compliments me with a 'well done!' I still get confused with the metric system, and with the Celsius temperature. He always talks in Fahrenheit, so I know how hot his weather is, compared to our freezing cold winter weather. It's been so much fun getting to know someone from another country and another culture.

One thing that is funny is that when I'm with my family, I sometimes slip into his accent without consciously doing it. My 14 year old grandson teased me about that when he heard me once. But I guess it's natural, when I have talked to this Aussie man who is such a part of my life, for almost 4 years, that I do slip into his way of talking sometimes.

Ohh my British SO calls it petrol too! I think it's actually a nicer name than gas or gasoline. Especially since gas can be used for flatulence too and so it can be confusing. Petrol sounds nicer. Ohh and over in the UK there seem to be more manual cars than automatic.. which is strange because most people here (at least in Canada) drive automatic, at least that I know of! And that's another thing.. we call manual cars "standard" here in Canada usually. I don't know about other places.

[Tooki]

Ohh my British SO calls it petrol too! I think it's actually a nicer name than gas or gasoline. Especially since gas can be used for flatulence too and so it can be confusing. Petrol sounds nicer. Ohh and over in the UK there seem to be more manual cars than automatic.. which is strange because most people here (at least in Canada) drive automatic, at least that I know of! And that's another thing.. we call manual cars "standard" here in Canada usually. I don't know about other places.

A lot of Australian slang came from the UK. We also call call those cars 'manual' as well, but I would say that the usage of automatic vs. manual cars is about 50/50.

I've managed to teach my GF a lot of Australian slang as well. She's now at the point where she throws in 'mate' into a conversation like a typical Aussie does and she uses other words like 'keen' quite regularly. She told me that she really struggled with my accent at first but now she understands me quite easily. I cannot say that it applies to other Aussies though! On the other hand, she swears a bit more than she should now and that's probably due to my influence...

I'm also trying to 'correct' her usage of words, as she typically uses American English. I'm trying to get her to say 'lollies' instead of 'candy', 'nappies' instead of 'diapers' and 'soft drink' instead of 'soda' for example.

PS: Gas (in terms of cars) refers to LPG or gas engines, which are readily available in Australia!

[Dezface]

I refuse to change my American way of speaking. I deliberately don't use Aussie terms...just to be an ass really :P But I do notice that certain things slip in. I commonly say "how are you going" when I would have said "doing" before.

I know it's only a matter of time before I just let it all in, so I guess I'm clinging to what I can!

[SmileyK]

Ohhhh yes, gotta love us Aussies. I don't know so much about pizza and pasta, but the first time I mentioned thongs to him he was like "whaaat??"

I also can't help but ask him to repeat something he's said if he's said it differently, and then correct him. Or laugh at him sometimes. Oops, sorry honey. Some words I've noticed are Yahoo, Canberra, aluminum. And definitely the different words for things too like the lollies vs candy thing, and icy poles instead of popsicles, etc. There's been lots, but of course now I can't think of them..

[emsimes]

The first time my SO said "zed", I was so confused as to what he was talking about ^^
My SO's native language is German, but he speaks English in a more British-English way, because that's how they were taught in school.
He also says "trousers" instead of "pants", and "rucksack" instead of "backpack", which I find so amusing ^^
Sometimes when he's excited or upset about something, he'll say the word "bloody", like, "That's bloody awesome!" I love it

My German is pretty awful, and I have a hard time pronouncing the umlauts, as well as the roll-y "R's". He always makes sure to point that out

[Dziubka]

My SO says "sheeter" like "shitter" (and because of his job he says it a lot, it's a type of machine he works with). Funny every damn time.

My SO's native language diffeentiates a lot less vowels than English/German.
He doesn't even hear the difference between beach and bitch.

[TwoThree]

Sometimes he confuses the V and W sounds so he would say wery instead of very. Other times (like every Finn under the sun) he'd say he/him instead of she/her and vice-versa (wice-wersa?)

English is not even my second language, so while I learned it well enough, it was mostly from reading. There are words I use that I had never heard pronounced before, so I would pronounce them wrong. He loves correcting me. And it pisses me off. And it's also pretty funny

[AussieAmericanGirl66]

A lot of Australian slang came from the UK. We also call call those cars 'manual' as well, but I would say that the usage of automatic vs. manual cars is about 50/50.

I've managed to teach my GF a lot of Australian slang as well. She's now at the point where she throws in 'mate' into a conversation like a typical Aussie does and she uses other words like 'keen' quite regularly. She told me that she really struggled with my accent at first but now she understands me quite easily. I cannot say that it applies to other Aussies though! On the other hand, she swears a bit more than she should now and that's probably due to my influence...

I'm also trying to 'correct' her usage of words, as she typically uses American English. I'm trying to get her to say 'lollies' instead of 'candy', 'nappies' instead of 'diapers' and 'soft drink' instead of 'soda' for example.

PS: Gas (in terms of cars) refers to LPG or gas engines, which are readily available in Australia!

Oh, so that's what lollies are! Before Halloween, he was talking about getting his lollies ready, and giving out chocolate lollies, and I thought he was making lolly pops, the round suckers on a stick we have here. As for soft drinks/sodas, we are both addicted to Coca Cola, so we talk about watching movies with our popcorn and Coke. Mate was the first thing I learned, with his G'day mate, which I always have affectionately replied with G'day mate of mine. And it's taken me a while, but I finally learned to say How are you going, without feeling like I was misusing the English language I grew up with. The spelling is another thing I have had to get accustomed to. We don't really correct each other, but we do pick up on each other, and it's funny, because sometimes he will be about to say tomahto, and then suddenly switch and say tomayto, and I will start to say bananna, and suddenly switch to banahnah, and then he will say apple, just like I do. We really have fun.

[differentcountries]

I plan to learn some Turkish for next time we meet, hope he will not laugh too much at my attempts