there’s something i’ve been noticing over the past few months that i don’t exactly have a handle on.
we’re in the middle of the australian open right now which has brought a lot of tourists to town. for the first time since i’ve been here, i’m running into a lot more americans. i mean i’m waiting on their table or they’re coming into the juice bar. but definitely more american accents.
actually there seems to be a lot more travelers of all nationalities of late. maybe it’s the eternal summer folks headed south for the northern winter.
with all these travelers i’ve been noticing that they either don’t say anything about my accent or they don’t pick up on it or they mistake me for canadian.
for example: waited on an older couple last nite. the guy wanted a ‘brew’ but then corrected himself right away with ‘beer’ (brew isnt used here). he didn’t know what kind of beer he wanted since he didn’t know the aussie beers so i asked him what he drank at home (and yes, he said budweiser) so i could make a comparison. and at no time do i think he realised he was talking to another american even though i said i knew what he meant by brew and was making beer comparisons and spoke to his wife about wine.
i’ve also had the experience of asking someone where they were from and them being surprised when i say ‘nyc’. they don’t seem to hear my accent.
and no. i dont think i have picked up an aussie accent. in fact i’m pretty sure i haven’t. all the aussies i know say i haven’t (xcept for one incident the other week when saying ‘whateva’). course i havent talked to u lot on the other side of the world but i swear i havent picked one up.
i’ve noticed i’ve started to hear more differences in accents too. i’m wondering if the first several months i was here, i was more concerned with making sure i understood what people were saying (slang and also there are some pronunciation differences) and not paying attention to their accent. most accents here are aussie but there’s a fair amount of canadians and kiwi and some brits. so i think my ears were so overwhelmed with making sure communication was correct, that i wasn’t even paying attention to the accent.
about a month or so ago i realised this because all of a sudden i started to hear a lot more accents. and i’m able to place a lot of them too. although my ear isn’t really tuned to the kiwi / aussie difference yet (which is weird b/c in london i could tell the difference btwn the 2 but here it seems the accent differences aren’t as strong).