Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I am going to try an Australian accent.
There’s an Australian YouTuber called Lesley56 and I came across her videos one day when I was clicking around YouTube. And she seems like a really cool person and I really like her videos. Some of them are funny and some of them are fascinating.
She tells some stories about her life for example: My Life Part 1 and Depression and anger.
I’m going to try and copy her accent with the video: New Year Resolutions
I think this is a good one to study how to talk about your plans and goals. Her resolutions were stopping smoking, eating healthily, exercising and losing weight. And I think a lot of people have those kind of goals so we can all relate to it.
It’s kind of hard to try an Australian accent – because it’s not that different than my New Zealand accent.
I’ve talked about the differences between the accents a couple of times before in Shows 128 and 132.
The accents sound similar and often people outside of NZ or Australia can’t tell them apart. But one of the differences is the i sound.
For example the sentence : This is big.
Sorry I know that’s not like a perfect Australian accent ... but maybe something like that.
I try practicing the accent from this video.
OK, this is um, this is Les56 um, today I wanted to talk about New Year’s resolutions. Now, I never make New Year’s Resolutions because I haven’t got a hope in hell of um, keeping em. So there’s no point. But, this year’s different. This year, I have to make some drastic changes, so I’m going to. Um, the first thing I’m going to do, the first New Year’s Resolution I’m going to make – and the most important one - is for my daughter. Um, she is going into hospital next year, early in January, to have an operation. And she had to give up smoking. If you knew myself and my daughter, we like nothing more than to sit around glass of wine, cigarette in hand. So, she’s doing it really tough and I know I’m going to as well. But, none the less, I am going to give up smoking as of the 31st of December at midnight. And I’m going to support her in her journey and I’m going to do it also.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora, this is Stick News. Yesterday in America, New York City symbolically banned the use of a word which is considered by many Americans to be the most offensive word in the English language.
People in the United States of America come from many different ethnic backgrounds.
12.12% are African American. The ancestors of most African Americans were brought to North America as slaves between 1619 and 1807.
In 1865, slavery was outlawed. But white supremacists didn’t want African Americans to be equal.
A white supremacist organisation called the Ku Klux Klan began in 1867. The Ku Klux Klan used acts of terrorism such as lynching to oppress African Americans and other groups.
Lynching originally meant any extra-judicial punishment, but during the 19th century, it began to be used to mean execution, especially by hanging. Thousands of African-Americans were lynched – they were murdered by hanging or were burnt alive, shot and beaten to death.
In the 1890s many Jim Crow laws were made to support racial segregation. The term Jim Crow comes from a song, but came to mean racial segregation. The first Jim Crow law was segregating railroad cars in New Orleans.
One law in Florida said: All marriages between a white person and a Negro, or between a white person and a person of Negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.
White Americans used to call African Americans niggers. This originates from a Latin word meaning black. Originally it was used with no intended negative connotation but by the 1800s it was considered derogatory.
According to Wikipedia this is related to the fact that, at that time: “many white people regarded them as inferior, lazy, stupid ... and criminally inclined.”
African Americans were also called negros and coloured – but both of these terms are also now considered derogatory.
Because of the word’s association with a history of hate, slavery and segregation ... In America, nigger is now considered to be the most offensive word in the English language.
In recent years it has become common for American broadcasters to use the euphemism "the N-word" instead of repeating the actual word as a way to avoid offence.
Some people continue to use the “N-word” to express hate towards African Americans. However, others use it as a term of endearment. It can often be heard in American rap music.
Now the N-word is banned in New York.
According to Reuters: The New York City Council unanimously declared a moratorium that carries no penalty but aims to stop youth from casually using the word.
And that was Stick News for Thursday 1st March.
Kia Ora.
conversations with sarah
#184 Has that ever happened to you?
Step 1: Repeat Kate’s lines.
Step 2: Read Kate’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Kate Are their any racial slurs used in New Zealand?
Sarah Not that I know of. There might be some ... but it’s not widespread.
Kate Isn’t racism a problem in New Zealand?
Sarah No, it’s definitely a serious problem. But it is just expressed in different ways. I think it’s usually more subtle.
Kate In what ways?
Sarah Oh ... where do I start? For example, if you ring up for a job and you don’t have a New Zealand accent, then they might tell you that all the jobs have gone.
Kate Oh, right. So it’s hard to prove.
Sarah Exactly. Or you might go to walk into a club and they tell you that it’s members only or you’re too casual.
Kate Has that ever happened to you?
Sarah Yeah, I suspect it has a couple of times. But I mean, you never know it because it could have been just because they just didn’t like my clothes or hairstyle.
Kate But they never tell you the real reason.
Sarah Yeah. A friend of mine who was a bouncer once told me that his boss used to suddenly come to him and say: don’t let any more Asians in ... which is terrible ... and yeah, he just ended up leaving.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment