How did I get to know about Australian English like I do?
I'll let you in...
Mainly out of everyday communication while being outside of Australia!
I live in London so I speak in English most of the time (hey, check out my the rest of my website and you'll see why not all the time).
Anyway, here's how it goes...
I say something pretty ordinary in (Australian) English, then I see that oh-so familiar lost look on the face of the person I'm talking to, then I ask "oh, did I just say something Australian?" The word or phrase is noted, and then the linguist in me kicks in and I go into research and investigation mode, with the result often being a post to announce my discovery.
I can honestly tell you though that most native speakers of English don't realise two major things about the English they speak:
🌐 They all speak English with an accent (there's no such thing as "I don't speak with an accent")
🌐 Not all the words and phrases they use are universally understood or used all throughout the Anglosphere
But while many English native-speakers know that, say, UK English and US English have a few words not the same and some are spelled differently, people who are or have lived in places away from their native territory and/or are intimately involved in language as a major part of their profession (translators, teachers, academics, linguists, marketing specialists, etc.) truly discover what these actual differences between the numerous variants and dialects of English are... and there are far more differences than what you'd think.
As a translator and specialist in localising text into Australian English, this has ended up being a constant and exciting adventure, where for me, even after almost a quarter of a century being mainly based away from Australia, I'm still discovering English words and phrases I've always used and assumed are found wherever English is spoken, turn out to be solely specific to Australia (OK, and quite often, New Zealand too, but not always).
👉 And which discovery has been the freakiest for me?
I'm still spinning years after finding out by pure chance that most English-speakers worldwide butcher the word 'pergola' by putting the stress on the first syllable in the word 😲. That's not how Aussies and Kiwis say it – we put the stress as it should be on the second syllable: 'perGOLa' 👍
Needing to get through to your Australian customers in the way they speak? Then talk to me. Drop me a line at info@nicknasev.com and let's have a natter!
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