No Beer Here

This is a listening blog. A phonetics lesson. If you can't listen, just stop now.

A little while ago, I received this message from an Australian in the US for the first time:

Until then, I hadn't paid that much attention. How do Australians say two?  So I listened. I tried saying it myself. Yes. Australians say it differently. (But it doesn't sound like three.)

Since then, I've been paying extra close attention to the "funny" way Australians pronounce words. They've got some words I've never heard, but sometimes they're saying a word I know, but it sounds unfamiliar. Turns out, it's predominantly a vowel thing. And an "r" thing. Vowels are longer and "r's" don't exist.

"Here" become hee-a.

"Dollar" becomes dolla. This fact made my observation of a Year 2 primary school lesson in money very amusing listening to 30 seven year-olds say "dolla, dolla, dolla". It's also fun hearing seven year-olds refer to erasers as "rubbas")

My absolute favorite word of the month has become "no". Long "o" sounds become two syllables. Like na-ow. Whether it's a 3 year old, 27 year-old, I grin and repeat it in my best Aussie accent (which I can't do AT ALL). Kyla and I had a post-lunch conversation that sounded a bit like this, "Naow", "No", "Naow", "No", "Nooooo".

Put it all together and "no beer here" translated into Aussie speak = Naow bee-a hee-ya.

I blame mispronunciations for confusion between Australian and American (yes, I just delineated two separate languages). For example, Kyla and I were debating whether you "putter around" or "potter around". I thought I was stealing "putter around" from Kyla's vocabulary as my new favourite description for a lazy day at home doing small things around the house, while the whole time she has been saying "potter" around. According to wiktionary, one is just an alternative form of the other because an American heard an Aussie say "potter" and interpreted it as "putter" or vice versa. I will also blame my confusion between "rock up" and "ruck up" on phonetics.

And apparently (though I deny it), I say things "funny" too. Since I've moved here, "Curtin" and "important" have been the targets of my "accent". I cut out the sharp "t" apparently. But if I pronounce it in "American" without an Aussie or British accent, I sound like a tool. I just can't win.

This following custom-made clip from a real live Australian explains it all. You HAVE to listen to it.

Or follow this link https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5189181/No%20Beer%20Here.mp3

Need a translation? It's been 10 months, but I've figured out what most of those words (boot, ute, doona, blue, servo, bogan) mean but still get caught off-guard now and again.

 

Funny thing is, that's how people talk over hee-ya, way down unda.

PS. Thanks to Western Red for his voice and audio production talents. And if you like what you hee-ya, check out his radio show, Sunday, @10:30 am EST or his podcast, If That Ain't Country any time.