Boris, for a final exam, have your Finnish students translate this ( I think one of the fellows is Seiken Steve ) [ame="www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLjvQELo8fE"]www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLjvQELo8fE[/ame]
Translate it into...English? Great video though. I'm always scratching around for new materials, keeps me enthusiastic when I have new stuff to show, so I'll use that. Thanks! As for my own accent. I have lost mine over the years. My mother is from Belfast, father is from Derby, spent a little less than half of my life in Stoke and the other half + abroad (Malta, Cyprus twice, Japan, Czech Rep., Finland twice). I'm quite glad actually as Stoke accents are horrible. I do cringe when I speak to my nephew on the phone, great kid but God...that chavvy accent!
Since MAP is UK-heavy, here's a link to some footage of British accents. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyyT2jmVPAk"]One Woman, 17 British Accents - Anglophenia Ep 5 - YouTube[/ame]
Fun fact , Ford college use that video to highlight the problems accents can cause for voice control on cars ! My accent is a mixture of Brummie and black country (amyam) , though I'm working in the black country now so it's drifting more in that direction.
Does a language or accent apply to the use of grammar, pronunciation, and slang? Speaking of which; Is McDonald's (food restaurants) pronunced Mic Dondald's or MacDonad's? Is a roof or a ruff?
Are you a hard-rock singer by chance? There seems to be more than a statistical norm amount of belters from out your way.
Should've used the term transcribe, rather; but, yeah, I've heard some say they've a scratch when they hear Geordie. Where in Ulster is your mother from, Boris?
Maybe not... Why are the chicken nuggets pronounced Mac Nuggets? (Instead of Mic Nuggets????) Why is the "signature sandwhich" pronounced as a Big Mac? (Instead of Big Bic???)
Sorry, I meant was she from the Greater Belfast Metro area or the City (Urban). How'd you like Czechoslovakia ( or Czech Republik/Slovakia ) ? The wife went through there for a bit on one of her trips to Germany. She liked it.
We're way off topic here... I was in Prague about 2001, so Czech Republic. It was awesome! Simple as that. I was drinking a lot and whatever at the time, so it's all a bit of a blur. Great place though. There's tons to do there; historical stuff, museums, great night life, loads of gigs, beautiful old town, crazy cheap beer if you head out of the centre and away from the tourist traps. I never went to Slovakia though, I wanted to 'cause I liked the Slovak girls I met in Prague. Hah. They're great looking and nice to talk to, kinda laid back. TEFLing was good there; I worked for a legit and respectable company, the students were really motivated (sadly, I was very green), lots of work available. A lot of the students had a ton of mad stories to tell you about the years under Socialism, so conversation classes were always interesting. Training was a bit of a disaster. The level of MA wasn't too good and it could be incredibly expensive. I went to an MMA gym for a while, but it was awful, like a load of guy who'd watch some UFC videos and too much Fight Club. Then did some Greco and kickboxing. I like Eastern Europe though.
Its the little excursions that make the trip. Great story! The wife fell in love with the Prague; wants to return there for our 20th. Well, back to ... what was the thread about...?
I pronounce 'McDonalds' as 'Dirty Dons'. Although it is weird that it's generally 'MAcDonalds' but 'Mcnuggets'.
