Yorkshire English and Youth English
Hello again Marcos!
I hope you had a good weekend. I've been reading the posts that you wrote in January again and particularly like the one about the Pink River Dolphin!
In my last post I included a link to some information about York. Earlier this evening I asked my daughter, Clara (aged 12), whether she thinks that she speaks ‘Yorkshire English’ and whether the English that young people speak is different from that of adults. I’m still not sure how to use my video camera so here is an audio recording of Clara talking, together with a photo of her (and her brother, Rian, aged 14).
Clara talks about the pronunciation of the words ‘bubbles’ and ‘hello’ and her use of the words ‘like’ and ‘LOL’. I don’t think that ‘like’ (for example, “I was, like, really hungry, so I had, like, a burger…”) is an example of Yorkshire English; I’ve heard people from around the world using it. LOL (laughing out loud - from text messaging) is also used all over the UK. Both ‘like’ and ‘LOL’ are probably examples of ‘youth English’. Clara mentions another feature she thinks youth English has – informality. I don’t know if this is true – she can be formal when she’s talking to a stranger or person she treats as ‘high status’ (for example, a teacher, an older relative etc.)!
What about you Marcos? Do young Brazilians speak differently from older people? What about young people using English in Brazil, do they use slang and other informal ways of speaking?
Talk to you again soon!
Rachel
Comments
Hi Rachel! Clara has a lovely voice and she and her brother are really cute. Here in Brazil, young people tend to talk in a more formal way with older people. However, I think Brazilians in general aren´t so confident about using slang or informal ways of speaking because they are afraid of being misunderstood. Anyway Rachel, I was watching the videos about Preparing UK teachers. They´re very interesting indeed. Best wishes, Ana Paula.
Dear Rachel, you might be surprised, but in my country young people use some English words as slang! Such words like “friends”, “cut”, “link” and other ones (mostly referring to computer and e-blog sphere) are widely used but in a Russian manner. Very often older generation call this “illiteracy” :) So where is the edge when innovation becomes a mistake?
Hello to the academic teacher,Rachel.I was reading your information and wondering how much patiance you need to have to work with students who are yet to master the language .how a person who is interested in language idiology needs to slow down for foreign speakers .You have said that you and your students agreed that the defference between the mistake and the use of( so called special english )is the intention.Well,shouldn`t we condition that with the knowldge of the origenal way?I know that the language is merely a tool.But we still need to ,at list, know its rules.thank you so much.
Hello, Teacher Rachel, I listened audio of your daughter clara. I enjoyed it.Both clara and Rian are cute. Here in India i dont see any difference in english speaking by young and old people. Talk to you soon! Deepak.
Time flies, Rachel, Clara and Rina were 9 and 11 while you wrote BBCle teacher blog 3 years ago, and now, Clara is a model of your BBCle English teacher blog. Language has its life though, it will change in all the ages,especially the youth pop words, change quickly. I sometimes speak Chinese-english , like:"long time no see". As a non-Anglophone, I am used to listen Anglophone's tone and am not good at understanding local lingo such as Yorkshire's. It's a good opportunity for me to hear something like that, thanks, I rarely have a chance to touch it. Taiwanese English go with American, which tone,accent and usage are quite different from British. I have spent a lot of time to tackle it(British). Best wishes, James.
First of all, a great thank you and Clara for the clip on YouTube. Secondly, I am particularly interested to hear what your daughter talks about York accent, using words and slang with her friends as I have a son who will be a teenager in 6 years. My great concern is that he pronounces some words like me and talks so fast and loud which most of people speak in Lincolnshire. It sounds like he gets crossed with people or talking to the old unruly. It causes my son and me a little bickering and conflicts in daily life. Thirdly, young people in Korea speak in a different way from older people. Most Korean parents including my parents think it’s very important to teach their children using formal and respectable words with the elder. Lastly, learning and using articles are one of the most complications in English for me. it would definitely be much easier to write a letter or listen to people without articles for a novice at English language. On the other hand, when you read a book in English it would be very difficult to understand or follow a plot - like who is/ are talking to, which places mention and so on. Again using articles correctly is the most stinkiest one but it’s an English grammar so I can like it or lump it . By the way, does your son still like chicken satay? Have a good day!
Hello, it is nice to see at last some blogger trying to teach pronunciation. The biggest problem I face when using English language is pronunciation and often times i find myself bit hesitant to open my mouth fearing that I may pronounce the word wrong. Thank You for initiating teaching pronunciation on this blog.
To me who is a non-Anglophone, a difficult situation is that it's easier to understand a Anglophone's speaking than a non-Anglophone's. For example, there are 3 persons who are chatting in English, one is a British, the other two are Chinese who speak English fluently. I can easily understand the British's speaking, however, it is very tough for me to know what the Chinese talking. And, the Britsh could understand every single word of the Chinese. I don't know why? Maybe, I don't have enough sense of English. See you around, James.
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