I Need Some British Phonics

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UnscathedFlyingObject
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I Need Some British Phonics

Post by UnscathedFlyingObject »

I got myself a new job doing IT service desk for an UK company in the USA. My priority is to serve the USA division of the company but a good amount of my calls come from the UK. I'm having a hard time understanding a lot of people and some people sound like they are speaking a foreign language to me. I can't even get their names right with them spelling it out. Things only get worse when I get contacted on an issue I'm not familiar with. I've already had several botched calls and I really don't want to get booted after 2 weeks.

Any suggestions?
"Sooo, what was it that you consider a 'good salary' for a man to make?"
"They should at least make 100K to have a good life"
...
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Ed Oscuro
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by Ed Oscuro »

Coronation Street! Eastenders! Okay, how about Dad's Army? I dunno, maybe these examples are too "upper crust" in their pronunciation. I don't know about cockney stuff, there's this though.

Good luck with that job. With any luck they'll upgrade your rank and let you start emptying those little boxes women put their used towels (you know the ones, not nappies) in. :cry:
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

I recall once of bagging groceries for a customer whom had a very thick British accent. Whenever she spoke, I couldn't understand what she was saying and asked to repeat what she said. The more she talked, the more I could easily see that she was getting quite pissed off. She never did patronize the store I worked in though after that incident, that I remember quite well. You have your usual repeat customers and the occasional customer whom would go shopping every once in a great while.

I've even had one customer tell me that he'd break my face if his bread was crushed as I was bagging his groceries back in the day. So I made sure to bag his bread as the very last item and placed on top of everything else. Some customers were extremely rude and downright inconsiderate. But what the fuck, it's all in a day's work, right?

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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by UnscathedFlyingObject »

I had the misfortune of servicing a senior executive in one of my calls and things got ugly after she complained to my boss :cry:. Most VIPs are from the UK where the company's headquarters are, so it's like I'm walking in a minefield everyday.
"Sooo, what was it that you consider a 'good salary' for a man to make?"
"They should at least make 100K to have a good life"
...
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linko9
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by linko9 »

Watch lots of British tv shows, and maybe listen to some British podcasts. Obviously, there is an extremely wide spectrum of British accents, but if you watch enough British TV, listen to enough books on tape, etc., you'll get used most of them eventually. Trying to study the specific linguistic differences is not worth your time if all you want to do is increase comprehension.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by GaijinPunch »

Make sure you wear a fanny pack, and be sure to brandish it to all your colleagues (referring to it as a fanny pack).
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by xris »

I'll agree with the odd way British english sounds to us Americans, sometimes it really does sound like a different language. Allot of it comes from the slang, we just can't figure out the context quick enough. I've been watching more and more British teevee over the years. I've noticed lately that I'll say mad instead of crazy, and I like to say kit sometimes, especially when talking about women's clothing, and it's removal. Sometimes when refering to gear.
Yeah, just watch whatever British telly you like. I would suggest Ideal, but it hasn't been released here yet.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by BulletMagnet »

xris wrote:I've noticed lately that I'll say mad instead of crazy, and I like to say kit sometimes, especially when talking about women's clothing, and it's removal.
I do enjoy occasionally using the word "pants" as a derogatory adjective, myself. And pronouncing "aunt" and "ant" differently.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by MX7 »

Interesting that no one from the UK has suggested anything yet...

But yeah, I agree that watching UK television will help you out a lot. However, I advise you not to make the classic American mistake that UK accents can be divided into two groups: 'upper class' and 'cock-er-ney'. There's many many different dialects in the UK, and much of what filters through to the rest of the world seems to be pretty London-centric. This situation is somewhat analogous to a preconception that American accents are divided into 'New York' and 'Redneck', but it's even worse, as 'cockney' is specific to a district of London!

Do you recognise the accents of the people calling you? that might help you select what to watch a little better. For example, if a majority of your calls are coming from the Midlands, watching Eastenders is going to do no good at all.

Also, remember that even people in the UK have problems with the multitude of accents here. I'm from a county called Norfolk, which has a rich and characteristic sound that even I find quite hard to decode if I meet someone with a strong enough accent, even though that's roughly the accent I speak in :S

Also, British people tend to not like Americans very much, and may have trouble understanding you, so keep that in mind as well ;)
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by charlie chong »

too many regional variations..
i hate to say it but you screwed.
i was born in london and have lived in norfolk,newcastle,scotland etc so i can grasp most accents but even then i often have to ask glaswegian people what they said.. even worse is scottish accent mixed with asian/indian accent.. shit is impossible to decipher sometimes
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by ROBOTRON »

Watch "Are you being served?" and "Keeping up appearances".

Besides learning Brit-Speak you'll also die of laughter at the quality of comedy that rivals anything we have here.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by ZOM »

Watch the whole Flying Circus, more than once. I'm not kidding, I have a better understanding of the English (and Scottish lol) language now.
Just don't try to talk like them if you have a senior executive on the phone :mrgreen:
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by neorichieb1971 »

Misfits
Top Gear
The Apprentice

And any other of the above should be on there as well.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by SuperPang »

If you're going to go as far as watching British TV, at least watch something good and not the aforementioned soaps. I'd list some good recent comedy but actually, the accents wouldn't help you. I imagine you're having issues with the north and midlands and not the stereotypical cockney me old china.

Seriously though, just be polite and explain you're getting used to the accents, we're pretty easy going, you racist fuck.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

You crack me up, SuperPang. Yep, here in America, we gotta deal with different accents and ebonics as well.

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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by cools »

neorichieb1971 wrote:Top Gear
Hell yes. Learn to speak like Clarkson.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by Specineff »

If any brit gives you crap for how you sound, you give them crap back because of any the popular stereotypes about Englishmen, UFO.

Kidding, no offense intended to any of you UK members. They should understand however, the world has shrunk. It's hard to get support within one's borders nowadays, for better or worse.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by DEL »

Yes just watch Top Gear. That'll do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTJj4wbm ... re=related

Other than that, I don't see why you can't tune yourself in to any accent of the English language Mr UFO. After all, you speak English not American.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by ZOM »

Ok that was too much, and I'm already proud that I understood about 20% of it. :|
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by Ed Oscuro »

MX7 wrote:This situation is somewhat analogous to a preconception that American accents are divided into 'New York' and 'Redneck', but it's even worse, as 'cockney' is specific to a district of London!
I think the predominant accents are midwestern ("neutral") followed by maybe still southern (though it's been dying off). New York, New Orleans are some other famous ones. Not too long ago (probably still) there was a marked difference between northern Ohio and the southern part of the state, with people from the north thinking of southern Ohioan accents as near-redneck. :lol:
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by monkeyman »

Never understood why americans have trouble with English accents. (with the exception of newcastle (geordie) and Glaswegean (which is Scottish not English). Suppose it could be because us Brits are exposed to a lot of American TV and films with all sorts of accents where as you only ever get bumbling hugh grant accents (which plain don't exist) or a bad cockney gangsta representing the UK.

As for helping, watching lots of TV is probably the best bet. There's a show called I'm Alan Partridge, which is not only hilarious but has a character with such a strong geordie accent that the main character has to slowly decode everything he says.

As for Glaswegan, try getting hold of some Taggart or Rab C Nesbitt, don't like either of the shows but it might help.

Outside of that, if you happen to find out what region any of the accents you have trouble with are then post them here, I'm sure there's a TV show which will help with each one.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by GaijinPunch »

It's the slang that's hard to get -- not the accent (usually...for me at least). It's purely a geographical thing. I exposed an Irish friend to Friday (Ice Cube, Chris Tucker) and we laughed our asses off, but a few times he just sat there and said... "I have no idea what those words mean."
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by Slump »

Ed Oscuro wrote:Not too long ago (probably still) there was a marked difference between northern Ohio and the southern part of the state, with people from the north thinking of southern Ohioan accents as near-redneck. :lol:
This still exists. I've worked with people from southern Ohio down along the river and there can be a noticeable twang. Reminds me a lot of anyone from Kentucky's hill-country. Mind you not all of them speak that way but a lot of the country folk do.

Also, Top Gear is a great suggestion. You'll be saying "the Boogouhti VayrOn!" like Clarkson in no time! :lol:
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by Icarus »

cools wrote:
neorichieb1971 wrote:Top Gear
Hell yes. Learn to speak like Clarkson.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by E. Randy Dupre »

One of the worst things about the last decade has to be the resurgence of Clarkson as a somehow acceptable individual. He's turned arrogance and blind stupidity into an artform and it's just unfortunate that the rejigged Top Gear coincided with certain events in UK politics - without that coincidence, he'd still be rotting in the corner of some pathetic Sun column.

Anyhoo. I'd suggest steering clear of most tv shows, to be honest - soaps are often populated by actors who don't acutally possess the accent that they're putting on, so what you end up with is an accurate enough accent, but no real regional vocabulary. Top Gear, meanwhile, has at least one presenter whose speech follows the rules of received pronunciation - that is, he has no accent (obviously, he has one, but it's what used to be known as BBC English - clipped, free of any hint of regional origin).

I think you'd be better off looking at stand-up comedians. That way, you can easily cover most of the many dialects around, spoken naturally and without any concessions being made to the perceived needs of a wider audience. A lot of them may not be particularly funny, but it's not like you'd be checking them out for the jokes anyway.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by MX7 »

E. Randy Dupre wrote:One of the worst things about the last decade has to be the resurgence of Clarkson as a somehow acceptable individual. He's turned arrogance and blind stupidity into an artform and it's just unfortunate that the rejigged Top Gear coincided with certain events in UK politics - without that coincidence, he'd still be rotting in the corner of some pathetic Sun column.
He's a vile and odious individual, and yes, the most upsetting thing about him is the fact that the manner in which he has been marketed has succeeded in making being vile and odious an acceptable, even desirable thing. I think it's symptomatic of a very worrying acceptance of conservatism in the mainstream media, at a time where we need to move away from the concept of the individual as much as possible.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by DEL »

MX7 wrote;
at a time where we need to move away from the concept of the individual as much as possible.
Huh?
You'll need to explain that one for me.
Especially in a World where Globalisation is killing off the individual and of course the individual businessman.

As far as Clarkson is concerned, he's not politically correct and I admire that.
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Re: I Need Some British Phonics

Post by E. Randy Dupre »

Hang on, how is he not politically correct? Considering that we're now being subjected to a (part) Tory government and Clarkson is the ultimate Tory, I'd have thought that he's about as politically correct as you can get, right at this current time.

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