Hi! This is Lisa Joy from MosaLingua. And in today's video I'm inviting you to play a little game.
I've selected nine audio clips of native speakers of English speaking in English
and you will have to guess which country or region they each come from.
If you're up for the challenge, keep watching!
Before we start the quiz, if you want to know more about English and other foreign languages,
be sure to like this video, subscribe to our channel and click the little bell icon
to be the first to know all about the new videos we publish.
Done? Nice!
Now get ready, as you're about to listen to the first audio clip.
Make sure you take notes and score up your points,
or even easier, directly type your answers in the comment section below.
I am eager to see how well you do on this quiz.
I've got 10 bucks in my pocket, I have nothing to offer you and I know that. I understand.
But I'm too involved now. You jump, I jump, remember? I can't turn away without knowing you'll be all right.
An easy one to start off with. You just heard a standard American accent.
If you've guessed it right, give yourself your first point. Next one:
This morning I get up at about four o'clock in the morning
and I went to the coffee shop and got me some biscuits and gravy... uhhhway...
Those biscuits and gravy... I love biscuits and gravy, okay? I love biscuits and gravy!
Yes! You've got this!
This was also an American Accent. Yet, very different to the one we heard before.
Can you guess where in the United Sstates? Hmm...
Texas! Yee-haaaaa...
Give yourself one point for American.
And give yourself an extra point if you've nailed the region too!
The English language is perhaps most commonly associated with the United States
for being the largest English-speaking country.
And it has reached many people through music, and TV, series.
Let's go to the next clip:
A story like this could make the Nationals.
Don't even go there! Because if this gets out, Courtney will lose her career.
She should have thought about that before getting it on with her student!
The accent you've just heard is from...
England.
This is the Liverpool accent, where The Beatles came from.
Well done if you guessed the country right. Add up one point to your score!
Where I am from, although it's a much smaller country than the US, we also have a variety of accents.
The one you're hearing me speaking right now is the British Standard accent,
also referred to as RP, Received Pronunciation.
In this next audio clip, we will hear a famous person speaking British RP
Well, since I've given out the accent for you, this time try and guess who the person speaking is.
My government's priority is to deliver a national recovery from the pandemic
that makes the United Kingdom stronger, healthier and more prosperous than before.
In my opinion, Our Majesty, the Queen speaks such clear and sophisticated English.
So RP is usually associated with education and wealth
but it is also a common model for English learners who opt for a British accent.
And contrary to other British accents, RP is not restricted to a geographical area within the UK.
We're halfway through the quiz now.
If you've answered correctly to all of the questions, you should have five points so far,
having earned your last point for recognizing Queen Elizabeth's voice.
If you haven't scored all of the five points, don't worry and don't give up now!
You can still catch up in the next audio clips.
Let's listen to the next audio clips:
Oh my God! What is tha'? Wha'?
When did you get tha'? Get wha'? The ta'oo!
All right! Yeah! I got tha' yesterday.
Ain't you got any? No, I haven't.
You are so dry! A ta'oo tho! What ds'it say?
Ryan and Lauren! You've got beef for tha'!
No I just didn't know you was doing it. What's your beef? I ain't got beef...
Is it that you've got beef for tha'? I ain't got no beef!
You have got beef...
Not as clear as the Queen speaking, I'm afraid...
Have you ever heard this accent?
Well, you've just listened to one of the most famous British Accents:
Cockney.
The cockney accent comes from the same city as the Queen Elizabeth's humble house.
In London, cockney is a typical and traditionally spoken form of British English
firstly used by working class londoners but now used by many.
The cockney accent is characterized by the glottal T:
Ta'oo (tatoo)
Wa'er (water)
And rhyming slangs.
In the audio, we heard: "you got beef for tha?"
Which actually means "Do you have a problem with that?"
Well-known cockney rhymes are: "apples and pears", meaning stairs.
Or... "bees and honeys", meaning money.
A little confusing? I know...
And that was exactly the intention of the traders who would use this type of code to get away with criminal activities.
Let's fly to a different part of the world.
There are many places to go to, since English is the official language in more than 60 other countries,
around 400 million people worldwide speak English as a first language.
So no wonder there are so many variations of the English language, even amongst the native English speakers.
Let's see where we've landed!
When I check it out, the biggest man was a baby one time,
so I don't know where they get out all of these big ideas, wanting to be rulers of our people...
How about this one?
Easier? Or harder? Let me know!
We just heard Bob Marley speaking Jamaican English.
The trick to remember a specific accent is to associate it to a certain person.
Next one!
Hey "massa chan" (mom's child, in African language). Hey man, you making us proud, you know?
Yeah! I mean, you're doing big things for us... But, but can ask you a favor though?
Don't lose your accent though, don't lose your accent!
Now, when you come back from the States you don't come back talking funny, okay?
Please, brother, if you lose your accent don't come back!
I admit... even I found that accent difficult to understand. Did you recognize it? Taking bets, ladies and gents!
This accent was from...
South Africa!
How many points do you have so far?
Let's see if you can add up a few more with these last two audios.
So I jumped out of bed and all I had was my undies on, and I've walked out the front
and I've seen uh... the car smashed, and I've seen the bloke walking back to the car.
And so I've walked outside and I said 'Oh, what are you doing mate?'
Now the quiz is getting more difficult, isn't it? I'll simplify it for you.
Aussie or Kiwi. Choose the option you think is correct.
These two accents can sound very similar, but they do have some differences.
The one you just heard was...
The Australian accent!
Australians like to put the emphasis on the "e" sound,
whilst the kiwis love the "uh" sound.
For example: Aussies would say "fish and chips", whilst the Kiwis would say "fish and chips".
Aussies will say "Sydney", whereas the Kiwis would say "Sydney".
Last but not least:
Again, influenced by the phonetics of the native languages, the Indian accent has retroflex trilled R.
Engineering... engineering. Garbage... garbage... garbage.
That was a given point.
Indian English!
As you can see or hear even though
English is declared the official language in a country,
other languages or dialects that are spoken
in that country can severely affect the way English is spoken.
With Indian English, not only does the strong R makes it obvious that an Indian person is speaking
but also the way they use syntax. For example: they use a lot of progressive tenses.
So a sentence like
"She likes music"
Would sound like:
"She is liking the music"
That's it! We finally got to the end of our quiz!
I hope that you had fun and that you scored big.
Publish your score right now in the comments and tell me which was your favorite English accent.
But by the way, if you want to understand more about the differences between American and British English,
my american colleague at MosaLingua, Abbe, and I, made a video about it.
Make sure to check it out later!
Talk to you soon. Bye!
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See you next time!
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