Here's the thing,

I'm finally trying to fight procrastination and get my blog started. But, I intend to offer some podcasts (both in Portuguese and in English) and I'm really insecure about my English. I know my accent is thick (to say the least), but I'd like to know whether:

1. It's easy to understand what I mean (i.e. you don't need to ask yourself every 5 seconds what that funny sequence of sounds I uttered means)
   
2. You're able to follow me all the way (i.e. you don't start daydreaming with your wandering thoughts because you lost the patience to do the (unconscious and laborious) task of interpreting my accent).

Of course, if my accent is too thick, I can always speak in Portuguese and add subtitles to a Youtube video, but I want to keep it as simple as possible.

So, here's my interpretation of "On Bullshit", by H. Frankfurt:



Hints, ideas, criticism and piss-takes are welcome

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It almost sounds like you have a speech impediment with your pronunciation of "bullshit". Also, "Frankfurt". I hear a "w" sound with your 'll' in bullshit, and the same with the 'urt' in Frankfurt.

I find it easy to follow. You speak clearly and enunciate properly, so your accent does not stray the ear from English comprehension.




Having said that, your accent is the strangest I have ever heard in my life lol seriously

You sound like a mix between Australian and Indo-european French.
But when you say "bullshit" you sound exactly like Jackie Chan.

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quote:

Originally posted by jennypie It almost sounds like you have a speech impediment with your pronunciation of "bullshit". Also, "Frankfurt". I hear a "w" sound with your 'll' in bullshit, and the same with the 'urt' in Frankfurt.

Come to think of it, Frankfurt should rhyme with "Frankfert", right?

As for the "speech impediment", that is indeed my accent. I try to remember the letter "L" is there, but I grew up saying "Braziw" for "Brazil" (as most Brazilians ).

Thanks for the hints

quote:

Originally posted by Ania_xox I find it easy to follow. You speak clearly and enunciate properly, so your accent does not stray the ear from English comprehension. Having said that, your accent is the strangest I have ever heard in my life lol seriously You sound like a mix between Australian and Indo-european French. But when you say "bullshit" you sound exactly like Jackie Chan.

Indo-European French and Jackie Chan?

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quote:

Originally posted by Lira Come to think of it, Frankfurt should rhyme with "Frankfert", right?

Heh, yeah.

You sound like a German or Swiss speaking English.

I fixed my pronunciation of Frankfurt... it was blatantly an error

quote:

Originally posted by Joss Weatherby You sound like a German or Swiss speaking English.

I blame it on the countless hours I spent in my early teens listening to Atari Teenage Riot

(But is it easy to understand?)

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It isn't bad at all. I was able to follow it just fine, and I live and grew up in your typical midwest American town surrounded by "American Broadcast English".

I'd say don't be afraid to do it in English, but subtitles wouldn't hurt.

The only time I ever really have to "process" what you're saying for more than a brief moment has more to do with timing/accent (in the sense of emphasis) than enunciation. For example, when you say "we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation", it sounds more like you're saying that we lack a "con-chinch-us-ly" developed appreciation. Made me pause and process for a brief moment, but nothing too bad. I'm just used to hearing "con-she-EN-shus-ly"... it was almost like you eliminated a syllable.

And your accent is fairly strange... it has a strange Asian (Chinese, Japanese, etc.) sound to it. (The "Jackie Chan" sound previously mentioned, when saying "buwshit", etc.) But, it isn't hard to understand.

So, I say go for it. It's just fine, just giving observations as requested.

Sounds fine to me!

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quote:

Originally posted by david.michael The only time I ever really have to "process" what you're saying for more than a brief moment has more to do with timing/accent (in the sense of emphasis) than enunciation. For example, when you say "we lack a conscientiously developed appreciation", it sounds more like you're saying that we lack a "con-chinch-us-ly" developed appreciation. Made me pause and process for a brief moment, but nothing too bad. I'm just used to hearing "con-she-EN-shus-ly"... it was almost like you eliminated a syllable.

Now that you mention it, I actually did: I probably compared it with "conscience" and adopted the same pronunciation, so it was indeed a mistake

quote:

Originally posted by david.michael And your accent is fairly strange... it has a strange Asian (Chinese, Japanese, etc.) sound to it. (The "Jackie Chan" sound previously mentioned, when saying "buwshit", etc.) But, it isn't hard to understand. So, I say go for it. It's just fine, just giving observations as requested.

Thanks. As for the Asian-feel, that's because where I grew up, final r's and l's are not really welcome (r's are barely pronounced and l's become w's)... and Asian speakers probably resort to these same "shortcuts"... both you and Ania mentioned it, I'm going to do some research on that.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

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need to maybe work on the quality of the recording (I'm just being picky)

but the accent is spot on. If someone doesn't understand it's really because they aren't willing to try the slighest bit. If some deem it necessary for you to need subtitles, might as well put subtitles on all non english-american recordings/videos, because really your pronounciation flows easilly and the accent isn't hard on the ears.
Subtitles aren't necessary unless you are trying to cater to some bum idiot american who has never been exposed to anything more exotic than some southern twang in a country song.

It's a weird mix, how sometimes a hint of brazilian accent might come through and others it's strangely aussie/brit