How do English speaking brothers and sisters outside the US feel about watching jw videos with an American accent

[kejedo]

16 hours ago, Brother Jack said:

. My favorite accent of all time is the Jamaican accent. They sound so chill and cool. I just Love hearing them speak.

Wah gwan suh? Wattcha talkin bout, mun?  Ya unnastan me, now?  Ebry ting gonne be Eirie.

[Brandon]

5 hours ago, carlos said:

My spoken English is not very good (not that the written one is great)

While I can't attest to your spoken English, your written English is more than passable. If you hadn't told me previously that it was your second language, I would have assumed it was your first and not thought twice about it.

 

6 hours ago, carlos said:

An Australian brother came to visit once but we hardly understood anything of what he said.

Most Canadians, Americans, and probably some British often find the same about australian english.

[Peanuts]

6 hours ago, carlos said:

My spoken English is not very good (not that the written one is great, but anyway). 

 

This really surprises me. Your written English is very good! Im sure you are better at spoken than you give yourself credit for!

[Brandon]

12 hours ago, Guri said:

I wish I would "meet" someone on our forum who I know [in real life].

 

I had an idea recently, that it would be kind of neat if in addition to our country or area displayed under our name, we also could put our Circuit number (or even the name of our congregation).

 

Especially now when it is easy to make a circuit map* using the new API on apps.jw.org, it would then be possible to see which congregations are in your circuit and which circuits are adjacent to your own, and widen out in that way.

 

Actually, for our last convention, I wrote my congregation name it light pencil but wrote the city and circuit # in heavier pen on my lapel card.

 

* for example, I recently made this map of every English congregation that uses the same assembly hall as me, coloured according to circuit number.  I find it becomes easier to widen out in our circuit, as well as 'connect the dots' to others on the forum, when you discover things in common.  I've already messaged with several on this site who use the same assembly hall, or are in the same circuit as friends of mine who have moved a little distance away, or ones who attend the same regional convention.

[ReadYourBible]

I have a confession to make.  It could border on a sin.  I think some accents are downright dreamy. 

[outwalkin]

4 hours ago, jwhess said:

  From now on I will reply to you with the honorific....Mother Carole...

 

That sounds a little “Catholic” y. Not sure how to take that. I hope I didn’t cause offense?

[hatcheckgirl]

2 hours ago, Stormswift said:

Mate, my accent is different to Brother Gregs ya know!! We are more refined in our accent ...than the Aussies ... oh I mean ... Brother Carlos our spoken accentuation is much more refined than our Australian counterparts.

 

I see a challenge in your post.

 

We have an accent? 

 

The stronger Aussie ‘Strine is mellowing, as it is usually just tradies and surfies who speak with less elocution. My Italian father's attempt at speaking English was incomprehensible, even to me-a.

 

[Ahuvah]

Yes you do sister!! I don't though. haha.

[hatcheckgirl]

8 minutes ago, Stormswift said:

Yes you do sister!! I don't though. haha.

 

Dont make me get you to say fish 'n' chips! 

 

BTW Brother Jackson's accent has a twang from his days as a missionary in Samoa. He speaks very clearly and deliberately, so is slightly different from the straight Australian accent. 

 

When you have immigrant parents, your accent changes too. People say I sound English when I speak, because my parent couldn’t speak English very well, and so we didn’t grow up with the 'Strine accent. 

[Ahuvah]

fish 'n' chips - there! Just the same as you. lol.

[Cushi]

2 hours ago, Brandon said:

While I can't attest to your spoken English, your written English is more than passable. If you hadn't told me previously that it was your second language, I would have assumed it was your first and not thought twice about it.

I agree 

[jwhess]

2 hours ago, outwalkin said:

 

That sounds a little “Catholic” y. Not sure how to take that. I hope I didn’t cause offense?

I enjoyed every minute.  In some parts of this country, the term "Mother" is applied to a wife's mother-in-law when speaking about her.  I have my mom and "mother Alice".  She was one of the "friends" also.

 

[RodLS45]

It would be great if our American Cousins took heed of the Modulation topic in the school guide book! Two Canadian Sisters did a demonstration recently & I'm still not sure what they said!

Us Aussies are accused of 'having our own language', but at least we use some modulation! LOL

[RodLS45]

In Tasmania the expression 'TheFriends' usually refers to the Quakers. A well-known private educational establishment in Hobart is called 'The Friends School'!

[RodLS45]

Apart from Br. Jackson, my favourite speaker is Br. Gerrit Loesch. His Austrian accent goes down very well here!

[sunshine]

I love that we are international and the English speaking presenters and readers are reflecting that more and more... I am enjoying listening to the Bible Stories book (new) because the accents travel around the world.  The most pleasant surprise for me is  (a first that I can remember) the beautiful Scottish brogue of the presenter of the documentary on William Tyndale - a delight!

https://tv.jw.org/#en/mediaitems/VODBibleTranslations/docid-502017150_1_VIDEO

 

Of course the brothers have to be careful because all of these accents, if too stronge would become almost incomprehensible to many non-native speakers but I  love love LOVE hearing all the accents.  

 

(my favorite accents are Welsh and  South African)

Edited October 12, 2017 by sunshine

[Cool Cat]

My biggest issue is when I go to show a householder or return visit a video is the way that Americans say brochure makes it really stand out as American. It sometimes draws attention to the American origin of the organisation and detracts a little bit from the subject of the video. For me it is just that one word that is said so different compared to us in the UK and is usually right at the end of many videos so is one of the final things the householder hears. If they could change it for the UK that would be great but it is very unlikely to happen.

[rocket]

36 minutes ago, MentalProject said:

My biggest issue is when I go to show a householder or return visit a video is the way that Americans say brochure makes it really stand out as American. It sometimes draws attention to the American origin of the organisation and detracts a little bit from the subject of the video. For me it is just that one word that is said so different compared to us in the UK and is usually right at the end of many videos so is one of the final things the householder hears. If they could change it for the UK that would be great but it is very unlikely to happen.

 

So how do Brits pronounce brochure? American = bro·shure; British =?

[Cool Cat]

6 minutes ago, rocket said:

 

So how do Brits pronounce brochure? American = bro·shure; British =?

Bro-sha or bro-shuh

Edited October 12, 2017 by MentalProject

[rocket]

Just now, MentalProject said:

Bro-sha or bro-shah

 

LOL, I thought for sure you would say bro·chure with the ch like in church. So the "ure" is silent and replaced with an "a or ah." Interesting. Someday maybe they will get around to printing and videos in "English" in addition to yankee english.

[Sylv]

20 hours ago, outwalkin said:

 

That sounds a little “Catholic” y. Not sure how to take that. I hope I didn’t cause offense?

Oh my, that brings back memories! Off topic: year ago, a sister had her young daughter address me as "sister Sylvie", meaning it to be less formal, but still polite. I HATED it, as I made me think of a nun. As soon as the girl was old enough, I asked her to just call me by my first name. 

[DLM]

I have a real problem understanding someone from England. I would swear they are speaking another language! One word that jumps out at me is the word "mum" because I call her "mom". I agree about ones that use the expression "each and every". My daughter is married to a Finnish man and sometimes I have trouble understanding him, but his dad was impossible. He spoke "Finglish" and that required an interpreter. I liked to hear him even if I didn't know what he was talking about  We have a couple in our congregation from Korea. He is an elder and when he gives parts on the program, I cannot understand him especially over the phone, which is the way I hear the meetings. If I can watch his lips, I can understand better. There are many accents here in the US that I have a problem with like some of the Southern and Eastern accents. When we visited New York we stayed with a Haitian couple and hardly knew what they said but we liked listening to them.   

[scholar JW]

I am appalled.

 

Scholar JW

[ellejayzee]

On 11/10/2017 at 7:41 AM, Peanuts said:

 i know your daughters! And lots of family on your husbands side  (theres lots of them to know )

Anna Anna, how lovely to see you on here! (In fairness, everyone knows dad's side of the family...)

[Cool Cat]

3 hours ago, rocket said:

 

LOL, I thought for sure you would say bro·chure with the ch like in church. So the "ure" is silent and replaced with an "a or ah." Interesting. Someday maybe they will get around to printing and videos in "English" in addition to yankee english.

It's definitely the ure/yure that gives away the American origin of the video. The thing is there are lots of videos which tell you to turn to lesson _?_ of the bro-shure  "Good News from God" right at the end as the afterthought of the video. I can't help but think how American it is every time. 

 

Ps. don't get me wrong I love the American accents just as much as you guys love a British accent. They are intrigueing to me as I am sure ours is to you.