Is the NZ Accent that bad?

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Master Geek

#1079662 3-Jul-2014 21:51

Philica:
thorax: Dont get me started on how Google voice recognition fails with my accent.

Faar Guugil youze fullaz need a Nu Zerland Language setting.

Slightly off topic but Google Now does offer a NZ language setting for voice recognition which seems to work well for me.

This is great news... I still only see the Australian and UK english options on my Moto G, but i guess it will come with the next OTA update..

never mind, found it..

churrrr

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#1079674 3-Jul-2014 22:15

Loaf: I'm a Brit, and I've never had problems understanding the NZ accent when we moved to the country. Neither has anyone else in my family. I notice Americans and Canadians seem to have trouble with it though, not sure why.

There definitely is a thing with the e and the i though. 'Pen' sounding like 'pin' for example. jonb explains it well above. Though this doesn't represent everyone, and even people who can't tell the difference should be able to understand through context.

The NZ accent, in its thickest form, is a novelty to people from other countries. The Graham Norton clip (page 1) is a fair example. In a recent episode of Jono & Ben on TV3 when they interview Norton, he mentions how the audience enjoys the accent. It is funny just because it is unusual, and the audience is already in a silly mood (as this 'red chair' thing happens late in the show, assuming it is edited in sync). Certain European accents have also produced laughs on the show, so it isn't NZ specific.

In my opinion, the NZ accent is a less whiny, more monotone version of the Australian accent, with a few unique inflections here and there. Some people love it, and some people hate it, just like any accent.

there are a couple of issues in this thread
- understanding: of course anyone with a gift or have prior experience will have no trouble, and there are some who just won't cope or those who refuse to cope
- taking offense: people who have been overseas accept that there are differences between macro and micro localities' cultures and languages and agree to disagree. people who haven't tend to be easily offended at all kinds of things

i was in invercargill one day and overheard some middle aged folks being enraged that very dark people with turbans were in a flight to queenstown and should not have been allowed to board because they were probably te**or**ts. horrified!

eracode

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#1079724 4-Jul-2014 03:57

NZtechfreak: No accent is good or bad, it's all relative.

I think this 'relativity' is right. Most of the time when we are all in our own country, you don't think about it too much. But you go to , say, the US, we have to say only few words for our accent to stick out like the proverbials - just as an American accent sticks out here. We once met an American in SE Asia (i.e. both away from our home countries) and were talking about accents. He insisted that he had no accent but we did have accents. He got quite upset about it - I remember hum saying "I do NOT have an accent, just a linguistic style". Deckhead. I'm sure this went back to his sense of entitlement as mentioned here.

Americans are often intrigued by and attracted to our accent. If they ask "Where y'all from", ask them to guess and they will invariably say "UK?" (not England or whatever). Guessing again they might say Australia, but not often NZ. When they hear you're from NZ they are often not sure where that is but equally often say "Noo Zealand! I hear it's a wonderful place" &/or "Oh, I've always wanted to go there".

Years ago, when they were single, some mates of mine did a trip around the US and their accents got them lots of attention and invitations from local girls they came across. They had a great trip.

OT: Regarding the "Oh, I've always wanted to go there" - you know they never will. We went on a short cruise out of Florida a couple of years ago. Most of the passengers were from Florida or the southern US. We met heaps of these people who had done literally dozens of such cruises - because it's cheap for them and on their doorstep. A lot of them had never been outside the US - apart from Mexico/Haiti/Jamaica on their cruises. One guy had "been to LA once". Another couple once spent five days in New York.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

eracode

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#1079725 4-Jul-2014 04:13

Azzura:

Oddly enough my wife is from Saskatchewan -- we have had many people in Canada and New Zealand....thought she had an Irish accent (wth?).

.

My wife and I were talking to some locals in a bar in Nashville a couple of years ago and they thought we were from Ireland.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Demeter

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One NZ

#1079728 4-Jul-2014 07:04

The only time I had trouble with the Kiwi accent was the first couple of weeks or so in NZ, when going through a drive through was virtually impossible. 'Is that the lot then?' in the Kiwi accent, blurted out at 100 miles per minute and directed at someone who is not familiar with the phrase threw me for a loop.

DarthKermit

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#1079729 4-Jul-2014 07:10

There's nuthin' wrong with the New Zillind accent!

Whatifthespacekeyhadneverbeeninvented?

leo0787sx

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#1079759 4-Jul-2014 09:11

I'm from England, Yorkshire of all places and have people from New Zealand think I am from Scotland, Ireland and America, strangely enough Ireland is the most popular choice. I find New Zealand women love the English (Irish apparently) accent though, good ice breaker in bars :)

As for the New Zealand accent, well I'm partially deaf so I struggle a lot with accent until I get used to them - I lip read. I can tell the difference a lot also because of the lip movements (which actually makes me mimic some accents without thinking). I find Country folk have a stronger accent that City folk, I also find some of the younger generation and some Maori have a different sound and talk a lot faster. My girlfriend is a New Zealander but she lived in Australia for 12 years and has a very strong accent but I love it, I find Aussie sound louder and trail their words longer. I can certainly tell the difference between them now I've been here a while.

I do find the Six becomes Sex and Deck becomes Dick. I also find myself saying Bro more due to my friends when I actually thought I'd end up saying G'Day but hardly anyone says that anymore, that was the biggest shock for me.

I have to admit the most annoying thing for me is not the accent but the words. Chips are crisps, hot chips are chips, lollys are sweets, sweets are cake :-S

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Asmodeus

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#1080873 4-Jul-2014 12:20

Some Americans are hopeless at understanding NZ accents. I had to put on an American accent in a drive through on California once. Tried 3 or 4 times to order food unsuccessfully and then got it in the first try with my fake American accent lol

tdgeek

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#1080877 4-Jul-2014 12:23

Asmodeus: Some Americans are hopeless at understanding NZ accents. I had to put on an American accent in a drive through on California once. Tried 3 or 4 times to order food unsuccessfully and then got it in the first try with my fake American accent lol

Me too, and I felt embarrassed. At Smokey Mountains, saw a black bear, so stopped. SUV stopped too and couldn't understand me saying bear

Kopkiwi

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#1080919 4-Jul-2014 13:01

Yes, we sound fecking terrible.

Absolutely hate our accents.

Kopkiwi

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#1080920 4-Jul-2014 13:01

Asmodeus: Some Americans are hopeless at understanding NZ accents. I had to put on an American accent in a drive through on California once. Tried 3 or 4 times to order food unsuccessfully and then got it in the first try with my fake American accent lol

Mate, Americans are hopeless full stop.

geek4me

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#1081054 4-Jul-2014 16:05

I was born in New Zealand, lived here for 25 years then went to Holland for over 4 years for my OE. On my first trip back arriving in Singapore I heard this awful accent spoken and took a minute to realise it was a bunch of Kiwis talking English. Never realised we had an accent till I heard some speak after being away for so long. Now I'm back 30 years and my accent is probably worse than what I heard in Singapore. I guess it's just "different", not "bad".

gzt

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#1081064 4-Jul-2014 16:24

eracode:
Azzura:

Oddly enough my wife is from Saskatchewan -- we have had many people in Canada and New Zealand....thought she had an Irish accent (wth?).

.

My wife and I were talking to some locals in a bar in Nashville a couple of years ago and they thought we were from Ireland.

This makes sense. No idea about the different regions but compare some Irish pronunciations of pen, deck, etc. There is similar effect of e sounding more like i for some speakers/listeners.

eracode

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#1081082 4-Jul-2014 17:12

Kopkiwi: Yes, we sound fecking terrible.

Absolutely hate our accents.

If you're serious, I find that a bit sad - it's like being ashamed of yourself/us.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

jonathan18

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#1081221 4-Jul-2014 21:46

eracode:
Kopkiwi: Yes, we sound fecking terrible.

Absolutely hate our accents.

If you're serious, I find that a bit sad - it's like being ashamed of yourself/us.

Kopkiwi doesn't seem to have much love to share, going by that and his previous quote:

Kopkiwi: Mate, Americans are hopeless full stop.

Such wide generalisations very rarely have much substance behind them. Sure, there's a lot about the US I abhorre (eg their politics), but there's also so much that is great and amazing (eg their philanthropy; the best TV programmes, at least in English). That's the sort of comment I too probably would have made as a young uni student, but not now - time normally makes one less one-eyed I guess!

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