Sunday 8 April 2012

Time for Revival!

LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE


G'DAY YOU MOB!
Well it's been ages since I whipped up a Podcast, hasn't it!? It seemed to me that I didn't have time to spare writing out and recording podcasts for a small audience.

But recently I had a bo-peep at the visitor statistics over the past few months, and at the comments people had been leaving, and I was stoked!

Thanks for all your friendly words. I'm glad you like what's been done so far.

Can I ask you all to do me a favour? Give me your ideas. What do you want to hear? Have you ever experienced Aussie lingo personally? How did you find it? Did you wonder what the heck the person was on about?

What can I teach you all?

As a student of the Russian language, I find that idioms are the toughest part of any language to learn. You can have a whoppin' load of words in your vocabulary, and a whole stack of grammar rules down pat, but idioms are often so whacky that they are impossible to translate.

So... I'll try and chuck in a few Aussie idioms here and there. Let me know if you've heard one and want me to explain it.

Stay tuned, here she comes!


Words/Idioms you might wanna know:

To whip up: Prepare (something) quickly
Have a bo peep: Take a look (at something)
Stoked: To be very pleased; Excited; Encouraged.
How did you find it? What did you think about it?
On about: To be talking about/referring to.
Whoppin': A large amount/size
Stack: A lot
To have something down pat: To have mastered something; To be a pro at something.
Whacky: Strange; Weird
To chuck in: To include; To throw in.
She: often used instead of "it" in colloquial Aussie English. Example "See my new car? She's a beauty, ay!" (It's a good one, isn't it?)

8 comments:

  1. Hi,I'm a high school student in China now
    thanks for these interesting podcasts,there're not many but I love them all.I found your podcasts soon after I fell in love with Aussie English. It sounds soooo cute! So do you!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the encouragement! I hope I can find some spare time to make another podcast soon.
      You should think about recording yourself saying "G'day mate, how's it going" and I will feature it in the next podcast!

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  2. HI Brett, I am Long. I haven't visited your blog for a long time because I thought you stopped running it. I just came across your new post this morning, wow I was happy that you were back. You are doing a great job, buddy. Actually your blog is very useful to me (than you think)lol. It does not need to be a podcast, just an entry sometimes like this. That s fine. I came to Australia like 3 years ago, I m doing science at uni ATM. Formal words are fine to me, they dont really freak me out. But when I read magazine or talked to one of my Aussie mates, I was sometimes lost. Something like "damn straight", the first time I heard of I thought he s talking sth about gay and straight haha.
    Like today, I learnt a new phrase like whip up, chuck in. Keep up good work! I think I would record the homework and send you later. Your blog will become so popular later (everything takes time, mate!)

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  3. Hey mate, bring some more podcasts, really... it's awesome and we're tired of british and american english.. we need more aussie english in the media...

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  4. Hi Brett! Please continue making these great podcasts. As you said, most lessons online are in American English.
    Some ideas: Would be great if you give tips on how to speak with Aussie accent.
    You see, I migrated to Oz about 17 years ago and still have my mixed up asian accent. Although this is not at all a problem in communicating, i'd like to be able to speak with an Aussie accent sometimes :)

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  5. Hi Brett,
    As a handsome bloke (!) who has lived in Australia for two years and a half I think pronouncing the words correctly is the biggest challenge for a foreigner. People can learn some of the correct pronunciations through British English lessons but still they might be different. Would be good if you could teach us the proper pronunciation of some of the words that you find hard-to-understand when you talk to a non-Aussie. e.g. how not to pronounce Beach like Bitch! (joking).

    Also the rhythm that Australians speak with is very different than the British or the American so it would be great (and we would be stoked) if you could help us with it too.

    keep up the great work man

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  6. Hi Brett,

    It's the first time I'm visiting your blog, I'm so thrilled that I finally found some Aussie podcasts. Thanks a million for the efforts, I do appreciate it. waiting for new ones. Please keep making them.

    Yassi from Iran.

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  7. Did you get lost in the stick?

    Remember to write/record another episode when you come back.
    We're waiting,
    Mauro (Italy)

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