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!

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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?)

What's wrong? Are you SHY?

Hey listeners!

Are you wondering why the next episode is held up? I'm still waiting for your submissions! Go back and listen to the homework I gave you - and don't be shy! C'mon, I want to hear your best attempt at Aussie English.

I've had plenty of wonderful and encouraging comments from all you blighters out there who love listening to my podcast, now it's your turn to help make it become much better.

What was your homework again? I asked you to record your best effort at saying: "G'day mate, howzit goin?"

Record it, save it, send it to auseng.podcast@gmail.com

So what are you waiting for? Get a wriggle on!

Ep.4: Lazy Rs

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G'day! Welcome to my podcast - Aussie English from the sticks!

I've been very encouraged by some of my listeners, who have sent messages asking when the next episode will arrive. Well here it is! This is episode four.

As I mentioned in the introduction to this podcast, I will record something ocasionally when I find time. I'm a married man (sorry ladies) with four children. And that keeps me flat out.

First off today I'm gonna give you a few words in Aussie English, then I'll give you all a bit of homework. Reckon you can handle that?

OK, here we go. First off, listen to these words and see if you can notice something strange about Aussie English.

• Shower
• Mister (Mr)
• Here
• Plumber
• Rider
• Roller coaster
• Caterpillar

Are you noticing something here? Something about words ending in the R sound? We're kinda lazy and leave it off.

It's funny, cos when I was in Russia, one day I found my translators chatting together and laughing... they were mimmicking the way we say "SHOWER" and having a good old giggle about it.

Our British friends have a similar issue, maybe not as strong. Now compare those words to how an American might say them.

Alright, time to put on my American voice... it'll be close enough for this example - all I really need to do his pinch my nose, haha! (it's a joke)

• ShowER
• MistER (Mr)
• HeRE
• PlumbER
• RidER
• RollER coastER
• CaterpillAR

Oh yeeee!

OK, that should prepare you for what you might hear if you are speaking to an Aussie. Especially if they say "G'day mate. That shower's blocked by a caterpillar, but I can't get hold of the plumber cos he's stuck on a roller coaster".

You never know, it could happen!

Rightio, we come now to the part where I give you a homework assignment. Have you got a microphone? There's plenty of free audio recording programs at FileHippo.com - the one I use is Audacity.

Now I want you to record your best effort at saying: "G'day mate, howzit goin?"

Let me slow that down so you can copy me carefully.

"G'day mate, howzit goin?"

Email your mp3 file to auseng.podcast@gmail.com, and I'll pick a few of the best and put them in my next podcast.

--- LATER ---

Well here I am at work, and you may be able to hear the noises of my work environment in the background. I thought I better finish off the recording so I can post the podcast.

It's been a while, it seems it's very difficult to find time to sit down at the computer. So, I'm using my iPod to finish off this recording.

Earlier I recorded some sounds of birds outside my house. I thought you might enjoy that as a little excursion. Enjoy this, and we'll see you in the next podcast.

--- EXCURSION OUTSIDE ---


Cockatoos. Traffic. Magpies. That's a PeeWee. And crows. There's a crow. You can hear the magpies and the peewees. I can also hear a bullen bullen (note: commonly called Mallee Ringneck Parrot, see picture on the left). Well there goes a car, I'm sure you've got those. And sparrows. Sometimes we hear kookaburras.
And babies :-)
I'm holding baby Amalia right now.

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Words you might wanna know:

Flat Out: Very fast; Very busy
Reckon? Do you think?
Rightio/Righto Okay; Sure; No problems!