Do your worst

[dream_labyrinth]

Next Monday, I'll have the oral exam of my language test.

I've heard that the listening examples given are not the sort of British English you learn at school.
Therefore, I'd like to prepare a bit. And that's where you come in. (You knew I'd be asking something at some point, didn't you?)

If you happen to have any sort of audio files of somebody speaking with any sort of dialect or accent, could you please send me some? I'm not overly concerned about slang vocabulary, as they I'm sure consider that the test is not for native speakers. But I'd like to get acquainted with the different ways the English language can sound if spoken by people from different parts of Britain, the US, Canada, Australia, India and whatnot.

Thanks a lot!

Comments

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot! :-)
Looking forward to hearing from all of you then.
If you don't want the file on the internet, you can also just email it to me.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

A good Library attached to a school with a drama program should have accent tapes. One community college Library I worked at had some and they were an absolute hoot.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Er...
I'm sure you're right. Only there is no such thing as a good library attached to a school with a drama program around here. And even if there was, I don't think they'd have accent tapes for English.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

okay, then try getting some brit sitcoms on disc or for Canadian accents there is always Da Vinci's Inquest.. thats a good forensic cop show in Toronto I think.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Thank you!
For some reason I totally overlooked DVDs. Silly, as I like to watch them in English whenever I can anyway...
Pre-test panic, I'll assume. *rollseyes*

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

My recommendation: Watch CSI Miami and top it off with Snatch :D

Oh! Call after Thursday, Jason will be here from Australia, so you can hear all of the non-standard English you want.

If you come down for the weekend, I could try to warp the language for you...

By the way, if you don't pass, no one else should, either. Including me, probably.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

:-)

I'd love to come, but the coming weekend I'll be in Prague with my parents.
I'll see about calling you, though. Depends on how much work there will be by Thursday. NOw that people return from the holidays, the library's getting busy again, and my dear minion is still on holiday until Monday.

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

Aww, lucky you! I'd love to go back to Prague. I've got to manage that, one of these days.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Oh, you definitely have to. It's a beautiful town, as far as I could see from the short time I spent there before. And it's not all that far, after all.

[wolflady26.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and I even have a friend (Andreka) who comes from Prague, can speak the language, and would love to show us around...

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

See, you have the best conditions for the trip you could hope for!

[foudebassan.livejournal.com]

Librivox has loads of audio files in English but I don't see an easy way to know beforehand where the reader comes from.

I do have a couple of audiobooks but they're all by Stephen Fry, ie standard Oxford accent. Tell me if you want them nonetheless.

Do you have DVDs you could watch without subtitles? For some weird reason we don't get much Bollywood, over here at least, but Hollywood ought to be covered?

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

The DVDs is a great suggestion! For some reason I didn't even think of that.
Let me guess: Stephen Fry reading the Harry Potter books? I have those - all except DH. They're great, I love to listen to them, but it's standard Oxford, as you say. I'm trying to get into the accents a bit.

[foudebassan.livejournal.com]

...and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy :D

Good luck with the DVD search!

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Ohh, I'd love the Hitchhiker's Guide! For completely unofficial reasons, though - I loved reading the book and think it should be great to have Stephen Fry read it to me. :-)

[foudebassan.livejournal.com]

I can't seem to find your email on your user profile, could you give it to me? Mine's this user name at gmail dot com.

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

It's dream [dot] labyrinth [at] gmail [dot] com

I think on my user info page it only shows the LJ address, but that all goes to the gmail account as well.

[annie-from-aust.livejournal.com]

for Australia click here. watch video clips ! especially the film reviews as they have a male and female. They speak typical educated Australian ( not like Steve Irwin - nobody talks like THAT !)

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I'll look into that. :-)

[linnapaw.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing a site like this for American English, and here it is! http://web.ku.edu/idea/index.htm

Also, check out the wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_accents_of_English_speakers#United_States

and the following

http://accent.gmu.edu/

[dream-labyrinth.livejournal.com]

Hey thanks! THose are really helpful.