ONE language, FOUR accents — USA vs. UK vs. S African vs. AUS English!

Aww Yeah! Welcome back to RealLife English.  So we are four native English speakers from  

different countries. Each with our unique  accents. So today we're going to play  

some games that are going to help you to learn  some of the differences between our four accents,  

regarding pronunciation, vocabulary,  slang, and cultural aspects.

So, I'm Ethan from the USA. Andrea is already, she's  expecting her baby, but she was kind enough to come...  

- And share her wonderful British accent with us.  - Hey guys happy to be here.

And then we have Cassé, our newest fluency coach joining us from Cape  Town, South Africa

Hey, everyone! Nice to be here.  

And I'm very excited to have Ollie from Australia  back in the virtual studio as a special guest.  

Aww yeah! What's up everyone? Long time no see!

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So today we're going to be playing a  game. So there are 20 cards that we can choose from,  

each card has some information about pronunciation,  vocabulary, slang, and cultural aspects.

And if the  card is talking specifically about your country  then you can feel free to share your thoughts  

on it first, and then the rest of us can jump  in and share our thoughts. 

Are you guys ready?

- Let's do it. - I'm excited.

- Andrea. - I'm  gonna go for my favorite number. Number two.   

What's the food like in your country?

Oh, this is interesting. I feel like lots of people  

think that British or like English  food is not very nice. I think maybe  

sometimes people think it's very bland or there  are some traditional dishes, you know, like fish  and chips, 

bangers and mash which is sausages  and mashed potatoes. And things like that but  

The UK is such a diverse country  that it's amazing like, you can find  

any cuisine and that's something that i really  love about the UK.

Yeah, we also have like fish  and chips

and baggers of mash. We normally eat fish  and chips on a Friday, that because Australia,  

like the UK, is so multicultural we have like  everything that you want to eat, it's amazing. 

It's so weird because we have exactly  the same. Like it's this, I guess, it's the  

British influence. But yeah, we do the same  thing, fish and chips so popular here as well. 

Oh, that's surprising. I don't know, I don't  know why I wouldn't imagine fish and chips in in South Africa.

- Cassé, do you want  to go next? - Sure let's go for number eight.

Is that from your your country, Cassé?

It is. A "sarmie" is a sandwich. It could be any kind of sandwich.  

Yeah, I don't know exactly where this name comes  from though, I guess it just sounds cute, like  

a cute version of a sandwich. Perhaps a little  sandwich.

We call it a "sanga", like s-a-n-g-a.

In Australia "what are you having for lunch? I'm having  a sanga". So I guess it might like, you know, be like  

a non-cute way of saying "sarmie".

That's interesting because in the UK like a shortened way of saying  

sandwich is "sarnie", so it's very similar to  the South African one but instead of an "m", 

we have an "n" as like sandwich, sarnie, I don't  know. 

In American English it would be a sammie. 

Yeah, let's go for all the ones: eleven.

Get my bingo calling on.

What do you think  it is? Let's let's play the guessing game.  

- Breakfast! - Breakfast?

Yeah, breakfast. Yeah, it's brekky.

What are you  having for brekkie? Breakfast. That's  probably our cute way of saying breakfast.  

I like to use that sometimes  as well because it's just, "breakfast"  

seems like too much of a mouthful.

Right? So much easier.

Yeah we use it as well in the UK.  

Yes, same in South Africa. It's just  spelled differently. We have sort of the accent  

on the "e" and we use "ie" at the end: brékie.

Oh, okay well, I like twos so I'm gonna go for number 12.  

Oh, what's this? "Let's grab a slab from the  bottle-o later. Can you understand this question?

I think the viewers will know what  bottle-o means because I've, I used  

to talk about that all the time.

In Australia we call this a bottle-o. 

I think that's like the best possible  name that you could have for it. So it's so,  

so strange because it sounds like also, it's a  really good name because it sounds like whoever  

invented that name for it was maybe a little bit  drunk.

Bottle-o is where you can buy  alcohol. And a bottle is like you  can't buy alcohol in supermarkets, like you  

can in many parts of the world. And a slab,  what do you think of slab is?

Yeah see, this is really weird for me. Bottle-oh I remember  if people have seen the one language three accents video. 

They'll probably remember it. So a  bottle-o in the UK we would call an "off licence".  

Although you can buy alcohol in supermarkets  in the uk. A slab... I don't know because a  

slab makes me think of like something big  you know, like a plank of wood or like a slab  

of meat or something.

It's just a case of beer, like 24 beers in a box.  

So we call this, for a glass bottle  a "stubby", and the can is a "tinnie".  

- God we're so cute down here, aren't we? - You're so cute, yeah.

I remember that growing up from like  watching neighbors and home and away,  

and like, when people were trying to do the Australian  accent they'd be like "do you want a tinnie, mate?"  

Some people believe it's always hot and  sunny in South Africa, is that true? 

Definitely not. It snows in the Western Cape which is my  province. So in winter we have quite a bit of snow  

- And people are quite surprised to know that, yeah. - I certainly am. 

But you guys are quite far south, right? I  mean, if you go South of South Africa it's  

the next thing's Antarctica.

Exactly, yeah. That's right. It's very cold in winter and  

I think, even in summer we have quite a bit  of rain and it's really not consistent  

temperatures here, so definitely not always hot and  sunny, yeah. 

Okay, so I'm gonna go for my birthday. The 9th of October, so number nine.

That's also my birthday, it's crazy.

Alright. What comes to mind when you hear the word "bliksem"? Is that? I butchered that pronunciation.  

- Is that from South Africa? - It's actually an Afrikaans word so we did use it in English, too. 

But yeah, it's an Afrikaans one.

I reckon that it's  something to do with the weather, when it's quite  

hot and sunny, and maybe like "oh it's hot, it's bliksem outside let's go and..."  

No, I don't know, I've got no idea.

okay so"bliksem" is basically someone,  

it could be a verb or a noun. So you could be  a bliksem or you know you could bliksem someone.  

So when we use it we basically mean that  someone is like "what an idiot", you know?  

Like "you bliksem, you did something bad you...", you know? You  messed up in some way. Or if you bliksem someone,  

you're giving them like a a whooping, a hiding,  you're hitting them. It's quite an aggressive one.

So your parents could tell you like "I'm going  to bliksem you if you do something bad".  

What comes to mind when you hear the phrase "don't skinner  about me" Don't skinner about me... is that like  

Is that like when someone's talking about you or something? L ike  talking about you behind your back or something?  

Yeah, that's it.

- Oh, wow, really? - That's it? Oh, wow, Andrea!

It's basically like gossiping, like when  someone's gossiping about you. 

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Is there anything about your country that  you would like people to know more about. Oh, that's interesting.

- I've got one, oh no you go, it's your country. - No, go for it!

Well, I really like that, I mean, it's not very  exciting but if you're a hiker, like the UK has a  

lot of public footpaths, and you can literally walk  around the whole country. And it's not dangerous,  

there's not going to be snakes or spiders or  lions that jump out and attack you. It's like  

quite safe to walk around England, and it  has a beautiful coastline, so that's what I  

think people don't think about when talk  about the UK.

Nice, thanks for that promotion!

I work for Tourism UK!

Yeah, I think, I mean, I don't know maybe people  are aware of it but one thing that I've said it  

before as well, I said it earlier like I love  the fact that the country is so diverse and  

it's just a big boiling pot... melting pot rather,  of like different ethnicities and everything.  

And growing up I loved that about it, because you  just learn so much about different cultures.  

I would say something similar to what Ollie said  about the UK for the US, is that like, people tend  

to think of like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, but  there's just like so much between. We have like  

all these amazing national parks where you  can see these things that you would never  

really imagine could exist, you know,  on earth? So I think that that's something.  

Definitely don't just go to the cities, like  definitely check out the national parks and  

small town America, as we like to call it.

For South Africa I think that people generally still  

think that we're, you know, surrounded by lions  and giraffes and walk around in the bushveld.  

No...

- They said New Zealander. - Oh, really? oh i didn't  know that.

I didn't know that.

English speaking South African sound Australian. Definitely  not true, no.

I think when when I was younger,

I don't think I could tell the difference, I think  even now, maybe it's like if I heard a  

certain accent, it depends like a lot where, because  I've heard a lot of very different South African accents.  

And some of them are like very strong  and it's like pretty... it doesn't sound like  

other English-speaking accents. But if it's like  kind of like a lighter accent, then I could see  

if someone didn't have much experience  hearing Australian or New Zealand or South Africa  

that you could confuse it. 

Can you like give an example of a word perhaps that sounds... 

I have no idea. Well, you guys like, for example  with the "er" in all of your accents, you do like,

if there's an "er" at the end of the word  you kind of drop it you do like the schwa sound.  

So that's something that definitely if  you're an American, it's just like it sounds  

like a different English accent, and if you're not  very experienced, like watching tv series or  

having traveled or met people from those countries,  you might just concoct them all together, you know  

into the same like non-American accent. Not  me, I'm more worldly than that, but I'm just...

Not so well traveled American. 

See, I think I have an example where I think South Africans

migh sound like the New Zealanders. When you  say the number seven and the number ten.

Seven.  

- Seven. - Say again?

- And what's the other one? - Ten.  

Yeah, I reckon, because seven definitely,  that in New Zealand they'd say like. I'm gonna,  

sorry New Zealanders, "seven", like that how  you said it. And they say ten...

T-I-N.

That could be it. The vowel change.

Okay, I'm gonna go for number one  because RealLife English is the  

number one place to learn english online .

Aww yeah!

Aww yeaw! Oh, gosh. Some people believe that  Australia is a very dangerous country because  

it is home to some of the deadliest creatures in  the world, such as snakes, spiders and crocodiles. 

What do you think about that? Well, I walk my dog  on an abandoned golf course with long grass and  

lots of trees and lots of bushes, and I've  never seen a snake in um my 30 years of life.   

So, yeah, I mean, there are some like... I kill spiders in the house every now and then. But, you know,  

they're deadly animals you know. They're everywhere.

It's funny like in Colorado I think  people would definitely be like "oh, Australia. It's very dangerous". But then we have bears,   

we have mountain lions, which are pumas,  we have rattlesnakes. But it's not...  

I don't think I've seen a rattlesnake, I've  heard them, and I've seen bears, but I've never  

actually seen a mountain lion, I've heard them.  But I haven't seen them.  

People have that same idea about South Africa. Lions, snakes, even mosquitoes right?  

Like "I'm going to Africa and I might get malaria", I  mean, it's possible, I'm not saying... not ruling it out. 

It could happen to you, but it's really unlikely. 

Say this phrase out loud in your native accent. 

"I go to work at eight...", okay. "I go  to work at eight o'clock every day".

Beautiful.

- I think what we'd all say this is quite different. - Do I go now?

Okay, all right.

I go to work at eight o'clock every day. Actually, I think I sounded far  too Aussie then. I go to work at eight o'clock every day.  

I wanna try and say it like you, so I  would say "I go to work at eight o'clock every day".

- Do your best Aussie. - As an Aussie?

I go to work... I go to work at 8 o'clock every day. 

It's not very good.

I guess I'd say "I go to work at 8 o'clock every day".

Let's go for number 14.

- Valentine's Day. - Oh, the 14th.

I like this. "When you are full of beans, you are...". Do you guys know?

- I think we've learned this one before. - Wealthy?    

For me if you've said this in the States

it sounds like you're gassy, because bean's make you gassy.

But I know it doesn't mean that so...

Yeah, it means like you're full of...

I can't swear. It means like you're full of  nonsense, like, that's what we use  it for.

Like "oh he's so full of beans today", like  he's like "my son is full of beans today, he's full  

of energy", and he's just like up to mischief.

Yeah, in the UK it would be similar. We say that  

when someone has a lot of energy, that they're  full of beans. Maybe not so much with if they're  

up to mischief, but definitely if you're full of  beans, then you're full of energy 

- Full of beans, full of... - He's got ants in his pants.

Ah, yeah, yeah. We  would probably say "you've got ants in your pants".

Yeah, or sometimes we call like,  crazy kids "red drink". Like, because they drink  

red drink, like red fizzy or soda and  like their sugar makes them go psycho.

"Say this tongue twister", I feel like  I don't want to go first doing this.

All right, I'll go, I'll go.

Let's go on to 17. Oh, this is like Andrea and I's  favorite, I think.

Yeah, it is! I recognize this.

You're going to try it with a   cockney accent, Andrea? 

Oh, that's really hard! 

You never disappoint.

Ollie, thanks so much for joining us. And  Andrea as well. 

Yeah, it was really nice to have the four of us together here.

Learning about other cultures is fascinating, isn't it?  

But now we would like to hear from you. What  did you learn today from this conversation?  

Leave a comment down below with  the phrase "what I learned today was"...

Also, don't forget to leave an encouraging  message to the members of the community. Aww yeah!  

Learn even more about different accents  in English with this other lesson we made.  

Let's check out a clip.