Have you ever heard Australians speaking English before? If not, why don't you give it a go and see if you like it? Watch/Listen the extract "Your Shout" from the film "They're a weird mob"!
At the beginning, I was a bit confused, when Australians talked to me. It took me a while to understand what it was supposed to be meant. I often questioned: "What language do you speak? Is it English, isn't it? Really??" The answer I received was: "It's common every day Australian English! Get used to it!"
So I got used to a different pronounciation and I learnt some slang expressions!
Here below a short list of basic Aussie phrases and terms that became part of my vocabulary:
(For more words have a look at Canguroenglish website!)
G'Day, Mate! How ya goin'? - Good Day, Friend! How are you?
It is heaps good - It is really good!
No worries! - Don't worry!
What do you reckon? - What do you think?
Aussie (pronounced Ozzy) - Australian
BYO - to a restaurant you can take your own wine
arvo - afternoon
cuppa - a cup of tea
footy - football
sunnies - sun glaces
the bush - land beyond the city
dunny - toilet
bloke - a man
shiela - a woman
As you can notice, Australians shorten most of the words and when they speak: they strengthen long vowel sounds and in some cases they do not pronounce r, t or d letters.
But what really interested me, was their trend to raise the tone of their voice at the end of each sentence as if it was a question. For that reason, every time I wasn't sure, if an answer from my side was expected...
any way,
