00:00
Welcome back to another episode of Kevin's English Stream Podcast!
I'm Kevin, I'm here with Yama-chan.
Yama-chan!
Okay Kevin, I have a question for you again.
Okay.
It's about your accent.
Accent? Got it.
Do you think you have any typical accent?
Um, I don't. I don't think I have an accent.
You mean like British accent or...
Or like New York accent?
New York accent.
Or Californian accent?
So I was born and raised in Georgia.
So if I had a certain accent, it would probably be like a Southern accent.
Southern accent.
Like a Southern accent would sound like, "How y'all doin'?"
Oh.
"What up y'all?"
"Y'all doin' alright?"
"Y'all doin' alright back there?"
Or is that a Southern accent?
This is a Southern accent.
Like maybe like Texas.
I'm doing it very dramatically.
Like over dramatically.
This is how people make fun of Southern accents, right?
Like not the actual, actual Southern accent.
But I don't sound like that, right?
No, no.
Like "Y'all!"
Kind of like that.
When you try to make fun, it does.
But usually not.
I think, yeah, so I don't think I have like an accent or so.
But in the United States, they have like so many accents.
Yeah, we do.
I am not experienced enough to tell the difference between like Wisconsin and Mississippi.
Like those states, I don't know.
But like if I'm talking about like New York accent versus a Southern accent.
Or maybe like California accent.
They've got an accent that's original.
It's a little bit different.
I guess California seems more like chill.
What do you mean chill?
Like the way they reduct.
You know reduction, right?
Yeah.
Like I always bring this example up.
Go to a supermarket and buy milk.
Go to a supermarket and buy milk.
That's reduction, right?
You don't say the word exactly how they're spelled out.
So California, they reduct in a way that's special.
Just like how African Americans, they reduct their sentences in a very unique way.
That makes it harder for especially Japanese people, non-native people to understand what they're saying.
Right.
You think so, right?
I think so.
Yeah.
Like the rappers here.
You listen to an interview of a rapper.
Yeah.
For example, like DaBaby.
You know DaBaby?
No.
He's popping.
DaBaby?
DaBaby.
I think he's probably like one of the top artists in Apple Music right now.
03:04
Oh really?
Yeah.
Rockstar.
That's the name of the song.
Rockstar?
Yeah.
DaBaby.
DaBaby.
The name of the artist.
DaBaby.
H-A.
No.
D-A.
D-A-B-A-D-Y.
That's why they're trying to spell it like that.
Right.
So what was I talking about?
The accent.
The accent.
Right.
So what was I talking about?
Reduction?
Right.
Reduction.
So California people, they've got their own way of reducting their sentence.
Yeah.
Yeah, I found a video on TikTok that was like California accent chat kind of like that video.
And they told us like if you pronounce your words like this, you're definitely a Californian.
Those kind of videos.
Yeah, it was more of a special kind of...
Oh really?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Can you do some X sound?
Okay, let me bring up that video, okay?
I have it in my smartphone.
I think I liked that video.
Yeah.
So be able to bring that up here.
So the recording just got cut off.
We were checking the video on TikTok to see what the Californian accent was.
So you saw the video, right?
Yeah.
So it was more like culturally relevant kind of way of saying things.
And at the same time, it was more like to me, it was like the way young girls speak.
Oh really?
Yeah, like...
Like...
I don't know.
That's how they speak.
Yeah, like a little bit lazy.
Yeah, kind of lazy young girls.
Yeah, yeah, kind of like that.
That's how they speak in my...
That's how I do the Californian accent to me.
Yeah, so from that perspective, I think I'm very neutral in the way I speak.
I don't know.
This may...
Some people may look at my accent as, you know, maybe some different...
Maybe there's some people may say it's a Japanese accent.
Maybe, I don't know.
But to me, it just it doesn't sound like I have an accent.
Right.
You've got a British accent, don't you?
Oh, really?
Yeah, I think you have a little bit of a British accent because you lived in...
Japan?
No, you...
France, you say?
France, yeah.
But France isn't.
But you know, in high school, I went to high school, French high school.
Oh, thank you.
And then, you know, we had English class.
English class?
Yeah, like we Japanese do.
In that English class, we learned British pronunciation.
Oh, the teacher was British?
What?
The teacher was British?
Oh, the teacher was French.
Okay.
French lady, but you know, the way she speaks, it was completely British.
06:00
Can't you...
Can't you, Mike?
Can't you, possibly, like...
Yeah, yeah.
So, like, I see like bits and pieces of you speaking.
I see these little details.
They're British to me.
So I was wondering, like, how did you get that British accent?
Do all people in France, right?
The country where...
They sound kind of British?
Yeah, they are completely French English.
So they don't pronounce "H" at all, for example.
So it's different from British English?
It's French, I'd say.
You know, the words are English, but they're pronounced in French way.
But teachers, they were British.
Okay.
And, you know, in Japanese education, we learn American English, right?
Right, right.
Have you ever went to the Japanese, like, English...
Like, Eiken?
Like, at high school?
Have you ever attended the English class in Japan?
High school, I was...
Yes, I did have an English class, but it was taught by a native speaking teacher.
Okay.
Like, an American teacher.
An American teacher.
So his accent was just absolutely native.
Okay, Native American.
Right, right.
Well, yeah, it differed by grade, but like, yeah, one was British, one was American.
So I was never taught by a Japanese teacher.
Well, usually in Japan, we learn American way of pronunciation.
So that's why people in Japan think the American pronunciation is the best, the most natural.
I noticed that because like, Tohich and Eiken, their listening test is spoken in an American accent.
So, yeah, I was thinking, oh, this is probably the standard in Japan.
That's how they learn, right?
Standard.
I think there is two more reasons if I sound like British.
One is I've been working with British people for a couple of years.
Oh, you have?
Yeah.
When I was the company before, I've been like speaking with British people.
So that is the reason, you know, my English gets a little bit more British way.
You're more used to it.
Right.
And also one more reason is probably it's a little bit easier for me to pronounce in this way.
Like British way is a little bit like easy for Japanese people.
Oh, they are?
09:00
Yeah.
Like how do you pronounce water?
In English?
Like American water.
Yeah, right.
I think it's really difficult for Japanese people, right?
How do they say in British?
Like water.
Is it water?
Yeah.
Something like that?
Yeah, of course.
In a lazy way.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But basically water, a computer, for Japanese people it's kind of easy to pronounce.
Got it, got it, got it.
That's why.
I think that's why I may sound like British people.
Do you think, is it a standard, like global standard, the American accent?
Or is there no standard accent wise?
What do you think?
I don't know.
Like English is the standard for language, right?
But do you think there's an accent?
Well, I don't know.
I don't know.
But I think American people trying to make American accent stand out.
Right.
Right.
They want everything to be based on them, right?
And British people also trying to make British sounds be standard.
There's always a war going on between them.
Yeah.
Great.
Okay, I think this wraps up the episode.
It's 10 minutes.
Thanks for listening guys.
Bye bye.
(knocking)
