Question 1

One of my home countries, Singapore, has a very distinct accent of English called "Singlish." Some argue that Singlish is a language since it has its own grammatical rules and borrowed words from Chinese and Indonesian. Taking an example, when people say "video" in Singlish, the pronounciation becomes "wijyo." There are also words such as "lah" and "meh" that Singaporean people uses to add meaning to a particular sentence.

Question 2

I have been told that I don't have an accent. Although if someone asks me, I would probably say "I have an accent and it is called the Antonio accent!" I have never thought about liking or not liking my accent so I'm quite indifferent about it.

Question 3

I have a friend from Nigeria who has a very thick Nigerian English accent. I often find myself not understanding what he's saying when having a conversation, so I would either pretend to understand what he is saying or asking him to repeat himself multiple times!

Question 4

There are more than 700 languages spoken in Indonesia. Some are only spoken by tribes or minorities in the country. There's a language local to a the province of Papua in Indonesia called "Woria." As of the year 2000, there were only 5 native speakers of this critically endangered language.

Question 5

I find the American accent easiest to hear and understand. My dad has an American accent and I grew up with it; that is probably why I find it very easy to understand. When I was in high school, my history teacher, Mr. Kenneth O' Kane had a very strong Irish accent. It was impossible to 100% understand what he's saying. I'm sure most of my friends would agree with me!

Question 6

Ever since I moved to Japan, I have only communicated with my friends using the Kansai dialect. With that being said, I would probably keep speaking in my Kansai accent if I had to move to the Kanto region. It feels the most natural for me!

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
distinct	独自
indifferent	無関心
critically endangered	絶滅寸前
multiple	複数

Question 1

I think my home area has a strong accent. It is famous for its "rolling R". A phrase that is common is to call fish and chips "greasies" because they are often very oily.

Question 2

I have a very mixed accent which I have learned to change as I need. My parents are from the north and south of England. Their hometowns are famous for strong accents - which I had naturally learned to speak. I also have a New Zealand accent and a generic accent because I have lived outside of NZ for many years.

Question 3

I have always found the Scottish accent very hard to understand, despite my hertiage being from the Highlands of Scotland.

Question 4

New Zealand is very ethnially mixed and has many different languages. The native language is Maori but it is rarely spoken, even by people with Maori hertiage which is a little sad.

Question 5

I have always found Australian and most British accents easy to pick up. I had an Indian professor at university which I found impossible to understand due to his very strong accent.

Question 6

I would adjust my accent to my surroundings, although I may not always adjust it because it will depend on who I am with.

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
generic	汎用的
heritage	遺産
ethnically mixed	みんぞくまじり

Question 1

1

Question 2

2

Question 3

3

Question 4

4

Question 5

5

Question 6

6

Tough Vocabulary