We've been in Sydney for a few weeks, and I've had a chance to indulge in one of my favorite things: swimming. Here is a link to a dispatch about swimming my way across Sydney, as it appeared at TheAtlantic.com
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/swimming-in-sydney/254615/
...The North Sydney Pool is exactly three minutes by foot from our door. Scores of world records have been set there since it was opened in 1936, cheered by fans in the steep concrete grandstands. The pool décor is colorfully art deco, and the locker rooms are spookily dark. Luna Park, an amusement park from the same era, looms over the pool from right next door, its entrance a gigantic molded clown face, with an eerily nightmarish 30-foot-wide smile....
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Monday, November 8, 2010
G'day!
Just landed in Australia, and once again I am taken by surprise at a linguistic problem of mine: I have a hard time with non-American English accents. As a linguist, I'm kind of embarrassed by this problem, but here goes. Here's what happened as soon as we landed:
Bleary from a 14-hour flight, we deplaned and were directed through the Sydney airport toward customs. A chipper young Aussie guy looked at me and said, gesturing with his arm, "Shop left!" I was puzzled and thought, "Huh? He's trying to get me to go shopping already?" "Shop left!" he repeated. I looked at my husband for help (as I always do when I can't understand non-American English). "SHARP left," my husband Jim said patiently.
This problem persists, and I believe it is getting worse. I'm trying to figure out what's going on, and have one (perhaps crackpot) theory I'm trying out: during our recent 3-year stay in China, I listened very acutely for every tiny phonetic distinction I could pick up on in order to help me hear and speak Mandarin better: tones, the many different sounds we don't have in English (especially in the family of S, SH, CH, Z, X, Q, etc), the absence of many familiar sounds (like clusters of consonants, e.g. STR, PL, -SKT).
Maybe I am now in the habit of somehow listening too hard, too acutely when something out of the ordinary North American English comes along. I don't know. I'll keep monitoring this!
One more very charming Aussie-ism: during our first hour here, at least two different people greeted us with the phrase, "Are we having fun yet?" Actually, yes we are.
G,day!
Bleary from a 14-hour flight, we deplaned and were directed through the Sydney airport toward customs. A chipper young Aussie guy looked at me and said, gesturing with his arm, "Shop left!" I was puzzled and thought, "Huh? He's trying to get me to go shopping already?" "Shop left!" he repeated. I looked at my husband for help (as I always do when I can't understand non-American English). "SHARP left," my husband Jim said patiently.
This problem persists, and I believe it is getting worse. I'm trying to figure out what's going on, and have one (perhaps crackpot) theory I'm trying out: during our recent 3-year stay in China, I listened very acutely for every tiny phonetic distinction I could pick up on in order to help me hear and speak Mandarin better: tones, the many different sounds we don't have in English (especially in the family of S, SH, CH, Z, X, Q, etc), the absence of many familiar sounds (like clusters of consonants, e.g. STR, PL, -SKT).
Maybe I am now in the habit of somehow listening too hard, too acutely when something out of the ordinary North American English comes along. I don't know. I'll keep monitoring this!
One more very charming Aussie-ism: during our first hour here, at least two different people greeted us with the phrase, "Are we having fun yet?" Actually, yes we are.
G,day!
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