Readaloud Update!

[dannybailey.livejournal.com]

I'm very pleased to annouce that another chapter has been recorded and posted at the readaloud thread. This time we have Chapter 3 of The Thief (this is only the second chapter that has been recorded from The Thief, and I'm very excited!) wonderfully read by peggy_2!

Check out 'The Thief: Chapter 3' at the Readaloud Thread
You must be a member of the community to view the thread. So please join!

Thanks again to mycenaeth for hosting our chapters on her site, checkers65477 for uploading the chapter, and of course to peggy_2 for her wonderful recording!


One other quick notice:
PLEASE READ THIS! THIS IS IMPORTANT FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS IN THE READALOUD, AND FOR THOSE WHO PLAN ON PARTICIPATING:
---There has been a change in policy for the readaloud regarding chapter deadlines. If you currently have claimed chapters that are not finished, or if you want to claim a chapter in the future, please go to the readaloud thread and carefully look over the new rule.

Go Directly to the Updated Deadline Policy.

Comments

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Excellent job, Peggy. I haven't listened to the entire chapter yet, but Gen sounds very snide. :)

OH, and I played it for someone and asked, "where do you think she's from?" and after about 30 seconds was told, "somewhere north -- maybe Wisconsin?" So HA. There.

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can hear it, too. It's in the "o"s.

Isn't it cool how everyone has different accents? Now I'm going to go listen to the beginnings of all the different chapters to see how they sound.

[willow-41z.livejournal.com]

OK, I take that back. To my ears, Danny, you and Leslie are accentless. That may just mean you speak the most like me.

And Checkers, you definitely sound like a librarian (in a good way). Do you have to go to secret librarian training for that or something?

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Oh, but Peggy doesn't *have* an accent. Or so she claims.

I had to work to keep the southern out of my voice, especially when I said "hand." It tends to come out hay-und.

Yes, the How to Read Aloud in a Soothing Voice class comes before the course on How to Cause the Book Alarm to Go Off For Patrons You Dislike, but after Introduction to Shushing.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Wait, how does one sound like a librarian?

[tiloo.livejournal.com]

OOOOOK

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

:) That's what I was thinking, Tiloo!

You sound lovely, Peggy! Such a lively accent.

[tiloo.livejournal.com]

hehe,

Peggy sound wonderful!

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

"Lively" LOL

Yep, that would be me. And Gen. Thanks!

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Definitely Ook.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

I think it would be fascinating for a linguist to listen to all of these chapters and analyze the way of speaking. I love hearing all the different voices.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Hey, that would be me!

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

Hehe. Y'ALL sound American to me. hehe :P

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Even Mariah agrees I have no accent. So THERE.

Thanks! It was a very fun chapter. Gen is such a snot. He should be required reading for anybody interested in lessons in How To Poke Others.

OK. So I'm 3rd generation Wisconsin. Maybe I have a little bit of an accent. Here and there.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

And Mariah is so unbiased. I'm sure she doesn't have an accent, either.

[(Anonymous)]

Doesn't everyone have an accent of some sort? Even an "accentless" American newcaster will still be easily recognizable as an American.

My sister took her college-educated, northern New England accent to London for a semester about 15 years ago. She was amazed at the number of people who thought she was Australian or Irish or anything other than American.

The only explanation we could ever think of was that Londoners expected a mid-western or Texan accent in Americans. The dropped "r" and "a" pronounced like a schwa (in parts of New England "can" is pronounced "ken") weren't what was expected.

Hooray for accents, they say so much about a person...

- ELM -

Accents

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

I was listening to an NPR report or bio-spot years ago about Newscasters and Accents. Apparently a "Chicago/Midwest Accent" is considered to be Generic American, and newscasters would attend classes to learn how to lose their regional accents, and speak properly. Now it considered desirable to have some regional variation, to "color" the broadcast, and broadcaster.... so long as it's understandable by everyone.

I was mostly just poking Checkers :)

Re: Accents

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Hey! *pokes back* Nyah.

Re: Accents

[(Anonymous)]

I've heard that accents are "in" now for broadcasters, but I'm skeptical. A regional accent is OK for a broadcaster in their local region (especially for sportscasters and perky female coanchors), but most of the national broadcasters still have virtually no accent that I can hear.

And then there is the NPR voice, I love NPR, but those guys all sound remarkably alike. I had a friend in college who later moved to Ohio and became an NPR broadcaster. One of his local reports got picked up on All Things Considered one night, and he sounded like every other NPR reporter and nothing like "himself".

Like I say, I love accents

- ELM -

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

As America becomes more homogenized I'm glad there are still accents to make a person special.

The only explanation we could ever think of was that Londoners expected a mid-western or Texan accent in Americans.

I've always assumed that people in other countries are used to Americans' speech through TV. When I watch tv, most people don't sound to me as if they have any accent. Is that true, those of you not in America? Is "TV American" what you are used to? Do you ever hear regional American accents?

I have a friend who has a beautiful Southern drawl (she sounds like Scarlett O'Hara) and when she was in Ireland the people were fascinated by her and delighted with her accent.

I can differentiate between American accents but must admit that Emma (Australian) didn't sound much different from the Brits to me. I have a hard time hearing the different British accents, and I have no idea what Emerald's "brummy" (is that right?) accent sounds like.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

LOL. It depends what I'm watching. Friends and The Simpsons I've been watching for so many years that I don't notice the accents. I guess it's because I'm interested in how y'all sound that i pick up the differences.

I'm not good at differentiating between American accents so I guess it's what you're used to hearing and can distinguish.

LOL. My brummy accent is slight anyway.

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Do you sound like a brummy US southerner with your "Y'all?"

What IS brummy, anyway?

[rowana.livejournal.com]

Brummie is...very obvious (to us over here I guess). It's, um...well...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A496352

:D

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! I have heard that accent on television.

Brummie speak

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Eliza in My Fair Lady? Or is that Cockney, and different?

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

ah, Ro got there first. anyway *sneaks off, dragging southerner vocabulary with her*

Um...i get Americany sounding when i say y'all. not much, though

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

I hate to admit this, but my midwestern accent is pretty much the "comfort food" of American accents ... plain but nourishing, and not at all exciting. The only people who really notice it, and like to hear it, are ex-patriots.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

To me (English) any American accent sounds strongly American. I can distinguish some very extreme regional differences, but am deaf to most differences. I may well be hearing regional American accents on TV, but I'm unaware of them. They just sound generically "American".

No American voice, to me, has "no accent." It has "an American accent." This is why I always watch anime with subtitles. I can't listen to the dubbed soundtrack, since these are always done by Americans. I find it really distracting to see these Japanese characters sounding American. If the dubbed soundtrack was done with a British accent*, I'd just hear it as words - i.e. "no accent" - and could accept it.

* Though it depends on which British accent it uses. A strong British regional accent would sound equally odd. I'd then be distracted by the fact that this Japanese character apparently came from Yorkshire.

[(Anonymous)]

I think it is safe to say that any American accent you hear on TV is a generic (dare I say mid-western?) American accent, unless they are trying to imply something about the character's intelligence or social standing. So don't feel like you are deaf to differences you ought to be hearing.

That was the surprizing thing about my sister's aforementioned experience in London. She could not be more American. Most of the traceable family has been hear since before 1700, the most recent immigrant came in the 1850's. So to be asked about being from Brisbane or Belfast really came as a surprize.

I think it shows how little the rest of the world knows of American regional accents, except for the deep south. And how ironic that Vivian Leigh, who was a wonderful Scarlett O'Hara, was British!

- ELM -

[rowana.livejournal.com]

Your sister's experience sounds very odd - I live in London, and bump into a fair number of Americans in the city during tourist season. It isn't usually hard to recognise the accent. It certainly isn't the kind you'd mistake for an Irish or Australian accent. :)

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

Belated reply...I have an accent in my head I think of as "generic American", which is from TV like you suggested. I think the other accents you hear are Southern (which I assume has more than one sub-type? But I can't pick them) and New York (if that's possible? Maybe I am making that one up). But the Americans who have read here all sound more interesting and alive than the generic accent people. Avian sounds the least accented to my ears, no idea why though!

I should have said "crikey!" at the start of my reading, then you would have known it was an Australian accent :)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

There are different Southern accents, Emmaco. Tennessee and Kentucky sound different from the Carolinas and Georgia and the deep south sound different still. New Yorkers/east coasters generally have a strong accent.

Do you really use the word crikey? That would have been cool.

Instead of trying to pronounce everything carefully maybe we all should have let our accents come through.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

See, secure in my belief I HAVE no accent, I read Thief/chapter 3 with no regard to careful pronunciation. Hence Mariah's hate for how I pronounce Pol ... that is just how it came out.

Must be newscasters and librarians who take classes on how to read without an accent.

Crikey! To think Avian is the one without an accent!

*vows to start using "crikey" more often, because it is such a wonderful word*

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

To tell you the truth, I don't think I know anyone who uses "crikey" except Steve Irwin :)

[checkers65477.livejournal.com]

*whew* I must admit I am relieved to hear that.

[rowana.livejournal.com]

That was fantastic Peggy, you have a very lively way of reading. It was nice to hear different pronunciations (and what d'you mean you have no accent?) again. :)

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Thanks! You are much nicer than Mariah - she complains that I pronounce Pol's name wrong every time she hears it.

[emerald-happy.livejournal.com]

The icon says it all!

Nice chapter, belatedly. I only just listened to it all the way through.

[peggy-2.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Em!

I'm starting to think Gen and I have more in common than I originally thought.