Transcript of AE 981 – Are Australians Racist? | Aussie English Q&A

Are you a bit racist? Well, that came out of nowhere. How do you pronounce north and South? Which non-Aussies do the best Australian accent? So, a few days ago on Instagram, I decided to ask you if you had any questions for me? Lo and behold, I had a lot of questions and a whole bunch of you guys asked if I could save these questions or if I could publish them as a podcast.

So, I thought, today, I'll make it into a video, and you can have a good laugh. Let's get into it. You mind? How can we answer when we are okay with that? Yes, or no? So, I think you're talking about when people ask you questions like, do you mind moving over? Or you mind going outside? Or you mind getting me a coffee? When people ask you this, you can just say, yes. Usually I'd reply, yeah, no worries.

But when you say, do you mind? The usual answer should be negative, right, because you don't mind. So, no, I don't mind moving over, getting you coffee, whatever it is. But you will hear people say, yeah, no worries, like it's not a problem. Okay, so you can say yes or no, really. And the tone of your voice is going to show what you mean.

You mind moving over? Nah, no worries. No, not at all. So, you could say, yeah, not at all. No, not at all. Yeah, no worries. No, no worries. It's up to you really. But the tone is going to be the important thing if you say, yeah, I do mind. It's obvious that you're not going to do what the person's asking. How do you pronounce north and south? This is a really good question.

So, this is obviously a difficult one with North because the "R" confuses people. So, it can seem like you're meant to say that "R", but Australian English is non-rhotic. You don't say the "R" unless there's a vowel after it. So, we'll use the long vowel sound "or, north, north". No "R", straight into the "TH". North. With south, it's the diphthong, "ou, ou, south, south". North, south.

What's the difference between sheet and sh**. Okay, so I just did a video on this, you guys can go and check it out by clicking up here. Do it after you watch the rest of this video. But sheet is the "i:" vowel sound, effectively the tongue is right near the top of the mouth. A tiny amount of space.

"i:", it's a long vowel and then "ɪ" for the word sh** or say sheep and ship, the tongue is slightly lower and it's a short vowel sound, "ɪ, ɪ". So, "i:, ɪ, i:, ɪ". Sheep, ship. What's the difference between buddy and mate in Australian English? Good question. Mate! So, "mate" is used all the time by mostly Australian guys, women can use it as well. But mostly Australian guys will use it on other Australian guys to show friendliness to be informal.

Okay. So, how's it going mate? Oh, what are you up to today, mate? You can say buddy, but it sounds a bit American, you know. How are you going, buddy? Hey, buddy. What's up? What are you up to, buddy? I wouldn't use it. Americans would probably use it. Which non-Aussies do the best Australian accent? I've heard some say Dev Patel's is spot on.

So, Dev Patel was this actor who was in the movie Lion where he was, I think the story is that he's adopted, and he's grown up in Australia and Tasmania. Go check the movie out. He does nail it. He absolutely crushes the Australian accent. Do you have any idea what it's like knowing my real brother and mother spent every day of their lives looking for me?

The thing with Dev Patel is I think he speaks with received pronunciation from Britain as it is. It's so universally relatable because you're talking about mothers and sons. You're talking about brothers and you're talking about identity. So, it's a pretty easy transition from received pronunciation to Australian pronunciation. Okay, they're both non-rhotic.

If you want to see a really good example of someone who can do an Australian accent flawlessly and he's American, check out Bryan Alvarez. In fact, I'll show you some footage of him now where he was pretending to be from Melbourne in Australia. Hey, guys. I've been getting some comments about how my Aussie accents really good. Here's the thing, I'm from Australia, but I'm always faking an American accent. I'm from Melbourne. Liar!

So, yeah, he absolutely crushed it. I'm from Iran. How can I improve my listening skills? With improving your listening skills, you're going to hate me, but there's no secret to it. Listen more. Okay. The trick here, though, is to making sure that the content that you're listening to is comprehensible, okay. That you understand the majority of it.

You need to be doing this with material where you can read and listen at the same time, so that you can learn all the new words. You can see the new words and expressions that come up that you don't currently know. And you need to also be listening to loads of different accents, you know, both men, women, young people, old people, foreigners, native speakers from all over the world. Okay.

That's how you get really good listening comprehension, and you'll be able to understand any accent, any gender, any age. Holy shit. It's just lots and lots and lots of input, but variable input and input that you can understand, it's comprehensible. Okay. But make sure there's always stuff in there that you're learning, okay. Don't just listen to the same thing again and again and again and again.

Will your children speak Portuguese or English? Yes, they're going to speak both. In fact, Noah already speaks both, at least, you know, to the level of a two-year-old. He mixes and matches both languages at the moment, but he's speaking both Portuguese and English on a daily basis. English is starting to take over because we speak Portuguese at home, but with everyone else, any other time that we're outside of the house, he speaks English.

And so, English is starting to take control, but he's definitely learning both. So, yeah, both languages. Have you been to Brazil? No, at least not physically. Spiritually, I've been to Brazil. I love absorbing a lot of Brazilian TV shows... ...Reading Brazilian books, learning about the country, the people, the accents, the language. Because I'm obviously married to a Brazilian.

I'm learning Portuguese at the moment, but unfortunately, I haven't been to Brazil. We were meant to go last year, but you guys will know the story. COVID happened and so, we had the tickets cancelled for that holiday. So, we're just going to have to wait and see what happens in the future. But, yeah, dying to go to Brazil. Would love to. What's the difference between especially and specially both in pronunciation and meaning?

Okay, so "especially" we use that vowel sound "ə" the schwa at the start there. "Especially", and we just go straight into the "S". "Especially, especially". When we say the word "specially", we obviously don't lengthen the "S" that much, but we would say just the "S" sound, no vowel. "Specially, specially". So, you just have to practise not saying a vowel sound at the start. "Specially, specially".

Meaning-wise, even I had to look this up to get a bit of help because I kind of intuitively know what they mean, but it's hard for me to define them. "Especially" is a common adverb defined as particularly, exceptionally or markedly. So, you could be "especially" good at a sport. He's "especially' good at Australian Rules footy. Whereas "specially" is another adverb that means particularly. Right.

So, like, I made this cake "specially", particularly for you. It's not for anyone else. I made it "specially" for you. And it's "especially" good. How do I say in Australia "I don't want to interfere, but..."? "I don't want to interfere, but..."? Well, obviously that sentence works. You could say, I don't want to interfere, but... You could also say things like, "it's none of my business, but... Or don't mind me, but...

Or maybe, it's none of my beeswax, but..." That's a good one for it's none of my business or "I don't mean to pry, but... I don't mean to be a stickybeak, but..." Okay, so there's a few for you. How do I pronounce "you're welcome" like an Aussie? Okay, in an Aussie way. I need to say it all the time and I struggle. "You're welcome. You're welcome". So, there's two things going on here.

Instead of saying "you're" I would shorten this, give it the schwa sound. "ya", okay. "ya", "ya welcome. You're welcome". The other thing here that's interesting is that the "L" in the word "wel-come" becomes the dark "L". "Welcome. Welcome". If you want to learn more about the dark "L" and other advanced aspects of Australian English, check out my Australian pronunciation course. It'll help you, trust me. You're welcome.

Which is the best city to-? Melbourne. Melbourne. Melbourne is. Melbourne. 100% Melbourne. Melbourne. Did I say Melbourne? Melbourne. I think it's Melbourne. Which is the best city to live in in Australia, not expensive and safe? Any of the big cities are going to be fine. You got Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, they're all pretty good.

Melbourne and Sydney are pretty expensive, so nowadays going to places like Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth, it's probably easier for you to get visas to go there. It's cheaper. It's more affordable. They're all pretty safe. So, yeah, all the big cities. But Melbourne, Melbourne, Melbourne. Did I say Melbourne? Hey mate, can I call someone older than me, "mate"? Is it disrespectful? Mate.

So, yeah. 100% you can call someone older than you "mate". Again, if you're a male and you're asking me this, I probably wouldn't use it on women. You can... Now Daniel, you've managed to put some pants on in the meantime. Yeah, mate. ...But I'd probably avoid it, especially to begin with. Just gauge whether it's okay or not by how informal the situation is. If the woman says mate to you, you can probably use it. What's going on, mate?

But yeah, typically I would use this on older men all the time, again to just show that I'm being friendly. I'm setting the tone for an informal conversation. It's just something you've got to do for the community, mate. You look after your mates and your mates always look after you. A plumber comes over to my house. He's older than me. G'day, mate. Come on in. How's it going, mate? How are you, mate? What's going on, mate?

Don't be afraid to use it and don't be afraid not to use it. What do you know about Brazil? How long have you got? More than the average person, less than a Brazilian, that's about as much as I know about Brazil. More and more every day, I'm trying to learn more and more. I know quite a bit about the politics, about the geography, about the different accents, about the language.

But, yeah, I still feel like I know next to nothing about Brazil. Are you a bit racist? Well, that came out of nowhere. You gonna shake my hand first? Are you a bit racist? Are you referring to me personally or to Australians? Because those are two very different things. Australia has its fair share of racism, like anywhere in the world.

I'm sure that all of you guys watching this will know that racism exists in Australia, but it doesn't define Australians. It isn't the biggest and most dangerous part about being in Australia. The spiders and the snakes are way worse. He is vicious. But yes, racism exists. Am I racist? I don't like to think of myself as racist, but if I'm being 100% honest- Don't click off yet. Just let me finish.

I definitely suffer from in-group bias, right. All of us do. Human beings suffer from in-group bias, in-group preference. The important thing, though, is being aware of the fact that this is an innate habit that humans have and pushing it down and ignoring it. Okay. So, yeah, I think ultimately, unfortunately, everyone's a bit racist.

As a scientist, I know that research has been done showing this, that every single group from all around the world, whatever it is, always has a preference for other individuals within that group. The interesting thing is now when you come to a country like Australia that is very multicultural, seeing people in different races doesn't really tell you whether or not they're in your group or not, right.

Whether they're Australian or not, or whether they like the same sports or whether they're the same religion. So, fortunately, race is kind of redundant today. Australians aren't racist, but the English hated the Chinese during the gold rush. Then the English and the Chinese hated the post-war Greeks and Italians. Then the Greeks, Italians, Chinese and English hated the Lebanese.

Then the Lebanese, Greeks, Italians, Chinese and English hated the Vietnamese. Then the Vietnamese, Lebanese, Greeks, Italians, Chinese and English hated the Indians. Then the Indians, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Greeks, Italians, Chinese and English hated the Sudanese. Now Australia is a continent filled with every nation on earth, who all hate each other equally.

So, I mean, I got a bit deep there, but that's my two cents. So, that's it for today's video, guys. Don't forget to check out this video if you are trying to level up your Australian English. See ya next time.