This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 151.
Don't let the Kiwi and Aussie accents throw you off in business.
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Hey, Aubrey, I have a question for you today.
Awesome. Let's hear it. All right. So what is your favorite TV show or movie with a Kiwi accent?
Oh, yes. I love the Kiwi accent. This is the accent from New Zealand, you guys.
And I think Flight of the Conchords is still my favorite.
It was a Max, HBO Max original. You can still go back and watch the old ones.
It's a comedy based on a folk music group in New Zealand.
That's just so fun. All of the leads have these really heavy New Zealand accents.
I love it so much. Oh my gosh. I don't know any TV shows with the New Zealand accent, but I have a special place in my heart for my friend Jane from New Zealand who I worked with in Japan very closely.
She was another foreign teacher, another native speaking teacher in Tokyo with me.
And she was just, I loved her. She was great.
She was fantastic. Fantastic lady. So fun memories.
And yeah, it's just a friendly accent. I don't know.
It's just, maybe that's just my bias. It's very enduring, endearing, especially I think to those with a US accent.
There's something about it that's just like so pleasant.
It really is. But we got a really great question from a listener that's a little bit about the Kiwi accent.
So we're talking about understanding accents in business English today.
We're going to give you guys lots of tips and resources because this is vital that if you work as a global professional, you're going to hear lots of accents in English and you need to be ready to understand them.
Oh my gosh, it is so vital. So should I go ahead and read the question from our listener?
Yeah, go for it. So this is from Azadeh J. Hi, I'm Ozzy, a Persian girl in New Zealand.
Thanks for this awesome practical app. So it sounds like Ozzy is listening in our iOS or Android app, which we'll talk about in just a minute.
I love the way you talk and teach useful tips in every episode.
It's nearly seven months that I've been using the app nearly every day.
Fantastic, right, Aubrey? I love that. Absolutely.
I have a question. How can I improve my comprehension when people speak really fast?
Surely you know how fast QE people speak with their own accent.
Have a great day. Oh my gosh, they do speak fast, don't they?
It's true. That's often the tricky thing is that if someone speaks very slowly, okay, an accent's easy enough to understand.
But then once they're speaking quickly, all bets are off. yeah it can become very difficult yeah and most people just will speak quickly life moves fast if you live in a big urban area you just move fast right things happen quickly we're busy and so it's going to happen before we get into our question our like our response today where can our listeners find transcripts they want to be able to see all the words that we say on the show Yes, right.
Luckily, Ozzy has already discovered this, that you can find them in the app, guys.
So she's listening in the app and you can follow along with the transcripts.
So wherever you find your apps, both Android and iOS, you can download the All Ears English app and then you have access to the transcripts.
Yeah, so there's really two different ways, right, where we can get the transcripts.
You can get it in the app, right, and that is available, as Aubrey said, iOS or Android.
That's at allersenglish.com slash app. And then there is a second way if you prefer to see the transcripts in a clear report every week, PDF style. emailed to you so you don't have to do a thing right just comes right to your email inbox you actually get to find out what episodes we're going to do early because you get the episodes for the week on monday you can get those at allersenglish.com subscribe I love that.
That's how I would be with any of the podcasts I listen to.
I think I would really love to have that insider look and find out what the topics are going to be all week.
I just love knowing things in advance. I agree.
It's good to be an insider. Totally. So, yes.
Guys, when you're working in English, you need to be prepared for accents.
And I want to share a couple of episodes we've done over on IELTS Energy because this is so vital when someone's preparing for an exam like the IELTS exam that we talk about understanding accents a lot over there.
So episode 1102 was understand New Zealand accents for IELTS.
And we did another one recently. Right, Lindsay?
Yeah. Yes, that was IELTS Energy 1265, IELTS Accent Tips with Michael from Level Up English Podcast.
Great. Yes. So if you happen to listen to Level Up English Podcast or not, you might know Michael.
And this was a really great inside look into the British accent and tips to be able to understand it because you're definitely going to hear it on your IELTS exam.
And business English, right? You are likely to, whether on the phone or... have co-workers, colleagues who either have a British accent, New Zealand accent, Australian.
They're all so different and you need to be ready.
Yeah, so good. So important. So go over and check out the IELTS Energy podcast.
Again, we have three podcasts here at All Ears English, All Ears English, which is actually the show where you get the transcripts that we just mentioned.
We don't currently have transcripts for Business English Aubrey.
I forgot to mention that. Good point. So make sure you follow all three shows, All Ears English, Business English, and IELTS Energy to be fully plugged in and connected to us.
Good stuff. Yes. So what we're going to dive in are some tips.
The main thing is that you need to take in a lot of resources where speakers are using the accent you want to be familiar with, right?
So with YouTube, streaming, podcasts, you have a wealth of resources available to you for listening to every accent you could hear.
Yes. So we're going to give you guys some names of some shows that we like or have tried around the Kiwi accent first, and then we'll move on to the Aussie accent and a few others.
Good stuff. Yes. So first, Kiwi accent. This is New Zealand.
There's an amazing show called Wellington Paranormal.
Jessica from our team told me about this show.
It's very funny. It's a comedy set in New Zealand about some police officers that are getting all these paranormal calls, right?
There's like zombies and aliens and all this, but it's just very funny.
It sounds good. And then Flight of the Conchords, I've heard of that one for sure.
Yes, that's the one I mentioned at the top of the episode.
Yes, it's so good. You can see it on YouTube or HBO Max.
And then a new show called Our Flag Means Death, also on Max.
Have you heard of this one? No, that one I have not heard of.
It's so great. It's about this. It's, you know, a set a couple hundred years ago, and it's like a British royal who decides he wants to be a pirate.
And so he like sets out to be a pirate meets Blackbeard, the pirate.
Definitely a comedy. Very entertaining. Everyone's got Kiwi accents.
Oh, fun. And then there's What We Do in the Shadows, right?
Another one. This is a really fun one about vampires.
There's a new show on Hulu, but also it's a film.
Both amazing. Check them out. You haven't seen any of these, Lindsay?
I haven't seen any of them. I don't watch enough TV.
I need to get more tuned in to shows and TV shows and what's going on in popular media.
Absolutely. Yes. And our final recommendation is Reese Darby does stand up comedy and he has a very fun Kiwi accent and very fun comedy.
So you can find that on YouTube. All right, let's move on to the Aussie accent, which is similar.
Aubrey, don't you think they're pretty close, but they're different?
I'm very curious if someone from Australia or New Zealand just heard that and was offended.
I don't know. I'm curious. To us, yes, there are similarities for sure.
But I have a feeling that to them, they're like, no, it's not.
Right. I mean, do you consider the U.S. accent and the Canadian accent similar, would you say?
It depends, right? Yeah, I agree. I feel like they're similar in the same way that U.S. accents and Canadian accents.
There are definitely differences. There will be vowel sound differences, little things here and there, but in general, pretty similar.
I would love to have a, if there are any podcast hosts that, you know, that teach English as a second language from New Zealand, I'd love to have them all.
We haven't had a whole lot of, you know, yeah, I don't know anyone.
Yes, I know. And I know there are, there are a lot of fun podcasts with Kiwi accent hosts.
So yeah, we should find one and have them on here.
That would be so fun. That would be so fun.
All right. What about the Aussie accent?
Where can we go? Yeah. So there's a series called Kath and Kim that follows the lives of a suburban mom and her daughter, and they both have Australian accents.
And what's really fun is they use a lot of slang and Australian expressions.
So someone from the US might watch it and have to look some things up because they're going to say things that we don't use that slang here.
So it's really good for helping you to get familiar with that slang.
Oh, it's so important. They have so much slang in Australia.
So much slang. And the guests that we've interviewed from Australia, we have interviewed a few guests.
They've just mentioned it's rampant everywhere.
And so there's a lot to learn. Yes. Abercrombie's Viral Denim Sale is back.
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Exclusions apply. See details online. Okay, what's next, Aubrey?
Yeah, so there's another series for the Australian accent called Everything's Gonna Be Okay.
And this is really great, especially if you want to learn about family life and culture in Australia.
It deals with some very sensitive topics like death and grief.
And it's a great option if you want to improve vocabulary as well around feelings and emotions.
And one of the characters, Matilda, uses a lot of colloquial expressions, right?
Those same, like you said, there's a lot of them in Australia, especially those typical among Gen Z, right?
The younger group. So like I hear the ones that my teenagers use in the US.
If you want to learn what they're using in Australia, this is a great show for that.
Oh, for sure. And then, of course, there are some famous actors and actresses from Australia.
And when they get to use the Aussie accent, we get a chance to see it.
Who are they? If you're watching any of the news about the Barbie film, a lot of the press stuff they're doing, Margot Robbie is Australian.
And I think it's surprising a lot of people because her accent in the film is the U.S. accent.
And then you watch her do press and she has this really thick Australian accent, which is kind of fun.
That's fun. But also like Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman.
Yes. a lot of actors. There's a lot of actors out of Australia, for sure.
For sure. And then what is a good podcast that we could recommend here, Aubrey?
Yes, there's an amazing podcast called Accented, where, you know, their tagline is like, learn English through conversations.
And there are a lot of people with different accents there.
So the host is Australian, Kimberly Law.
But every episode, she has an interview with a speaker who has a different English accent.
So this is fantastic for exposing yourself to lots of different accents.
All right. And we have to also mention our friend Pete Smithson over at Aussie English, also a really good resource to check out.
So go over there and check out his show as well.
Good stuff, Aubrey. What's the takeaway for today?
Yeah, I think the main thing to keep in mind is you never know where your colleagues will be from or what accent they will have or clients, right?
You could be faced with a new accent out of the blue unexpectedly.
So you need to be prepared to understand accents in business English.
Oh, my gosh. Yes. And most of all, don't let it throw you off.
So I think the key with seeking out these resources is that it won't throw us off when we do hear in the moment when it matters.
You get on that phone call and all of a sudden your client has that accent.
You'll be ready for it. It won't throw you off.
We won't have that language block go up in our minds.
Right. Absolutely. Right. You want to avoid that that potential situation where you're hesitating and you're struggling and asking them to repeat.
Not the end of the world, but if you put in the advanced preparation, then you can avoid that.
Like you said, it won't throw you off. You'll be ready to hear the accent.
You'll have heard it several times. It won't be the first time you're exposed to it.
That's the key. The work happens beforehand.
The work happens when you don't exactly know when the moment is going to arise, right?
Exactly. So the work happens ahead of time, just like preparing for a presentation.
All the work is in preparation. And then the delivery should be relatively smooth if you've prepared well.
It's the same idea with prepping for accents.
Exactly. It's so true. Right. And then you have that confidence to know, you know, you don't have to worry about being faced with an accent that that is really difficult to understand.
You'll feel confident knowing you've put in the work ahead of time.
Yes. Let's go for the confidence and the connection, Aubrey.
All right. Thanks for hanging out today.
I will see you very soon. All right. Awesome.
See you next time. Take care. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Business English, a podcast just for you, the high achieving global professional.
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