Speech...
We are always being told that many people who leave school are not able to read and write to an acceptable standard but sometimes you wonder if that should include being able to speak.
The richness of the English language is the joy of how it adapts and grows and the same is true of the spoken word from the various dialects and accents. If you listen to broadcasts from old radio programmes and films of the early part of the 20Th century most of what we hear suggests that we all talked with what is sometimes called a posh or cutting glass accent. That wasn't true of the population as a whole and sometimes it was too pronounced.
The one thing though that cannot be denied. It was very clear and easy to understand and often easy on the ear. I have always believed that out of all broadcasting the one aspect of broadcasting that should be the clearest and easiest to understand to avoid any misunderstanding is when someone reads the news or is dealing with information.
In today's world of media it would be seen as right to stop someone because of how they talk and if you did that person may try to take legal action against a broadcaster but we all know that not all of us are capable of doing every profession that exists though many of us might be able to do many of them if trained or given some coaching.
If someone with an accent is employed to read the news etc...they should make a concession and if they insist on keeping an accent or dialect the trick is to make it softer so the national audience can understand. If I live in an area where a particular accent is heard often my ears will become tuned to it but on a National network that is probably impractical.
Unfortunately, on a few occasions I have heard someone being asked to tone down their accent they often see it as a personal attack on them or the part of the UK they come from and they dig their heels in.
Recently, I have heard a number broadcasters who have such a strong accent it is so harsh it really hurts the ears.Strangely enough all of them have been female and so far none of them male. One reads the news on BBC Radio 5 overnight, another on a local BBC radio station and the other week I heard another presenting a music programme on a local commercial station.
I would love to illustrate what I am on about but they say words incorrectly so I don't come across as being snobbish. The nearest I can explain would be to use the word "Coal" but some of this would pronounce it as "Kerl!" Which is nothing like the original pronunciation but it might be acceptable if it was not said so harshly. Some actually miss off the endings of words or say words so they are very flat.
How different some of our most popular singers and songs would sound if they were sung in a broad accent. Some songs especially folk songs and songs perhaps written in the style of Robert Burns it's expected and acceptable. But when someone sings with a beautiful voice such as Nat King Cole or Matt Monroe, where you can hear and understand every word.
The richness of the English language is the joy of how it adapts and grows and the same is true of the spoken word from the various dialects and accents. If you listen to broadcasts from old radio programmes and films of the early part of the 20Th century most of what we hear suggests that we all talked with what is sometimes called a posh or cutting glass accent. That wasn't true of the population as a whole and sometimes it was too pronounced.
The one thing though that cannot be denied. It was very clear and easy to understand and often easy on the ear. I have always believed that out of all broadcasting the one aspect of broadcasting that should be the clearest and easiest to understand to avoid any misunderstanding is when someone reads the news or is dealing with information.
In today's world of media it would be seen as right to stop someone because of how they talk and if you did that person may try to take legal action against a broadcaster but we all know that not all of us are capable of doing every profession that exists though many of us might be able to do many of them if trained or given some coaching.
If someone with an accent is employed to read the news etc...they should make a concession and if they insist on keeping an accent or dialect the trick is to make it softer so the national audience can understand. If I live in an area where a particular accent is heard often my ears will become tuned to it but on a National network that is probably impractical.
Unfortunately, on a few occasions I have heard someone being asked to tone down their accent they often see it as a personal attack on them or the part of the UK they come from and they dig their heels in.
Recently, I have heard a number broadcasters who have such a strong accent it is so harsh it really hurts the ears.Strangely enough all of them have been female and so far none of them male. One reads the news on BBC Radio 5 overnight, another on a local BBC radio station and the other week I heard another presenting a music programme on a local commercial station.
I would love to illustrate what I am on about but they say words incorrectly so I don't come across as being snobbish. The nearest I can explain would be to use the word "Coal" but some of this would pronounce it as "Kerl!" Which is nothing like the original pronunciation but it might be acceptable if it was not said so harshly. Some actually miss off the endings of words or say words so they are very flat.
How different some of our most popular singers and songs would sound if they were sung in a broad accent. Some songs especially folk songs and songs perhaps written in the style of Robert Burns it's expected and acceptable. But when someone sings with a beautiful voice such as Nat King Cole or Matt Monroe, where you can hear and understand every word.
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 5:41 pm
4 Comments:
On our local BBC news one of the newsreaders has a Hampshire accent and it is so unusual to hear that he stands out.
Perhaps we should accept that some accents and dialects are softer and acceptable, others are to be blunt, ugly.
If you say you are from the North East of England virtually everyone believes you'll talk with a Geordie accent and it just is not the case. TV hosts will say something in that accent whether you come from Teeside, Durham or Sunderland.
I do not hear anyone in my town or the neighbouring one's talking what I would call Geordie at anytime.
Sure if they do a vox pops on the local news they'll find someone but not that many.
I agree...of course you know it was a policy to have all these accents, certainly at the BBC and I don't just mean for local and regional channels. The BBC was hidesously white and hideously easy to understand. Now it's a brogue competiton that turns many off.
I'm so glad it's not just me who feels this way Span and Paul...You know it's funny but a station like Radio 5 seems to go for presenters when they come from the Home Nations with strong accents almost as if to prove that they are empoying people not just from England(If you listen to BBC Radio Wales, Scotland or N. Ireland)most have a softer way of speaking but I also find that they quite often choose presenters from England that have a noticeable(dialect)
If you are guest I don't have a problem but if it's your chosen profession and you are reading news, traffic or information I think it does matter. I'm not sure it matters too much if you are hosting a discussion programme.
Even Cheryl Cole who many go on about drops her Geordie accent when she sings. Why is that? ;-)
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