Hi there! Today, we’re going to talk about something really fun: accents! Have you ever noticed that people from different places sound different when they speak? Let’s find out why!
An accent is just a special way of speaking. Everyone has an accent, even if we don’t always notice it. It’s like having a unique voice that shows where you’re from. You learn your accent from listening to your family and friends when you’re little.
When people from England speak, they might use words like “loo” for bathroom. In Australia, they might say “dunny” instead. Isn’t that funny? Even though they all speak English, they use different words and sound a bit different.
Once, I met someone from England who asked, “Where’s the loo?” I was confused at first, but then I learned that “loo” means bathroom. Another time, a friend from Australia said, “I’ve just gotta use the dunny, eh?” That was another new word for me!
It’s not just English that has different accents. Spanish speakers have them too! In Spain, a peach is called “melocoton,” but in Mexico, it’s called “durazno.” Isn’t it cool how languages can be so different?
Next time you’re with your family, try saying “loo” or “dunny” instead of bathroom and see what they say! It’s a fun way to learn about accents and how people speak in other places.
There are so many mysteries in the world, like when the first camera was made or why things glow in the dark. Keep asking questions and stay curious! Who knows what you’ll discover next?
Thanks for learning with me today. See you next time!
Accent Detective: Go on a fun adventure with your family or friends! Listen to people around you or on TV and try to guess where they might be from based on their accent. Can you hear any special words or sounds? Write down or draw a picture of what you discover and share it with your class.
Word Swap Game: With a partner, pick a few common words like “bathroom,” “candy,” or “car.” Take turns saying these words in different accents or using different words from other places, like “loo” or “dunny.” See if your partner can guess which country or region the word or accent is from. It’s a fun way to learn new words and sounds!
Accent Art: Create a colorful poster that shows different words people use for the same thing in various places. For example, draw a picture of a bathroom and write “loo” and “dunny” next to it. Add more examples if you can find them. Display your poster at home or in your classroom to share what you’ve learned about accents!
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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(phone chiming) – Hi, it’s Doug. I’ve got the flag of the United Kingdom here. (phone chiming) I’m sorry, there’s a call coming through right now. It’s from my brother-in-law, Deacon. Let me take it. Hold on, one second. (phone chiming) – Hey Deacon, how are you? – Hey Doug, how are you? – It’s great you’re calling right now. I’m actually in the middle of an episode that we’re going to do about accents, so it’s perfect that you called me. – Why is it perfect that I called when you’re doing an episode about accents? – Because you have an accent. – No, no I don’t. You have an accent. – Yeah, you do. – No, I don’t have an accent, you have an accent. – No, I am sure I know that every time we speak, I hear an accent from you, not from me. – Okay, agree to disagree. Well, that was perfect timing. Someone named Xander has a question about accents. Let’s give him a call now. (phone chiming) – Hi Doug. – Hi Xander. – I have a question for you. Why do people from England sound different from people in America? – That’s a great question. When I was young, my family had an exchange student come live with us. Her name was Shelley and she spoke with an English accent. Her family was from England. I’ll never forget because on the very first day she arrived at our house, she asked me, “Excuse me, where’s the loo?” I was like, “The what?” She said, “The loo.” Then, she thought for a second and realized I couldn’t understand her. “Sorry,” she said. “I meant to say, ‘where’s the bathroom?’” Oh, the bathroom! I had no idea that people from England called it the loo. That wasn’t the last time that I was surprised by someone’s accent either. When I was older, I became friends with someone from Australia. We were about to go hang out somewhere and he said to me, “I’ll be right there, I’ve just gotta use the dunny, eh?” Huh? I was so confused. And that’s when I learned that dunny is the word that people in Australia have for bathroom. Now, it’s not that my friends from England or Australia don’t speak English. I mean, English started in England, so definitely that’s not true. Why is it that these people, even though English is their first language, speak so differently than the way that I speak? They have different words for certain things and they seem to just talk a different way. Why do people have accents? Before I say anything further, what do you think? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss. Okay, you ready? The secret to figuring out why people have accents is something you can discover for yourself when you travel to places where people speak English differently than you do. I’ll never forget when I traveled to England. I went to a restaurant and I had to give my last name for the wait list. My last name is Peltz and I spelled it P-E-L-T-Z. The waiter looked amused. “Zee,” he said. And he smiled. You see, in English, the letter Zee is called Zed. To him, I was the one who sounded different; I’m the one with the accent. I have an American accent. You see, you or me, we don’t think of ourselves as having an accent, but we do. An accent is just a way of speaking, it’s a way of talking. We all have some way that we speak and it’s not usually something that we chose. Each of us learned our way of speaking by copying the sounds of our parents and the people around us when we were little. That’s why we each end up sounding a lot like the people in the area where we live. Everyone has a way of speaking and pronouncing words that’s a little different from people in other places. And it’s not just people who speak English; there are different accents found in every language. Take Spanish, for example. Spanish is spoken in lots of countries all over the world. Just recently, a friend of mine from Spain was telling me that she was speaking Spanish with her co-worker who’s from Mexico. They were having lunch together and he said to her, in Spanish, “Hey, what’s your favorite kind of fruit?” She said, “Oh, I love the fruit melocoton.” He was like, “What? I literally don’t even understand what you just said.” It turns out, melocoton is what they call a peach in Spain, but in Mexico, it’s called a durazno. So, in summary, it’s not just people from other places who have an accent; you do too! Everyone has an accent of some kind, it’s just not always obvious to us if we’re surrounded by people who have the same way of speaking that we do. It’s always fun to meet people from other places. One of the most fun things you can do is compare how you say things differently and sometimes, what words you say differently too. Try calling the bathroom the loo or the dunny and see what reaction you get from your parents. That’s all for this week’s question, thanks Xander for asking it. Now, for the next episode, I reached into my question jar and found three questions submitted to me that I’m thinking about answering. When this video’s done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: when was the first camera made? why do people get stomach aches? Or, how do things glow in the dark? So, submit your vote when the video’s over. I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious and see you next week.
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