I need someone from South Africa to help me :) Thread poster: Juan Manuel Macarlupu Peña
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Hello everyone!
I am here with a strange request. I am writing a paper on attitudes towards different regional varieties of English and I need to expose my subjects to American, British, and South African English in order to detect preferencies and tendencies and speculate about the influencing factors. I need this in order to finally get my degree as a translator (This is the last of 40 subjects in the course!!!).
Is there anyone who would be able to record himself (I need a ... See more Hello everyone!
I am here with a strange request. I am writing a paper on attitudes towards different regional varieties of English and I need to expose my subjects to American, British, and South African English in order to detect preferencies and tendencies and speculate about the influencing factors. I need this in order to finally get my degree as a translator (This is the last of 40 subjects in the course!!!).
Is there anyone who would be able to record himself (I need a male) speaking for 1 minute?
I would provide a text to read, because I need all three speakers to say the same thing.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Regards, ▲ Collapse
| | | | Allison Wright (X) 
Portugal
Local time: 12:52
Juan Manuel Macarlupu Peña wrote:
Hello everyone!
I am here with a strange request. I am writing a paper on attitudes towards different regional varieties of English and I need to expose my subjects to American, British, and South African English in order to detect preferencies and tendencies and speculate about the influencing factors. I need this in order to finally get my degree as a translator (This is the last of 40 subjects in the course!!!).
Is there anyone who would be able to record himself (I need a male) speaking for 1 minute?
I would provide a text to read, because I need all three speakers to say the same thing.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Regards,
Try
The South African Translators' Institute
http://www.translators.org.za/
SATI / SAVI are also on ProZ
http://www.proz.com/translator_associations/133
The latter may be a quicker route for you to take.
Good luck!
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 13:52
Spanish to English
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| Allison Wright (X)
Portugal
Local time: 12:52
| Indeed. What, exactly, is a South African accent? | Mar 25, 2012 |
The diversity of accents is South Africa (when speaking English as the mother tongue) is almost as great as one would find in the other two countries chosen for your assignment. Even geographically within socially similar groups there are distinct phonetic differences, such that even non linguists can tell the difference between someone from Durban, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Cape Town... There are so many variables: race, geography, age, education. I guess you would have to match your three different subjects (sample sound bits) as far as age and level of education are concerned, at least.
Contrary to neilmac's clip, I have met plenty of nice South Africans. I have never met an American or British person who can imitate a "South African accent" properly, though.
[Edited for typo --> socially]
[Edited at 2012-03-25 21:28 GMT]
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| South African accent | Mar 25, 2012 |
Thank you everyone for your answers. I certainly understand that, as with ost languages and varieties, the number of subvarieties might be infinite. I am not familiar with this variety of English so I am in no position to decide. My evaluators asked for "standard South African", so I guess someone middle class from the major cities would be a good option, but I understand that none is more standard than other.
Thanks for any suggestions you may have.
Regards,
Juan... See more Thank you everyone for your answers. I certainly understand that, as with ost languages and varieties, the number of subvarieties might be infinite. I am not familiar with this variety of English so I am in no position to decide. My evaluators asked for "standard South African", so I guess someone middle class from the major cities would be a good option, but I understand that none is more standard than other.
Thanks for any suggestions you may have.
Regards,
Juan Manuel ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 13:52
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| Tis a pity... | Mar 26, 2012 |
Juan Manuel Macarlupu Peña wrote:
I am not familiar with this variety of English so I am in no position to decide. My evaluators asked for "standard South African", so I guess someone middle class from the major cities would be a good option, but I understand that none is more standard than other.
If you had money to pay a voice artist, you could have used one of those. You would have had to try to use someone who regularly does adverts on the radio -- they usually have a "standard" white-like middle-class South African accent.
Or... or does your lecturer perhaps think that the "South African" accent is the black accent...?
| | | | Petro Ebersöhn (X)
Local time: 14:52
| South African members | Mar 26, 2012 |
Juan, I am sure I have seen some South African members (male) on the site so I wonder if it is necessary to contact SATI/SAVI or a voice artist to help you. I am female, otherwise I would have loved to help you!
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:52
Hebrew to English
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Petro2 wrote:
Juan, I am sure I have seen some South African members (male) on the site so I wonder if it is necessary to contact SATI/SAVI or a voice artist to help you. I am female, otherwise I would have loved to help you!
Thank you!
I'll try to find someone here, if I dont succeed, I will consider switching to all females and contact you!
Thank you everyone for your help and resources!
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Ty Kendall wrote:
http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=903
...with the speaker coming from Cape Town. Also it might be worth the asker reading this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_English for a starter and decide which accent grouping to focus on.
I suspect the lecturer simply meant the "stereotypical" South African accent that we as foreigners hear most often (probably Cape Town/Johannesburg varieties), the same way that some foreigners think all British people speak either like the queen or with some quasi-southern-RP type accent.
Hi Ty, I agree with you that they meant "stereotypical" so those cities you mentioned would work.
BTW, I also need British, are you "stereotypical" ?
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:52
Hebrew to English
I don't really have a regional accent at all (my parents were somewhat nomadic), and I definitely don't have a stereotypical southern or RP-esque accent, sorry!
| | | | | Still looking for someone... :) | May 7, 2012 |
IF anyone can help me I'll appreciate it
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