M!SSUNDAZTOOD?

Ok, so my English pronunciation is not consistent. I am not ashamed to admit that I do confuse people at times. Mine is a mixture of Malaysian, British, Australian & American English. Why am I such a language mutt one might ask? Well…

Malaysian English being who I am & where I was born. British English being the standard English I was taught in school. Australian English being the language spoken & written during my 6 years in college & university in Perth. Finally, American English because I live here now. Hence, I inherited a wealth of variable English pronunciation. I am rather good at differentiating between them but a salad of sorts when I open my mouth.

Of course, there’s no incorrect way.

Personally, British English has a pompous ring to it. Hearing a British person swear makes even the most vulgar word sound dignified. Australian English is very pitchy and gives me a bit of a headache at times. No offense (or, offence) to the Aussies, ok?! American English on the other hand, sounds very casual and easy on the ears. Simpler to learn without any funky intonation of the former.

However, there are also regional accents in the United States. In the East Coast, native Jerseyans & New Yorkers pronounce certain words in a rather odd way. Took my ears a while to get accustomed to it.

For example:

off = oawff

coffee = coaw-ffee

laugh = laff

got = gawtt

thought = thawtt

* Remember that sitcom “The Nanny” with Fran Drescher? U-huh!

And then, there’s the American way of omitting the end syllable of certain words; although this is also not consistent. Some speakers do it more distinctly than others.

For example:
Manhattan = Manhatt’n (man – hatt – “nnn”)
mountain = mount’n (mount – “nnn”)
certain = cert’n (cert – “nnn”)
important = import'n (import – “nnn”)

I am still wondering why this is so. Maybe someone can tell me? In the mean time, I am still troubled by my variety. Oh, what a dilemma!