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I've spent a total of about 5 years there, but haven't lived there since the early 90s. The recent and upcoming visits have just been for temporary work.
Australia is the West Island.
Could you tell me how you disern between a New Zealand and an Australian accent? I have one Australian and one New Zealand lecturer and they both sound the same?
Could you tell me how you disern between a New Zealand and an Australian accent? I have one Australian and one New Zealand lecturer and they both sound the same?
A big difference with Australians having an "ee" sounds to their "a" and "i", while NZers have more of a "U" sound. Australians tend to have more rising intonation.
The lecturers might have a bit more of a cultivated accent, which tends to closers in sound.
Could you tell me how you disern between a New Zealand and an Australian accent? I have one Australian and one New Zealand lecturer and they both sound the same?
Listen to the vowels. In New Zealand, trap becomes trep, fish becomes fsh, and red becomes rid. The most noticeable one is the fish, as it is very contrastive with the Australian pronunciation, which is almost "feesh".
Also listen for "syllable merging". I believe a past or present New Zealand Prime Minister was famous for saying "New Zilnd". Sort of a forcing-together of some syllables.
Lastly, I've noticed that New Zealanders seem to speak much more quietly than Australians, and lack the "sharp" sound of the Australian accent, sounding much "softer" instead. Just my observation, though - could be just me.
Australians say "feesh and cheeps". New Zealanders say "fush and chups".
Australians say "the cat sat on the mat". NZers would say "the ket set on the met".
Australians say "best book evah". NZ-ers would say "bist bok ivah".
New Zealanders, in general, raise their vowels (A is E, E is I and I is U). Also, they say words like "burn" and "learn" with an 'oo' sound, as in "loon" and "boon", respectively. Of course, I am over-emphasizing. Not everyone sounds like that. But I hope you can tell the differences.
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