But such are the facts: David Freund interviewed me at the COMS 2007 about our microscopes for Azonano.com. Of course, I think I sound like a nasally arrogant Amurrican, what with a cold on the way, and there are a number of things I would have said differently or not at all, but now you can hear thduggie trying to think on his feet. It starts at about eleven an a half minutes into the 17MB file, so if you’re on dial-up, ignore it. If the link doesn’t work, try going to the Azonano podcasts, and looking for the September 17, 2007 podcast.
There. Four down, eleven to go on my quest for my own fifteen minutes… 😉
You don’t sound nasally arrogant. Not quite yourself, you’re right, but that faint Germanic accent is pretty consistent.
(Thus sayeth a nasally arrogant Amurrican, of course.) 🙂
I should have clarified: sounding nasally arrogant bothers me, sounding Amurrican doesn’t.
So that’s a Germanic accent? Trying to imagine hearing your voice with no knowledge of your background, I found myself thinking it was standard American English with a hint of…something. Something that made it more musical, like that of some children we met who, born of an Ecuadorian father and an American mother, spoke perfect American English, yet their Ecuadorian birth and upbringing bestowed upon their speech a certain quality that I, for lack of a more technical term, called “musical.”
In your case the influence obviously wasn’t Spanish, but I wouldn’t have guessed Swiss, or German. What came to my mind (ear) was Scottish or Irish! I do have to admit that Janet disagreed vehemently, insisting you have no accent. Perhaps she is right in saying it’s less a matter of pronunciation and more of rhythms and inflections (tone, not grammar).
Then again, I can’t discount the effect of all that time spent hearing and speaking with Australians. It only took two days of that influence for Janet’s speech to be considerably affected.
Perhaps on our next visit to Switzerland we’ll make it to church and get to hear your real voice, unmodified by viruses and unmediated by recording devices.
Swiss German, like Dutch, or Irish, or Scottish, does have a more pronounced phrasal melody than High German or Standard Kansas English. I think that’s what you must have detected; it’s what my relatives detect. I’d only been in Australia for, oh, two days maximum, so there wouldn’t have been a lot of influence from that. Even after two weeks I wasn’t saying “mate” and “good on ya” and “right on” and “bonza.” I do change my speech, but more slowly.
Here’s an example of a typical Swiss German accent:
Marco Tempest.
Stephan, in his defense, doesn’t swing his accent much. Even the year he was in the States didn’t make much of an impression on his phrasing, pacing, or tonality. Except for the odd “y’all” thrown in, which never sounded European.
Maybe Southern European? 🙂
Stephan, I don’t think you sound like Marco Tempest at all. Which I guess only means you don’t have a typical Swiss German accent. Or maybe it means I’ve only heard your voice online….
No, I hope I don’t sound like him. I provided the link to provide an example because an example I am not.
I’m a bit concerned that my speech should be important enough to make this the third most commented-upon blog entry to date.