Accents

Level Four Lockdown: Day Eighty-One (With a few restrictions lightened and lifted)

Mood: Level

I love the melting pot which is found in corporate Australia. 

The meeting started at 9.30.

The names on the board are a complete hotch-potch - different ethnicities, different accents. All Australians. 

The meeting convener hails from Singapore or Malaysia. The sing-song tones are barely a lilt, her voice moderated from a few years a large consultancy firm somewhere. There's an MBA in there too from the jargon she's speaking. She's accomplished. 

The second speaker is an estuary boy - full Essex or Kent. All f's where there should be a th. A final G is turned into a K. Final T's are dropped. Nuffink' like i'! No wo' I meeen? I wonder how often he polishes his sovereign ring. The fellow's oriental cat presents his arsehole to the meeting. Choice. 

The next speaker hails from India. She intonates differently to the others. Her voice is melodic, softly spoken, her use of adverbs and personal pronouns are different to the others. Slightly more convoluted - less abrupt - almost subservient at times, yet not. For language is a conglomeration of cultures and experiences and everything else under the sun. 

Then on to the training guru. He's a friend of mine so I know his inflections - inner Eastern Melbourne tinged with his mother's Scottish inflections. He comes across as flamboyant. I know he loves performing for the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. His A's are longer than most Melbournians. His consonants are clipped, not like other Australian men - his modulations smoother. He doesn't use many contractions. He often gets confused for a well bred Pom - and a flamboyant one at that. His emoticon shows him with his two lovely daughters. (Mine is the World Wildlife Foundation panda - I cherish my anonymity).  

Next off the blocks is a woman from the Northern Suburbs. Older. Of continental heritage. She sounds a bit like Effie - a broader, courser Australian - harsh on the ear. Upward inflections at the end of sentences. I wonder if she catches herself asking questions when she is only making statements. It's a Northern Suburbs inflection - less prominent in the East. She's a senior staffer, but she sounds as if she's asking for validation. 

And now into my team meeting. Fewer accents to deal with - just the bosses Edinburgh brogue - she's been here over twenty years, but her lowland Scottish burr remains. There's also Fag-Ash Lil - I've known her for a while too - voice pure Gippsland, modulated by years working on pubs in her younger days. Our bi-lingual Greek team member has a nasal twang. Lots of 'yeahs' and 'rights'  at the end of her sentences. Maybe it's a training thing - trainers ask lots of questions. 

Working virtually, we have to take joy where we can. For me, it's listening to people's voices and wondering what their story is all about. 

Today's Song: