The Australian accent is famous for its vowel sounds, absence of a strong “r” pronunciation and the use of an inflection – or intonation – at the end of sentences, which can make statements sound like questions. According to Felicity, the way vowels are pronounced is the most peculiar feature of Australian English.
Australian accent also features flapping. This is the softening of /t/ in the middle of words or at the end of words between vowels. When the “t” sound is flapped, it'll sound a lot more like a soft /d/ sound. Therefore “letter” /lɛtə/ may at times sound like “ledder” /lɛɾʌ/.
If you grew up in Australia, your accent is shaped by the history of Australia's European settlement; if you grew up in New Zealand, your accent is shaped by a different history, so it sounds different. It's automatic for us to talk in a similar way to the people around us and this feature is really strong in kids.
Australian English can be described as a new dialect that developed as a result of contact between people who spoke different, mutually intelligible, varieties of English. The very early form of Australian English would have been first spoken by the children of the colonists born into the early colony in Sydney.
Let's face it, most of us are suckers for a sexy accent. According to a recent survey conducted by the popular dating website MissTravel.com, over 2000 American men and women regard Australian accents as one of the sexiest in the world.
If you find the British accent difficult to understand, it's likely you'll find the Aussie accent even harder to grasp as, for the most part, Australia is a melting pot of all the different regional dialects of British English.
General Australian English is the most common of Australian accents. It is especially prominent in urban Australia and is used as a standard language for Australian films, television programs and advertising. It is used by Hugh Jackman, Ian Thorpe and Eric Bana.
Unlike some of the strong accents and dialects used back in England, the Australian accent was clear and easy to understand, because it was developed by people trying to understand each other!
One of the first things you'll notice about Australia will no doubt be the very unique speaking habits of its people. Australians speak fast, 'chew' words and skip pronunciation of letters – combine this with their penchant for slang and abbreviations, and you have a language that's quite difficult to comprehend!
Australian English arose from a dialectal 'melting pot' created by the intermingling of early settlers who were from a variety of dialectal regions of Great Britain and Ireland, though its most significant influences were the dialects of Southeast England.
The expression has been compared to the American English equivalent "no problem". In their book Australian Language & Culture: No Worries!, authors Vanessa Battersby, Paul Smitz and Barry Blake note: "No worries is a popular Australian response akin to 'no problems', 'that's OK' or 'sure thing'."
Hooroo = Goodbye
The Australian slang for goodbye is Hooroo and sometimes they even Cheerio like British people.
The New Zealand accent is most similar to Australian accents (particularly those of Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia) but is distinguished from these accents by the presence of three "clipped" vowels, slightly resembling South African English.
In our recent poll of the sexiest accents in the world, the Australian accent came in at No. 5. We wanted to delve a little deeper into exactly what it is that people love so much about it, and why it makes people go weak at the knees when hearing it.
Too easy means something along the lines of that is easy to do and no problem (also known as no wakkas!). Example: After ordering a coffee, the waiter tells you that it is “too easy”.
Swearing: Swearing is more common in Australia than in many other cultures. Television programmes are less censored and mainstream society is largely desensitised to words that foreigners may find vulgar. It is normal to hear an Australian swear at some point during a conversation.
dunny – a toilet, the appliance or the room – especially one in a separate outside building. This word has the distinction of being the only word for a toilet which is not a euphemism of some kind. It is from the old English dunnykin: a container for dung. However Australians use the term toilet more often than dunny.
It's "good evening", or the non-time specific "g'day". Contributor's comments: I grew up in Brisbane, and have never, heard 'Goodnight' as a greeting.
Yeah nah yeah = yes. No wonder you're confused! A commonly-used word here is mate, which normally means friend.
1. G'day. One of the first things you'll hear when in Australia, is the classic “G'day, mate”, which is basically the same as saying, “good day”, or “hello”.
In a nationally representative survey of Australian 15-year-olds, 87 per cent said they 'treat all people with respect regardless of their cultural background' and 85 per cent said they 'respect the values of people from different cultures', compared to the OECD average of 81 per cent and 79 per cent respectively.