Waiting for LFD2 to download, nows the perfect time.
Umm... I lost my survey about half way through, probably my fault. I don't want to say how far I got because it would interfere with anonymity, but is it saved semi-complete? Or would it be ok if I did it again? I dont' want to double up and affect the sample.

Edit 2: Nevermind, got it back. Everything should be ok.

DivinO

United States4796 Posts

July 24 2012 23:41 GMT

#43

On July 25 2012 01:19 lilsusie wrote:
I'm not too picky, honestly, I know what limitations this study will have. It doesn't have to be very scientific either. Just... do the survey please :D Thank you guys!! I guess Canada is techincally America... North America...

We are North American Scum!

Good luck.

Snuggles

United States1865 Posts

July 24 2012 23:47 GMT

#44

On July 25 2012 07:49 farvacola wrote:

Show nested quote +

The girl in the pink shirt throws a mean right jab, Brave ain't got shit on her.

I never knew scottish accents were that hard to understand lol. Accents are pretty interesting to learn, the slightest change in your tone or pitch with certain vowels, words, or phrases can totally change your image.

Did you guys know that Australians like to say "heaps" as in "lots" or "tons" as an equivalent? When I first found out I had a real kick out of teasing my Australian friend lol.

lilsusie

3861 Posts

July 24 2012 23:57 GMT

#45

I currently live in Manchester and the words they use! They tend to use "well" in place of "very" and have tons of slang that only the locals would understand. Accents are a ton of fun to study but unfortunately, had to narrow it down to what is relevant to me. :D I suppose in America too, there are regional accents that give our location origins away

turdburgler

England6749 Posts

July 25 2012 00:02 GMT

#46

people from up north in england have the same reputation as people from down south in the US

i suddenly feel so bad for you. how come you are doing a study on american universitys if you live in newcastle at the moment? wouldnt it be easier to do the same subject but on 'foreign' accents for english people?

SirKibbleX

United States479 Posts

July 25 2012 00:27 GMT

#47

I hope you realize TL is almost certainly horribly biased sample group.

Parametric

Canada1261 Posts

July 25 2012 00:37 GMT

#48

Left a comment at the end of the survey. I answered under the assumption that the speakers weren't completely familiar with the material they were reading, so that's why they'd be shaky at times.

Overall on the accents, I found that they were understandable and that the last speaker was by far the best due to the emphasis when she spoke.

I also realized I love British/NZ/Aus accents and could listen to them all day.

lilsusie

3861 Posts

July 25 2012 00:38 GMT

#49

On July 25 2012 09:02 turdburgler wrote:
i suddenly feel so bad for you. how come you are doing a study on american universitys if you live in newcastle at the moment? wouldnt it be easier to do the same subject but on 'foreign' accents for english people?

I'm in Manc, not Newcastle. I'm studying Americans because I am American myself and want to know if others have similar thoughts as I do

On July 25 2012 09:27 SirKibbleX wrote:
I hope you realize TL is almost certainly horribly biased sample group.

Oh, I do. I'll explain it in the "limitations" portion of my paper. No worries

I've been on TL a long, long time now, long enough to know to take everything with a grain of salt. So far the responses have been great though, so I am far from complaining.

TeaGreen

Canada147 Posts

July 25 2012 01:02 GMT

#50

WOOPS I just realized it says "American University Students"...

I'm Canadian...sorry I already did the quid though. >_<

Ack1027

United States7873 Posts

July 25 2012 01:10 GMT

#51

I did something like this while an undergrad, but obviously not on the scale of something like your dissertation!

We basically recorded 6 different accents [ italian, russian, french, japanese....some others ] all reading the same exact text.

From there, we had different criteria like what education level, income level, time spent in US was to the listener.

Results were pretty interesting. But as expected people attributed positive aspects to the more familiar accents.

Anyway filled out your survey to help out, GL with everything!

Roe

Canada6002 Posts

July 25 2012 01:26 GMT

#52

I thought it was going to be "Dyke" and you would come out as a lesbian

farvacola

United States18821 Posts

July 25 2012 01:38 GMT

#53

On July 25 2012 08:47 Snuggles wrote:

Show nested quote +

I'd love for nothing more than to have a month to travel around the UK and take in as many different accents as possible, it certainly is a fascinating thing to look into. While on vacation in Cancun visiting family, I met a large number of South Africans from Namibia, and I loved talking with them.

looknohands119

United States815 Posts

July 25 2012 03:25 GMT

#54

glgl Susan! ^^ Hope everything goes well.

I find accents to be really distracting and difficult to understand in lecturers sometimes but it's usually not the accent that gets me. Its usually the lack of confidence and command of the English language that often comes with a non-native speaker that makes a lecturer difficult to understand. Things like, "um's", breaks in speaking rhythm, use of contractions, etc... are things that scream bad public speaker and not confident lecturer to me. I think a lecturer should be a good public speaker and I would hold them to, if not the same standards I would hold myself to as a competitive speecher(*sic)/debater, definitely similar standards.

That being said, I have definitely had lecturers who have had accents that genuinely get in the way of understanding for someone who is used to Western/uniquely American accents. A good lecture is already a fast moving vehicle with way more information than a person could possibly take in but adding in the mental processing required to decipher an accent or sift through a distracting speech pattern makes it near impossible to get the most out of the lecture.

Vod.kaholic

United States1052 Posts

July 25 2012 04:07 GMT

#55

Man, I'm not sure how much the accents really had to do with comprehensibility or skill at lecturing, but the last two people spoke with much better diction.

Also, by the 5th speaker, wouldn't most people have some idea of what was coming up, and they could sorta force themselves to understand the words if they remembered what a previous speaker said at the same point in the speech? I guess you could have varied the section each speaker read aloud.

Synwave

United States2803 Posts

July 25 2012 05:06 GMT

#56

Alright tried it again and site works fine. Hope you liked the answers, tried to really explain my thoughts while listening.
I must say for me almost any accent is easily understood once I adjust to it which doesn't take very long. So hopefully that doesn't bias my answers too much.

Aerisky

United States12129 Posts

July 25 2012 05:47 GMT

#57

On July 25 2012 13:07 Vod.kaholic wrote:
Man, I'm not sure how much the accents really had to do with comprehensibility or skill at lecturing, but the last two people spoke with much better diction.

Also, by the 5th speaker, wouldn't most people have some idea of what was coming up, and they could sorta force themselves to understand the words if they remembered what a previous speaker said at the same point in the speech? I guess you could have varied the section each speaker read aloud.

I think varying the section read aloud would mean that the experiment is less controlled, i.e. different words being read. You can't win D:

Was bored to I decided to fill this out as well

good luck with the big D!

babylon

8765 Posts

July 25 2012 05:48 GMT

#58

Should put "Other" and "Do not want to disclose" (or a similar choice) under the gender question. Just a friendly fyi. I know ppl who would opt out of surveys if you don't include such choices.

BigBadBeaver

Canada272 Posts

July 25 2012 06:07 GMT

#59

Can anyone explain what might this
"What is your grade level?

Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Super Senior"
be?

I can only assume this refers to the # years at university...although nobody uses this kind of terminology around here but I'm guessing Super Senior refers to >4 years?

lilsusie

3861 Posts

July 25 2012 06:26 GMT

#60

Yeah that's how we've always classified it, it was my way of making it "american" lol.

Also, for the gender question, I put it that way because I wanted to see if men/women gave different answers. I know it sucks, I should have put a 3rd option, but it was for the sake of making easy graphs, etc. Just choose one that you most relate to.