My Fair Lady

or Pronunciation Post II

Gliding, whistling and exploding through different British pronunciation videos made me feel very funny throughout the last couple of days. I had a very strange feeling that I could not quit detect until half way through “RP British Accent” – a quit good RP online lesson – I stumbled across this sentence:

“In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire hurricanes hardly ever happen.”

Finally I knew why I felt so special: I felt just like My Fair Lady. If you are as big an Audrey Hepburn fan as I am, I am sure you will recognize this sentence. For all of my fellow classmates who do not know Audrey Hepburn and are a little late with their Pronunciation practise or simply looking for an easy and funny way to do this here is my tip: Watch the musical film adaptation from George Bernard Shaw’s My Fair Lady, which was produced in 1964. In addition to a marvellous Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison you will find lots of possibilities to practise together with the main characters. Basically, this movie is about the arrogant and snobbish Professor Higgins (Rex Harrison), who is a teacher of phonetics. He strongly believes that a person’s accent determines his or her place in society. He states that he could teach any woman to speak so “properly” she could be passed off as a duchess. In order to prove his theory he selects the young flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) whose strong Cockney accent is keeping her from realizing her dream to work at a flower shop. Throughout the story he not only changes her pronunciation but also falls in love with her. But I have said enough already. See for yourself.

PS: Should you not know how to get access to this movie, write me: ailuj.seemann@gmail.com

Received Pronunciation

Having looked at several websites recommended on our pronunciation practice page, I realized that this is actually going to be a lot of fun. I always had a thing for different English accents and finally this predilection of mine is going to pay off, hopefully. So far I collect different accents like other people stamps or coins or those weird cards. With that I do not mean that I can actually pronounce and speak in different accents. No, that would be a really arrogant. What I have in mind are TV shows like “Downtown Abbey” (northern English accent maybe Yorkshire) “Hart of Dixie” (broad southern American English), listening to Maggie Smith with her fabulous Scottish accent in Harry Potter or listening to Dublin radio shows. I just love accents.

 Regarding my future pronunciation I would have to say that I definitely prefer the received pronunciation in the British English. I think it will be easier for me to do because I actually lived in Winchester, England for four months. Another reason will be all my former English teachers who encouraged us to speak British English. Having looked at the pronunciation exercises I realize it is going to be a lot of work, but I think it is worth the effort. One video that in particular was very interesting for me is where they compare the British and the American English. Her you can see that even though many people think there are not that many words that are pronounced differently it starts with easy things like garage. Still the girls did it in a funny way, and I am going to have lots of fun with all the exercises. 

I actually found this video on youtube, maybe it could help some of you too:

 

Shepherd's Pie

As one of our main topics this semester food is going to be the thing our life revolves around. So this is my first post about it:

I first heard of and ate Shepherd's Pie in Great Britain. Now I found out that it is also very well known in Ireland. I do not know much about the history and the origin of this simple and delicious dish. Most certainly I do not know whether it was first cooked in Ireland or Great Britain.But what I do know about it, is that it came up at the very first beginning when the potato was introduced as an edible and cheap crop for the poor. Since than it spread and is now a very well known tradition in both countries.

From the very beginning this delicious disch was meant to be made from leftovers and that fact didn't change until today. Ofcourse you can prepare it with fresh ingredients, and I think many people do that. But for me it is really a great way of using upt leftover meat loaf, roast or mashed potatoes. That are basicly all the ingredients you need: Some kind of meat that is turned into some kind of sauce with vegetables, especially tomatoes, and mashed potatoes that come as a crust on top of it.

If some of you are now hungry for Shepherd's Pie, here is a very good recipe I can recommend.

The Union Jack

Have you also been wondering why the british flag is called "Union Jack"? Or why it looks like it does? Here are the answers:

The Union Jack how we know it got it's looks in 1801 when the Union of Great Britain and Ireland was formed. All in all it practicaly unites three national flags. The red cross on white background of St. George which still is the flag of England and the white altire on blue background also known as St. Andrews cross that still is the flag of Scotland already formed the first union flag beginning from 1606. Later on in 1801 the the red saltire (x-shaped cross) on white background of St. Patricks flag that used to be the flag of the Island of Ireland joined the other two.

The name Union Jack first came up in 1674. Before that the word "Jack" was used to refere to the maritime bow flag. After 1627 this usually was a small version of the union flag. So while it officially was called "his Majesty's Jack" people started calling it simply "the Union Jack".

My great british summer

As my title already hints I spent the last summer in Britain.

From May until September I worked as an Au-pair for a very nice family in Winchester, Hampshire. But I did not just take care of the two sweetest an loveable kids ever I also tried to get to see as muchfrom the country as possible.

For this purpose I couldn't imagine a better time than the past few months.
Not only was I allowed to celebrate the queens Diamond Jubilee together with her and all the citizens I also was able to be in London when the Olympics where there. I was engrossed in britains battle for the European Football Cup, I saw the Olympic Torch on it's way through the country and I at least "tried" to see the great Thames Pageant.

Beside the big and historical events that took part in the UK this summer I also visited Oxford, with it's important and well-known colleges, I stroked wild pony's at the new forest, I explored some of the old castles, I took part in a real british tea-party, by bathing in the ice cold water of the british channel I got an idea about how Jack from Titanic must have felt and I learned a lot about the british history by visiting many other places.

All in all I have to say, that it was not only a great summer for britain but also a great one for me.