Kimberley Introduction: You're listening to Accented the podcast. This series is dedicated to listening comprehension. In each episode, you will hear a conversation with someone who has a different accent. By listening to a variety of accents, it will help your understanding in the real world. In today's episode, you will hear the Scottish accent, as we will be speaking to James, who is from Glasgow, Scotland.
Kimberley: Welcome to the first episode of Accented. Thank you for joining me. I'm your host, Kimberly Law. For our first episode, I thought I'd feature one of the most loved accents in the world. And even though this accent is well loved, it can be difficult at times to understand what the person is saying. Now, that's not only for foreigners. That's also for English speakers. And today's accent is the Scottish accent, and I'll be speaking with James.
Scotland is a small country with a population of about 5.5 million people. Now, there's not just one Scottish accent, because today I'm speaking to someone who has a Glaswegian accent. So if you have a Glaswegian accent, you are from the city of Glasgow. Now, James mentioned some other Scottish cities in the interview, which are Edinburgh, which is one of the most famous cities from Scotland, and Aberdeenshire. So even though someone might have a Scottish accent, it's not going to be the same accent all over Scotland. And James mentions in the podcast that the further north you go, it's actually quite difficult for himself to understand that accent.
Now, some words that James uses in the podcast is he used the word enunciate. Now enunciate means the way that you pronounce the syllables in a word. So that's what this whole podcast is about. There's not one English accent. There are so many. James mentions the word tone, and that's the sound of the syllable. Now, the tone can be different from any place anywhere in the world. People have a different tone with the way they speak. Sometimes it's similar. Sometimes it's not. I love the word lilt, which is what James said in the podcast. A little can refer to your accent so you may have an Irish lilt or an Australian lilt to the way that you speak.
Now, also going back to tone; I could say a phrase two different ways. So, for example, I could say you're having a sandwich for lunch, But then I change my tone and turn it into a question. You're having a sandwich for lunch? The tone completely changes the phrase, and that's something important for you to notice when listening to English speakers. Now, English was never the first language in Scotland. What languages spoke depended on where you came from. So if you were from the Highlands, you may have spoken Gaelic, which is a language that is spoken in Ireland and also in a province in France called Brittany. So it's a Celtic language. Now, I won't go into the history of Scotland; however, there were various wars with England, and there was pressure for the Scots to speak English. Even though the Scots speak English, there are some words that they use when they're speaking that I wouldn't necessarily use in Australian English.
At times during the interview, James uses the adjective ‘wee’, which actually means small. So he says, Oh, grab a wee coffee and that's a small coffee. So sometimes you hear Scottish people use the word wee to mean small. Another word that James mentions is loch. Now Scotland is known around the world for having such beautiful lakes, and they don't call them lakes. They call them lochs. Now loch is spelled L O C H. One of the most famous lochs in the world is Loch Ness. Now, there is a myth about Loch Ness that there is a Loch Ness monster that lives in the middle of the loch. Before we continue, let me explain what the word myth means. So myth is an idea that people may have believed, which is actually false. So the Greeks have a lot of mythological gods that they may have believed in hundreds, thousands of years ago, ah, but now they realise that it's false. So those famous gods were Zeus, and we read about them today. So getting back to the Loch Ness monster, some people believe they have seen a creature in the lock, and others believe it's a mythical creature.
Another Scottish word that James used in the interview is the word glen. Now he talks about the locks and the glens in Scotland. A glen is another word for a valley. So a valley is a low area of land, usually between the mountains and hills and generally it has a river or a stream flowing through it. Now, I think you're quite familiar with Scottish culture. So let's get on with the show.
Interview starts
Kimberley: Okay. So today I am speaking with James from Glasgow Scotland. He has a very strong Scottish accent. He is a truck driver. He's traveled many places all over the world and he has experienced people not understanding him. How are you James?
James: I'm good. Thank you. Kimberly, yourself?
Kimberley: I'm very good. Thank you. Now what accent do you find the hardest to understand?
James: Umm to be honest, I find other Scottish accents quite hard to understand - umm- the further.
Kimberley: Really?
James: Oh, yeah, really the further north you go. It's like a whole other language. Literally. It's unbelievable.
Kimberley: Wow - so the Scottish - so what's the easiest Scottish accent?
James: Umm I would say probably Edinburgh as a - as a general one to understand. For me it is quite - quite similar a wee bit different to Glaswegian. But yes Central belt of Scotland is probably as good as I'm going to get but that's my local local language. So probably I just pick it up easier.
Kimberley: Okay, so what - what - can you put on a very Northern Scottish accent?
James: Probably quite badly, but like for example, I Aberdeenshire really massive oil area ehh lot of multinational corporation's people, but the locals have got a really kind of thick accent and for example for whereabouts it sounds more like furry boots.
Kimberley: Oh, wow.
James: So it's when they start going at it, even I stand there and think what I have no idea what's going on and you just nod along gently. Honestly I've travelled all over I've been in various places in the world and I struggle more in the north of Scotland than what I'll probably do in different countries - it's quite bizarre. I suppose maybe when you travel people from other countries tend to tend to obviously learn English as a second language, but that English is pretty good. You do get a an idea of what they're saying. Obviously, how the enunciate etcetera but when you go to the north of Scotland, that's a whole other planet.
Kimberley: That's amazing. So how many accents do you think there are in Scotland?
James: Scotland—regionally?
Kimberley: Yeah.
James: There's got to be - there's got to be over 50 probably. Obviously, that's not a scientific answer but it's so generic. It's like we obviously have - if people think of a Scottish accent but as I said people from Edinburgh speak with - speak with a different tone and a lilt to what people from Glasgow do too. Inverness to Aberdeen to the islands, the islands are different again. So it's yeah, there's going to be loads and loads.
Kimberley: So I'm guessing the most famous Scottish show. Well American - Scottish is Outlander.
James: Yes.
Kimberley: So what's their Scottish accent like have they dumbed it down for us?
James: Now don't shoot me down here but I've not really seen much of Outlander. I must be one of the few in the planet who hasn't but what I have seen is yeah, it's quite a it's not bad. I mean, it's I suppose it's probably Hollywood Scottish.
Kimberley: So have you ever been stuck umm and just had to even try to put on a more or - less of an accent? Like even now when you're talking to me are you slowing down for me you?
James: Subconsciously. Yes. I probably am. You do - you do that. When you go to the even other English and inverted commas speaking Nations like Canada and America even Australia when I go there I consciously feel myself changing how I speak.
Kimberley: That's really interesting because I don't think Australians do that. I don't think. They slow down or even I know consciously I do that because I'm an English Second Language teacher and I will change the way I speak but I don't think Australians do that and it's interesting that probably - would you say most Scott's do that?
James: I would say probably 80% of them. You do still get them even when I'm abroad and you hear them speaking and I think wow, it's like you're just like you're sitting in Glasgow. And you think you can see the waiter or the bar man thinking? I've no idea.
Kimberley: So tell us a bit about Scotland for people that don't even know.
James: Well—it's has everything we've got lochs and glens, umm we're very cosmopolitan in our cities. Erm even the city's are so different - Glasgow was a very industrial city where I'm from - famous worldwide for engineering, shipbuilding - built the great liners really - really a hard city—gritty city. So to speak, a reputation for being really tough. Edinburgh on the on the East Coast on the same kind of parallel as Glasgow in relation to Scotland and we call it the central belt edinburgh's very touristy. They obviously have a big castle plonked in the middle of the city centre. And so they've got that very much a tourist destination and a very different setting to Glasgow erm it's just such a different place - you go 45 minutes from Glasgow you're at a place called Loch Lomond.
Kimberley: So I guess a loch is a lake?
James: Yeah a loch's a lake - yeah - or a lake's a loch. If you want to go that way.
Kimberley: That's true. Yeah. So what about when you're driving your truck? What do you what do you like about it? Is it the meeting of new people?
James: Yeah I do - I do - people fascinate me? I'm very much a people watcher and the days that I'm not working I would sit in a cafe and quite happily watch people which is what I like doing when I travel but yeah when I speak to - a variance of people on a daily basis umm is great. You get some chat, you have your wee cup of coffee and then you're on to the next one. You meet someone else, you maybe meet someone outside of the place you're going to visit.
Kimberley: So people just chat to you?
James: I must just have one of these chattable looking faces, but people come and ask also for like travel directions because you're sitting there and obviously you're beside the truck so people just think that you know everywhere.
Kimberley: So let's talk about Scottish food because lots of comedians love to talk about Scottish food.
James: Yes.
Kimberley: What do you think about it James?
James: The traditional food or the bad diet that we've become accustomed to—because...
Kimberley: Both - let's talk about both.
James: Okay. All right, that will start with the bad things in a suppose ah - in Glasgow erm if you speak of a Glasgow salad, for example - it's a bowl of chips - french fries. So erm yeah that's what chips are in Glasgow. They're known as a Glasgow salad.
Kimberley: Really - so I could ask for that and I'll get a bowl of chips.
James: Yeah, pretty much you would ya Glasgow salad. So yeah, we're not we don't have the best diet in the planet. But we do the all have some of the best food that isn't chips. We've got some really great restaurants and some really great chefs. A lot more Scottish produce really massive on um Scotch beef and things like that. A lot of really -
Kimberley: Angus beef is...
James: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes so Angus beef and obviously it can only be called that if it comes from that — that variety it would generally be a staple of a good quality of meat anywhere in the world.
Kimberley: Right. So what about also the deep-fried Mars Bars deep-fried pizzas? What else?
James: Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that's erm - that's another one. That's the deep fried Mars Bars. Probably especially Glaswegian think that's from Glasgow, but I come from and some chips shop decided it'd be a good idea and people have tried to recreate a home forgetting the vital part of you need to freeze the Mars Bar first.
Kimberley: Oh, do you?
James: Yeah, so what they do is they'll get a normal chocolate Mars Bar. They'll batter it in a batter mix and they'll throw it in the fryer at home. It'll just instantly melt because it's chocolate and it's going into 220 degrees centigrade of boiling fat and boiling oil. Sorry. So yeah, the secret is to freeze the mars bar, so that by the time the batters cooked, the Mars bar is soft enough to eat.
Kimberley: Okay, so if we need to do that, yes.
James: Yes. That's my top tip.
Kimberley: Freeze the Mars Bar - good to know.
James: Freeze the Mars Bar yeah. It's—I've tried it because you have to try it but it's not up there with erm Michelin star of their quality.
Kimberley: Well, thank you so much James for chatting to me. And I know a lot of people would love to listen to the Scottish accent because yeah, as I said, it is one of the hardest accents in the world to follow and thank you for slowing down for us so that we could have this conversation.
James: You're very welcome. I did feel myself getting a little bit quicker when I got excited. Yeah, that's just what happens I suppose isn't it? You start to switch off and become comfortable, but no. Thank you, and it was really good talking to you.
Kimberley: Yeah. It was great to chat to you.
James: Thank you.
Kimberley: Thanks. Bye.
James: Bye.
End of the interview
Kimberley: I’ve got to say that I love listening to the Scottish accent, and I hope you did too. I am a little bit biassed because I do have a Scottish connection. My father was born in Glasgow, and it is such a beautiful city and country. And James does mention that Glasgow is a gritty city. What he means by gritty is that it's a hard, tough city. It's tough because it was an industrial city, and as James mentioned, it was a port city where they built a lot of ship liners.
A couple of phrases, I want to address that were said in the podcast were common English phrases like: ‘start going at it’. Okay, so ‘start going at it’. If somebody's ‘starting to go at it’, it, it can generally mean that they're arguing or getting really passionate about their discussion and sometimes even fighting. So you may hear a parent say about their two Children. They ‘start going at it’, so it means that they're arguing, fighting that sort of thing.
Another phrase that James said was, ‘don't shoot me down here’. If you think of that phrase quite literally, it's basically saying, ‘don't shoot me’. So he's saying it before he's giving his opinion. So, maybe he thinks his opinion is a little controversial or he doesn't want to upset the person he's speaking to or upset the audience. So he's saying, ‘don't shoot me down here’ and then it's giving out a warning as to what he's going to say. So sometimes English speakers will say it if they're worried that their opinion or what they're thinking is going to offend someone or upset someone, or they may just disagree with what he's saying.
I also said to James; did you ‘dumb down’, speaking with may. Now, ‘dumbing down’ means to change the way you speak, or even if someone is, is dumbing down a lesson; they're making it easier for you. So by dumbing down something, it's making it easier. So I asked James if he was dumbing down his spoken language or his accent so that I could understand him, so that was easy for me to understand him. And that phrase can be used with different things, not just language. With television, watching a TV show, they may ‘dumb it down’ for the audience, something that you read; it may be ‘dumbed down’. It's got a lot of big words in it, so they've changed the words so that other people can understand it.
James also says inverted commas in the podcast. This is actually really difficult for me to explain, but okay, inverted commas. The apostrophe marks or the quotation marks that we're using grammar and when you say it, inverted commas, quotation marks. When you say it out loud, you're basically saying that; oh, this is what some people think. Okay, so he said, ‘inverted commas’, when he said that — he wasn't saying that this was his thoughts, however, it's a collective thought of many people, so that's when you say inverted commas out loud.
Now let's end on the Mars bar that was mentioned at the end of the interview. A Mars bar is a famous chocolate bar in Britain and Australia that has a caramel centre, and it's quite popular. But in Scotland we were discussing that they deep fry it and we use the word batter. Batter is like a floury substance that you put on deep fried fish. And in Scotland they put batter, sometimes on a Mars bar and deep fry it.
Kimberley Outro: Thanks for listening to the first episode of Accented the podcast. I'm your host. Kimberley Law. Accented is released on the 15th and 30th of each month. You can also view a transcript of this interview by looking at the show's note or visit www.kimslawofenglish.com. Until next time, keep on trucking.