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495. Australian Stereotypes and Cliches (with Oliver Gee) ~didgeridoo sounds~
Discussing stereotypes and clichés about Australia with podcaster Oliver Gee who comes from a land down under. Learn about Australian English, Aussie accent, Aussie slang and exactly what you should say whenever you meet a true blue Aussie, mate! Vocabulary list available. Hooroo.
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Introduction Transcript
Today on the podcast I’m talking to Oliver Gee who comes from Australia.
Oliver lives in Paris these days and is a journalist and podcaster – he does a podcast about Paris for World Radio Paris, which is a sort of radio network in English, based in Paris.
Oliver’s podcast is called The Earful Tower – and it’s available from all good podcasting apps and online at https://theearfultower.com/
Click here to listen to Oli’s podcast The Earful Tower
If you are a subscriber to my email list then you’ll know that earlier this year Oliver invited me onto The Earful Tower to talk about French people learning English. You can find conversation on the Earful Tower in the episode archive.
This time I thought I’d invite Oliver on to LEP in order to talk about all things Australian.
Australia is of course a country where English is the first language and Australian English is a thing. It’s definitely a thing. I mean, it’s a major type of English in its own right. Everyone always talks about American English and British English as the two types, but of course there are plenty of other types of English – with their own accents, particular words and so on. Australian English, New Zealand English, Irish English, South African English, Canadian English and more…
But let’s turn our attention in this episode to Australia.
Australian English is it’s own thing basically. Originally it was a form of British English, but like American English it has evolved into its own form of the language, with a distinctive accent and vocabulary that reflects the things you might see, experience or feel if you were living in this place which is very far removed from life in the UK. Australian English is also undoubtedly influenced by American English as well to a certain extent.
Now, let’s consider the land down under before listening to this conversation. I want you to think about Australia.
What do you know about Australia?
Have you ever met an Australian? Or been to Australia itself?
Can you recognise or understand Australian accents?
What does an Aussie accent sound like?
What should you say to an Australian when you meet them, in order to impress them?
What are the stereotypes of Australia? Are they true?
And what are Vegemite, Tim Tams and Thongs anyway?
You can now look for answers to those questions as we now talk to Oliver Gee from Australia… (didgeridoo sounds)
Australian Words, Phrases and Reference Points
- G’day
- Mate
- How ya going?
- Arvo
- Bail – to cancel plans
- Barbie – Barbecue
- Brekky – Breakfast
- Brolly – Umbrella
- Choccy Biccy – Chocolate Biscuit
- Chrissie – Christmas
- Ciggy – a Cigarette
- Dunny – Toilet
- Good On Ya – Good work
- Heaps – loads, lots, many
- Maccas – McDonalds
- No Worries – it’s Ok
- Servo Service Station
- Sickie – a sick day off work
- Stoked – Happy, Pleased
- Straya – Australia
- Thongs – Flip Flops. Do not be alarmed if your new found Australian friend asks you to wear thongs to the beach. They are most likely expressing their concern of the hot sand on your delicate feet.
Other references (some clichés)
- Crocodiles
- Spiders
- Snakes
- Ugg boots
- Didgeridoos
- Boomerangs
- Flip flops (thongs)
- Relaxed people
- Beer drinking
- Vegemite
- Selfies
- Baz Lurhman making a film
- AC/DC
- Sydney Opera house
- Heath Ledger
- Kylie
- Koala bears
- The outback
- Steve Irwin
- Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth
- WI FI
- Black box recorders
- Polymer banknotes
- Wine
- BBQs
- Cricket
- Tim tams
- Aborigines
- The spork
- Coffee
Outtro
So that was Oli Gee from Australia mate.
I hope you enjoyed listening to our conversation.
Remember you can listen to Oli’s episodes of The Earful Tower on iTunes or any other good podcasting service. Find the earful tower episode with me talking about French people learning English by dipping into the episode archive on teacherluke.co.uk and search for Earful Tower.
That brings us to the end of this episode.
Thank you for listening .
Check the page for this episode on the website and you’ll find transcriptions of the intro and outtro and some notes for my conversation with Oli including some of the Australian slang and other specific words.
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Episode 500 is coming up and I’m thinking of things to do for it.
Please send me your voice messages for episode 500 – luketeacher@hotmail.com
One idea I had was to collect audio messages from you the audience – short ones, and then put them all up in episode 500. So if you have any messages for me, please send them to luketeacher@hotmail.com
What I’d like you to say is:
- Your name
- Where you’re from
- Something else, like:
- If you’d like to say something to the audience
- If you’d like to say something to me
- If you’d like to ask me a question
- How you first discovered the podcast
- How you learn English with the podcast
- Anything else you’d like to say
Make it no more than 30 seconds. I know that’s short but it’s going to be a montage of all the recordings and it’ll be really cool if they’re all pretty short.
So about 30 seconds and don’t forget to say your name and where you’re from. It’s not a competition this time but more of a celebration. I can’t believe I’ve done 500 episodes and they’re all about an hour each or more.
Anyway, it’s been a lot of fun and I’m very happy to have reached 500 episodes. Why don’t you celebrate with me and send a voice message to luketeacher@hotmail.com
Thanks for listening!
Bye!
Luke