The hubris of Today presenters.

Apologies for digressing with some light hearted stuff.
Back to British Bashing.

😀

I have seen that Ad MerylStreep one of the reasons I like AJ is she doesn’t seem to be bothered about what people think about her.

Fleurpepper do you have Asian Presenters with Asian Adverts on Swiss TV/Radio ?

I think I understand what Fleurpepper is saying. Whilst News Presenters with regional accents are acceptable, we have yet to get to the stage where people who speak with certain international accents, say Black patois or Asian accent, are not yet employed without having to adjust their accent significantly. I haven't ever thought about this but, on the whole, I think this is true. However, I have noticed some of the correspondents from other countries are now used so maybe things are changing.

GrannyGravy13

Fleurpepper do you have Asian Presenters with Asian Adverts on Swiss TV/Radio ?

I think, from what FleurPepper says, she must mostly watch British television, there must be ways and means now.

Well I really hope things are not changing. In the UK we need English/UK accents and clear diction otherwise the viewers may not understand what they're saying. As I said, if someone wants to work in broadcasting then they need to meet the required standards, which may include changing their accent. Why should standards drop just to accommodate people from other countries?

icanhandthemback

I think I understand what Fleurpepper is saying. Whilst News Presenters with regional accents are acceptable, we have yet to get to the stage where people who speak with certain international accents, say Black patois or Asian accent, are not yet employed without having to adjust their accent significantly. I haven't ever thought about this but, on the whole, I think this is true. However, I have noticed some of the correspondents from other countries are now used so maybe things are changing.

But anyone brought up here would probably speak with an accent like their peers or school friends, modified along the way if they go to college, university!!

Why on earth should Clive Myrie, brought up in Bolton, speak patois, AJ speak with a Nigerian accent, Amol speak with a Calcutta accent, etc??
Just why?

In fact, Clive still has Lancashire overtones, Amol is definitely London, our local presenter, Sabet Choudhury is posh, not Gloucestershire.

I don't get this Asian accent fixation.
They're British.

What is an Asian accent anyway?
And Huw Edwards probably moderated his Welshh accent (as did Richard Burton!!)
There is not one Welsh accent, even though it is a small country.

MerylStreep

Apologies for digressing with some light hearted stuff.
Back to British Bashing.

😁

However, I have noticed some of the correspondents from other countries are now used so maybe things are changing.

Oh My Goodness!!

BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is Canadian! With a quite unusual, fascinating accent 😲
Orla Guerin is from Dublin 😲
China Correspondent Stephen McDonell is Australian (whatever next!)

Callistemon21

icanhandthemback

I think I understand what Fleurpepper is saying. Whilst News Presenters with regional accents are acceptable, we have yet to get to the stage where people who speak with certain international accents, say Black patois or Asian accent, are not yet employed without having to adjust their accent significantly. I haven't ever thought about this but, on the whole, I think this is true. However, I have noticed some of the correspondents from other countries are now used so maybe things are changing.

But anyone brought up here would probably speak with an accent like their peers or school friends, modified along the way if they go to college, university!!

Why on earth should Clive Myrie, brought up in Bolton, speak patois, AJ speak with a Nigerian accent, Amol speak with a Calcutta accent, etc??
Just why?

In fact, Clive still has Lancashire overtones, Amol is definitely London, our local presenter, Sabet Choudhury is posh, not Gloucestershire.

I don't get this Asian accent fixation.
They're British.

What is an Asian accent anyway?
And Huw Edwards probably moderated his Welshh accent (as did Richard Burton!!)
There is not one Welsh accent, even though it is a small country.

I genuinely don’t understand the point Fleurpepper is trying to make. As many have said, people speak in the local dialect of the area they were brought up in, not the dialect of a parent who was brought up in another country and has learned a second language. It’s highly unlikely that a first generation second language speaker would become a newsreader in their adopted country, anywhere in the world, not specifically in the UK, because they don’t have the knowledge of that country. It would be exactly the same for a native English speaker applying for a job as a newsreader in say, Poland.

MerylStreep

Apologies for digressing with some light hearted stuff.
Back to British Bashing.

I imagine there was a point to that post. I just can't imagine what it is.

DaisyAnne

MerylStreep

Apologies for digressing with some light hearted stuff.
Back to British Bashing.

I imagine there was a point to that post. I just can't imagine what it is.

Not you, DaisyAnne, I'm sure 🙂

Callistemon21

icanhandthemback

I think I understand what Fleurpepper is saying. Whilst News Presenters with regional accents are acceptable, we have yet to get to the stage where people who speak with certain international accents, say Black patois or Asian accent, are not yet employed without having to adjust their accent significantly. I haven't ever thought about this but, on the whole, I think this is true. However, I have noticed some of the correspondents from other countries are now used so maybe things are changing.

But anyone brought up here would probably speak with an accent like their peers or school friends, modified along the way if they go to college, university!!

Why on earth should Clive Myrie, brought up in Bolton, speak patois, AJ speak with a Nigerian accent, Amol speak with a Calcutta accent, etc??
Just why?

In fact, Clive still has Lancashire overtones, Amol is definitely London, our local presenter, Sabet Choudhury is posh, not Gloucestershire.

I don't get this Asian accent fixation.
They're British.

What is an Asian accent anyway?
And Huw Edwards probably moderated his Welshh accent (as did Richard Burton!!)
There is not one Welsh accent, even though it is a small country.

You are asking to understand the minds of the people who write these things. I have come to the conclusion it probably isn't possible.

I can't say how sorry I am that my OP started such a heap of nastiness.

It has gone down the crevasse! But then threads do.

I'm not keen on his interviewing technique although I used to like him when he was first Media Editor. Perhaps he's become rather too 🤔 I'm struggling for the right words here; overweening? self-satisfied? Cocky.
Obviously the BBC rates him as a stellar interviewer!

We await to see how he gets on chairing UC.

But anyone brought up here would probably speak with an accent like their peers or school friends, modified along the way if they go to college, university!!

Are you telling me that the people who come here a bit later in their careers have all modified their accents? I don't think so. Also I wonder how many of those that do, speak differently amongst their peers who do still have a broad accent.

My aunt went to live in the USA many years ago and she remained a Queen's English speaker to the day she died. Yes she used different terminology like a pocketbook for handbag and pants for trousers but otherwise she sounded like she'd never stepped out of the UK. My son works with people who were born here but still have the slight accent reflecting their parents' broader accents.

Are you telling me that the people who come here a bit later in their careers have all modified their accents? I don't think so.

No 🤔

Are you telling me that the people who come here a bit later in their careers have all modified their accents? I don't think so

No 🤔 as I said:

BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is Canadian! With a quite unusual, fascinating accent 😲
Orla Guerin is from Dublin 😲
China Correspondent Stephen McDonell is Australian (whatever next!)

No doubt you can think of more.

DaisyAnne
It’s called avin a larf 😂 a bit of fun and merriment. But, with a smidgin of sarcasm thrown in 😉

When I hear my son speak now it is with a US accent - or more probably accent and intonation I don't know the accents to say where from but it's not the same as the accent he had before he left 10 years ago. I only need to holiday in Ireland and I'd pick up rhythms of speech!
My 3 year old picked up an accent in a matter of months. I think some people just "absorb" and some do it to fit in better with their peers. I'm not sure how much is intentional.

In the case of AR , I object not to the accent but the style of interviewing.

Yes, Callistemon21, I think it's cocky too.

DaisyAnne, I’m sorry you feel your interesting OP started a heap of nastiness. I posted early in response, agreeing with the points you made. We didn’t get a forensic interview of Starmer, which would have helped clarify the pledges.

I confess to having been fed up that it so quickly went off piste with the focus on a perceived lack of Asian accents amongst newsreaders in the Uk. I contributed to that though so added to the lack of focus

Callistemon21

^Are you telling me that the people who come here a bit later in their careers have all modified their accents? I don't think so^

No 🤔 as I said:

BBC Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is Canadian! With a quite unusual, fascinating accent 😲
Orla Guerin is from Dublin 😲
China Correspondent Stephen McDonell is Australian (whatever next!)

No doubt you can think of more.

Yes, that is true but my responses were only to the remarks of Fleurpepper's. I actually love to hear accents of all kinds on the tv and as I said, it isn't something I've ever noticed before. I shall be checking it all out now.
My remarks about Correspondents were purely about the addition of more accented English spoken by, say, Ukranians, rather than regional accents or American/Canadian accents rather than sending British people to report. Once again, I think it's a good thing to get a range of styles, accents, etc.
I still can't think of anybody with a noticeable Asian accent though but if I do, I'll not mind being wrong.

DaisyAnne, no apologies! A most interesting OP and thread.

I have to confess that I secretly prefer to have my news delivered in a gentle RP, even though I and my accent are Scottish (though living in England for the last six decades). I suspect it's a comfort thing, reminds me of childhood.

I don't watch much live news these days, so I haven't hear Amol Rajan speak. Will go and find him on catch up and listen.

When I used to watch BBC Breakfast, the matey yet hectoring interviewing style of some of the young female presenters used to really grate on me. It didn't make them sound hard-hitting, merely bolshy and, when they hadn't bothered to research the pronunciation of some Scottish or furrin place-names, just a bit thick.

aquagran

Anybody see him on House of Games? Going back to the original thread, not the sharpest knife in the drawer!

**** ***

Yes, I saw that, and as I don't live in the UK, that was the first time I heard of him. Based on how he played, I was shocked to hear that he would be taking over University Challenge. (There are nice people out there who upload HoG and UC on to YouTube almost immediately after they are broadcast so I can watch them the same evening)

I still can't think of anybody with a noticeable Asian accent though but if I do, I'll not mind being wrong

Various accents from local correspondents around the world, but all with clear diction and understandable to the audience. That is a requirement of the job.