On changing voice patterns

[cloughie]

In my case, as a 74-year old I'm now wondering about that too - people also seem to walk faster than me these days, though to me I'm just walking at my usual pace. I think the impression that some foreign languages are spoken faster than English is just that, having noted in films where English subtitles are provided there doesn't appear to be much difference. Or maybe the foreign language just uses more words to say the same thing!

Oh and welcome to the forum, Count Boso!

Over the years sleeve notes in English always appear to be the shortest, and German longest!

[Pulcinella]

Over the years sleeve notes in English always appear to be the shortest, and German longest!

Off topic, for which my apologies, but a German friend once joked (yes!: he had a good sense of humour) that his PhD thesis would probably be in two volumes; because of the language's sentence structure, all the verbs would be in volume 2.

[greenilex]

Anyone else think the R3 newsreaders are making a conscious effort to slow down and enunciate clearly?

Not that I object...

[kernelbogey]

Over the years sleeve notes in English always appear to be the shortest, and German longest!

My brother, in a hotel in Germany with an Italian colleague, was asked by him, in Italian, the meaning of 'bezieungsweise' in the breakfast menu.

After an appropriate pause, my brother replied 'O'.

[antongould]

Anyone else think the R3 newsreaders are making a conscious effort to slow down and enunciate clearly?

Not that I object...

I tend to agree ..... and is it just me or is The Squire’s breathing better ..... ?????

[gurnemanz]

I listened to You and Yours on Radio 4 today - the presenter Melanie Abbott was excellent and clearly spoken but two other contributors gabbled and their diction was poor - is clarity not too much to ask for?

I remembered your comment just listening to the start of today's programme. Within the first minute there were several examples of Melanie's clear enunciation of a t sound that usually gets assimilated:

Despite
don't fit
Eight four eight (phone number)

Nothing wrong with swallowing the t in informal colloquial usage but pleasing to hear a radio broadcaster making an effort to achieve clarity.

[cloughie]

I remembered your comment just listening to the start of today's programme. Within the first minute there were several examples of Melanie's clear enunciation of a t sound that usually gets assimilated:

Despite
don't fit
Eight four eight (phone number)

Nothing wrong with swallowing the t in informal colloquial usage but pleasing to hear a radio broadcaster making an effort to achieve clarity.

[Sir Velo]

But what's with the speech patterns of our young these days ?
Whatever..it is what it is (sadly).

Is it a spinoff from FOMO ?

You seem to have acquired some of the same speech patterns yourself!

[Sir Velo]

My brother, in a hotel in Germany with an Italian colleague, was asked by him, in Italian, the meaning of 'bezieungsweise' in the breakfast menu.

After an appropriate pause, my brother replied 'O'.

Google translates bezieungsweise as "In a wise way" or "Wisely" so perhaps your brother was being a little too reductive in that instance!