Australian English Conversation - Aussie Accent, Slang & Culture

0:00 My most fond memory of my wedding was actually from my henna

0:04 ceremony when I was getting the henna art and I was

0:06 sitting on this stage watching all the guests dancing and having

0:10 fun and I could see my family dancing with his family even

0:13 though they couldn't talk they couldn't communicate but it just shows

0:16 that there's more to communicating than just words and I think that I

0:20 think back on that moment that's probably the highlight of that whole

0:23 you know four days even more so than the actual wedding.

0:28 Very very exciting.

0:29 This conversation is happening live here inside the Hey

0:34 Lady community for all of our members who are

0:38 jumping in as we speak to join our conversation

0:43 live as we're talking as we are discussing different topics.

0:48 You are most welcome to jump into the chat

0:51 box share some questions or some comments with us.

0:55 We love to make these events interactive

0:58 and give everyone the chance to ask some questions or to dive a little deeper

1:02 into something that maybe Amanda you'll bring up.

1:05 And we're also going to be uh sharing

1:08 this uh recording on our YouTube channel as well.

1:11 So, if you are watching the recording at a later date,

1:15 make sure you leave us a comment or you say hello.

1:18 Um, I'm very very excited and thrilled, Amanda,

1:22 that you've agreed to join us to celebrate

1:25 International Women's Day this year here inside Hey Lady.

1:30 Thank you for agreeing to join us.

1:33 Oh no, thank you so much for having me and thank you um yeah,

1:37 thank you for the invitation and hi everyone that's jumping in.

1:40 Yeah, I'm really really excited to be here and I mean

1:44 it's lunchtime in India so I good morning to everyone where

1:47 it's morning good afternoon if it's afternoon but yeah thank you

1:51 so much ladies you might have heard a conversation that I

1:57 had a week or so ago with Amanda on her podcast

2:02 Aussie English with Amanda and in that uh conversation Amanda was

2:08 really in control of the questions and asking asking me about

2:11 my journey and the things that I've been getting up to.

2:14 Today, I am excited because I've got the opportunity to flip

2:17 that round and ask Amanda some questions about her experience.

2:23 And just for a little bit of context,

2:26 there are two kind of really interesting parts of Amanda's story

2:31 that I am very excited about diving a little deeper into.

2:36 The first being that um Amanda actually immigrated

2:40 to India and she is living the life

2:45 of many of our members who are living in Australia or in the US or in the UK

2:51 or New Zealand who are living in a country

2:55 where they don't speak the language as a native

2:58 speaker and of course all of the the challenges

3:02 and the exciting experiences that go along with that.

3:05 So, I'm looking forward to diving a little

3:07 deeper into that part of Amanda's story.

3:10 But also, Amanda is the host and the founder

3:16 of Aussie English with Amanda and she teaches

3:21 Yeah.

3:21 and she teaches any students English focusing

3:25 on the Australian accent and Australian culture

3:28 and everything to do with feeling more

3:32 confident and comfortable setting up life in Australia,

3:36 being able to communicate clearly,

3:38 being able to understand people as they're speaking,

3:43 all sorts of amazing things like that.

3:44 and I want to dive into her incredible advice around moving to a new country,

3:50 the need to use English, you know, as a primary means of communication.

3:55 And so, we're going to unpack all of that in today's discussion.

4:00 But I better stop talking so that Amanda and we can get going.

4:06 Amanda, why don't you go ahead and give us a little overview,

4:11 a bit of an introduction into work, life, and

4:15 all of the the things that you're up to at the moment.

4:18 Okay.

4:18 Thank you and thank you again everyone for being here.

4:21 So, as Emma mentioned, um I now live in India.

4:26 Sorry, I now live in India.

4:28 So, I moved to India about over five and a half years ago.

4:32 It's going to be six years in due.

4:34 and I moved here to get married.

4:36 My husband is Indian.

4:38 So that was the main reason why I moved here.

4:40 I have been teaching Australian English now for I

4:45 think over nearly four and a half years.

4:48 But I didn't teach in Australia.

4:50 That's not what I did.

4:51 This is something that kind of grew and developed from being in a new country

4:56 and trying to find my feet and trying to find something meaningful to do here.

5:01 So when I lived in Australia,

5:03 I actually I did my higher education in hospitality management.

5:07 So I was in hotel management.

5:09 Um then I shifted into call centers and then I was in insurance claims.

5:15 So English was not on the radar at all.

5:18 So my main focus is, as Emma said,

5:21 teaching Australian English, um the accent, pronunciation, slang,

5:26 integrating into Australian culture for primarily international students

5:31 or those professional migrants looking at settling or are in Australia.

5:35 And yeah, I think that's kind of my my main thing, what I've been doing.

5:39 So, oh yeah, I am the founder of Aussie English with Amanda,

5:43 as you can see by my big sign behind me.

5:46 And I primarily am on Instagram, so that's my main platform,

5:50 but I'm pretty much on all of the social medias.

5:52 So, if you search those words, you'll find me on any of them.

5:56 Yes, absolutely.

5:56 And we'll add we'll make sure we add um all

5:59 of the links so that everyone can find you down below as well.

6:03 Um, ladies who are tuning in live, um,

6:07 I've got a whole bunch of questions that I'm going to ask Amanda as we go,

6:12 but if you are curious to dive a little deeper.

6:16 If you have a question of your own that you'd like me to ask Amanda,

6:21 please do feel free to share it in the chat

6:23 box so that I can get her talking um,

6:28 about the things that you're most interested in hearing from her.

6:32 Let's start.

6:32 Amanda, I'm curious to find out a little bit more about what

6:37 that experience was like when you moved to India.

6:42 You said that you met your husband and love is one of those things

6:48 that you just can't really control, right?

6:52 And yeah, to the point that you might end up moving across

6:55 the other side of the world in order to to follow your heart.

6:59 tell us a little bit about that story and how you ended up living in India.

7:06 Sure.

7:06 So um Oh, we actually met when I was on holidays.

7:10 I came to India for a holiday and when I came here Yeah.

7:15 Yeah.

7:15 So we had actually kind of connected on Instagram a couple of months before I

7:19 came here but it was just very casually just happened to come across his page

7:24 just having a bit of a chat and then I came to India to visit

7:27 a friend of mine and she just happened to live here in the same city

7:31 as him city as Chandiga if there's anyone here familiar with India it's in North

7:35 India I came to India sorry to see my friend and then um he asked

7:39 to meet up and I said I didn't want to because I was there to see

7:42 my friend but then I had some spare time where I could have met him.

7:48 So I ended up um going to meet him.

7:52 It was really nice.

7:53 We spent a few days together and then we um stayed in contact.

7:58 I went back to Australia.

7:59 We stayed in touch.

8:01 But then we had to make a decision.

8:03 Um long distance was not something that we wanted to do for a very long time.

8:07 So, um, we decided that one of us would have to move and I

8:14 wanted to be that person just because it was one visa- wise it was actually

8:18 a lot easier for me to come to Australia than for him to try and go

8:21 to sorry me to come to India instead of him trying to go to Australia.

8:26 And I had also gone through a couple of really traumatic breakups in the past

8:31 and I just really wanted a fresh start so I decided to make that move.

8:36 Um, and it was all really exciting.

8:38 The thought of it was really fun.

8:40 I knew moving here I wouldn't be allowed to work

8:43 for a few years um because of visa restrictions.

8:46 So I thought, "Oh, this will be great.

8:47 I'm just going to relax and it's going to be awesome.

8:50 We'll travel.

8:50 We'll do all these fun things after marriage." And then Corona virus happened.

8:55 So pretty much the first three years

8:58 of our marriage was co there were lockdowns.

9:00 There were restrictions.

9:02 I couldn't work.

9:03 I was bored.

9:04 I was lonely.

9:05 It was just really really tough and not what I had expected my life

9:09 to be like when I first moved here and then I sort of discovered teaching.

9:14 Um but yes that's sort of how I ended up here but um I forgot to mention

9:18 in my introduction that I'm learning Hindi as well

9:21 but when I moved here I didn't know anything.

9:23 I feel like we've all just pushed that rude interjection

9:28 of co in our lives right out of our head.

9:32 But it sounds like a really interesting start to a marriage and to a new life.

9:38 And you know I feel like if you've made

9:40 it through that you make it through anything, right?

9:45 Yeah.

9:45 Yeah.

9:45 It was not it was not easy.

9:47 And India had really strict lockdowns as well.

9:49 Like I know Melbourne had really strict lockdowns

9:52 and a few other states in Australia did.

9:54 WA I think they didn't let anyone in.

9:56 Um but yeah, here we weren't even allowed to exercise.

9:59 We had to like sneak our dog out to exercise our dog.

10:03 Um people were getting beaten up by the police with sticks if they were outside

10:07 without permission and it was all really hectic

10:10 but um we made it through didn't we?

10:14 Did you get married as you moved to India?

10:17 What was that?

10:19 experience like did you have a big Indian wedding?

10:22 Um what I mean just for a little bit of context all

10:26 of the ladies inside the hey lady community we've just wrapped up

10:32 uh the whole month of February we've been talking about

10:35 love and marriage and relationships and all sorts of things.

10:38 This is really quite timely that we get to ask you

10:42 about your wedding and quite a different wedding I imagine to where

10:49 Australian girls imagine is their wedding to be.

10:51 Yes.

10:51 Yeah, definitely.

10:52 So I moved here in June 2019.

10:55 Uh we got married in November 2019.

10:57 So we were kind of on the fence of two different dates to get married.

11:02 Um we had to go to a priest and select an auspicious or a lucky time.

11:07 um either November or February.

11:10 And so we decided on November and thankfully

11:12 we did because February was like when CO started.

11:16 Yeah.

11:16 So my family traveled here for the wedding for two weeks.

11:20 So I had my parents, my brother,

11:23 his partner, my sister, her partner, and a couple of friends came as well.

11:27 Um we had about I think we had

11:30 five different functions across three or four days.

11:33 But

11:35 compared to say a typical Indian wedding that could have up to 500 plus people,

11:40 ours was quite small.

11:41 We just had around 60 people.

11:42 It was very close and intimate which was really nice.

11:44 So we started off with like a western

11:47 kind of cocktail function um for the first night.

11:51 Then the next day we had like a special like Hindu prayer kind of um ceremony.

11:56 My husband's Hindu and so that was in the morning.

11:59 Then we had a something called a Haldi ceremony.

12:02 So held these turmeric.

12:03 So we kind of got cleansed with turmeric.

12:06 Um then that night we had my mendy ceremony.

12:10 So that's the henna art on the hands.

12:13 So that was like a really hectic day.

12:17 That was like three things in one day.

12:18 And to be honest, I was a little bit hung over

12:20 as well because we had the cocktail party the night before.

12:23 Um but then yeah, we had a gap and then we had the wedding.

12:27 So we had the wedding ceremony and the wedding reception at night.

12:32 It was a Hindu wedding ceremony with the intention

12:36 that um ah yeah intimate marriage challenging.

12:40 Yes it is challenging actually but we did have um the intention

12:45 of doing maybe like a Christian style wedding for my side because I'm

12:48 I'm Christian but again co happened and now it just feels a bit

12:52 silly to get married like six years again like six years later.

12:56 Um but anyway, it was really fun.

12:58 It was really beautiful.

13:00 Yeah, I'm sure.

13:01 And just for the benefit of those who are watching later,

13:04 Chaw just shared that during our conversations or her conversations came

13:10 up the topic of um inter marriage or intercultural marriage um which

13:18 I think lots of lots of us have had that experience.

13:22 um whether it's different cultures, it might be different religions or it might

13:26 be just sort of even different kind of backgrounds,

13:30 you know, different ways of life.

13:33 And there are so many different variables I think

13:35 that can really challenge a relationship, but certainly um

13:41 yeah, marrying into a completely different culture,

13:44 introducing your family and friends into that culture and vice versa.

13:48 There's lots of really interesting dynamics at play, right?

13:52 Language, again, language is a huge

13:54 barrier because my husband's parents don't speak English.

13:57 They know a few words, but they they come from, you know,

14:01 a small kind of mountain town.

14:03 They moved to my city, Chandiga, without even knowing Hindi.

14:08 They learned Hindi here because they only

14:09 knew their dialect from the mountain regions.

14:12 So, yeah, they don't know English.

14:15 By the time my parents, my family came here, I was still learning Hindi.

14:20 I was nowhere near a conversational level to be able to translate.

14:23 So there was a lot of pressure

14:24 on my husband and his sister to do the translating.

14:27 But something I remember like my most fond memory of my wedding

14:32 was actually from my henna ceremony when I was getting the henna art

14:36 and I was sitting on this stage watching all the guests dancing

14:40 and having fun and I could see my family dancing with his family.

14:44 even though they couldn't talk, they couldn't communicate,

14:46 but it just shows that there's more to communicating than just words.

14:50 And I think that I think back on that moment,

14:52 that's probably the highlight of that whole,

14:54 you know, four days, even more so than the actual wedding.

15:01 Yeah.

15:01 Well, you know, to be honest though,

15:03 it's those little moments that are the the seeds

15:06 that kind of stay with you, right?

15:08 I mean so much must happening at that time but it's those little

15:12 moments that are the ones that you know you take forward with you and

15:16 lovely to have that to think back on.

15:18 Speaking of those challenges

15:22 with language and being able to connect and communicate um with your new family,

15:29 with people around you, making friends

15:33 um you know in a brand new city where you don't speak the language.

15:37 Um, what was that what was that journey like?

15:42 Especially since you started out

15:45 from almost a baseline of of nothing moving,

15:50 you know, to and starting to learn Hindi from there.

15:56 Yeah,

15:55 there must have been so many challenges along the way.

15:59 Yeah, look, it was it was hard.

16:02 It really, really was.

16:03 And I think that definitely contributes to the loneliness.

16:06 So I did an interview with SBS Hindi.

16:09 To those who are in Australia, SPS is a broadcasting station in Australia

16:13 that's really well known for its multicultural audience.

16:16 And I was interviewed by their Hindi stream.

16:18 And one of the questions they asked me is

16:20 that Indians are very family orientated and group orientated.

16:24 So you know kind of how did you feel lonely was the question.

16:28 And I was like because there was a language barrier.

16:31 So even though my husband's family would come to visit us,

16:33 I couldn't be involved in the conversations and I

16:36 didn't know what was going on and it was hard

16:38 to be translated to and it just added to this isolation

16:41 and loneliness because I also hadn't made any friends yet.

16:44 Um I didn't have a job so I couldn't make friends at the office and I didn't

16:50 know how to make friends as an adult outside

16:52 of a work space and it was really tough.

16:55 So I started to learn Hindi.

16:59 I started to teach myself a little bit before I got married,

17:02 but and some of you might relate to this is that there's

17:05 so many resources and I think we talked about this as well,

17:08 Emma, in our conversation is that there's so many resources to learn a language,

17:13 but sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming and you don't know where to start.

17:17 Should I use this website or this textbook or this app?

17:20 And I was trying everything.

17:22 So, I was doing like an hour on this website,

17:25 an hour on this app, and an hour doing this.

17:27 And then I just felt like I wasn't getting

17:28 anywhere and I was getting overwhelmed by it all.

17:31 So I just stopped.

17:33 Corona virus happened that took away any opportunities

17:37 for me to try and learn the language.

17:39 So I mean immerse myself speaking to people dayto-day.

17:43 So I ended up um being recommended a language

17:47 school who normally does in-person classes and courses.

17:50 Like it's like a 12week short course you actually

17:53 have to go to the school and partake in.

17:56 But because of co they were doing online sessions.

17:58 So I ended up signing up with them and did a beginner's course

18:01 from scratch which really really helped because

18:04 we went through all of the grammar.

18:06 We went through reading.

18:07 We went through the alphabet.

18:08 We went through everything.

18:10 So now I just do conversational lessons once or twice a week with a tutor.

18:16 Um, but yes, I it's hard because my husband and I,

18:21 we started our relationship in English and it's really hard

18:25 to try and change that language that you've built your relationship on.

18:30 So people think, oh, you've been in India for so long, you must be fluent.

18:33 And I'm like, well, I'm not because I

18:36 don't I don't speak the language all the time.

18:38 I teach in English, but I do try.

18:41 So for example, if I go to a cafe or something and they ask me in English,

18:45 what would you like?

18:46 I always reply in Hindi and I'll always try

18:49 and do my ordering in Hindi and speak in Hindi.

18:51 And my husband's really good.

18:53 He'll kind of take a step back and let me

18:56 talk unless he sees me struggling or I ask for help.

18:59 So that really helps.

19:00 But yeah, sentence structure is different.

19:02 It's different to English.

19:04 There's a lot more rules to remember.

19:06 There's also formal and informal language,

19:09 and you can unintentionally offend someone if

19:11 you use the informal term for you instead

19:14 of the formal if it's someone older or someone

19:16 in a position of, you know, power or something.

19:19 So, I just refer to everyone as the formal you

19:23 instead of trying to like navigate ages and accidentally insult someone.

19:27 So, it's been really tough, but rewarding.

19:32 Extremely rewarding.

19:34 Yeah, I think that's one of the like you're

19:36 highlighting one of the the upsides of English there

19:40 is that we don't have that formality as much

19:43 in our language as in other languages because it's yeah can be super stressful

19:52 um trying to sort of estimate or guess you know

19:55 how to address someone when you're only just meeting them.

19:58 I know when I was in Vietnam, you know, it's a similar type of thing.

20:01 And, you know, you don't want to offend someone by by,

20:05 you know, talking up to them when you should be kind of, you know,

20:09 on the same level or vice versa.

20:12 And yeah, super super challenging.

20:14 You did also touch on a couple of really

20:18 interesting points there about people often make an assumption

20:21 and I I actually hear this amongst our members

20:24 inside the Hady community all of the time.

20:27 We make assumptions about people based on where they

20:31 live and how long they've been there as to yeah

20:35 how much they should know by that point.

20:38 And it can be really hard.

20:40 You know, sometimes it happens quite um unintentionally where someone who is

20:47 from a non English-speaking country might meet

20:52 a lady who is inside our community,

20:55 but they're living in Australia, and they'll say,

20:57 "Oh, but you've been here for so long now.

21:00 You you must be, you know, fluent.

21:02 You must, you know, be you have so many opportunities to speak."

21:06 But actually, It's not quite as simple as that at all.

21:10 And you've demonstrated that yourself

21:13 in the different contexts in which you're communicating.

21:17 And like you said, yeah,

21:18 you do most of your communicating for your job in English.

21:23 You speak with your partner who you know, you spend 90% of your time with

21:29 in English.

21:30 Yeah.

21:30 And then it's all of these other little micro moments

21:34 that you get to actually spend speaking the language that you're learning.

21:39 And you know, it's the same for many of the women

21:43 inside Hey Lady as well.

21:44 In fact, ladies, if you can relate

21:46 to this experience that Amanda's been talking about,

21:49 let us know um if it's kind of something that you have experienced as well.

21:55 I might move our conversation on um we've got a little bit of context

22:01 and a little bit of background um as to how set yourself up in India,

22:06 how challenging it's been sort of

22:10 learning ki from scratch and what that experience

22:14 has been like living in a new city.

22:16 Um, so I'm really curious to dive a little deeper now

22:21 into your work and what you do at Aussie English with Amanda

22:28 because you focus very much and you said on migrants,

22:31 on international students, on people who have moved to Australia obviously,

22:36 but I think a lot of these learnings are

22:38 going to be interesting and relevant to anyone who's moved

22:42 to an English-speaking country or in fact moved to a country

22:47 in which they need to communicate in English in order to

22:52 sort of work or to connect with others.

22:54 Um, and of course you work with migrants in Australia all of the time.

23:03 Yeah, I'm sure you've had lots of interesting conversations

23:06 with them about um what that experience of moving

23:11 to Australia is like and in particular adapting

23:15 to Australian culture and some of the challenges,

23:19 you know, so many of the women inside Hey Lady who've moved to Australia,

23:26 they're like, I thought that I knew English.

23:29 I studied.

23:30 I learned it all.

23:31 I learned the words and then I got here and I can't understand anyone.

23:38 I and I I I feel like I've gone back,

23:42 you know, five years in my English education.

23:45 Um, is that a similar experience that you often hear with your members and your

23:52 Yeah.

23:52 Well, that's actually kind of how I

23:53 got started teaching was because of these comments.

23:55 I mean teaching Australian English because up until a certain

24:00 point I was just focusing on just like general

24:02 English and speaking and communication but then people started booking

24:05 me specifically and saying I saw that you were Australian.

24:09 I should mention the platform I taught on used to have my little Australian flag

24:12 so that's why people knew and they

24:14 would say I booked you because you're Australian.

24:16 I can't understand the accent.

24:18 I can't understand the slang.

24:19 People talk too fast.

24:21 You drop words.

24:22 You shorten everything and I need help.

24:24 And that's when I was like, "All right, so this is happening quite frequently.

24:29 I think that there's a bit of a gap here

24:31 and I'm going to try and fill that gap." So, um,

24:36 a lot of students, especially around Asia,

24:40 they tend to learn American English or watch a lot of American shows or movies.

24:47 So, they're more used to listening to the American accent.

24:51 Then they get to Australia and vowel sounds

24:54 are different depending on the context of the word.

24:56 So one example is the word like pot like a flower pot.

25:01 Whereas they use a long sound part, the flower part, right?

25:06 So they use these longer sounds.

25:07 So if they're used to these vowel sounds being a certain way,

25:11 it's the opposite um the R or the lack of R in Australian English.

25:16 So, car, park, start,

25:21 and not being able to hear that R sound really, really confuses people.

25:24 And yeah, it takes people a good couple of weeks to really kind

25:29 of find their feet a little bit when it comes to the accent.

25:32 But it is probably the most common thing that I hear from people

25:36 is when they first got to Australia or when they had first

25:40 arrived is that they really struggled to understand the accent because it's just

25:44 not the kind of English they had exposure to in their home countries.

25:47 Yeah.

25:48 And I do, you know, I think that's that's

25:50 kind of true across lots of different types of English.

25:54 I mean, we always talk about British English and American English

25:58 as sort of standard,

26:00 but there are so many different varieties of English that actually,

26:06 you know, training your ear to be super honed on one

26:12 is to the detriment of all of the others.

26:14 And I say this in the context of um uh you know as an Australian if I you

26:22 know sit down and watch a a TV show

26:25 like a soap opera from Ireland or or Scotland

26:32 or sometimes even like New Zealand you know you really have to focus

26:38 to try and understand and sometimes actually like you're you're not trained

26:43 to sort of pick up the sounds and identify them quickly enough and

26:47 you know but that process like you say is one

26:51 of adapting and adjusting and so that initial feeling of fear

26:58 and like oh my god I everything that I've done

27:03 up until this point is not helping me right now.

27:06 I've got to start again.

27:07 I've got to you know I've got to learn this whole different way.

27:11 It's probably not 100% true.

27:13 It's it's more giving yourself the time and the space to just adjust

27:20 to the sounds that you're hearing,

27:22 associating them with the the English words, which are generally all the same.

27:27 We'll get to slang sure, but generally all the same.

27:31 They just sound a little different.

27:34 Um, but you know then when you start adding in slang

27:39 and really really sort of unique

27:44 Australian expressions and ways of expressing yourself.

27:49 Um, yeah, it becomes really challenging.

27:51 The one that's just popped into my head is is Australians

27:56 tendency to just sort of say yeah na all the time.

28:03 Yeah.

28:04 And you're like, "Yes, or or no, which" And then you n Yeah, exactly.

28:12 Yeah.

28:13 What What are you supposed to do there?

28:15 Um but anyway, what outside of of accent,

28:20 what are some of the sort of cultural kind

28:22 of aspects that your students come to most often with?

28:26 Um you know, as they're moving to Australia and they're just getting settled,

28:30 what are some of the things that come up often?

28:32 Yeah.

28:32 So yes, definitely the accent.

28:34 The other ones would be um slang in informal language

28:39 and it doesn't necessarily have to be like shortened words for slang,

28:44 but a lot of phrasal verbs I didn't realize before

28:48 I started teaching that phrasal verbs are they're mostly in English.

28:52 I mean, they could be in other languages,

28:54 but I think definitely in English they're much more common.

28:56 And it's not just in Australia.

28:59 It's phrasal verbs in English in general,

29:01 but then there's some more localized phrasal verbs in Australia itself.

29:05 Like I've done a couple of reels on the way we

29:08 use chuck in the different aspects of the phrasal verb chuck.

29:12 But the thing about Australian English is

29:14 that it was developed from British English.

29:17 There's a lot of crossover in that sort

29:19 of with those sorts of words and phrases,

29:21 which people like to remind me in my comments

29:23 that it's just British English, not Aussie.

29:25 But I'm guessing you get this a bit, Emma.

29:30 I'm laughing just because there's there's always those people out

29:33 there who it doesn't matter what you say, but they

29:36 Oh, yeah.

29:36 True.

29:37 They just like pick something.

29:39 They just need to correct you and let you know.

29:45 Sure.

29:44 Yes.

29:45 Exactly.

29:48 That's fine as background information,

29:49 but we're kind of doing something different over here.

29:53 Yeah.

29:53 Like I've actually, it's so funny because

29:55 on Fridays I've started doing um like I

29:58 do a phrasal verb post and so usually it's um common phrasal verbs in Australia,

30:03 but I've started putting a disclaimer in the caption that's

30:07 like even though you might hear these in other English-speaking regions,

30:10 it's important to know them in Australia because they're commonly used.

30:15 Um yeah, and people are still commenting and I'm like,

30:17 come on, read the caption.

30:18 And people end up deleting their comments when I call them out.

30:22 But anyway, um we had a conversation about this on the podcast last week,

30:27 so anyone interested can can kind of pick up on that, but um you know,

30:33 I spent a good chunk of time when

30:37 I first started putting videos and content out.

30:42 um firstly sort of learning a little bit more about uh

30:48 English more broadly outside of what I knew and what I understood.

30:53 But yeah, my first ever viral video um

30:57 went viral because there were so many pe other English speakers

31:00 jumping in and just saying that's not how you pronounce that.

31:05 I think I was saying uh like 10 words that you're mispronouncing and one

31:10 of them was almond and here in Australia

31:14 we absolutely do not pronounce the L and no it's not almond almond.

31:20 Almond and then all of these helpful people out there

31:26 jumped in and they were like how you pronounce it.

31:29 This is how we always pronounce it with an L.

31:32 It's almond.

31:34 It's almond and it happens.

31:37 Oh, it's so infuriating sometimes.

31:39 It makes me so mad.

31:42 I know.

31:43 Um I just noticed in the comments actually that Amalia

31:46 jumped in and shared when she first moved to Australia,

31:50 she misheard the word morning.

31:54 um when she was asking someone in a shop how and the lady was asking her how

31:59 how was your morning and she heard how's

32:02 your money and she said my money is okay I

32:07 have money it was good but that's like another

32:12 really good example of just like slightly misering you

32:16 know uh especially because morning is not often pronounced

32:20 you know as clearly it's often like morning Um,

32:24 yeah.

32:24 Good morning.

32:25 Yeah.

32:26 Yeah.

32:26 Yeah.

32:26 Something similar happened to the first time I spoke to my husband.

32:29 And I tell this story to everyone.

32:30 He's probably sick of me talking about it,

32:32 but we recreated this for a real, which I've reposted twice.

32:36 I should do it again.

32:37 But I've the first time we talked on the phone,

32:41 and this is how I realized that Australian English is different actually.

32:45 But I picked up the phone and I I said to him,

32:48 "Hey, how you going?" And he's like, "Oh, I'm not going anywhere.

32:53 I'm at home cuz he thought I said where are you going?

32:56 Not how are you and that's when I was like oh um this is Australian English.

33:05 It just means how are you?

33:07 Um but even now we still have miscommunications

33:10 like like I just said pick up the phone.

33:12 So that's when we used to have the cords attached to our phone.

33:15 So you would you know pick up the phone and hang it up.

33:19 And I we have a home phone connected to our wall,

33:22 like one with the cord, and it was just sitting on the fridge.

33:25 And I said to him like, "Um,

33:28 why is the phone off the hook?" And he's like, "What do you mean?" Like, "What?

33:33 What do you mean it's off the hook?" I was like,

33:35 "Why is it off the hook?" And he said,

33:38 "I didn't take it off." But he thought I meant I he thought I was saying,

33:42 "Why was it removed off the wall?" But it's just because it

33:45 it was sitting on the fridge basically like it hadn't been reconnected.

33:50 So off the hook just means to be um you know off the receiver,

33:54 taken off the receiver.

33:55 Anyway, and this was just last year and I've

33:57 been we've been together for nearly eight years or something.

34:00 Eight years.

34:01 Seven.

34:01 Seven years.

34:02 Seven years this month.

34:03 Yeah.

34:03 So it still happens.

34:06 I think it's like it's so interesting even you know as English teachers

34:11 you know there's so often in contexts where you're listening to just the number

34:18 of idiomatic expressions or phrasal verbs

34:22 that are being used in context that you

34:24 know when you tune into them you realize just how frequently they come up.

34:28 And I think you were talking about phrasal verbs before as being,

34:34 you know, one of the challenges of like Australian English, but I think,

34:38 you know, you also end up with these kind of um

34:43 uh, you know, literal meanings and also kind of other meanings that have

34:48 nothing to do with the sort of words that are written on the page.

34:52 And you've you've sort of got to understand the context

34:55 in order to understand the meaning of the phrasal verb as well,

34:58 which is which is another, you know,

35:01 challenging part of learning English and listening to Exactly.

35:06 Yeah.

35:06 I definitely just went off on a tangent then.

35:08 Sorry.

35:09 No, that's okay.

35:10 That's all right.

35:11 How important is it, Amanda, to learn Australian slang?

35:18 I'm curious to find out you've been thinking about this because Um, you know,

35:23 we've been talking a lot about uh settling in, being able to communicate,

35:28 being able to understand Australian English

35:31 conversations that are happening around you,

35:33 that are happening on telly, that are, you know, on the radio.

35:37 All of that is helpful, but I do also think that there's this aspect

35:42 of slang and and this is across all Englishes.

35:46 But yeah, this idea that slang is like this funny thing that you know,

35:52 it's so random that Australian people say this, it's so funny.

35:55 It's so weird.

35:56 Like how strange is this word?

35:59 Yeah.

36:00 And I find, I'm not sure what your experience is,

36:02 but I find that a lot of Australian slang resources online

36:08 kind of deal with words that don't come up that frequently.

36:13 Um,

36:17 yes,

36:16 in, you know, in in Australia that people don't use, but

36:22 they're kind of presented in a way that you should know them

36:25 and understand them and use them yourself if you want to sit in Australia.

36:30 Oh, I'm just I'm doing this because this is

36:32 like something that frustrates me so much about with slang.

36:37 Um, so I actually just released a slang course last year.

36:41 So, if we go back to your question about how important is it to learn it, um,

36:45 something that I tell my students is that you

36:48 don't have to speak slang if you don't want

36:49 to, but it's important to understand because if you

36:52 work with a lot of Australians, they will speak it.

36:55 And guaranteed half the time they won't even

36:57 realize that what they are saying is slang.

37:01 So, an example is I used to have a friend from Canada.

37:03 She was planning to visit me in Australia

37:05 and we were talking about flights and I said to her, "I'll have a look

37:09 at flights to Savvo." And she's like, "What's Avo?

37:11 Is that an airline?" And I was like, "Oh my gosh,

37:14 Canadians don't know what Arvo means." Um, but yes, 100% agree with you.

37:20 If you go on to Google and search Australian slang,

37:22 guaranteed you will get articles and websites teaching you this really

37:27 cliche Aussie slang that people probably used like 30 years ago.

37:31 I just did a real about this on the weekend

37:33 like Sheila and Krikey and things like that.

37:37 And yeah, look, people people do speak that way,

37:41 especially in some country and regional areas,

37:43 but for the majority of people who might be

37:45 in more city areas or close to the cities,

37:49 um you're not going to hear that too much.

37:51 And a lot of Australians use that as a joke,

37:54 like they're not really serious with it.

37:55 And if you try and learn that slang that people don't really use,

37:59 people are going to probably look at you a bit funny like,

38:01 why are you saying that?

38:02 No one says that.

38:04 Um, but there's some ways, and I teach this in my slang course, um,

38:09 that you can look at that you can learn the slang that people are speaking.

38:13 And the biggest one is comments.

38:15 get onto social media, have a look at um Australian posts on Facebook,

38:21 Facebook groups and Instagram posts and have a look at the comments because

38:26 the way people type is a really accurate refle reflection of how they speak.

38:31 And I spend a few minutes with one

38:33 of my students at the beginning of each lesson.

38:35 He actually lives in Port Headland, Emma, so you know, pretty regional up there.

38:40 Not too many foreigners.

38:41 Um, and he is always coming to class with screenshots

38:45 of comments he has seen from a Port Headland community group.

38:50 So, join the community groups of your area

38:53 because you will see so much in there.

38:56 And if you're ever unsure, like there was one word that I didn't I

39:00 didn't even know and people were actually commenting and saying,

39:04 "What does that word mean?" So, if you're unsure, you can ask.

39:07 Have a look on Google.

39:09 um get on to chat GPT,

39:11 put a screenshot of the comment and say what does this word mean in this context

39:15 and it should hopefully if it's common enough explain to you what it means.

39:21 So again it doesn't mean that you have

39:23 to start saying goodday to everyone because I

39:28 use it in messages and in emails and stuff but I don't say goodday to people.

39:32 I will say hey good morning things like

39:34 that but not every Australian speaks with a lot of slang.

39:37 So, take that with a grain of salt.

39:40 It's good to learn to understand the conversations around you,

39:44 but don't feel like you have to speak it.

39:47 I really love that tip about joining sort of groups

39:52 that are in your local area um for a couple of reasons.

39:57 I think your point about um people type in the words

40:03 that they would say naturally is true in in on social posts.

40:07 Everyone's writing more informally than if they're writing an email

40:11 or something else or writing a blog post or whatever.

40:15 They're writing the words that they would say.

40:18 And I think that it's really interesting to connect

40:21 that into the physical location where you are.

40:24 your student who's in Port Headland.

40:26 For all of you who don't know where that is, that is extreme regional WA.

40:31 It's like mining town.

40:34 Um it is, you know, probably certainly your student

40:39 would be surrounded by a lot of um slang

40:42 and and probably much more informal language than you would

40:46 hear or would come across in urban sort of Australia.

40:51 Um, but it's really really interesting to think about.

40:56 You jump into one of those community groups

40:58 and when I when we're talking about community group here,

41:01 we're talking about um people in your local area who are in a Facebook group.

41:08 And you know, here in Fremantle, there's a huge group called Freo Massive.

41:14 It's mostly full of people who are complaining about like people's dogs pooing

41:19 on their necks or like someone's scooter got stolen and has anyone seen

41:25 who's playing that loud music up up on Rome Street.

41:30 Yeah.

41:29 But everyone's jumping in and and like answering back in this sort of informal

41:36 way that is really reminiscent of how they would be speaking to each other.

41:41 Yes.

41:41 you know, if they were meeting in the street

41:44 and and that is such an interesting idea.

41:48 Even if you're in there just as an observer and you are of

41:53 seeing the way that people are communicating with each other,

41:56 you might start to see some context where,

42:00 you know, people are using the word mate,

42:04 but it might not be in a positive kind of context.

42:09 Yeah.

42:09 in a very sarcastic way, too.

42:11 Yeah.

42:12 Because we all know mate means friend, but you know,

42:15 often there's a there's a joke that goes around where it's like,

42:22 you know, Australians will call their friends or, you know,

42:26 something rude and then when they're talking

42:29 to someone who's doing something that they're annoyed about,

42:32 they'll be like, "Nate, that's enough of that." You know, and it's

42:36 Yeah, it's the tone, too.

42:38 You can generally tell by the tone.

42:39 So that's really important to try and and learn that sort of thing.

42:43 Yeah.

42:43 The body language says a lot.

42:44 The tone.

42:45 Yeah.

42:47 Yeah.

42:47 Definitely.

42:48 I feel like the idea of, you know, those local community groups is a really sort

42:55 of useful practical way that anyone who's living in Australia,

42:59 but also in in any other part of the world when you're trying to sort of fill in

43:04 understand what happens in in a new place,

43:06 they're a really great place to get a bit of insight.

43:09 Do you have other kind of suggestions or tips

43:14 or advice that you would give to your students about

43:19 how to increase their exposure to Australian English in the real world?

43:25 So, of course, we can use chat EPT.

43:28 We can jump online and go chat

43:30 with your English tutor or your Australian English tutor.

43:33 All of these things.

43:35 Yeah.

43:35 But what can you do to sort of expose

43:39 yourself to Australian English in the real world?

43:42 I think that there's definitely a few things you

43:44 can do and there's a few tips that I give.

43:46 Um, one of them is to join hobby groups.

43:50 So, this is really great for even if you want to make friends.

43:54 But as I was saying earlier on um that it was really

43:57 hard for me when I moved to India because I hadn't made any

44:00 friends and I didn't have a job to make friends at work

44:02 and I didn't know how to make friends um in a new country.

44:06 It was really tough.

44:09 And I heard you say that before and I was like that is so true

44:13 because it's easy to make friends in the context

44:16 of school or classes or work because you're

44:20 kind of forced into a situation where you

44:23 have to meet people and get to know them.

44:25 But if you don't have those things,

44:29 it's really hard to make friends as an adult.

44:32 You've really got to put yourself out there, right?

44:35 Yeah.

44:35 Yeah.

44:35 You really do.

44:36 And you have to try and find maybe some unconventional ways.

44:39 Like I became, you know,

44:42 pretty good friends with this one girl who I met through Bumble,

44:45 the dating app, but they have a BFF feature.

44:48 So they have a feature to help you find friends.

44:51 So I um met her through that and like she's great.

44:55 Like she's a lot of fun.

44:56 Um but yes um joining hobby groups is a really

45:01 good way to expose yourself to the local culture,

45:05 the accent, but also make friends.

45:07 And one thing I do want to mention, I get a lot of comments uh on social media

45:12 that people find it hard to make friends with Australians.

45:16 And I'm not discouraging making friends with Australians,

45:19 but I just want to say try and keep an open mind of making friends in general.

45:24 Don't force yourself to have this relationship or a friendship

45:27 with someone if you don't have anything in common.

45:29 But if you join a hobby group,

45:31 let's say um you know you enjoy bushw walking and you join a local

45:35 bushw walking group and maybe there are mostly other foreigners in that group,

45:39 other immigrants, don't close yourself up to off to potential

45:43 friendships with those people just because they're not Australian.

45:46 Um because you're still kind of building those connections.

45:51 But doing those sorts of activities,

45:54 putting yourself out there can help expose you

45:56 to real life Australian accent or English volunteering.

46:00 So if you get a chance to volunteer,

46:02 whether it's professional volunteering or just personal volunteering,

46:05 that's a really great way.

46:07 Um, just try and speak to people as much as you can.

46:11 So, uh, to those in Australia,

46:14 you probably know that if you go to the local supermarket,

46:17 so Kohl's or Woolly's, they have the selfs serve checkout.

46:21 So, that just means where you go, you don't have to speak to anyone.

46:25 You scan your own products, you pay on the machine,

46:28 you put your products in the bag, and you go.

46:30 Something I try and tell people who are

46:33 struggling with small talk as a first step,

46:36 stop going to self-s served checkouts and go

46:39 and be served by someone because that person serving you,

46:42 it is their job as a customer service

46:44 representative to have the hold the small talk.

46:48 It's their it's their job to guide that.

46:50 It's their job to ask how are you?

46:52 How's your day going?

46:53 And that will give you those small little

46:55 bits of exposure to help you understand your listening,

46:58 to build up your confidence to speak.

47:01 So try and put yourself in those little situations.

47:04 Um, and I say this from experience because I do that here.

47:08 So I go to the local coffee shop like I was saying before about

47:11 how my husband steps back like we go to my local coffee shop every Sunday.

47:16 They know me there.

47:17 It's really comfortable.

47:18 I can speak Hindi very comfortably.

47:20 But the first time I remember like shaking.

47:24 So, um just yeah, joining hobby groups

47:27 and by that I mean things that you enjoy doing.

47:30 Um trying to volunteer,

47:33 putting yourself into those little controlled environments like

47:37 at a self at the checkouts at a supermarket.

47:41 Um also to help improve your listening skills.

47:47 For example, I had a an introduction call

47:49 with a student a couple of days ago, and he said,

47:52 "I find myself speaking with more of an American accent when I talk to people,

47:57 and I was asking him what does he do on a day-to-day basis.

48:00 He works in Australia.

48:01 He lives there, but the only audio that he listens to is American podcasts,

48:07 American shows, American movies." And I was like,

48:11 you got to take a step back from that and have

48:13 more Australian content and have that exposure into Australian media,

48:19 but make sure that it's active listening.

48:22 So that means sitting down, listening.

48:25 If there's a word you don't know, you stop,

48:28 you go back, you look at the word, you look it up,

48:30 you check the definition, the context, make sure you understand it,

48:34 you go back and watch it again and again until you understand.

48:38 So those small little activities of um active listening

48:43 will also help with your exposure to the language

48:46 rather than just maybe listening to a podcast

48:49 and playing on your phone at the same time.

48:52 Um and just speaking speaking as much as you can.

48:55 So shadowing practice.

48:56 I I my husband and I were watching a show last night.

49:00 It's on ABC I View.

49:01 It's called The Newsreader.

49:03 and I was shadowing the Australians on there which

49:05 was so silly of me but it was really fun.

49:08 So just it helps with practicing intonation

49:11 your speech and helps with the accent too.

49:14 So those are probably the they're the main tips I give to my students

49:18 every time when they ask how can I understand Australian English or how can

49:22 I get more exposure um is to try and do those little things and they're

49:25 things that I'm actively trying to do here to expose myself to more Hindi.

49:30 Yeah, I really really love the suggestion that you gave

49:35 around volunteering and I think that um at that same

49:41 time you were also talking about like being open

49:45 to meeting anyone who you're able to speak in English with.

49:52 Whether or not it's a native speaker, it doesn't actually matter.

49:56 the main um the like the the priority is just creating

50:01 more and more opportunities for you to be speaking and communicating,

50:06 articulating your ideas, you know,

50:08 finding that vocabulary and grabbing the words that you

50:11 need in order to be successful in that moment.

50:15 Um I would also add to that,

50:17 you know, not to lock yourself into certain generations either.

50:24 Um, yes.

50:25 Uh, you know, often we feel like, oh,

50:27 I can only hang around with people my own age or, um,

50:32 I'm I'm looking for a specific type of person that I want as a friend.

50:37 But often the the opportunists the opportunity might

50:41 come with sort of older people in who

50:46 are kind of at a stage of life where they have more time, more patience, more

50:53 experience.

50:53 And that was where I started really nodding along with you

50:57 when you're talking about volunteering groups because I think that

51:01 that opportunity um is a bit of a generalization but you know lots

51:07 of older people are volunteering in all

51:10 sorts of different aspects of of social life

51:14 and it's because they have time and they want to give back

51:17 and you know creating a space where you're able to meet people

51:22 um here in Australia We do there's lots of sort of environmental

51:27 volunteering projects where you might go and plant trees maybe, you know,

51:32 helping create uh sort of packup boxes for homeless people

51:38 or things like that that you you can imagine sitting

51:41 around a table with a bunch of other people

51:44 and having some conversations and chatting while you're doing this activity

51:48 is an amazing way to to create that opportunity

51:52 for you to speak more and to be surrounded by speakers.

51:57 Um, and yes, Ch, you're exactly right in the comments, Charles.

52:01 Ch saying the older people also h need to have someone to speak to as well.

52:06 And that's where, you know, this sort of you scratch my back,

52:11 I'll scratch yours kind of, you know, situation comes in.

52:18 Now, great question coming in from Amalia.

52:20 Do you think it's essential to speak with an Aussie accent?

52:25 She's in a dilemma.

52:27 Um, she has been, so Amalia is Venezuelan but has

52:32 been living in Mexico until recently she moved to Australia

52:38 and she all of her training has been in learning English

52:42 with an American accent or she's been listening to a lot of content

52:47 and when she she tries to sort of mimic or imitate an Aussie accent,

52:53 it just doesn't feel right.

52:55 it doesn't feel like, you know, comfortable or natural.

53:01 Um, yeah.

53:02 And that she's trying to to be something that she's not,

53:04 but she really wants to fit in.

53:07 What is your opinion?

53:08 Do you think it is essential to try and speak with an an Aussie accent?

53:15 This is always a really tough question for me to answer

53:18 only because obviously what I do is I teach the Australian accent,

53:21 but I'm very careful about the wording that I choose when I promote

53:24 my services because I do find that some people say speak like a native,

53:28 but at the same time, I I don't think there's anything wrong

53:33 with wanting to keep your own accent either.

53:36 So personally, I don't think no,

53:40 it's not essential to speak with an Aussie accent to be completely honest.

53:44 The main the main thing is to have clear pronunciation.

53:49 So sometimes depending on where you are,

53:52 so I'm just going to completely generalize here um based on where you're from.

53:57 Uh I'm assuming your mother tongue could be Spanish.

54:00 And if that's the case, then the Spanish R tends to be a bit rolled.

54:05 Like if you think of the number four,

54:06 it might be like Ford kind of this rolled R which is very

54:09 common for people here in India or Southeast or South Asians as well.

54:14 So learning how to maybe soften certain pronunciations,

54:18 maybe slow your speech down if you talk too fast,

54:21 that will make your pronunciation clearer,

54:24 which will then help with confidence and communication.

54:27 But I don't think I don't think it's necessary.

54:30 No.

54:31 Um, I definitely have people who come to me and say they want

54:34 to speak with an Australian accent and I will help them with those goals,

54:38 but um, it's not it's not needed.

54:41 No.

54:42 And I just want to mention as well,

54:44 it probably feels a little bit off because you're not used to speaking that way.

54:48 Something I always tell my students in our accent

54:50 modification classes is that your mouth, this is a muscle.

54:54 So if you think about exercising,

54:57 if you go swimming for the first time, hiking, going to the gym,

55:00 it feels weird, it feels uncomfortable, your muscles hurt,

55:04 but the more you do these activities, your muscles get stronger.

55:08 You get used to it.

55:10 It's the same with pronunciation.

55:12 So if it does feel a bit weird at first, it's just because you're not used to it

55:15 because you have been practicing American content.

55:18 So these sort of things take a little bit of time.

55:21 Um, but if it makes you feel like you're

55:24 pretending to be someone you're not, then then don't.

55:27 The the beauty of Australia is that it's

55:30 such a multicultural country that multicultural countries.

55:33 Yeah, I said that right.

55:35 It's so multicultural that you will find people with so

55:39 many different accents and that's the beauty of the country.

55:43 So yeah, I hope that answers it.

55:46 I Yeah, I would agree with you.

55:48 Um particularly on the point that like if you

55:53 if it doesn't feel like you then don't do it.

55:57 It's you know the the point that you make about clarity over sort

56:03 of a specific type of of accent or a specific way of being.

56:10 I mean, some people might have a really

56:12 strong motivation to want to be like that.

56:17 If that's, you know, I want to speak like an Australian, it's my goal.

56:22 It's what I'm working on.

56:24 That's really different to feeling like yourself and

56:31 wanting to to fit in, wanting to be able

56:34 to speak with anyone and feel good about doing it,

56:37 feel comfortable, feel able to communicate.

56:41 And neither neither of those goals are right or wrong.

56:47 Exactly.

56:47 But it's important just to recognize where you want to get to.

56:52 And so if the goal is I want to sound like an Australian

56:56 then you know more targeted training and like what you're saying um Amanda about

57:03 really feeling comfortable in the discomfort or trying to get used to

57:08 the discomfort knowing that it won't be uncomfortable for long.

57:15 Yeah.

57:16 Versus feeling like yourself.

57:16 And if you ever have the chance to meet Amalia,

57:21 and you might because actually Amanda is is

57:23 joining us at our open day events on Friday,

57:28 so she's going to be in one of those events, ladies, if you're coming.

57:32 Um you might end up having an opportunity to chat with Amanda a little bit more.

57:37 Um, but Amalia is such uh an excitable,

57:45 full of life kind of person and she lights up a room as soon as she's in there.

57:52 And I would hate to see that disappear because she's focused too much on

58:02 trying to sound a certain way.

58:04 I didn't say that supposed to pronounce

58:07 this in this way and we lose the magic of her to this other goal.

58:13 Um, and that would also just be how I would answer that question is just,

58:20 you know, be be true to who you are and and if that person

58:26 is someone who wants to speak with an Australian accent, great.

58:30 But if that person just wants to connect and communicate and be

58:35 welcomed and to feel a part of another group of English speakers,

58:40 then I don't think you either.

58:43 Yeah.

58:43 And if I can just say one more thing, something that just popped up.

58:46 I think as well when it comes to this sort of kind of topic,

58:49 you have to think about what is the reason

58:51 for maybe wanting to speak with the accent.

58:53 Is it because you want to fit in so that um people understand you more?

58:57 Okay, focus on clarity instead.

58:59 Is it because maybe you've had people say a few things

59:01 to you and that you think that that's going to make life easier?

59:06 One thing I just want to mention and it goes back to what we were saying before,

59:09 Emma, about comments on social media.

59:11 You will never please everyone.

59:13 The same goes for speaking English in a another

59:17 country because you will have people and it would be naive of me to say

59:22 that discrimination and racism doesn't exist because it does.

59:26 But you will find people in Australia

59:28 or any western country that will say speak English.

59:31 Okay, people are speaking English but then

59:34 it's like your English is not good enough.

59:36 And then even if someone has really advanced English,

59:39 it's like oh well they have an accent.

59:40 You will never please everyone.

59:42 So just focus on what feels comfortable for you

59:45 and the reasons for wanting to improve your speech or pronunciation.

59:50 Um because if you try and change yourself because of other people,

59:55 you're going to lose a part of yourself and you don't want that.

59:58 So just try and focus more on the reasons

1:00:00 why and focus on yourself, not on others.

1:00:04 I love it.

1:00:05 What a great way to wrap up a wonderful conversation, Amanda.

1:00:09 I'm so glad that you were so generous in giving us a little

1:00:13 bit of your time today to jump in and thanks for having me.

1:00:18 Your experience and some of your advice and tips with us as well.

1:00:22 I'm really excited that um that we have

1:00:26 the opportunity to share the recording too so

1:00:29 that some of the other ladies who were not able to be here live can watch it.

1:00:34 Can I ask you where we can find you online if any of the ladies

1:00:40 are interested in having a look at your work and what you do?

1:00:45 Um, where's the best place to find you?

1:00:49 Uh, so as I said before, Instagram is definitely my main platform,

1:00:52 but I do have accounts on most social

1:00:56 media platforms depending on where you like to look,

1:00:59 you know, um, absorb your information on social media.

1:01:02 So, it's just Aussie English with Amanda.

1:01:05 There's dots in between on Instagram,

1:01:07 but yeah, Instagram, Facebook, Tik Tok, YouTube.

1:01:11 Um, I have my podcast uh every Tuesday, which is Chinwag Tuesdays.

1:01:16 Emma was my guest that came out last week.

1:01:18 Um, also LinkedIn.

1:01:20 So, it's just under my name, Amanda Boyce,

1:01:22 but if you search Aussie English with Amanda, it should come up.

1:01:25 And I just share uh it's a bit more um not personal.

1:01:29 Yeah, it is a bit more personal LinkedIn, the stuff I share on there.

1:01:32 But yes, so just Aussie English with Amanda, you'll find me.

1:01:39 Wonderful.

1:01:39 Thank you so much.

1:01:40 And yes, we will link up the podcast if

1:01:43 you want to keep listening to Amanda and I chatting.

1:01:47 There's another opportunity to do that on Amanda's podcast.

1:01:51 Um, and there's lots of other interesting conversations

1:01:53 that she hosts over there every Tuesdays, right?

1:01:56 For a chinwag.

1:01:57 Yes.

1:01:58 which is yes Australian slime for a chat ladies.

1:02:02 Yes.

1:02:02 Or as people remind me it's British.

1:02:04 But anyway, another topic for another day.

1:02:08 Okay.

1:02:10 Sorry about Australians just being like cast aside.

1:02:18 Yeah.

1:02:18 All right.

1:02:19 Thank you so much, Amanda.

1:02:21 It's been lots of fun and I'm sure this won't be

1:02:24 the last time that we have the chance to chat and share.

1:02:27 um a couple of things with each other.

1:02:30 Thank you, Chea, everyone for jumping into the comments.

1:02:34 Thank you for watching.

1:02:37 See you everyone.

1:02:38 Bye bye.