You are learning the language and you find out that you cannot understand when the people are talking? Don't worry, maybe you just not learn it in the correct way.
Stephen King said, "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot."
When you learn a language, most of the time you spend on grammar and vocabulary, but there is a very important thing that makes up your speech, it is called "accent".
English is an international language that is spoken in many countries in various continents. Because of that, English in the United States or Great Britain may be different in other countries.
For example, the British say "biscuit" and the Americans say "cookie".
The English accents
We usually only know 2 types of English accents: American and British. In fact, there are various accents in Great Britain and the United States. So, which accent are we referring to when we say an American or British accent?Apart from this, there are also accents from other countries, like Singapore, Jamaica, Nigeria, etc. There are more than 50 countries in this world that use English as the official language.
Here I shall present to you 3 comedians from different countries in order to show you how the accents sound like so that you can practice your comprehension and enjoy the humor.
1. Emmanuela (Nigeria)
This talented girl started her comedy career from YouTube and she won two awards in Afro-Australia Music & Movie Awards (AAMMA) in Sydney, Australia. Besides English which is the official language of Nigeria, there are also many local languages, such as Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, etc.2. Laughing Samoans (New Zealand)
This group was formed by 2 Samoans: Eteuati Ete and Tofiga Fepulea'i. The language of Samoa is English and Samoan, and the official language of New Zealand is English. Because of their Polynesian background, there are a lot of topics about this in their comedy.
3. Maz Jobrani (USA)
He is an Iranian-American comedian, also known as Persian Pink Panther. Although his family moved to California when he was 6 years old, he still can speak his native language, which is called Farsi. His topic of comedy is always about the stereotypes of the Middle East.
4. Romesh Ranganathan (UK)
Jonathan Romesh Ranganatha is a British stand-up comedian and actor. He is known for his deadpan comedy. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2013 Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Ranganathan is of Sri Lankan and Tamil descent.5. Trevor Noah (South Africa)
Trevor Noah was born in Johannesburg to a black Xhosa mother and a white Swiss-German father. He worked as an actor, presenter, and comedian in South Africa. His memoir, Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood (2016), is about his youth as a mixed-race child and is dedicated to his mother.6. Jinx Yeo (Singapore)
Jinx Yeo is an award-winning Singaporean comedian who was nominated "Best Comedy" at the Fringe World Awards 2018. Having entertained sold-out crowds in 16 countries over 3 continents, Jinx’s comedy is based on observations and experiences that are widely relatable - not just to Asians, but to audiences of other backgrounds and ethnicities as well.7. Joe Wong (China)
Wong moved to Boston in 2001 and began to perform his comedy at All Asia Bar, at Stash's Comedy Jam. Although he had won numerous awards, he did not attract American nationwide attention until after his appearance on Late Show with David Letterman on April 17, 2009.
Reference
Nigerian comedienne becomes the youngest recipient of AAMMA Awards
Top 10 Most Popular Languages In Nigeria
Jinxyeo Website
Top 10 Most Popular Languages In Nigeria
Jinxyeo Website
Photo credit
Inja Pavlić