Accents from places I’ve never been
So this site has sound clips of people reading the following text in English, with accents from all over the world. I’m sure it’s all academic and important, but I just like hearing the accents. And, after hearing it a few times, the text itself forms a kind of Zen koan.
Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.
Be sure to listen to Ewe and Sicilian. Wonderful stuff.
Bonus LazyWeb idea! Someone should make a website where people could upload their own mp3 reading of this text and mark their location. Imagine a giant database of accents, down to the most minute difference. Personally, I can pick a Long Beach from an Orange County from a Hayward, can’t you?