Foreign Accents
T must often be a headache to stations to decide whether to put on the air a voice with a pronounced foreign accent. New Zealand circles of art and entertainment have been augmented by quite a number of such voices in the past decade. I personally feel inclined to welcome them. Nothing that a foreigner can do to our language could be worse than some of our home-grown efforts. Contortions pf vowel or idiom by a foreigner may surprise, bewilder or amuse, but they seldom irritate. There is a limit, of course. We should not be so distracted by the voice that we miss what is being said. If, however, what the speaker has to say is exceptionally important or interesting, a station can afford to sail pretty close to the wind. Station 4YC was sailing pretty close with the speaker in its programme on Kodaly on Wednesday, November 9, but the personal note given by the ‘Speaker’s acquaintance with the composer and his evident earnestness and enthusiasm for his subject carried it through. The same evening there was an opportunity for comparing this with a not dissimilar programme from 3YA on the centenary of the composer Nicolai. It was irreproachably composed and delivered. vet it
lacked the human touch.
K.J.
S.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 544, 25 November 1949, Page 11
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214Foreign Accents New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 544, 25 November 1949, Page 11
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