Loading ...
Posts
Hi there Visitor! nomad4ever.com is an Asia-centric, established Travel Resource for World Travelers, Nomads and early Retirees. Find here Trip Reports, Tips about Money Matters, RTW Travel, Travel Gadgets, Medical Travel and Retiring early. If you are new here, you may want to subscribe for FREE to the full RSS feed of nomad4ever. Thanks for visiting! ;-)
Found this sign in Jalan Teuku Umar Barat in Bali and it left me a bit puzzled. Are Australians really authentic native English Speakers?
I mean, of course our beloved Aussies grow up speaking English as their first language. But is that the real, authentic English you want to learn to improve your language skills, mate?
What is authentic language anyway?
Is it like asking a Bavarian to teach you German: “Yo mei? O’zapft is!”. Or a Swiss or Austrian?
How about a Balinese to teach you Bahasa Indonesia? Or a Singaporean to teach you Singlish?
But then - why not?
Upon checking around the internet a bit, I found that there is really some confusion about this subject - even in the English Language Teaching industry and TESL organizations - what are considered authentic native speakers.
You have English spoken as the first language in Britain, Australia, USA, New Zealand and parts of Canada, while most post-colonial territories have English only as their second language. Although dialects, spelling and variations of the language can differ substantially, grammar and core vocabulary are mainly the same.
So the close proximity of Australia to Indonesia makes it surely easier to cater for authentic speakers from this region than flying in British nationals, who are willing to teach English.
And yes, it opens possibilities for English-speaking travelers as well. Living a bit longer in a country and earning some money by teaching English to fellow travelers or locals.
Do you want to learn English with an authentic native English speaker?
Give it a burl! You can learn English over a breakie or barbie, mate. That’s no skin off my nose, still ridgy-didge to me. G’day and good onya! 
Liked this post? Make sure you also subscribe to the full RSS feed of nomad4ever!
If a Lancastrian and Cockney are both considered ‘native speakers’ then so should an Aussie or an American.
We have no other tongue.
The funny thing is, I never managed to understand “native english speaking” people well. In London, I was really lost! They don’t speak the English that the rest of the world speaks! =) Funny huh?
I don’t agree with your logic. Are you saying that only British people are only true native speakers of English? English in Australia is still English. Only the accent is different and some vocabulary varies, but this also happens within Britain itself!
It’s not about native speakers from Australia (at least it’s English speaking country), but I think having the word “authentic” itself already shows the quality of the course (like saying ‘genuine diamond’ on Tiffany).
Having said that, on my trip to Saigon, our tour guide (a Vietnamese) spoke in a funny accent, mostly Australian and little bit American. Everybody thought it’s bizarre. Maybe, just maybe, he took the course at “Authentic English” place
Greetings from granite city.
I say old chap, poor show! This just isn’t cricket!
;)
Right.. um hate to break it to you but if your first language is English then you speak authentic english… whether your from america, Australia, britian or New Zealand.. plus when I travelled to London I found less locals speak english than in Australia where every1 bassically speaks english
English is also the first language of Ireland (not that we’re proud of that!)
With the number of Aussies in Bali and Indonesia, it probably makes more sense for Indonesians to learn “Aussie English”.