How many of you have, at least once in your life, had a parent, grandparent, teacher, or someone, tell you to stop mumbling and speak clearly? In my “Did You Know It’s All About Location?” I talked about pronunciation. But what about enunciation?
Even if you know how to pronounce a word “correctly,” if you don’t enunciate it—say it—clearly, people can misunderstand.
ACCENT ANYONE?
A few months ago, my co-worker dealt with an auditor who had a strong accent. The audit was coming to a successful conclusion, or so she believed, until she received a disturbing phone message from the auditor. The woman wanted to talk about the company’s “violation.”
Violation?
She immediately called the auditor, expecting the worst. So you can imagine her relief when she realized there was no problem . . . except for the woman’s accent, which had made “evaluation” sound like “violation.”
EQUIPMENT ISSUES?
Of course, sometimes other things—like phones or public address (PA) systems—interfere with a person’s enunciation. I experienced this one summer when I visited my company’s headquarters in Anchorage, Alaska.
They’d outgrown their office building and had built a second one on an adjacent lot. Even though the buildings were in mid-town Anchorage, because of the empty lots around them, it wasn’t uncommon to spot wildlife in the area. Since employees often walked from one building to the other, everyone kept a watchful eye.
On this particular day, the receptionist made the most amazing announcement over the PA system. She said: “A moose with a cap has been spotted on the west side of the building.”
Wow! That was something I had to see. (Especially since, although I’d been traveling to Alaska for several years, I’d seen little wildlife outside the Anchorage zoo.) I grabbed my camera and made for a friend’s office to take photos. She laughed herself silly when I asked why a moose would be wearing a cap. Turns out the announcement was actually: “A moose with a calf.”
BOTTOM LINE
The English language is difficult enough with its different pronunciations of words spelled the same, much less the same pronunciation of words spelled differently. Throw in accents and external interference, and, all I can say is, I’m thankful I learned it as a child! Even so, there are times I can’t help but wonder: Are we really speaking the same language?