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Some of the adults here in Korea want to improve their English, and I know a few of them because, of course, I can’t know everybody. Some of them I’ve known for years because I used to meet with them in Oklahoma. They often ask for recommendations for TV shows to watch or podcasts to listen to.
Something that was brought to my attention inadvertently was questions about particular words from different podcasts, which the Korea-folk couldn’t understand. So I offered to give a listen to examples pointed out to me, and what I found out was that the vocabulary wasn’t the problem. The reason that these Koreans couldn’t understand particular words in English is that the speakers in the podcasts changed words in the middle of a word. They got to a word and half finished it before throwing it aside in favor of another word, sort of like I did in the title of this post. That left individual words, and sometimes thoughts, incomprehensible.
Since these examples were pointed out to me, I hear them EVERYWHERE in broadcasting and especially in the casting of pods. Is this a byproduct of podcasting, or have we always spoken this way?
A couple of years ago, I pointed out the podcasting sigh, where the announcer will make an exasperated sigh in the middle of (sigh) making a point, for no particular reason.
Thanks for reading…I really am wondering about this.
Discussion (21)
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People interrupt themselves. It's an old phenomenon. It can be done well. It's often done badly. It's probably getting worse. Probably not just on the casting of pods.
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It could be an American thing. If our country ever had a tradition or even a concept of skillful public speaking, it’s long gone. I’ve long thought that, but it occurs to me only now that such interruptions and track-jumpings are almost nonexistent in other cultures. And not just in those elements of other cultures that I see on TV or hear on radio. Even conversationally, foreigners manage to stick to whatever point they were making. They might quickly revise what they’re saying in this sentence, but they’ll finish it first.
As for podcasts in particular: I don’t consume ‘em, because polemicists in booths just sound weird. But even if they were entertaining as well as informative, I can read faster than I can listen.
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I think it’s also a byproduct of the trend for speed talking. Some (Many?) seem in such a rush to get their words out that it seems they haven’t figured out what thought they are attached to. But they want it said extra fast.
With very good friends I’ve found myself saying Wait - finish once sentence first. I can’t follow you.
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It’s just unpolished, unscripted conversational English. There are many podcasters with broadcasting backgrounds (such as our own James Lileks) but they are far and few in between.
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