Slang on the World Service - can they pull it off?
Do you think colloquial English is out of order on the World Service? It’s easy to have a little verbal fun about this - are you chilled about World Service presenters being down with using slang? Are you sick to the back teeth (let alone as a parrot) of hearing clichés?
The question of slang being used by presenters was raised by an interesting email from listener Peter O’Leary from Dublin. Peter is a keen listener to the World Service which he describes as ‘unique and invaluable to radio listeners around the world’. But he had this to say about slang…
“When interviewing persons whose first language is not English, some of your news staff have an unhelpful habit of using clichés and slang expressions which are not going to be understood by the interviewee.
The most recent incident I heard, which has prompted me to write, was on when one of your female interviewers asked an Italian news journalist about Berlusconi’s impending court appearance. She asked the Italian if he thought that Berlusconi would plead innocent and, if so, ‘would he be able to pull it off’.
The poor Italian hadn’t a clue about what she meant and I shudder to think what literal translation may have been flashing through his mind.
I have since talked with several of my friends about this aspect of using slang when we are speaking English to those whose first language is not English.
We have all agreed that we would, without thinking, ensure that no clichés or slang are used and we would automatically select our wordings very carefully to ensure that we would be understood.
I realise that George Bernard Shaw has stated that ‘the best English is spoken in Dublin’ and that we all can’t be perfect (!) but a small word of advice in the attentive ears of your interviewers mightn’t go astray.â€
What do you think? Would you be over the moon, well happy, if slang and clichés were banished from the airways?
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Rajan Datar is the presenter of Over To You.
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Comment number 1.
At 19th Apr 2011, Scotch Get wrote:Pure dead brilliant, by the way!
What was the question?
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