Iommi + Eurovision

Tony Iommi's song performed by a horrible sounding singer if you ask me.
Maybe it's the vocal melodies and his accent:
Lonely plAAAnet!
 
Standard Eurovision kitsch. The singer is ordinary, the music is sweet. Don't see you point about the accent, though.
 
Well, that's not an universal pronunciation, though. There re many native accents that pronounce it similar to him.

But anyway: He's not a native English speaker. So what?
 
Forostar said:
Even it's extremely hard to hear, the song is in the English language. In various languages such as probably his own, but also Dutch (and I presume German) it is with an "a" as in Magdenburg or Vienna.
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How do you pronounce Magdeburg?
 
Perun said:
Well, that's not an universal pronunciation, though. There re many native accents that pronounce it similar to him.

But anyway: He's not a native English speaker. So what?
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It distracts me. And it works on my laughing muscles. Actually, this is such a bad accent that it's funny. He gives me the "Good meuning" effect of the guy in Allo Allo.
Perun said:
But anyway: He's not a native English speaker. So what?
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Anouk is not a native speaker and even if her song sucks, the accent won't be as atrocious as this.
If this guy and his country do not want to become the laughing stock of the contest, then they should have done something in their own language either take a singer who can pronounce English.
 
That guy can clearly pronounce English, I understood every single word he was singing. :huh:

I'm listening to it again, and I really don't know what you're on about. His English is fine. Not accent-free, but you can tell he can speak the language fluently.
 
Sorry, I just can't resist a phonology discussion.
Strictly speaking the a in planet and Magdeburg is the same. Short, open vowel in mid-position. Now, regional differences and dialects are something completely different. If an American and a Brit pronounce planet, the vowel would sound very different, but you wouldn't laugh at one of them, right?
 
Ariana said:
Sorry, I just can't resis a phonology discussion.
Strictrly speaking the a in planet and Magdeburg is the same. Short, open vowel in mid-position. Now, regional differences and dialects are something completely different. If an American and a Brit pronounce planet, the vowel would sound very different, but you wouldn't laugh at one of them, right?
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The German a in Magdeburg sounds very different from the UK a in planet.

http://www.forvo.com/word/magdeburg/#de
http://www.forvo.com/word/planet/

I would laugh at anyone performing in an international contest such as Eurovision when they pronounce something wrong in such a manner. Pronunciation of words is one of the few things which need to be practiced. Lots of other stuff is on tape.
 
Ariana said:
Sorry, I just can't resis a phonology discussion.
Strictrly speaking the a in planet and Magdeburg is the same. Short, open vowel in mid-position. Now, regional differences and dialects are something completely different. If an American and a Brit pronounce planet, the vowel would sound very different, but you wouldn't laugh at one of them, right?
Click to expand...

The thing is, what Foro linked to is Oxford English. That is spoken by a few members of the South England upper class and by foreigners who studied in Oxford and Cambridge. Everyone else speaks in accents, be it due to their local English dialect, or the fact that English is not their native language. The pronunciation of "planet" therefore varies. A Canadian would pronounce it not very differently from the guy in the video. The problem I have is, what pronunciation of "Magdeburg" are we talking about here? I pronounce the "a" more like "u" as in "suck", i.e. fast and open. Many Germans pronounce it stretched, as in "father", and East Germans pronounce it stretched and closed, like Norwegian å. That's a pretty big variation for a language with such limited Geographical distribution and comparatively few speakers.
 
OK, question to all native English speakers: Would you laugh at the guy in the video for the way he pronounces "planet"?
 
That's different. Those are the regional differences I was talking about. The a in German is always articulated differently from the a in English or Italian or a bunch of other languages. It is much closer to a in unstressed position in those languages. The same refers to e, which is also very narrow in German.

So, in fact, the a in Magdeburg is a bigger deviation from the English plAnet than this guy's pronunciation is.
 
Well, you can hear by the pronunciation that he is no native speaker. But... it's not that terrible.
 
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