Paul Hogan’s portrayal of ‘Crocodile Dundee’ brought to the world a host of (often inexplicable) Australian colloquialisms.
Made famous by Paul Hogan’s Crocodile Dundee, Australian colloquialisms – those quintessentially Australian terms we use in everyday conversation – seem to baffle the world, it would appear.
As Kell and Vogl (2007) discuss in their report. ‘International students: Negotiating life and study in Australia through Australian Englishes’, “English has assumed an important status as providing access to economic, educational and immigration opportunities”; however, as the authors explain, to the detriment of the education system is the difficulty international students – particularly those of Asian origin – have in understanding the local vernacular.
Melbourne’s Monash University have published on their website, A very short dictionary to Australian slang, to be found amongst their online learning support material; the position of this reference guide amongst other study materials demonstrates the University’s recognition of the importance of students understanding the Australian dialect.
Formal linguistic skills, such as those employed in the composition of essays – a skill of necessity for all university students – Kell and Vogl note, are quite well developed amongst international students; it is the more relaxed, conversational styles they struggle with, often a barrier to their ability to integrate into the Australian culture and lifestyle.
In the following TED Talk given by Chairman of Walker Digital, Jay Walker, the businessman describes the possibilities English as a globally spoken language will have as a “problem solving” mechanism – Walker encourages the commonality in effort to create more effective international communication and thus business (as is his area of expertise).
However, what Walker does not account for is local vernacular, as discussed above; this is an issue which must be addressed, as Kell & Vogl argue, in order to make the most of this international cross-cultural integration, especially in terms of international university students and their attempts to bridge the divide between their first language and first culture, and their new language and culture.
P.s. Thankyou PA Pundits for the image.
P.p.s. Thankyou TED for the video.
