UC Berkeley is asking incoming students to participate in an unusual icebreaker this year focusing on “linguistic diversity and the many cultural, scientific and psychological aspects of language.” L.A. Times reports:
“‘Along with helping the newcomers break the ice through shared readings and discussions, the campus’ College of Letters & Science wants students to record their own speech in an ambitious Internet-based experiment to map and match accents from across the state and world.
With about 30% of incoming UC Berkeley students reporting that English was not their first language, exploring that linguistic diversity is a good way to help students feel comfortable at such a large school, faculty organizers said.”
Wait one minute, 30 percent ESL, really? I digress.
“Freshmen and transfer students have been asked to record, in English via the Web, a shout-out to Berkeley sports teams — ‘Go Bears!’ — along with five mouth-stretching sentences, including: ‘She had your dark suit in greasy wash water all year.’ They then read an arithmetic problem in their native tongues, which could total about 50 languages.
The voice samples will be attached anonymously to an interactive world map so other participants can hear them, and each student will be matched through a voice recognition program with five others who have similar pronunciations.”
The study is more than just an unorthodox way to introduce the 5,800 incoming students. Researchers hope to analyze current California accents, and possibly after making new recordings in 2013 and 2015, determine if “being at UC homogenized their accents into distinctive speech subgroups.”
UC Berkeley’s 2010 freshman orientation created a stir when the university asked new students to send saliva samples for voluntary DNA testing for three dietary traits. What was originally intended to be a G-rated “getting to know you” exercise, became a national debate regarding privacy concerns.
Hopefully students will only homogenize their accents, instead of opinions.
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Comments (90)
ezeewhiz
Jul. 17, 2011 at 10:38pmWhat the hell happend to holding out ones hand and saying “Hello my name is …”?
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dr_funk
Jul. 18, 2011 at 2:27amStudents who self-segregate into groups and speak only their native language or their version of pigeon english have a very hard time trying to communicate with anyone outside their comfortable little clique.
Students who force themselves to be immersed in the local culture, and immerse themselves among native speakers (as I did in Germany) have a much easier time communicating, because they are learning from people who speak properly, rather than hearing people speaking as improperly as themselves and reinforcing poor speaking habits.
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SpankDaMonkey
Jul. 18, 2011 at 6:29am.
That would be a PDA and that is not allowed…….
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One Man Progressive Wrecking Crew
Jul. 17, 2011 at 10:18pm1 out of three don’t consider English their first language, so they’re in this country how? And WHY? It’s people like that who we need to slam the doors on. Enough of sharing our wealth with the third world because those are the ONLY students who would be there not speaking English.
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Godfather.1
Jul. 17, 2011 at 11:53pmWow. Your ignorance knows no bounds. In case you were not aware, there are natural born American citizens whose first language is not English. Also, foreign students are paying for their education when they go to schools like Berkeley, which is not cheap.
Nothing in this article indicates that one third of the students don’t speak English, just that it is not their first language, there is a huge difference. It also seems that you think only people from third world countries don’t speak English as a first language, apparently you’ve never heard of Western Europe, Japan, or South Korea. And, by the way, most of the poeple from those countries speak English and speak it quite well, that is, in addition to the three to four other languages they can speak.
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survivorseed
Jul. 18, 2011 at 12:11am@ godfather – I’m sure most of them can speak english better than Cletus can anyway. And its not English, its Amurkin
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dr_funk
Jul. 18, 2011 at 2:29amGodfather, you’re quite clueless about how well foreigners ACTUALLY speak english, especially foreign students.
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Justthefactsmam
Jul. 18, 2011 at 5:14am@survivor and DR…maybe English isn’t your first language, if you read godfathers post carefully, you would see that he is pointing out the ignorance of one mans statement that all the students must be from 3rd world countries…
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Islesfordian
Jul. 18, 2011 at 5:42amLiving in England I can testify that Foreign born immigrants often speak a more comprehensible English than many native born. This facts is attested well as far back as George Bernard Shaw.
In the same way, many new naturalized citizens know their Constitution better than those born here.
We are a nation of immigrants, made strong by each new inflow, as long as they are legal and assimilate into the American culture rather than coming to Balkanize us.
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Jezcruzen
Jul. 18, 2011 at 6:46amI doubt the 30% are from Western Europe. In fact I doubt hardly any are from Western Europe. W.E. has much better universities for actual learning and retaining meaningful knowledge than does the activist cesspool called Berkley.
Back to that 30% – half are Asians and the remaining half from the “brown world”.
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Godfather.1
Jul. 18, 2011 at 10:54amAlthough a large percentage of Berkeley’s students are Asian, most of them are American. There is also a decent percentage of Hispanic students that, believe or not, are American also. Furthermore, only a handful of students at Berkeley are foreign students.
It’s funny that you think Berkeley is not a good school. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the country and the world. It has also produced more meaningful scientific research than almost any school in the world.
I know Glenn Beck tells you that universities aren’t good for anything, especially those liberal elite schools, but in reality, they are.
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Eff the Poor
Jul. 17, 2011 at 10:14pmThe berkeley accent? It’s part Mao, part Lenin add a dash of Wilson, a big heeping of Roosevelt, paint it all in all the colors of the rainbow add some che and season it with latex and excrement. Thats berkeley.
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drattastic
Jul. 18, 2011 at 12:27amNice !
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lifeisgreat
Jul. 18, 2011 at 12:33amThat’s Beserkley!
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BehindBlueEyes
Jul. 18, 2011 at 5:53amThe Berkeley accent is a by- product of the Berkeley brainwashing.
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Affirmative Blaction
Jul. 18, 2011 at 5:58amTomFerrari
Berkeley is VERY EXPENSIVE !
I HIGHLY DOUBT many illegal aliens could afford such tuition and fees.
———————————————————————————————————-
But Obama did just that at Harvard.
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thegreatcarnac
Jul. 18, 2011 at 3:58pmgood one! lol!
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fastfacts
Jul. 17, 2011 at 10:02pmLANGUAGE OF LIBERALISM AT OUR COLLEGES – PART 2
What about when they are asked to be conservative websites/talkers like Glenn Beck: http://url2it.com/ftbb
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fastfacts
Jul. 17, 2011 at 10:00pmTHE LANGUAGE OF OUR COLLEGES IS NOW… LIBERALISM
Ask them about introducing affirmative action into the basketball team: http://url2it.com/ftas
What about when they are asked to redistribute their grades: http://url2it.com/ftat
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Ghandi was a Republican
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:54pmAnd we don’t have to guess what book they will be reading do we? Alinsky, Piven, Rev. wright? Or that creepy book about obama’s alcoholic father’s dreams?
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SacredHonor1776
Jul. 17, 2011 at 10:02pmThis article seems to be misleading, I would assume that the 30% of ESL students includes foreign exchange students and other legal visitors, and not automatically 30% illegal Latinos.
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TomFerrari
Jul. 17, 2011 at 10:12pmWOW.
I picked up ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about illegals – are you fixated on them?
Berkeley is VERY EXPENSIVE !
I HIGHLY DOUBT many illegal aliens could afford such tuition and fees.
I imagined it to be many many countries’ students on visas. (OBEYING the laws, not stealing citizenship by BREAKING LAWS and demanding free handouts for their troubles)
Might wanna have that chip on your shoulder looked at.
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SacredHonor1776
Jul. 18, 2011 at 12:49amI think you misread my post, I was commenting in the other posted in this thread that assume 30% are illegals. I was pointing out that the 30% are foreign exchange and ‘legalized’ visiting students. Which was about the same make up at my own Alma Mater.
But I suppose you are so blind you didn’t read my post…
So who has the chip in their shoulder!
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loriann12
Jul. 18, 2011 at 6:30am@TomFerrari
Yea, just like Obama, excuse me, Barry Soetoro, got a foreign aide scholarship because he was a foreign student to attend Harvard?
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mbean
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:54pmNo Habla….
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christos
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:52pm……Lousy cover for the “He’s the One” who speaks in awful accents regularly what better back up,remember they have left no stones unturned,just one major ROCK…….+JESUS+ if a person does not find out who they are through +JESUS+ they remain a brick we are the True stones of the Living +GOD+JESUS+ they stand on the devils platform,not the ROCK of +JESUS+
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MrButcher
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:51pm“Hopefully students will only homogenize their accents, instead of opinions”
Touche’.
But lingustic studies of this kind are always interesting.
To the trained ear, it is easy to pin-point where on the globe one aquired their dialect and speech pattern.
There is a corollry to this but I’m not going to bring it up.
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JimCDew
Jul. 17, 2011 at 10:25pmAww . . come on, bring it up. BHO doesn’t have a dialect, accent or speech pattern from anyplace he has ever lived so “he’s a real nowhere man”.
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Islesfordian
Jul. 18, 2011 at 5:49amActually, Obama’s accent has distinct Midwestern patterns. The shortness of his sylables and relative even tone of his sentences as well as the short clipping at the end. There is practically zero Asian or African overtones. One way to notice his natural accent is to see how he speaks in other venuies when trying to fake another accent, like a southern one.
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Ghandi was a Republican
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:51pmBunch of diversity-phobes.. First thing they think of is how to lessen their own phobia.
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wordweaver
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:49pmSaliva test for a dietary survey? Right! Kids, run for your lives. This accent test is an elaborate ruse for some nefarious purpose. Just say no.
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kcinco
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:49pmwho cares? what a waste of hard-earned scholarship money ultimately coming out of our pockets….
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Epic Fail
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:43pmDon’t worry. When these idiots graduate and have to find a job, reality will set it. And all that BS brainwashing won’t help pay the bills in the real world.
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concealled9mms
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:43pmi will tell you what is worse my son had a 4.35 grade point average and got a full blown scholarship he chose santa clara up a ways in calif. he never made it threw a semester up there i asked what the heck is the problem, he was also going to be a starter on the soccer team as he also had a athletic scholarship ,anyway he said it was a waste of time as he could not understand one word coming out of the professors mouths as they were all foreign speaking with accents so heavy he was lost , the good news he finished his schooling in san diego and designs night vision optics for the military
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rightwinglefty
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:16pmIs this like in My Fair Lady, “The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain.” Teach immigrants to be regular gentlemen and ladies. It can be a great movie.
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dealer@678
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:30pmIf Osama is re elected who in that picture will be the next economic advisor to the president
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BIGJAYINPA
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:42pmRather than split California into two states why don’t we just split California off of the US?? I get so sick and tired of the looney cr*p that comes out of that state. I got a great idea..give it back to Mexico and you immediately upgrade both countries. Well maybe just the US, who the h**l cares what it does to Mexico….Just sayin’
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Godfather.1
Jul. 17, 2011 at 11:46pmBIGJAYINPA
If you really want CA to break off, I guess you won’t mind having nearly all of your food imported considering CA produces the majority of the nation’s food. I guess you also won’t mind losing the world’s eighth largest economy. That’s right, on it’s own, CA has the eighth largest economy in the world. I guess you also won’t mind losing all money from CA that props up the red states through federal aid.
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HappyStretchedThin
Jul. 18, 2011 at 5:24am@Godfather
Good point. We should keep em. But like Puerto Rico. They lose statehood and get no real votes in Congress until the adults in the nation bring their finances back into order. Put Scott Walker in charge of their budget for a decade, maybe. Waddayasay?
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HappyStretchedThin
Jul. 18, 2011 at 5:26am@ Godfather
p.s. Prop up red states? You mean like TX? FL? Where do you GET this stuff?…
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Christabel
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:15pmLike, I think maybe like we should, like you know all talk a certain way because like we all want to like be diverse and stuff.
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CanteenBoy
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:44pmOh like totally! I was like talking to my friends and they were all like, wow, and she was like wow, and they were all like, dude.
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mbean
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:53pmLike what-ever!
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whatthecrazy
Jul. 17, 2011 at 11:00pmAdd your comments
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LinkedIn G
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:58pmLet the brainwashing begin…
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Stuck_in_CA
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:15pmJust another example of how “special” this once great state is. Another day, another weird thing surfaces. Sorry, America.
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Hickory
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:52pmIt looks like a great opportunity to find some illegals.
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111gecko
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:50pmIt is an accent alright……it is called a fart…because they always talk out of their a**es!!!!
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Doug Piranha
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:49pmI don’t know if there’s a Berkeley accent, but there is a definitive speech pattern by which you can positively identify someone who attends, has attended, or should attend UC Berkeley.
Every sentence he/she/it utters begins and ends with a prolonged, gutteral, monosyllablic sound which, spelled phonetically, is “duh.”
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kickagrandma
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:43pmUh, no! We already have enough trouble with our language since the accepted inception of the “Valley Girl I’m so stupid, I cannot make a correct AMERICAN ENGLISH sentence without turning a statement into a question” syntax that affects EVERYONE in this country. BARF!!!!
If you aren’t from AMERICA, and you talk funny, go home.
If you ARE from AMERICA, and you talk funny, stay where you are.
Don’t worry about how we sound. Let’s just get back to making statements when we speak instead of sounding like idiots who do not know HOW to make a statement without forming a question.
Por favor gente.
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HappyStretchedThin
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:56pmDon’t be so uptight about it Gramma! Yeah, when talking immigrant language, there’s a few first generation holdouts, but generally speaking, the American way (and yes, American English with it–from Valley girl, to southern drawl, from Bostonian to Pittsburghese–the whole wonderful variety) is so darn seductive, the second generation almost NEVER fails to learn proper English. Have a little faith in the power of freedom there, Gramma. It wins out in the end, I promise!
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Hickory
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:57pmlos ciudadanos de Babilonia me suena
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PelositheGreat
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:41pmand tax dollers. Berkeley is just another liberal mess.
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cheezwhiz
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:37pmHopefully students will only homogenize their accents, instead of opinions.
—–
They are in Bezerkeley.
They don’t have opinions. Atleast not their own opinions. Or the capabilities to form their own opinions.
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338lapua
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:36pmIf there wasn’t some wacked out lefty agenda going on here….this just sounds like good clean fun!
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cheezwhiz
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:44pmAfter the recordings in 2011-2012,
the same people will be recorded again a few years later and since there WILL be some change in accent / mannerism of speech,
the Univ will apply and get a huge grant to study this phenom.
Also, since the accents of ESLs will definitely change over a period of 2-6 years, they will blame USA and Bush for taking away the ‘ethnic pride’ of foreigners.
Afterall, its Bezerkeley
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sooner12
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:56pm@Cheez
Right on……oops
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338lapua
Jul. 17, 2011 at 10:34pmCheez…..after2-6 years, an introduction of mild “current” may be added to see if it enhances the effect. Soon we all will speak identically. OR ELSE!
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kindling
Jul. 17, 2011 at 8:32pmI’m sorry, but what a waste of time and money.
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B_rad
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:20pmBoy, you’re right about that. It is a HUGE waste of time and money. Oh, wait, you mean the study? I was talking about the school.
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commonsenseguy
Jul. 17, 2011 at 9:55pma waste of time,money,air and brains, they say a mind is a terrible thing to waste, well all of this idiot liberals are being lead to the the communist feed bucket and they are doing it willingly ,i bet if you look close enough, you can see a cattle nose ring in each of these idiots nose’s and some left wing mud sucking bottom waddling liberal professor is holding the rope,that will guide them down the road that leads to the slaughter house.
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