Accents and understanding them.

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After living here in the USA for nearly five years its interesting how the accents of countries from around the world are influenced by living in another country. I being from New Zealand have noticed this significantly when talking to fellow Americans around me. Most think I'm from England(the UK for those being politically correct) but the rear occasion I get people ask if I'm from Australia . What really makes me laugh is when I hear an American ask me what part of the US is New Zealand ,like New Zealand is a city or county of a state . Its sad that so many Americans have no idea what exists beyond their own neighborhoods. Lesson number 1 New Zealand is its OWN COUNTRY , not a county of the US or city or town, After all New Zealands Population is over 5 million people and geographically the size of California or Japan. Often New Zealand is left of world Maps and mistaken as part of its own unique continent Lesson 2 New Zealand is NOT part of Australia in anyway , other than we share a lot with sports and have a good working relationship with policy and military alliance. Lesson 3 Australia is a COUNTRY NOT A CONTINENT it belongs to AUSTRALASIA Australia and NEW ZEALAND are NOT THE SAME Australia is to New Zealand what The USA is to Canada . neighbours not residents of the same country, There is approximately a million kiwis who call Australia home and around 50.000 Australians who call New Zealand home.(these numbers are only an estimate as Covid and other factors are at play) Back to the accent , a lot of New Zealanders speak with a soft accent that cant confuse a lot of people who arent use to hearing it. And to throw in the mix that New Zealand also has a regional accent depending on what part of the country you are from just as is the case in the USA or Australia or even the UK but to sum up the New Zealand accent here are some things to remember words that end in ER or OR tend to be said like they end in AH such as Doctor (Doctah) E's often sound I's and o's sound like A's unless they are a double such as Moon then they sound like everyone else. Australians and their accent is quite the opposite in that their accent the I's sound like E's Theres a joke that most kiwis know that being " did you know that Australians can only count to 5 then they get rude. You can read the above statement to understand the joke SO..... I'm sumerization kiwis are kiwis not Australians the kiwi bird is New Zealand the Kangaroo is Australia and the reason some kiwis might appear like they might be from Australia is because a lot of kiwis emigrated from there. So in other words New Zealanders are to Australia what Americans are to Ireland , a lot of Americans imagrated from Ireland that's why if you listen carefully to the American accent in some parts of the USA you can hear the Irish twang. This is why Americans are big on celebrating such holidays as St Patricks day particularly as a lot of Americans have Irish ancestry and haven't left their love for Ireland behind even though they live in the USA or a descended from someone who is or was. So celebrate your heritage this Christmas and ask your parents or grandparents about their family heritage and where you come from. America was once known as the New World because it brought forward new opportunities for many people. Its important to know and learn from our past so we can make a better future for the generations ahead of us. The reason that the catholic faith has done so well in the USA is because of its strong ties to Ireland and its strong ties to Italy a couple of the strongest Catholic countries in the world. But with change comes change in accent and change in culture and the way we live. Generations from now they will say how did they live without intergalactic travel ,how did they live with having to physically drive a car. The time will come when people wont own cars they will just call a service or ask alexa to do it. There will come a time when we wont drive a car we will just go on a shute system to our destination and be there in a matter of seconds. The world is changing and the languages we speak and the accents we speak will change and there will be a universal language that we all speak even if to an onlooker it will be he's talking chineese while shes talking French but totally understanding each other in real time. Well I've waffled on for far too long but I hope those of you who take the time to read this find it interesting enough to leave me a comment below. Merry Christmas and happy Holidays to all!!