English pronunciation sample

[kurii]

I record two samples of different accents. Also can you figure out what accent I have from my reading an English article from the China Daily?

The transcript:

A delegation of the Washington Wizards, the first NBA team to visit China, left Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province, on Sunday morning for Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, winding up its short visit of Sichuan.

The team arrived in Chengdu on Friday afternoon and had a group interview with the media.

On Saturday, they visited the You'ai Primary School in Dujiangyan, a city under the administration of Chengdu, and stayed at the Chengdu-based University of Electronic and Science and Technology of China (UESTC) where they taught basketball players from the UESTC and Aba Teachers College in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan to improve their skills.

Both Dujiangyan and Aba were hard hit in the 8-magnitude earthquake in Wenchuan county in Aba, the epicenter of the devastating quake.

"The quake hurt the people of Sichuan and we were eager to visit children in the quake zone," said Peter Biche, president of the Wizards, in a group interview with the media.

Hosted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the team's Sichuan visit was the third stop of its 10-day visit in China to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Bullets' (now the Wizards) groundbreaking journey to China.

[Scoobyqueen]

The Australian accent comes across in your reading of the English text especially the "ay" in saturday, player and "a" in devastating, the softer "t" in city as well as the rising intonation eg first time you mention the word China. I think Australians often sound like they are asking a question?

[kurii]

That posting was meant to be a reply to the sample thread in the Chinese pronunciation forum; the admin relocated it, I guess, to an appropriate category.

I notice Australian influences on my accent, which is a hybrid. I normally tend to sound neutral. But when nervous, I'd slip into an Australian accent. It's weird. I never intended to imitate, nor could I imagine myself speaking like that. Perhaps it's an easy accent to obtain in some way.

[renzhe]

It's an interesting thing. I was told that when I'm upset, I sound American. If I'm composed, I sound British