1 hour ago, OneManShow said:

When people brain get slow it becomes difficult to follow people words.

I can understand fast American - my young students (who I doubt have slow brains), cannot.... But they can understand British narrators on YouTube, (maybe because those narrators are speaking English and the others are speaking American...)

Just now, simon43 said:

I can understand fast American - my young students (who I doubt have slow brains), cannot.... But they can understand British narrators on YouTube, (maybe because those narrators are speaking English and the others are speaking American...)

Perhaps their English speaking teacher speaks British and it’s that is what they have adapted to.

I was born and raised (reared?) in E./SE Texass. I damn sure would never vote for any MAGA traitor like the current dictator in the white house. My folks date back to the 1700's, Sam Houston is a great, great, great uncle. My mom was a school teacher starting in the 1920's and some of my cousins were teachers also. My Grandfather "PawPaw", was born in 1865, well educated, teacher, farmer, county judge, and I wish I had paid even more attention to what he could teach me. The family had moved to E. TX from Mississippi in a mule drawn wagon around 1900. I dropped out of college in my senior year to protest the illegal, immoral war in SE Asia as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. I spoke slowly, but I recon loud enough to bring the Nixon regime down on my head. I was asked to become a teacher here soon after moving full time in 2010 because I spoke slowly and Thai people could understand my English. I don't understand a lot of English people, some Australian folks, and others with heavy accents, then again helicopters and loud boom booms took some of my hearing. I don't have to worry about speaking now, Agent Orange took my larynx. Perhaps some folks don't understand the US is actually quite large, i.e. Texass is larger than Thailand and Alaska dwarfs TX. There are many dialects spoken across the country. TX has different accents. A lot of Cajun is spoken where I grew up, ex#1 was Cajun. Damn good food! I spent 20+ years in New Mexico and often caught myself speaking Spanglish when I had to return to SE Texaas. I found that what I thought was movie accent wasn't, people from certain parts of Brookland actually did say thurty thurd and thurd. An accent or dialect does not necessarily reflect upon a persons education or intelligence. Badmouthing people because they speak a certain way may.

Edited yesterday at 04:59 AM1 day by sgtsabai
grammer

9 hours ago, scorecard said:

"...schools with a budget to purchase the products are most likely in higher income school districts which have a higher quality of students who both want a fast presentation and who can comprehend the material. "

Arrogance, to the point where the writer is assuming that US Americans / America is/are the only human beings in existence.

A twist; the thread is about Americans speak so fast. What about the French?

The arrogance is from your end, but then that is nothing new. Simon was commenting on a US educational product. The US productions are intended for the US market, and comply with the local subject matter requirements. In your haste to point your crooked finger, you missed a very obvious characteristic of US based scientific teaching materials that makes them market specific: The USA still uses the old imperial measurement system.

As a Boston person ... a city known for very fast speech ... what we want to know is "Why are you speaking SO SLOWLY" which is like a verbal water torture. But all kidding aside, are you seriously criticizing American speech rates based on the ability of non-English speaking Thai children? Are we really being serious right now???

16 hours ago, simon43 said:

"Teacher Simon - we can't understand that science video! The person is speaking English too fast.."

That person is usually from the USA, speaking English at breakneck speed, even when the intended audience of the video is only 7 years old and perhaps not a native English (sorry - native American) speaker...

Why do they do it? Brits and Ozzies don't speak so fast. Sometimes I find an interesting science video, but reject it for my lessons because the narrator is from the USA, and seems to be trying to win a race in fast-speaking!

So my American friends - why do you speak 'American' so fast? Why don't you have consideration for your audience and SLOW DOWN FF S!!

It isn't the fast talking that baffles me but the fact that most speak with their mouth closed. All you hear is mumbling. It's especially bad from the ones with low voices like that movie actor with the long grey hair and droopy moustache, he sends me to sleep the boring old goit.

6 hours ago, Chalky0w said:

The question should be why do Americans speak so much!

There is a quote popularly mis-attributed to Twain or Lincoln that many should take note of:

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt

😁

The question really should be, why should others judge a certain race, creed or nationality from experiences with just a few? Americans certainly don't have the gift of gab over anyone else. If you live in Thailand, you'll see in just a short time how much talking the women here do, especially when you're on a van or bus traveling locally, or at a family dinner.

47 minutes ago, novacova said:

Perhaps their English speaking teacher speaks British and it’s that is what they have adapted to.

Most of their in-class English teachers are American... I mostly teach American English (spelling, different word pronunciation, such as for 'router').

46 minutes ago, sgtsabai said:

I was born and raised (reared?) in E./SE Texass. I damn sure would never vote for any MAGA traitor like the current dictator in the white house. My folks date back to the 1700's, Sam Houston is a great, great, great uncle. My mom was a school teacher starting in the 1920's and some of my cousins were teachers also. My Grandfather "PawPaw", was born in 1865, well educated, teacher, farmer, county judge, and I wish I had paid even more attention to what he could teach me. The family had moved to E. TX from Mississippi in a mule drawn wagon around 1900. I dropped out of college in my senior year to protest the illegal, immoral war in SE Asia as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. I spoke slowly, but I recon loud enough to bring the Nixon regime down on my head. I was asked to become a teacher here soon after moving full time in 2010 because I spoke slowly and Thai people could understand my English. I don't understand a lot of English people, some Australian folks, and others with heavy accents, then again helicopters and loud boom booms took some of my hearing. I don't have to worry about speaking now, Agent Orange took my larynx. Perhaps some folks don't understand the US is actually quite large, i.e. Texass is larger than Thailand and Alaska dwarfs TX. There are many dialects spoken across the country. TX has different accents. A lot of Cajun is spoken where I grew up, ex#1 was Cajun. Damn good food! I spent 20+ years in New Mexico and often caught myself speaking Spanglish when I had to return to SE Texaas. I found that what I thought was movie accent wasn't, people from certain parts of Brookland actually did say thurty thurd and thurd. An accent or dialect does not necessarily reflect upon a persons education or intelligence. Badmouthing people because they speak a certain way may.

Lived next to San Antonio for 32 years before moving to Thailand, and New Jersey before that, and heard the same from both places. Parents from Brooklyn, which is different than New Jersey. Miss that Blackened Snapper, Red Beans and Rice and Crawfish too.

17 hours ago, simon43 said:

"Teacher Simon - we can't understand that science video! The person is speaking English too fast.."

That person is usually from the USA, speaking English at breakneck speed, even when the intended audience of the video is only 7 years old and perhaps not a native English (sorry - native American) speaker...

Why do they do it? Brits and Ozzies don't speak so fast. Sometimes I find an interesting science video, but reject it for my lessons because the narrator is from the USA, and seems to be trying to win a race in fast-speaking!

So my American friends - why do you speak 'American' so fast? Why don't you have consideration for your audience and SLOW DOWN FF S!!

They tend to forget what they are going to say if they take it slow

41 minutes ago, JustinTyme said:

As a Boston person ... a city known for very fast speech ... what we want to know is "Why are you speaking SO SLOWLY" which is like a verbal water torture. But all kidding aside, are you seriously criticizing American speech rates based on the ability of non-English speaking Thai children? Are we really being serious right now???

Nope - I'm criticising American narrators in YT science videos aimed at young students, where my many hundreds of young Chinese students who attend international schools and mostly speak fluent English, have problems understanding the narrator because it seems like they are trying to win the 'speak as fast as you can' race :)

As for the imperial measurements mentioned in YT videos, clearly those narrators think that the world ends at the Golden Gate bridge or Martha's Graveyard, becauxse almost every other country uses the SI metric system! Curiously, one of the few countries to still use the Imperial System is Myanmar, where I've taught in-class for many years.

59 minutes ago, simon43 said:

"Why do Americans narrating science topics for young students on YouTube speak so fast?"

Maybe you could post a link to a video or two so we can listen to the rate ourselves. Bill Nye the Science Guy?

Otherwise, I have seen many people that know their content area very well (i.e. science), but don't know how to talk to children or language learners. I've never thought it was limited to Americans. I'm thinking a combination of unfamiliar accents and rate of speech could be a problem for some ELL students.

12 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Nope - I'm criticising American narrators

Criticizing American narrators, or criticizing Americans? I always enjoy your posts, simon43, but today you seem to have Americans stuck in your craw. There's a lot more criticism in your posts than simply speaking too fast.

"The rate of speach has little to do, and very little correlation with, the amount of information which is transmitted.

Think about this.

Slow rate speakers impart just as much information, per minute, as fast rate speakers."

I agree 100% with these comments.

I was a commercial pilot (not American) and, in aviation, radio and cockpit communications are vitally important ....that they are clearlyunderstood!

In my 70's now, I follow some aviation YT content ....mostly from the US....and the machine gun rate of speech is largely unintelligible, if not laughable....especially from air traffic controllers, who seem to think that their rapid fire delivery is "cool" or professional....

It's NOT!

The number of "say again"s and misunderstood transmissions, and repeated instructions/queries simply defeats the purpose and takes up valuable RT time.

After 40+ years in aviation I mostly cannot understand what they.....(American) pilots or controllers are saying.

Listening to Japanese or Singaporean or British or Indian/Malaysian/ Thai*or even French (when not talking French!) is as it should be.

Clear, concise and economical.

• Thai controllers and pilots are very good.....especially the ladies 😋

4 hours ago, Surasak said:

Please be aware, even Gemini can make mistakes!

Not in this case.

Gemini has taken information from substantiated and reliable studies.

Did you think that Gemini conducted its own research, trials, and funding of this basic research?

4 hours ago, Surasak said:

Not long enough for you, it should have been at least another 5 years!?

It should have also contained proper spelling, which is often left out of my sentences.

27 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Nope - I'm criticising American narrators in YT science videos aimed at young students, where my many hundreds of young Chinese students who attend international schools and mostly speak fluent English, have problems understanding the narrator because it seems like they are trying to win the 'speak as fast as you can' race :)

As for the imperial measurements mentioned in YT videos, clearly those narrators think that the world ends at the Golden Gate bridge or Martha's Graveyard, becauxse almost every other country uses the SI metric system! Curiously, one of the few countries to still use the Imperial System is Myanmar, where I've taught in-class for many years.

Did you mean Martha's Vineyard or the song by Carroll Taylor?

1 hour ago, simon43 said:

Perhaps I need to modify my title question:

"Why do Americans narrating science topics for young students on YouTube speak so fast?"

My rate of speech has become slower and slower, the longer and longer I have been in Asia.

My speech slows down to make it easier for ESL speakers to understand what I am saying.

My purpose is not to astound the other party with a high-rate of speech.

Rather, the reason for speaking to someone is to share or impart meaning.

Walking fast, not talking fast, is OK, however.

8 minutes ago, orchidfan said:

"The rate of speach has little to do, and very little correlation with, the amount of information which is transmitted.

Think about this.

Slow rate speakers impart just as much information, per minute, as fast rate speakers."

I agree 100% with these comments.

I was a commercial pilot (not American) and, in aviation, radio and cockpit communications are vitally important ....that they are clearlyunderstood!

In my 70's now, I follow some aviation YT content ....mostly from the US....and the machine gun rate of speech is largely unintelligible, if not laughable....especially from air traffic controllers, who seem to think that their rapid fire delivery is "cool" or professional....

It's NOT!

The number of "say again"s and misunderstood transmissions, and repeated instructions/queries simply defeats the purpose and takes up valuable RT time.

After 40+ years in aviation I mostly cannot understand what they.....(American) pilots or controllers are saying.

Listening to Japanese or Singaporean or British or Indian/Malaysian/ Thai*or even French (when not talking French!) is as it should be.

Clear, concise and economical.

• Thai controllers and pilots are very good.....especially the ladies 😋

As a pilot you should know that air traffic controllers speak fast to give quick instructions to the pilots, as they're maneuvering has to be concise with so many other planes in the air at one time, and close to each other.

Many are on the same frequencies and need to go from one pilot to another rapidly.

They use shortened words and sentences for this very reason also.

The more experience a pilot has the easier they can understand the verbiage. Millions of flights with very few accidents shows they're communicating well. It's not about being "cool" but the way it's done.

Per the OP, there are times when speaking slowly is mandatory, and a person learning English is one of them. My English school owner teacher has this as a rule, along with no Thai speaking during the classes.

Edited yesterday at 06:28 AM1 day by fredwiggy

7 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

My rate of speech has become slower and slower, the longer and longer I have been in Asia.

My speech slows down to make it easier for ESL speakers to understand what I am saying.

My purpose is not to astound the other party with a high-rate of speech.

Rather, the reason for speaking to someone is to share or impart meaning.

Walking fast, not talking fast, is OK, however.

Do you speak like you write, separating the written word into one sentence paragraphs? In that case, that would be a correct way to teach English to those who are trying to learn it.

2 hours ago, flexomike said:

you need to quit hanging out in the bars with all of the low lifes

I wouldn't go as far as to say ALL Americans are low lifes. That would be most unfair.

That's your opinion, not mine. Shame on you.

7 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Do you speak like you write, separating the written word into one sentence paragraphs? In that case, that would be a correct way to teach English to those who are trying to learn it.

My stragegy is always governed by my intended audience, in both cases.

33 minutes ago, ColeBOzbourne said:

Maybe you could post a link to a video or two so we can listen to the rate ourselves. Bill Nye the Science Guy?

Otherwise, I have seen many people that know their content area very well (i.e. science), but don't know how to talk to children or language learners. I've never thought it was limited to Americans. I'm thinking a combination of unfamiliar accents and rate of speech could be a problem for some ELL students.

My English school owner here has had many different teachers in his employ. Americans, Brits, Scots, Filipinos, Cameroonians, and others, all with accents, which can confuse the students if they're learning long term with different teachers. Especially going from Brit to an American. He hired me as I speak native English and clearly, with no real accent, as he learned in the states himself, in Michigan, and knew how we spoke. I hear some of his students sounding like they learned in England, and some with only their Thai accent while speaking English.

My agent here I've used, a Thai woman, lived in England for quite awhile with her English husband, and has an English accent from being there so long.

4 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

As a pilot you should know that air traffic controllers speak fast to give quick instructions to the pilots, as they're maneuvering has to be concise with so many other planes in the air at one time, and close to each other.

Many are on the same frequencies and need to go from one pilot to another rapidly.

They use shortened words and sentences for this very reason also.

The more experience a pilot has the easier they can understand the verbiage. Millions of flights with very few accidents shows they're communicating well.

Per the OP, there are times when speaking slowly is mandatory, and a person learning English is one of them. My English school owner teacher has this as a rule, along with no Thai speaking during the classes.

As a pilot for over 40 years I think I might know a little more about it than you my friend!

Aircraft are handled in a "safe, orderly and expeditious*" manner.

Overly 'expeditious' speech does not achieve the above criteria!

Just now, orchidfan said:

As a pilot for over 40 years I think I might know a little more about it than you my friend!

Aircraft are handled in a "safe, orderly and expeditious*" manner.

Overly 'expeditious' speech does not achieve the above criteria!

You should, as I've said, and I've known air traffic controllers living in the states, and heard them speaking. That's why I don't understand your saying this, "in my 70's now, I follow some aviation YT content ....mostly from the US....and the machine gun rate of speech is largely unintelligible, if not laughable....especially from air traffic controllers, who seem to think that their rapid fire delivery is "cool" or professional....

It's NOT!"

If it was unintelligible, there would likely be a lot of trouble in the air over America, which there isn't. If you flew mostly in Europe, that's what you're used to, and I can understand that. AI agrees with this............Communication Style Differences

• Pacing and Structure: European air traffic control tends to stick closer to rigid, formal International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) phraseology, which can create an even, measured delivery.

• U.S. Delivery: U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) controllers frequently use a fast, conversational, and relaxed tone, packing a high volume of instructions quickly into busy radio frequencies.

• Perception of Speed: Because English is a second language for many European pilots and controllers, transmissions may intentionally include clearer spacing or deliberate pauses, whereas fast domestic U.S. radio work can sound much faster to foreign aviators.

• For these reasons, The total surface of continental airspace is similar in Europe and the US. However, the FAA controls approximately 67% more flights and handles significantly more Visual Flight Rules (VFR) traffic with some 13% fewer controllers and fewer en route facilities.

• So there are reasons they speak faster in America that are obvious and understood.

Edited yesterday at 06:46 AM1 day by fredwiggy

18 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

It's not fast it's loud

And also fast, because they love to interrupt people and laugh loudly at their own jokes.

Therefore speaking fast and loudly makes sure you squeeze your message in before someone shouts you down or interrupts rudely.

18 hours ago, simon43 said:

"Teacher Simon - we can't understand that science video! The person is speaking English too fast.."

That person is usually from the USA, speaking English at breakneck speed, even when the intended audience of the video is only 7 years old and perhaps not a native English (sorry - native American) speaker...

Why do they do it? Brits and Ozzies don't speak so fast. Sometimes I find an interesting science video, but reject it for my lessons because the narrator is from the USA, and seems to be trying to win a race in fast-speaking!

So my American friends - why do you speak 'American' so fast? Why don't you have consideration for your audience and SLOW DOWN FF S!!

As I've been teaching mostly grad students, I pace my speech. Well, except when I'm excited--some students will do that!

This is the reason that most great, or even good, actors are Brits, and some very good ones Shakespearean trained.

18 hours ago, simon43 said:

"Teacher Simon - we can't understand that science video! The person is speaking English too fast.."

That person is usually from the USA, speaking English at breakneck speed, even when the intended audience of the video is only 7 years old and perhaps not a native English (sorry - native American) speaker...

Why do they do it? Brits and Ozzies don't speak so fast. Sometimes I find an interesting science video, but reject it for my lessons because the narrator is from the USA, and seems to be trying to win a race in fast-speaking!

So my American friends - why do you speak 'American' so fast? Why don't you have consideration for your audience and SLOW DOWN FF S!!

Ever heard American ATC?

555 I See a couple of others have zeroed in on this as well ...

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by BusyB
Other posts referring to topic.

18 hours ago, ColeBOzbourne said:

Idon'tthinkthatwespeakfast,Icanunderstandeverythingjustfine.

Why do we speak loud? THEY DIDN'T GET IT THE FIRST TIME!

17 hours ago, temuFarang said:

I've never encountered a European who doesn't consider themselves part of the master race.

Is it because they are ?