Mary's Accent and Languages

[Madame Royale]

Anyways, Mary's voice is like butter...it is just so WONDERFUL to listen to, in English, I mean. You should really listen to it...it's perfect!

Isn't it just

 

[Sister Morphine]

I watched some of Mary's documentaries from www.youtube.com
I typed in "mary donaldson" in the search bar at the top.

Anyways, Mary's voice is like butter...it is just so WONDERFUL to listen to, in English, I mean. You should really listen to it...it's perfect!

She does have a beautiful accent, even if it is a combination of English, Scottish, Australian and Danish.

 

[soCal girl]

She does have a beautiful accent, even if it is a combination of English, Scottish, Australian and Danish.

It is a very interesting accent. I think she speaks quite well but I understand when people say there are lots of pauses in her speaking so her speech doesn't sound as smooth. She's probably trying to make her English understandable for the Danes and to speak with correct grammar and what not.

 

[irishgirl567]

there's nothing wrong if a northern ireland's accent , i am from belfast , some of my danish friends can understand me ok , but the twang i don't have of belfast accent

 

[RachelD]

She does have a beautiful accent, even if it is a combination of English, Scottish, Australian and Danish.

I finally got to listen to her speaking...and I think she has a lovely voice and accent. She does sound a little Australian (in the engagment interview)...I also heard her speak Danish but since I had never heard somone speak it before I was not able to notice any sort of accent. She just sounded Danish to me...

 

[Mathilde1286]

I also heard her speak Danish but since I had never heard somone speak it before I was not able to notice any sort of accent. She just sounded Danish to me...

Where did you hear her speak Danish? I'd LOVE to hear it.

 

[Madame Royale]

Where did you hear her speak Danish? I'd LOVE to hear it.

Its quite quick, but it gives you an idea

Such a beautiful, beautiful voice.

Mary presents Wood Industry design prizes - 8 June 2006
TV-SYD

video clip(2:15)

 

[Mathilde1286]

Thank you, Madame Royale! I quite agree, her voice is beautiful!!

 

[eireann]

How long are Mary and Fred together? And how well does Fred speak English? I´m a native English speaker living in Germany with a French boyf..I speak English everyday, but have inadvertently begun speaking simple English and even making basic errors...I also (subconsciously) speak slower, pause a lot etc...some of the foreigners here pronounce "clothes" as "closes" rather than "close" and after many years of hearing this it is starting to sound normal (scary, eh?!). If I remember, Mary spent some time in Paris before moving to Denmark so she has been some time out of Australia - don´t know how often she speaks English with native speakers. Personally I think any changes to her accent are due to changes in her situation and not something she has deliberately set out to do. My accent changes all the time depending who I´m speaking to (I even had an Aussie twang when I was younger from watching too many Aussie soaps!)

 

[politikgirl]

Agreed. Mary has a beautiful voice, speaking either language.

 

[pollyemma]

Mary's voice always reminds me very much of Jennifer Lopez's.

 

[Princess BellyFlop]

I agree that Mary has a great soft voice.

 

[fandesacs2003]

MARY's VOICE and ACCENT

Hello to everybody, I'm quite new to this thread, I went through it quite fast, but I've noticed a lot of criticism to Mary, about her loosing her native accent, and trying to be different, etc, etc, .. and I would like to say the following.

Mary has been brought up, like an absolutely normal, average girl, an "every day" person. It was a very very few chances to her, to be one day under an even very small spotlight, like most of us, and she has not been at all prepared to this.

She suddenly became the center of the attention, for millions of people to this earth, she had to learn a completely new language, a completely new behavior, she comes from another continent, she has to walk, speak and smile, in front of the entire world, she is not allowed to show if she feels tired, if she feels cold, or if her shoes are too tight,... and if she shows even a very slight sign of weakness, people will immediately criticise her, she has not been brought up to all this, BUT SHE SUCCEEDS perfectly.

Anyone of us, if he has to affront people, even a work meeting of only ten persons, or an university expose in front of our 20 school collegues, we feel anxious, we try our voice alone in front of the mirror, the day before, and we are affraid to slip down while walking towards the "speaking chair", so why she is not allowed, to feel affraid, and to try to controle situation??

We accuse Mary not to be natural and cool, but noone of us would have stay the same, even in situations much much less stressy than hers.

Out of this, she has a lovely voice, she managed to speak a very difficult language, and she does her "job" very well and full of grace.

 

[RachelD]

Hello to everybody, I'm quite new to this thread, I went through it quite fast, but I've noticed a lot of criticism to Mary, about her loosing her native accent, and trying to be different, etc, etc, .. and I would like to say the following.

Mary has been brought up, like an absolutely normal, average girl, an "every day" person. It was a very very few chances to her, to be one day under a very small spotlight, like most of us.

She suddenly became the center of the attention, for millions of people to this earth, she had to learn a completely new language, a completely new behavior, she comes from another continent, she has to walk, speak and smile, in front of the entire world, she is not allowed to show if she feels tired, if she feels cold, or if her shoes are too tight,... and if she shows even a very slight sign of weakness, people will immediately criticise her, she has not been brought up to all this, BUT SHE SUCCEDS perefectly.

Anyone of us, if he has to affront people, even a work meeting of only ten persons, or an university expose in front of our 20 school collegues, we feel anxious, we try our voice alone in front of the mirror, the day before, and we are affraid to slip down while working towards the "speaking chair", so why she is not allowed, to feel affraid, and to try to controle situation??

We accuse Mary not to be natural and cool, but noone of us would have stay the same, even in situations much much less stressy than hers.

Out of this, she has a lovely voice, she managed to speak a very difficult language, and she does her "job" very well and full of grace.

You know, I really have to agree with you...we should not be critizing her. She's out there living in a foreign country (she was not born or raised in Denmark) and learning a whole new langage. Not only learning it for personal use or pleasure but having to use it for everyday and in public...knowing that the whole country and world are watching your every step and counting your every breath. SCARY! Personally, I think she's done a great job...and it's hard to be able to not have an accent when you speak if your living or around someone that does. Queen Margareth has a British accent when she speaks English...not sure about Prince Henrik...but Prince Joachim also has a British accent when speaking English. Fred does not sound very British (and I was a little dissapointed ). I heard them speak on a documentary on KPBS not so long ago. So, we should be happy that Mary has been able to take this great change tolerably well and strives to make a success of it.

 

[Rose1991]

It's quite easy to sound english what ever dialect you have, with the help of a coach, you only really have to stress the vowels slightly differently.

 

[Laviollette]

Mary has never sounded Australian, at all, to me. When I heard her speak english for the first time, she sounded like someone with a fading British accent--one who had spent time in America. Now she speaks english like ex-pat Scandanavians (some of whom sound British and some kinda British). It's obviously her Scottish family roots working here. Even though she was born in Australia, her entire family (mother, father, siblings) where born in Scotland so of course she sounds British/Scottish and maybe picked up a little Australian twang along the way. She was surrounded by her family who were born in another place and she learned to speak like them, with their accent.

 

[magnik]

Has or not but what is her Danish and her accent in this language now after few years of learning?

 

[Laviollette]

Has or not but what is her Danish and her accent in this language now after few years of learning?

On her first Australia tour, the Danish press said CP Mary spoke Danish more fluently during M&F's only press conference than they had heard her speak it before. Apparently, the Danish press is complaining about a bad-Danish speech she gave recently. Maybe when she's in a comfortable environment, without stress, she speaks Danish better--like when she's home in Australia or when she's around her family and friends. I thought her Danish was fluent and natural by now but apparently she still has difficulty with the language.

 

[Lasse Pedersen]

On Sunday the 1st of October, Ekstra Bladet published an article with the headline “Mary i sprogkrise” (i.e. “Mary in Language Crisis”) in which they mocked Her Royal Highness’, in their opinion, poor Danish skills which in their eyes became evident at the presentation of the Crown Prince Couple’s Culture Award in the Copenhagen Opera House. The openly republican tabloid compared HRH The Crown Princess’ pace of learning Danish to that of HH Princess Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg. This seemed very unfair to me for two reasons.

First of all, it is never fair to compare two persons like that. All people can learn a language, but at different paces and different levels.

Secondly, it is not taken into consideration that HH Princess Alexandra was fluent in German well before she met HRH Prince Joachim. And for someone who knows the German language, Danish is, generally speaking, not as hard to learn as it is for someone who come from, say, an English or French speaking country.

/Lasse Pedersen

 

[MargreteI]

On her first Australia tour, the Danish press said CP Mary spoke Danish more fluently during M&F's only press conference than they had heard her speak it before. Apparently, the Danish press is complaining about a bad-Danish speech she gave recently. Maybe when she's in a comfortable environment, without stress, she speaks Danish better--like when she's home in Australia or when she's around her family and friends. I thought her Danish was fluent and natural by now but apparently she still has difficulty with the language.

The "news" paper Ekstra Bladet is hardly the danish press

They try hard to be like "The Sun"

Don't worry

 

[Jo of Palatine]

On Sunday the 1st of October, Ekstra Bladet published an article with the headline “Mary i sprogkrise” (i.e. “Mary in Language Crisis”) in which they mocked Her Royal Highness’, in their opinion, poor Danish skills which in their eyes became evident at the presentation of the Crown Prince Couple’s Culture Award in the Copenhagen Opera House. The openly republican tabloid compared HRH The Crown Princess’ pace of learning Danish to that of HH Princess Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg. This seemed very unfair to me for two reasons.

First of all, it is never fair to compare two persons like that. All people can learn a language, but at different paces and different levels.

Secondly, it is not taken into consideration that HH Princess Alexandra was fluent in German well before she met HRH Prince Joachim. And for someone who knows the German language, Danish is, generally speaking, not as hard to learn as it is for someone who come from, say, an English or French speaking country.

/Lasse Pedersen

You sure? On listening to Danish people, I have not the slightest idea what they are talking about while I have no problems understanding Dutch or Letzebuergisch or Schwitzerdütsch. But then I'm from the south of Germany and all these three languages are related to my native dialect from the Palatinate. Probably Germans from the North find danish easier.

As for Mary: I'm not sure if it has been mentioned before but does anyone know if Frederick and Mary decided to raise their son bilingual? It would explain what Mary's Danish did deteriorate as this would put her in a difficult situation: talking English at home for the sake of her son but having to talk Danish when doing her job is pretty difficult. No wonder she has more problems than at times when she could fully concentrate on learning Danish.

 

[Violet25]

I've written before on the subject and I'm not divulging into details again. It bothers me that people go a bit off topic here . when people start talking about how wonderful Mary is at not showing emotion and what a wonderful princess she is, I couldn't agree more- but this is not the point!. What the topic of this post is , whether her accent has changed, not her princess ability as a whole. It has changed yes and no, she doesn't sound Australian. I once saw in a documentary (it might be the Mary Donaldson documentary or the 60mins one) where they show footage of Mary at a work function before she even met Fred. Her accent is very Aussie and she sounds like the average Aussie gal... so Scottish parents or not, Mary was born and raised in Australia until she was 28 and she managed to speak like your average Aussie before she moved to Denmark. So she hasnt' always spoken this way. I also know a girl that used to work with Mary at Belle Property, and she said that Mary did not speak this way before.
It's not a big deal, no one can blame her, she's just following etiquette. But I find it amusing people go out of their way to defend it. I also know a lot of people that live in Europe as Aussie expats and while their accents may go off a little bit, none of them sound like Mary does

 

[Lizy]

From the snippets I've heard it does sound as if Mary's accent has changed quite a bit but I don't think it makes her a better or worse person. Surely it is what she says that counts, not the accent she says it in?
I'm Scottish and have a noticeably Scottish accent but when I was in Germany I found myself speaking to Germans in a v odd accent - very deliberate and precise - in order to be better understood. IMO I don't see the fuss. I don't think she is denying her Aussie roots and for all we know, she might speak to all her Aussie relatives and friends in her old accent.

 

[GrandDuchess]

Well if Mary wants to speak a better Danish, it would be a good idea to hire a speech therapist or some other kind of professional, who could help her with the pronounciation and speaking the Danish language. Also learning all the grammar now is a good idea, as the older one gets, the harder it is to learn new languages...

 

[Madame Royale]

I thought her Danish was fluent and natural by now but apparently she still has difficulty with the language.

I think it was in 2002 that the Crown Princess started learning Danish.

Personally, I wouldnt think that for a woman who spoke nothing but english for the majority of her life thus far, and only ever having learned a little French at secondary school that Mary would be totally fluent which of course, she is not.

Being certain that Christian shall be raised in a bilingual household (and recieve a multilingual education no doubt) where his first language shall be Danish (of course), I think this may assist Mary in her attempts to better her Danish aswell. We never stop learning which is wonderful and placing emphasis on her sons mother tongue, will no doubt be of great service to her own pronounciation

It takes time but she shall continue to progress and progress she shall, IMO.

 

[wymanda]

Personally it sounds to me like the danish press would like Mary to completely reject her Australian roots. She is an Australian and that will always be a part of what makes her Mary and will be a part of who Prince Christian is.

 

[UserDane]

I actually have the exact opposite impression; the press and those Danes who occupy themselves with royalty seem to me to be very favourably inclined towards Mary's Australian roots.

 

[Roshanah]

I agree with you. After watching all video coverage of the couple and paying special attention to questions both in Danish and English were posed to her my admiration and repect increased immensely.

Indeed it could be seen that at times espousing a new country, culture and language are repleat with rewards but in the beginning are also with various difficulties.

Moving on to the interviews. I have to say considering the length of time in which she had to learn and then master the Danish Language she has come over leaps and bounds and has proved a true proficient indeed.

I've noticed that she has a trans-continental accent: a mixture of Danish, U.S, Australian, Scotish and English. Her accent is like mine interms of the fact that it too is trans-continental and cannot be renegated to just one area which is fun.

As to whether a particular language is dominent, I would suggest that her accent and speach pattterns converge to the one in the country she is in. ie Australia: Australian, Denmark: Danish and so on.

I say the more accents the merryer.

This is also coming from one of mixed heritage: Ghanaian, Native-American, Indian, Chinese, Aboriginal and Arab. He he he

I've no idea how she sounded in the beginning but she is the child of two Britons who immigrated to Australia. So probably the Donaldsons spoke a kind of mixed British/Australian English at home. While her siblings live in Australia, Mary moved on to Europe. I guess she got more and more into contact with non-native speakers who learned their English according to the British way to speak (alot of them probably in Britain) and thus took on/ enhanced some special sounds.

Of course she is trying to sound as polished as possible because that's what is asked of her on doing a good job as a Crown Princess. When I saw the videos on www.youtube.com I realized how tense this girl was, how difficult the change into this new world obviously was and how hard she tried to please. In some things she said in her pre-wedding interviews you could hear how tough the situation actually was for her: both Frederick and herself realized that she simply had to be a success if they wanted to be happy together. They obviously talked about what to do if she didn't please the queen, if the queen was against the marriage. Abdication had been a topic then between the two of them but Mary clearly stated that she didn't want frederick to give it all up for her so she was forced to be a success. And that she was willing to work as hard as it takes to be the wife the Danes wished for their prince.

As we all know, the queen agreed as did the parliament. Now, after the birth of the next in line I have the feeling that she started to relax more and more. Additionally she got more and more routine on dealing with people and started to show the people the real Mary, the warm-hearted, easy-going woman that prince Frederick fell in love with, as he said in his "speech to his bride" on their wedding.

 

[Surfcity]

Accent Australian

Also, the Australian accent on Australian tv shows are somtimes exaggeratted. I dont know anybody who speaks like Steve Irwin for example. The Aussie accent in my opinion is greatly exaggerated within foreign media.

100% correct- many many Australians do not have an accent as potrayed in some of the popular TV shows such as "home and away" etc.

 

[Polly]

You're both right. I've never, ever, in my life heard any Australian speak like Steve Irwin did. I read somewhere (but I don't know if it's true, of course) that Irwin cultivated that exaggerated accent at the suggestion of his American TV bosses who believed that that's how Americans thought we all sounded.

Mary's English always sounded typically, educated, Melbourne/Sydney to me (haven't lived in the other capitals so can't comment on them). It's changed a little because she's surrounded mostly by non-native English speakers these days and this, I believe, always has an effect. I think that Mary speaks English very well and with no really discernible accent other than some slight 'Australian-ess' in her speech.

I can't comment on her Danish accent, of course. However, Australia is a country with decades of immigration in its recent past, including huge numbers of Europeans from the end of WW2. Many European migrants were highly gifted and intelligent, professional people and spoke more than one language. Notwithstanding, nearly all speak English with a heavy accent. It seems to me to be unreasonable to expect Mary to speak Danish fluently and perfectly and it's possible that she may never do so. The fact that Alexandra, reputedly can, isn't relevant. Some people learn to play the piano much more quickly than others, even with the same teachers.

If Mary has made an effort to learn the language and is continuing in her endeavours (as I believe she most certainly should) then that's all that Denmark can ask of her. Criticisms of her progress, or lack of it, are insensitive and rude, in my opinion, particularly while she's still trying.

Polly