STANDARD OF SPEECH IMPROVING

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 285, 29 August 1935, Page 8

STANDARD OF SPEECH IMPROVING

English-Speaking Countries

NEGLIGIBLE EFFECTS OF RADIO AND TALKIES

Dominion Special Service.

Auckland, August 28.

Dismissing as negligible the effects of broadcasting and talking pictures, Mr. A. Watson, who arrived from Sydney by the Wanganella to conduct an examination in elocution on behalf of Trinity College of Music, London, declared that the standard of speech throughout the English-speaking world was being improved by young people, who were beginning to realise that to have good accent and intonation was a great asset in life. “I dj) not think wireless or talking pictures matter a rush,” he remarked. “They may make a few people a little more fastidious, but such fastidiousness often becomes pedantry. People are more inclined to criticise and to remember an announcer’s mistakes or his pedantry than to imitate him. Nor do young people get their accent from talking pictures, though they may sometimes reproduce it for fun. They learn their habits of speech in their homes and therefore the major responsibility rests on parents.”

Mr. and Mrs. Watson will leave for Wellington to-morrow night, as the examinations will be held first in the south. They expect to return to Auckland about the middle of October, and after the examinations here will sail again for Australia. Before returning to London Mr. Watson will conduct examinations in Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide and South African centres.