2528 - Breaking News! Don't Speak Like a News Anchor in English

Hi, Michelle. How are you today? I'm doing well. Lindsay, how are you? I'm feeling great. Glad to

be on the microphone recording. Michelle, where do you consume most of your news? Would you say that you consume a lot of news? And if so, where do you get it? Good question. Um, I think it's a I I would say I do watch TV. I do watch, you know, I switch around between different news

channels on TV. Um, I also will read articles. Um, I will I mean I don't want to I don't want to say social media. That's a whole other topic, but I will I will find out about things on social media and I take it with a grain of salt and I might investigate a little further, right?

Because there's so much on social media nowadays that go is just really messing with everything.

What do you think, Lindsay? And where do you get your news? Yeah, 100%. Yeah, grain of salt. Take

it with a grain of salt. Great bonus for today. You know, not taking it seriously. Really not

taking it seriously. I agree. I do stay away from social media for news and just kind of in general.

Sometimes I'll flip through Instagram for the dog videos, but that's pretty much it. That's

good. I get my news definitely through podcast. So, I'm a big listener of the daily, the journal, the Wall Street Journal's podcast, Box, um, Today Explained. These are some of the ones that I listen to on a daily basis. So, that's really where. And then sometimes I'll have maybe CNN on, but I've been trying to get away from that, the talking heads, you know. And then the New York

Times is always a tab open when I'm working, frankly, unfortunately. So, yeah, that's what I do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, today we actually we have a really interesting listener question. This

I do. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, today we actually we have a really interesting listener question. This

is going to be a different kind of episode. I'm really excited for this. But before we get into it, I want to read you some results that we had from a Spotify poll that we did a few weeks ago.

Um, so this was episode 2495 and it was, "Is being a trooper praised in your culture?" Um,

that was the name of the episode. So if you haven't listened to that one, definitely go ahead and do that. Um, Lindsay, what was the poll? Yeah, the question was, "Have you ever broken a bone?" Interesting. And so what were our results, Michelle? We roll out the results. It looks like

bone?" Interesting. And so what were our results, Michelle? We roll out the results. It looks like we have a pretty play safe audience here. Yes. was 25% of you have broken a bone and no was 74 and probably some decimal point, right? Let's just say 75% for No. So, I forget. Lindsay, have you? I

don't I don't even want to jinx you. Yeah, I Oh gosh, don't jinx me. No, I haven't. Well,

I had like a hairline. I don't think it was a break. It was like a a little sprain of my wrist, but I think that doesn't count. So, I'm going to say no. I've never broken a bone. I'm surprised so um so low on the yes actually. I don't know. Me too. I find everyone's broken a bone once in their lives. Yeah. Yeah. So very interesting. Thank you so much for answering those qu that

their lives. Yeah. Yeah. So very interesting. Thank you so much for answering those qu that question on Spotify. Um so yeah, let's get to the um question from the listener. Lindsay, would you like to read it? Yeah, this is from YouTube. Don't forget guys, another way to consume this show is over on YouTube. If you'd like to, if you'd rather learn that way through watching us and the

gestures and seeing Michelle and I on video, that would be the way to do it. So, go over search for Allers's English on YouTube, hit the subscribe button. So, this comes from KKK T uh T2C7D.

Is there any difference between the way CNN speaks and the everyday American spoken accents? M so I'm going to assume this listener is talking about the actual not so much the the com like you know they do the roundts at night assume that she's they're not asking about those people

uh I'm assume they're talking about the anchors like the news anchor that's what that's what I'm going to take it as um so yeah um and I took it more like not this may not be a question of accent that you're wondering about it may be about the word cadence Um, right Lindsay, what is a what

is the cadence? Yes. So, the cadence is about the song. I mean, how something sounds, the rhythm, the flow, the ups and downs. And we just released our brand new pronunciation course talking all about this, right? Yeah. Right. So, it's it we can talk about accent in just a second as well,

but to me, that's really the difference. It's not necessarily how they speak like with their accent and changing anything about their actual accent, but more so about just the certain special way like we're going to talk more about this um like how they actually sound the song of what that's

how I always think of it as a song. I think there's a lot of secrets for our listeners in cadence and rhythm on how to be clear less so in accent, right? Because there's so many accents in the world and even in the US. What is an American accent, Michelle? Is it is it uh is it a Michigan accent, which sounds very different from a Texan accent? Is it a New York accent, Boston accent?

You know, what is an American accent? So, we spend our time looking more at cadence and rhythm to be clear, right? Absolutely. Guys, make sure you hit the follow button wherever you are listening to Allers's English to make sure you don't miss anything. If you're here on YouTube, hit the subscribe button where however you like to listen. Hit follow, subscribe. Um,

make it easy on yourself. For sure. For sure. Good stuff. Um, yeah. So, but yeah, I mean, Lindsay, when is when you see this question, I mean, do you know what this listener is asking basically? Like,

have you noticed that there's a special way that newscasters speak? Anchors. Yeah, of course. And

it's always fun. You can and sometimes you can imitate it a little bit and have fun with it.

There is a newscaster cadence for sure. And I I don't think it's anything like a typical I mean if you went to a party and started talking like a newscaster, you're No, we don't we don't talk like that in everyday life. No. Exactly. So again, you know, maybe um in talking heads, but certainly

not, you know, maybe like when people are just having a conversation, they're speaking in a more realistic way, as Lindsay mentioned, but not when they're reading a news c a news story, they're broadcasting something. Um so there's, you know, a there's a special way of speaking if you are in broadcast news. And as far as accent goes, I would say that um there might be a

more standard accent like kind of Yeah. Like you don't like for example, you don't typically hear reporters having huge New York accents or unless it's maybe in local local news, but for national like you wouldn't nec I don't think you would hear I think it's just a little bit more standard. Um

whatever that means. I think maybe Midwestern I think is maybe the more of the standard accent.

I'm not sure. The Midwestern standard for the US for a US news anchor. You think? Yeah,

I think they're I think it's mostly trying to be like a like more neutral. Um so like I don't know that you would hear like a heavy Boston accent. Like maybe the person is from Boston, but maybe they kind of hide it a little. Yeah. Sometime when I think of a Midwestern accent, I think of some I think of a very strong accent like the Chicago accent. But I think I I know what

you're saying here, Michelle. My question is when these news stations hire anchors, do they hire for the standard accent or do they train a regional accent out? Like do you train do they train you to speak in a standard American accent and train out the regional accent for when you're broadcasting? I don't know. Yeah. Which comes first the chicken or the egg? I mean, if

you're broadcasting? I don't know. Yeah. Which comes first the chicken or the egg? I mean, if somebody is in broadcast school, is that something that they work on? I I think probably they probably do work on this. Um, but I don't know. Um, so yeah, but in general, um, they speak very

clearly with a lot of annunciation, maybe a little slower, maybe a little deeper. Um, controlled and really stressing the words, right? Not mumbling through anything. Yeah, for sure. I know Michelle, you had an internship at a news station and you learned a little bit about this. Are there

any secrets you're going to tell us about today? Well, I'll put on my news voice for you uh later, but yeah, I mean, again, just kind of what I said, you know, I remember speaking deeper, um, you know, pausing in certain places, really stress out the words, a lot of annunciation,

right? So, maybe a little less connected speech, things like that. Um, but you know, um, I'm sure

right? So, maybe a little less connected speech, things like that. Um, but you know, um, I'm sure if you ran into one of these, I mean, like for example, um, I mean, okay, so like, okay, let's talk about maybe Anderson Cooper. Um, the way he reads the news as a broadcaster is different than

if you hear him on the New Year's show, you know, like when they're doing, you know, if you two the two guys are always joking around the other guy, Andy Cohen. Yeah. So if you ran into Anderson Cooper on the street, he's not going to speak the same way he does when he's reporting live from a

hurricane, you know, like it's not it's not going to be the same way. Um, you know, they may be more casual in real life, have a certain accent, more natural sounding, less controlled, more casual, um, more connected speech, contractions, all of these things, just a little less formal. Yeah.

Yeah. And also the fact that they're reading off a teleprompter, right, usually when they're in studio. So I think that naturally lends itself to just really isolating the words outside of typical

studio. So I think that naturally lends itself to just really isolating the words outside of typical conversational English and it makes it a more stagebased English, right? Exactly. Um and yeah, exactly about how formal the language is. So so many different things to think about here. But so

for example um if I said like for all ears English I'm Michelle Kaplan right? So that would be if I'm reporting and at the very end or like for example, here's another one. Today in New York City, a new hot dog shop opened and everyone is in line to try it. Right? You have imagine you going to a

party and saying that, right? Hello, I'd like to tell you about this new hot dog shop. I tried.

They'd be like, Michelle, are you okay? Like what's happening? Great. I mean, it also goes along I mean, even Lindsay when we when we we use an announcer voice sometimes when we're doing the um titles, uh this is an all ears English podcast. You know, there's a different cadence. I'm not

going to say this is an all ears English podcast. Hi, I'm Michelle. That's a title. Right. It's a

title. It makes sense. It deserves to be a little bit elevated. Right. Right. Right. And another

thing that I always love is newscasters you might hear they use a lot of puns in stories like very cheesy type oh yeah it's always like yeah like at the ends it's especially of human interest stories there's always some sort of Yeah yeah yeah okay I know what you're talking about so funny yeah

just a lot of a lot of fun to listen to but are those puns written into the script or do they make that up on the spot is that I think both. I mean sometimes I think I think again it's more on the end of like more human interest stories. So like you know the the fluffier things like Mhm.

dogs rescued or something. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Exactly. So you might guy especially in local news you might hear pretty some pretty cheesy things on the news um when the stories are lighter. So kind of interesting. You can look out for those. Yeah. Really interesting. All right

are lighter. So kind of interesting. You can look out for those. Yeah. Really interesting. All right

Michelle. So let's teach some idioms today. Okay, we've talked a little bit about what so the answer for our listener is it's completely different, right? I mean that newscaster cadence is going to be very different and it's but it's not really about accent. They use a standard accent usually.

Um but it's more about delivery, rhythm, cadence, but don't go to a party speaking like a newscaster is kind of my takeaway so far in the episode. Yes. Exactly right. Yeah. Don't let that be the don't learn to speak like a newscaster unless you're actually going into that field. Yeah. Don't

shadow. Don't I mean it doesn't hurt to be able to do it, but u don't use that as your primary material. If you're shadowing, use something like a podcast like what we're doing here. It's a much

material. If you're shadowing, use something like a podcast like what we're doing here. It's a much more natural cadence going on. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So, we're just going to talk about some um expressions you might hear on the news that it is possible that um some of these you might hear

also in a different way, but they come from the news. So, Lindsay, what's the first one?

Yeah. So, the first one here is breaking news, right? So, people use this even just in casual life and that's the funny part. So you'll hear this, you know, on CNN when there's feels like everything on CNN. Oh, I was going to say that, too. On on CNN, everything is and then breaking

news. Breaking news. It didn't used to be that way. I really think they've really, you know, they

news. Breaking news. It didn't used to be that way. I really think they've really, you know, they make a lot of money on the fact that everything is breaking news and everything's always red and flashing. But what does breaking news even mean? I guess I realized we didn't explain. I mean,

flashing. But what does breaking news even mean? I guess I realized we didn't explain. I mean,

I guess it means something new that just they just learned, right? Something that just happened. Big

new news. Uh especially election nights. Oh my god. Talk about just going crazy. Like we have an new election update breaking like it's oh my gosh. It's like you you feel crazy at the end. Um but

but but how do we use this in everyday life? So if you don't want to bring your announcer voice to a party, but you maybe want to use the vocabulary, how do you do that? Yeah. You could say something like, "Breaking news, Cliff got engaged." Yeah. Yeah. That's fun. That's fun because you're taking something that you're nodding to the news, right? It's like a nod to the news,

but you're applying it to your your social life. That's kind of cool, I think. And you don't need to say it like a newscaster just because you take breaking news. You should like you don't need to be like, "Breaking news, everybody. Cliff got engaged, right? You don't need to No, no, no. Totally. Yeah. Your cadence was very The first time you demoed it, it was clearly

no, no. Totally. Yeah. Your cadence was very The first time you demoed it, it was clearly not using that announcer voice." Right. Right. Right. Right. Um, so the next thing is on the record or off the record. Um, yeah. So this is about if something can be officially quoted, right? So you might hear somebody say like sources a source said off the record, right? It's it's

right? So you might hear somebody say like sources a source said off the record, right? It's it's

it's about if you're allowed to share the share exactly a quote, right? Basically, I'm sure there are all kinds of laws or rules that journalists follow in terms of what they can report and what they can't and sources and all that stuff. So, but we do take this into our everyday life too, right? Yeah. Um, you know, maybe you might just say to your friend, "Off the record, I heard that,

right? Yeah. Um, you know, maybe you might just say to your friend, "Off the record, I heard that, you know, Mike and Carrie are getting divorced." Right. Right. Yeah. Um, but on the news like or or maybe a reporter might be talking to another reporter. They could say something like,

"I spoke to a reporter, but um told him it was off the record, so don't worry." Yeah. Perfect. Okay.

So that's one. And then another the last one, Michelle, is what? Back to you. Right. And do

we use this in regular life? Not so much. I mean, you could as a joke. Yeah, you could as a joke, but you need to make it a joke, right? So sometimes things mirror another environment so much that we actually need to make it a joke for it to work. Does that make sense? Like it's

so much about the anchor space. back to you that if you don't sort of say it in a silly way, uh, people will be like, "Is she does she think she's on the news right now?" Like, "What's happening?"

Like, there there goes that they're always think always think she's on the news. Oh god,

this episode's cracking me up. It's cracking me up. Um, so what would that sound like in a socially acceptable way? Let's say at a party. What do you Oh, well, I mean, like, let's say we're all, you know, around and and and maybe you kind of interrupted someone. You interrupted this guy named Chris and you took the attention. Then you might just say, "Okay, sorry. Back to you,

Chris." Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Good stuff. So, let's do a role play. Michelle,

Chris." Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Good stuff. So, let's do a role play. Michelle,

what are we doing in this role play here? You have any We are We are reporters. We are reporters. Uh

oh. Okay. Let's see if I can do it. You have all this experience. I don't know. So, um, so here we go. Um, I'm at the anchor desk and you are on the scene. So, you are at whatever. Yeah. So, I'm

we go. Um, I'm at the anchor desk and you are on the scene. So, you are at whatever. Yeah. So, I'm

the one that gets to stand out in the hurricane, right, with Yes. Yes. Exactly. Okay. Here we go.

All right. Okay. So, we are going to take you over to Lindsay McMahon who has breaking news. Lindsay,

thank thank you, Michelle. I just spoke to a source off the record who said the shop on 33rd is officially closed down. We'll have more information as the night goes on. Back to you, Michelle. Okay. How was that? Give it a C minus. Right. No, I thought that was good. No,

Michelle. Okay. How was that? Give it a C minus. Right. No, I thought that was good. No,

but Exactly. And like But you did you weren't speaking in the same way that you're used to, right? No, it wasn't the normal. It wasn't even the normal uh cadence for this podcast, right?

right? No, it wasn't the normal. It wasn't even the normal uh cadence for this podcast, right?

There was something elevated about it. I mean, you are on stage and you are, you're right, you're punching each word a bit more. you're really being thoughtful about which words um are going to get uh kind of elongated or get more emphasis in the sentence. Yep. Exactly. So, really interesting.

So, let's go through this. Um I said take you over to Lindsay McMahon who is breaking news and then I said Lindsay. All right. They do that too. They'll just they'll just like say the person's name Lindsay. Right. Right. I always wonder about that. Yep. And then I said, "Thank you, Michelle.

name Lindsay. Right. Right. I always wonder about that. Yep. And then I said, "Thank you, Michelle.

I just spoke to a source off the record who said, and I just punched that a little bit. That's that

one of those key words, um, who said, "The shop on 33rd is officially closed down." Right. And I I added some emphasis there. I added a little drama is officially closed down. Okay. Um, what else did I say, Michelle? Uh, well, then you continued to share information and then you said, "Back to you,

Michelle." So nice. So I feel like it's a very clear answer for our listener here on this.

Michelle." So nice. So I feel like it's a very clear answer for our listener here on this.

What anchor the way that anchors speak, anchor people, anchor women, anchor men is not the way that people speak in normal conversation. Right. Exactly. And it's a great example what you said earlier. Compare Anderson Cooper on New Year's Eve when he kind of riffs with Andy Cohen for hours

earlier. Compare Anderson Cooper on New Year's Eve when he kind of riffs with Andy Cohen for hours at a time. Um they are like I don't know, they're like two little boys just like joking around. Um,

and the cadence is nothing like when he's on CNN at 8:00 p.m. every night, right, as an anchor.

Yeah, exactly. So, so it's very interesting the different hats we wear, the different ways. I

mean, I mean, there are probably tons of different ways that we can go further into even I mean, you speak in a different way in many different contexts. It's not just about the news. I mean,

you know, talking to, you know, your boss, talking to, you know, like it's not like it it's not I think this is very stark the difference. So, not Yes. And not everything is this much, but there are slight differences sometimes depending on who you're talking to, level of formality, so many different things to to listen out for. But I mean, this was such a good question and

um really good to kind of observe um that there it seems like this listener was observing that there's something different about the way they talk. Something different. Well, that's a really important takeaway for our listeners here. I want to highlight what you said, Michelle. This could

be an invitation to our listeners. You guys are at the right level to start to pay attention to cadence differences. As Michelle said, very stark difference. We hope you noticed it. Um,

cadence differences. As Michelle said, very stark difference. We hope you noticed it. Um,

but there are other environments. Let's say when you walk in to talk to your boss, then you walk out of your boss's office, then you talk to your co-workers in the corner. Different cadence,

right? Most of the time, that's something that's a little more subtle, but you should start to notice it, start to hear it, listen for it in other people. That's going to be put you on the path of fluency. Right. Exactly. All right, Lindsay. Thanks for talking about this with me. This is a

of fluency. Right. Exactly. All right, Lindsay. Thanks for talking about this with me. This is a lot of fun. Thank you, Michelle, for your demo, your anchorwoman demos. We love that. Thank you.

And everybody, we hope that you've enjoyed this episode and that you have a great day. Love it.

So good. All right, Michelle. Talk to you soon. Have a good day. All right. Bye. Bye. [Music]

So good. All right, Michelle. Talk to you soon. Have a good day. All right. Bye. Bye. [Music]