Australia - Languages

The Australian colloquial language, commonly known as 'strine', can be baffling to foreign visitors. Although strine takes a little getting used to, it adds a lot of colour to the Australian language. 

Some Australian expressions use rhyming words to get meaning. For example, 'billy lids' means kids or children. Often a phrase may sound like a single word such as 'owyagoin' that actually means: 'How are you?' Another example is 'waddayareckon' which means: 'What do you think?' 

Australians often shorten words or add an 'e' or 'o' to the end of words. A good example is describing a U-turn as a 'uwie'. When used at the end of a person's name it usually shows affection, mateship or acceptance, such as when a name changes from 'Thomas' into 'Tommo'. 

Other expressions will already be familiar to most visitors 'G'Day' for example. Others will make no sense at all 'anklebiters' meaning children, or 'crook' meaning ill! 

Although it's not always the case, the Australian accent tends to be broader in the bush (country) than in the city. Despite our size, however, the dialect remains fairly constant right through Australia, compared with the regional differences that exist in the U.S. and England. 

Don't worry, you'll soon understand what we're saying and probably enjoy trying to figure out some of the more quirky expressions we often use. So when you're Down Under drinking the amber nectar at a barbie, give strine a burl!