I agree, I think Mark is a fantastic commentator for all the reasons you outline above. I also like his voice, which I find clear, easy to understand and easy on the ear.
Ted and Ben are also fantastic, and have brilliant commentator qualities, but I think Mark may be my overall favourite.
Belinda is Australian, not British, though. I don't know what terminology Australians use for fall. [Or have I got the wrong end of the stick with this ???}I meant does she say "fall over" where an American would say "fall down" or just "fall"? That could sound a bit odd, I guess. I think I've only heard her once or twice, so I never noticed. In theory, a dictionary will give a slightly different meaning to each, but in practice any Brits I've heard discussing falls will say "fall over" rather than fall/fall down. As somebody with a foot on either side of the Atlantic, so to speak, I use both terms. (And I'm probably a very rare Scot who can't roll Rs.I can't whistle either. Something to do with palate shape, I'm told.)
I knew that, but was thinking that if British-influenced Canadian English includes "fell over" that probably Australian English does too. My South African-born SIL also says "fell over", and a friend from New Zealand. But it made for much too long a sentence to say all that, so I condensed it. I just wondered if the phrase sounded odd to American ears but not to mine.
If I could understand what Mark is saying, I would like him more as an announcer. England/British Isles/UK has a rich mix of various dialects. And it broadens if you include places like Australia. If you watch British TV in the US, you may note you that Downton Abby is much easier to watch than All Creatures Great and Small, for instance, which is best watched with subtitles on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English
Some people are very good at picking up subtle nuances....On cruise ships, I meet people from all over the world....The Dutch I can usually pick out...the South Africans, no so much....The Indonesians speak at least 5 major languages and many dialects at home and to each other...but I have a hard time distinguishing them from the Thai and Filipinos when they speak English, which I have no problem understanding when they speak it.I knew that, but was thinking that if British-influenced Canadian English includes "fell over" that probably Australian English does too. My South African-born SIL also says "fell over", and a friend from New Zealand. But it made for much too long a sentence to say all that, so I condensed it. I just wondered if the phrase sounded odd to American ears but not to mine.
Ah! I thought so! The Aussies I meet on cruise ships talk like her but are not quite as hard to understand.
Interesting! I knew American drama students had their regional accents trained out of them, but not broadcasting students as well. Even tiny Scotland has many different accents. There used to be a sort-of joke (that was occasionally true) that Glasgow law courts used an interpreter because the heavy Glaswegian accent wasn't understood even by other Scots. In my Aberdeen, you just have to remember that wh is pronounced f, and otherwise it's usually understood. (Even after most of a lifetime in Canada, I'll still hear myself saying "Fit y' doin'?" which translates as "What are you doing?" Fortunately my skating partner was born in Edinburgh, so we don't have a language problem.
)It's easier to understand speech when you look at the speaker. We all lip-read to a certain extent.
(Or as my mother used to say, "Wait, I need to put my glasses on...now, what did you say again?")I haven't been to Worlds, but my daughter did buy merch at Skate Canada Kelowna. She got it at the first opportunity (a break or after the first session of short programs). It was a good thing she did, because after that it was a scrum to even get near the merch table.
From my experiences at Grand Prix events and world championships, merchandise usually starts being sold on the first day of competition, so you will need to wait a little while while vendor booths get set up. Things like event programs, jackets and t-shirts are often sold. The event programs do not feature a detailed schedule of events; they are more like souvenir booklets and you can find the most up-to-date schedules on the ISU website. Also, the schedule may be posted on a wall somewhere, take a photo of it if you see it! There are also usually skate shops featuring brands like Edea, Risport, etc. I hope this helps!
My daughter downloads the detailed starting order with times to her phone using WiFi at the hotel. We can then consult it during the competition to see who is skating next and when the breaks are expected. We've even passed it over to a frazzled neighbor who got held up in the security line and wanted to know what she'd missed.
If you want to check out the merch ahead of time, that will be available at Worlds, go to the event website and click on "Shop". Here is the URL: https://www.shopusfigureskating.com/collections/world-figure-skating-championships®-boston-2025
That's really interesting about American dialects/accents. I struggle to tell the difference between different American accents, other than Southern and New York.
Really interesting about the Scots accents. My dad was from Aberdeen and knew a special dialect called the Doric, which was really hard to understand.Interesting! I knew American drama students had their regional accents trained out of them, but not broadcasting students as well. Even tiny Scotland has many different accents. There used to be a sort-of joke (that was occasionally true) that Glasgow law courts used an interpreter because the heavy Glaswegian accent wasn't understood even by other Scots. In my Aberdeen, you just have to remember that wh is pronounced f, and otherwise it's usually understood. (Even after most of a lifetime in Canada, I'll still hear myself saying "Fit y' doin'?" which translates as "What are you doing?" Fortunately my skating partner was born in Edinburgh, so we don't have a language problem.
