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What’s up with certain young(ish) people speaking English like robots?

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 7:02 pm
by Micael
Not all of course but I’ve noticed in the last few years various people who when reading aloud or narrating something in particular seems to pronounce and intonate every word as if it was standalone one rather than as a part of a sentence. Thus making the speech sound somewhat robotic.
An example of this is this guy, who make fine yacht tour videos as such but the way he speaks is not what I’d describe as standard:
https://youtu.be/whMT06RqFCE

Have anyone else noticed this and if so what do you think might be the cause of this? Have I just missed some local accent where this has been the case all along or is it a new thing?

Re: What’s up with certain young(ish) people speaking English like robots?

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 7:19 pm
by kdahm
It's not a new thing. It's people narrating who don't have a lot of experience or training in how to do it. The profusion of different video platforms has given everyone a voice, and it's obvious that a lot aren't ready for that voice. In addition, a lot of the machine reading uses a similar intonation pattern, as well as other flaws, and that contaminates who people hear and think is normal.

Re: What’s up with certain young(ish) people speaking English like robots?

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2026 8:50 pm
by Nik_SpeakerToCats
Upside, no need to struggle with nigh-impenetrable 'Regional' dialects.

Down-side, it cautions they may be ignorant of their degree of ignorance...

Re: What’s up with certain young(ish) people speaking English like robots?

Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2026 6:09 am
by Beastro
It's a profusion of people making video presentations mixed with a decline in very proficiencies like rhetoric.

Yet another thing to love social media for.

... especially Tik Tok.