At one point in the interview he had expressed doubts as to whether he was the right person for "that sort of thing."
They asked him a strange question ... "can you do imitations of people ?"
"Oh, yes, I'm very good at that !" he replies, in the voice of the interviewer ! He went on to do lots of other imitations of people on the radio etc ...
"OK" said the interviewer ... " you're in."
It doesn't matter if you're just going to read a language, but if you are going to talk in Arabic, or whatever, being confident about changing the way you speak is important. Taking the accent on board, confidently and securely, is crucial ... and it seems that a lot of people just can't, or won't, do it ....... . but most of us are somewhere in between.
I think one problem might be that we don't listen to ourselves properly! I know it sounds strange, but I can remember vividly the first time I heard my own voice on a tape recording ... I was amazed at how "Northern" I sounded .... I hardly recognised my own voice ... I've never forgotten that shock.
Anyhow, here's a few short examples .... I'm not being rotten to them or anything, it's just how it is .. interestingly, I found a lot more of this sort of thing for French. As you will see, it's not just the accent that's going wrong with some of these ..
Plus, nowadays it's so easy to record yourself .. it may be horrible at first, but on the other hand it's a great way to monitor your progress. Seriously.
Right ... a bit of music now ... it's Nacho Pop with the poppy " La chica de ayer " ...
te acuestas a mi lado sin saber por qué.
Las calles mojadas te han visto crecer
y con tu corazón estás llorando otra vez.
Me asomo a la ventana, eres la chica de ayer
jugando con las flores en mi jardín.
Demasiado tarde para comprender,
chica, vete a tu casa, no podemos jugar.
La luz de la mañana entra en la habitación,
tus cabellos dorados parecen el sol.
Luego por la noche al Penta a escuchar
canciones que consiguen que te pueda amar.
Me asomo a la ventana, eres la chica de ayer.
Demasiado tarde para comprender.
Mi cabeza da vueltas persiguiéndote.
Mi cabeza da vueltas...
Here's something I found while I was looking for stuff about speaking Spanish ... it's just a silly thing...