When I went to Japan, one of the funniest (and I don't speak japanese) shows i saw was a "pronounciation" game show.
Roving cameras asked tourist to "pronounce" a common phrase. the phrase was writen in "western/roman" alphabet, and no guide was given. the contestants (celebraties) had to guess what was being said--
The text was something one the order of "give me liberty or give me death" "We are not amused" -- classical/cliches type phrases. They have 5 or 6 tourist-- and start with the worst-- It could be very un PC-- but it was funny to watch and even i could "hear" the differences between the worst pronounced phrases and the best--
if you ever watched "archie bunker" hear him use the very old, very low class "turlet" for toilet- oh what pronounciation!..Image how such a pronounciation would sound to someone from an other country! Some "english films" and BBC shows-- featuring speakers for the "North" (Yorkshire or Northumbria) have been broadcast in US with sub-titles. and there are so many simple words that change pronounciation just in US.water or roof, and then from england to US- there is a change of vocabulary as well as pronounciation.
and I'm with Wow-- for the most part, Jay Leno is on too late for me to watch and still get to work on time-- but when they set a promo for "jay walking" as the segment is called-- i always stay up. Questions include "how many states in USA? How many planets? During the olympics-- What language is spoken in Austalia? (one answer "austrian") During the elections-- photo's of candidates-- and question "who is this?" the answers Jay gets are scary!
