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I agree about the Yorkshire accent - it was a toughie for me to get my ears around. After a few days I understood it better.
Scottish accents are a challenge - we recently watched "Shallow Grave" and it was difficult to understand some parts of it (though I thoroughly enjoyed watching cutie pie Ewan McGregor so that made up for it). Speaking of that cutie, another UK movie that I found charming but hard to understand was "Little Voice."
Haven't heard of those but I'll check them out. Aye, Ewan is cute.
Haven't heard of those but I'll check them out. Aye, Ewan is cute.
Oh, he's a doll and both these movies were from when he was very young, though probably not innocent.
Both movies are really, really good. I especially love Shallow Grave. Bear with it the first ten minutes - you'll be wondering why I recommended it. But about ten minutes into the movie, suddenly everything changes - you won't need me to tell you when it happens either! I love that movie.
There are many Scottish accents. I still have a bit of trouble understanding a heavy Glaswegian one and I don't live that far from Glasgow and go into the city often.
This. Of all acents from the UK, this is the toughest one. The Welsh accents are easiest for me along with RP.
My best friend in from Pontefract in Yorkshire, and when he talsk fast , over the phone, I can't understand him. I don't have that problem face to face.
I should imagine Americans would need an interpreter to understand films such as 'Kes' set in a thick Yorkshire (Barnsley) accent and indeed heavy Geordie (Newcastle), Scouse (Liverpool), Brum (Birmingham) etc would all be difficult on the untrained ear, and that is even before you consider Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The entire movie is on Google so I skipped through a few minutes of it. I'm pretty good with many British accents and was in England long enough to be able to catch most slang and colloquialisms, but that film is very hard to understand.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac15
We went into a KFC in palm beach and the woman (black from like Georgia or something) could not understand us nor could we understand her. She may as well have been foreign because the language she was speaking didn't sound English.
I really don't get some people. Why they don't feel to moderate their accent is beyond me.
This reminds me of a chat I had in Yosemite National Park with a couple of German girls driving across the US on holiday. They spoke very good English and told me that they could easily understand me with my Western US/California accent. They did say that they spent the night in a small town in Mississippi and literally could not understand the majority of the people there who were black. They said it was like a foreign language to them. I know what they meant - I've traveled to the South to visit family and would often have to carefully listen to understand what some rural blacks would say.
I have no problem understanding American accents, but I struggle with some British ones (being British myself). Scottish, Geordie (Newcastle) & some other northern accents (Carlisle for example) I sometimes don't have a clue what they are saying...
Heck, after visiting for two weeks I was speaking with a Brit accent. The youth hostels were da bomb.
Wadda=US
Wawwtah=UK
and BTW a bathroom is a room with a bathtub in it, if you have to go really badly you may have to use that as there may not be a toilet in there. That was a big WTH LMFAO.
The entire movie is on Google so I skipped through a few minutes of it. I'm pretty good with many British accents and was in England long enough to be able to catch most slang and colloquialisms, but that film is very hard to understand.
Don't want to upset you but the version of kes you saw is almost certainty the redubbed version with a softened accent and less slang to make it easier to understand!
The US has regional variations in accent, however they are still understandable, indeed far more so than many English regional accents. I should imagine Americans would need an interpreter to understand films such as 'Kes' set in a thick Yorkshire (Barnsley) accent and indeed heavy Geordie (Newcastle), Scouse (Liverpool), Brum (Birmingham) etc would all be difficult on the untrained ear, and that is even before you consider Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This is mostly true but the US is no slouch when it comes to WFT accents. Get someone with a thick Okie accent or some of those Appalachian or Tidewater accents and it doesn't even sound like English anymore LOL.
Overall, thanks to having a few British teachers and working for two decades in a theme park with many visitors being from the UK, I can understand most British accents. That is until they start dipping deep into their local slang or colloquiums then forget it.
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