Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > United Kingdom
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-16-2014, 12:32 PM
 
Location: San Francisco, California
1,949 posts, read 6,444,400 times
Reputation: 2294

Advertisements

I know lots of Americans might not fully understand a native from England because of the different words & phrases or slang used in the UK

but what happens if a person from England visits the US? do they ever get confused by the way Americans talk?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-16-2014, 01:01 PM
 
3,550 posts, read 6,471,413 times
Reputation: 3506
certain words might seem unfamiliar. I was just in London last week and I ordered a combo at McDonalds and they didn't know what a "combo" was till one of the managers came in and said I mean "meal"
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-16-2014, 01:13 PM
 
Location: Colorado
4,306 posts, read 13,440,699 times
Reputation: 4476
Water vs Wadda is always a tough one
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-16-2014, 01:26 PM
 
Location: SW France
16,579 posts, read 17,348,993 times
Reputation: 29809
Quote:
Originally Posted by chilaili View Post
Water vs Wadda is always a tough one
I knew of some Brits in Texas who asked for water and were brought vodka.

I find it difficult to pick up on what is being said on some US TV programmes, but the same can be said of some of the mumblings on our programmes as well these days.

My main issue in Texas was understanding what some Hispanics were saying to me despite the fact that they were speaking English.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-16-2014, 01:57 PM
 
25,024 posts, read 27,845,163 times
Reputation: 11790
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jezer View Post
I knew of some Brits in Texas who asked for water and were brought vodka.

I find it difficult to pick up on what is being said on some US TV programmes, but the same can be said of some of the mumblings on our programmes as well these days.

My main issue in Texas was understanding what some Hispanics were saying to me despite the fact that they were speaking English.
From what I discussed with several Brits before, seems the hardest accents you guys to understand are Southern accents, and accents from ethnic minorities (especially African-Americans)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-16-2014, 01:58 PM
 
Location: Phoenix
29,971 posts, read 18,814,970 times
Reputation: 25917
On the other side of it, some Brits I have no trouble understanding although I may miss a word here are there. Some may as well be speaking Greek, especially many from Scotland and Ireland I just can't understand. I also struggled to understand this Brit I worked with that was from Manchester...I caught maybe half his words but usually that was enough to get the gist of his sentiments.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-16-2014, 02:36 PM
 
Location: Glasgow Scotland
18,457 posts, read 18,609,598 times
Reputation: 28527
Can I answer for a scot... I can understand american accents much better than some English ones.. Newcastle and Liverpool baffle me..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-16-2014, 02:48 PM
 
Location: North Carolina
10,199 posts, read 17,780,830 times
Reputation: 13913
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr bolo View Post
I know lots of Americans might not fully understand a native from England because of the different words & phrases or slang used in the UK

but what happens if a person from England visits the US? do they ever get confused by the way Americans talk?
I lived in England for 8 years, one of my friends there admitted that she had difficulty understanding me at first. I was surprised because I don't have a regional American accent, it's pretty generic. Maybe if I had a thick southern accent, I would get why she'd have difficulty understanding me. But I don't speak any different to, for example, the characters on the TV show "Friends" and she watches that all the time so you'd think she'd be used to my accent. I don't know...

Quote:
Originally Posted by chilaili View Post
Water vs Wadda is always a tough one
That's nothing, come to Philly where everyone says "Wooder".
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-16-2014, 03:52 PM
 
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
554 posts, read 734,752 times
Reputation: 608
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr bolo View Post
I know lots of Americans might not fully understand a native from England because of the different words & phrases or slang used in the UK

but what happens if a person from England visits the US? do they ever get confused by the way Americans talk?
I'm sorry, could you re-phrase that?

(Jezer you're too slow!)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-16-2014, 05:25 PM
 
Location: Melbourne, Australia
9,572 posts, read 20,711,012 times
Reputation: 2833
I'm Australian and I rarely have problems with the American accent. Thank TV, movies.etc for that.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > World Forums > United Kingdom

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top