British Accents

[PeteC]

Was once again watching a British show on Exp2. This one was about architecture in England and hosted by a young, very articulate PHD from London. Towards the end of the show he traveled to Manchester and interviewed a local official to explain the history of the terrace houses there and how they originated when Manchester started off as a textile mill town.

When this gentlemen opened his mouth and started to speak, my jaw dropped and eyes bugged out as I could hardly understand a word he said.

I'm familiar with regional accents in the USA and not just north and south, but things like differences between eastern and western Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland etc. Each State has a difference, but the differences are slight and no where near the complexity that apparently goes on in the UK.

Research brought me here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_English
which in itself is daunting to understand, and I really question one section as follows:

"Although some of the stronger regional accents may sometimes be difficult for some anglophones from outside Britain to understand, almost all "British English" accents are mutually intelligible amongst the British themselves, with only occasional difficulty between very diverse accents...."

I don't believe that and can't see how possible that your British ears can tune into all those very strong and distinct differences and come out of a conversation understanding what you heard.

So, I come to the source and ask those who have lived it to explain if true or not, and as easy for you as the quote describes. Pete

[Big Boy]

"Although some of the stronger regional accents may sometimes be difficult for some anglophones from outside Britain to understand, almost all "British English" accents are mutually intelligible amongst the British themselves, with only occasional difficulty between very diverse accents...."

I don't believe that and can't see how possible that your British ears can tune into all those very strong and distinct differences and come out of a conversation understanding what you heard.

You're right not to believe it Pete. I travelled the UK for about 15 years as an IT trainer. I never had a problem getting the course across. However, in several parts of the country delegates would often have one accent when communicating with me, and a completely different accent when talking amongst themselves. I was often totally excluded from coffee break discussions because I simply couldn't understand them.

Even my own accent, which is Janner can be a problem. It is a 'town' Janner accent. I can have difficulty conversing with somebody speaking in a broad 'country' Janner accent.

[STEVE G]

Having spent my working life travelling and working with all manner of Brits I can get on with most accents, but the problem can be some of the slang which is forever changing.
The worst offenders seem to be Cockneys, Geordies and Scousers who constantly seem to invent new words.

[Big Boy]

One of the funniest jobs I've had was working for the Iranian Navy (when they were on our side). Their fire control system was provided by a Swiss firm. I used to sit in on meetings where the Iranians and Swiss would both speak English. My job was to repeat what both sides said ie they were both speaking English, but couldn't understand each other.

Anyway, just a light hearted aside (closely related to English accents) - please.

[migrant]

I did some work in the deep southern states here in the US and there were some people I had a very difficult time understanding between slang and accents.

[redzonerocker]

i think big boy hits the nail firmly on the head.
the difficulties in the understanding generally arises when the locals are talking amongst themselves.

same as steve g, i've worked with a multitude of different regional brits.
i can (learned to ) understand most of what they say & believe me it was sometimes like learning a new language

some difficult accents, in no particular order, scouse, geordie, black country, n ireland, certain parts of eire, scotland especially the celtic side of glasgow ), dundee, some areas of s wales.

by far the most difficult accent i struggled to understand was aberdeen, you've really got to concentrate on that one

migrant mentions the southern states accent, i just love their drawl, y'all
again, when they were speaking amongst themselves, you really had to hang on every word to understand everything being said

[margaretcarnes]

I'm from Yorkshire and the only time I've been unable to understand another Brit was in Yorkshire itself. He was a shepherd who we stopped to ask directions from while out fell walking. His answer truly sounded like a foreign language. That was back in the 70's - I've had a little difficulty also with the West Country accent, but OK with Scouse, Geordie, and even Brummy. (Birmingham Pete!)
I think accents here are kind of evening out more now, and we've lost a lot of the old colloquialisms which were a language in themselves. People tend to just speak in a series of grunts now while saving their real communication skills for texting!

[STEVE G]

RZR mentioned Aberdeen, I worked there for a while in the nineties and just about got the hang of it, although I never got over one of the girls there describing her office as a 'wee bothy' or something similar.
Just down the road from Aberdeen is the small town of Stonehaven and the accent there is so strong that even people from Aberdeen struggle with it!

[Terry]

Had great fun with a Somerset farmer once.

His mate had managed to get his tractor stuck up against a brick wall - and the reverse gear did not work.

He shouted .........something like...

eeeez gorrit werrr eee canna backan assam

[Spitfire]

Agree with much that has been said and I can understand most but you do have to really listen/make guesses sometimes. What must be insteresting or baffling to most non British observers is the diversity of accents in such a geographically small country, like you drive 120 miles up the M1 from London to Derby and see the amount of changes that take place in regards language sound is massive. Even Nottingham, which is only 20 miles away from Derby has a detectably different accent. As said above, if the yokels want to lose a non yokel then you won't understand them.

It must be funny for visitors to the UK for the first time when they thought people talk like the film critic Lieutenant in the 'Inglorious Bastards' film that gets sent to Germany on a mission, only to find people talking like they are in 'Snatch', hard to catch that pikey Irish accent Brad Pitt does.

In many ways, you can see the diversity of the British accent on show here in LOS as so many Brits come here each year. For me personally, I struggle the most with accents of Newcastle and further northwards, especially if they are rough and thick, along with those scousers.

The local town scallies (fashion-consious hooligans), wherever you go, can be often unintellegable.

[Big Boy]

I think in the modern world we are all a lot more mobile, and although the variety of accents still exist, our understanding of the accents has become a lot more tolerant.

I work a lot with the armed forces, and those guys come from the corners of the UK (and Nepal). If I couldn't tolerate a lot of different accents, I just couldn't work.

[migrant]

I usually can understand any accent, here on the forum

[Khundon1975]

"Cas'nt kepon, kepinon cas".

This was said to me by a chap from the village in Dorset. UK.

Apparently, it means don't go on about it.

I had to get a translation as I'm Cornish and we all know what a beautiful and easy to understand language that is.

[hhfarang]

I had a friend from Sunderland that I had to listen very closely to, to understand, partly because of accent and partly because he spoke very quietly (mumbled), but the most trouble I've had with people actually speaking English has been with Scottish friends I've had. With some of them it sounds like a completely different language.

[lindosfan1]

I usually no problem with accents comes from being in the army in my youth, However met an Aberdonian once with a very btoad accent. My Thai wife understood him I struggled all evening at one point asked her what he said.