I mean when French Canadians do speak French. Basically anyone I hear speaking French is from France or has an Australian accent so other accents are usually tricky, but it's especially difficult for me to understand Canadians.tricky-crazy said:
Difficult accents
- Thread starter Guffe
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BrotherRool said:
I surely hope it's dead!!
I tried listening to that without watching the subtitles, and holy jesus crap!
That old man mumbles worse than a zombie and makes up his own words!!
Nope, that's a scouse accent.LetalisK said:
And his is pretty easy to understand!
One of my housemates is from Zimbabwe, and for the first few weeks it was really hard to understand what she was saying, I had to ask her to repeat everything two or three times 'till I got the hang of it.
Then there was the one time my family went to the Lake District in Cumbria and asked someone for directions. None of us understood a single word he said, we just sort of smiled and nodded confusedly.
Oh, and closer to home there's the Black Country dialect, also known as Yam Yam. Just...for the love of God, do not go to Wolverhampton. The accent's pretty bad as well.
Then there was the one time my family went to the Lake District in Cumbria and asked someone for directions. None of us understood a single word he said, we just sort of smiled and nodded confusedly.
Oh, and closer to home there's the Black Country dialect, also known as Yam Yam. Just...for the love of God, do not go to Wolverhampton. The accent's pretty bad as well.
even though i live in Finland, i have been exposed to a variety of English accents due to my studying in English, and the teachers had various backgrounds, so i can pretty much understand any accent after my ear adjusts to it after a few words.
off topic edit: go home escapist you are drunk for giving me the 1000 post badge when i only have 700
off topic edit: go home escapist you are drunk for giving me the 1000 post badge when i only have 700
Ever heard someone from Nigeria speak English? I have two Nigerian colleagues and, I swear to God, it took me three whole years to realize they were speaking English to one another, because it in no way sounds like English. I still have trouble making out what they're saying now. What's more, my other colleagues refuse to believe me that they're speaking English, because they don't hear it at all; even when they're listening intently for it.
Have you talked to a real bavarian yet?T0ad 0f Truth said:
The swabians have NOTHING on them as far as being unintelligable goes.
As far as listening and understanding, I had a University lecturer last year whose natural Chinese accent was at least three times more fragmented than my most offensive impression of a Chinese accent. To the point where he could not say the word 'components' because it would sound like 'kahunas'. Even more surprisingly, I was not alone. Virtually no-one understood this person. Which is problematic at University.
As far as imitating, South African is about the worst I've come across. I can do plenty of others, but whether it's lack of saturation or there's something inherently difficult about the South African accent, I cannot for the life of me imitate it.
As far as imitating, South African is about the worst I've come across. I can do plenty of others, but whether it's lack of saturation or there's something inherently difficult about the South African accent, I cannot for the life of me imitate it.
No, no Bavarians yet, but my friend moved to the states from Switzerland and his German was crazy as well.Calibanbutcher said:
Not that I'm the best judge seeing as how my German is so bad
It's Just that my understanding goes from "yeah I kinda get it" to "wat?" XD
Well the Liverpool is a bit of a starnge one alright. I haven't found a foreigner who can do a decent Irish accent, but I think it's fairly easy to understand (slang aside). That's why we got a lot of students trying to learn English.
I would say that one of the more difficult to understand accents is the English Country accent. Westcountry for instance. South African accent is really easy to understand.
I would say that one of the more difficult to understand accents is the English Country accent. Westcountry for instance. South African accent is really easy to understand.
Yep I know how hard the scouse accent can be to understand. I'm from Liverpool but my accent is so light and damn near unnoticeable people think I'm from somewhere else. Plus the thing that gets me about the scouse accent is sometimes its really nice to hear from people and other times its literally the worst thing a human can ever hear.Guffe said:
Anyway, scottish. Just scottish. Any scottish.
I find certain scots accents and Irish accents hard to follow. I can understand them but I have to pay a bit more attention to them when talking.
on my occasional trips to the states I was a bit surprised when people there couldn't understand me.
i think it was the first time I became consciously aware of my accent, however the girls over there said it was "hot".
on my occasional trips to the states I was a bit surprised when people there couldn't understand me.
i think it was the first time I became consciously aware of my accent, however the girls over there said it was "hot".
I'm gonna jump on the Indian train on this one.
I work with an Indian guy, and 70% of the time I have no idea what the hell he's talking about. I'm forced to rely on context clues and deductive reasoning to figure out what the hell he's asking me for.
I work with an Indian guy, and 70% of the time I have no idea what the hell he's talking about. I'm forced to rely on context clues and deductive reasoning to figure out what the hell he's asking me for.
I find a Glaswegian accent near impossible to understand, compounded by the fact that they can't understand my accent either. If you ever need something important doing, don't leave it to a Scouser and a Glaswegian. You may think we both speak English but for all the good that would do we may as well be speaking French.
Well, I'm Scottish and not a lot of people have asked me to repeat stuff, so maybe my accent isn't as bad as it's portrayed... Or people don't do it just to not hurt my feelings.
A can't understand the Indian accent, even less so if through the phone.
A can't understand the Indian accent, even less so if through the phone.
I find some of the heavier accents from the UK and Ireland difficult as we don't get too many of them here in New Zealand. Pretty much all of the immigrants we get from there have quite mild accents.
I can handle asian accents well as I have had a large exposure to them for most of my life. About 30% of my high school were of asian descent. Korean is the easiest asian accent for me as they were the most numerous among the recent arrivals whereas Chinese New Zealanders that I know are more commonly second generation so have kiwi accents and therefore don't count.
EDIT: Also being from Auckland's North Shore means every third person I interact with is South African. The Africaans accent is therefore easy for me and I have developed a love for milk tart and biltong.
I can handle asian accents well as I have had a large exposure to them for most of my life. About 30% of my high school were of asian descent. Korean is the easiest asian accent for me as they were the most numerous among the recent arrivals whereas Chinese New Zealanders that I know are more commonly second generation so have kiwi accents and therefore don't count.
EDIT: Also being from Auckland's North Shore means every third person I interact with is South African. The Africaans accent is therefore easy for me and I have developed a love for milk tart and biltong.
Living in tokyo, I rarely come across people with heavy accents in any language.
However, I do remember that mu friend who just moved to Australia from South Africa had a really heavy accent.
She ended up not talking much because she probably felt shy about her accent.
However, I do remember that mu friend who just moved to Australia from South Africa had a really heavy accent.
She ended up not talking much because she probably felt shy about her accent.