# Do British and Irish people have a hard time understanding Americans speak? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 10, 2008, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903 "2008-09-10T05:01:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/41 "2008-09-10T15:06:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > ] > _Spanish_ pronunciation, yes. But you said “American English”. Unless you’re specifying that it’s in Hispanic neighborhoods, or something, your statement doesn’t apply. > > Come to think of it, the Hispanic guys I know don’t pronounce it remotely like “zink”. **Cal** , **Nava** was, roughly, laying Castillian Spanish spelling over an American English phonetic base. That “z” in “zinks” is the “z” in Castillian “zapato”, not as in English “zoo”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/42 "2008-09-10T15:17:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Cal, Nava was, roughly, laying Castillian Spanish spelling over an American English phonetic base. That “z” in “zinks” is the “z” in Castillian “zapato”, not as in English “zoo”. Why? It was wrong for him to call it “American English” then. It’s not standard by any means, and most Americans wouldn’t think of it that way. ---
**Author:** ![kaoswolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@kaoswolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaoswolf)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/43 "2008-09-10T15:32:24Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > British English: Ee finks aow shoht men sit on veir lauruws aow day. > American English: He thinks all short men sit on their laurels all day. what u call british english i call lazy english or teen english. its a common use of shortcuts in the language popular in cockney, mancunian and liverpudlian (im not sure bout others). im from manchester and usually only hear this from kids or the termanally stupid. plus, nobody who spoke like that would every use the word laurels :rolleyes: I dont mean to sound snobish, cos i used to speak like that… but then i grew up 😛 there are other accents that can be difficult for people that arn’t used to them tho. i met a guy with an insainly strong yorkshire accent once, took me 2 days before i stopped thinking that the guys were playin a joke on me an i realised he wasnt speaking a different language. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/44 "2008-09-10T15:34:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Why? It was wrong for him to call it “American English” then. It’s not standard by any means, and most Americans wouldn’t think of it that way. This is what **Nava** was going for (from her post above, addressing the OP): > [@](#): > > What I’m trying to point is that, only because you’re used to considering your own phonetic correspondance as “direct,” doesn’t mean it is. Imagine someone born and raised in Madrid, who learned to read and write Castillian Spanish. Imagine also that this same someone was never, ever exposed to American English speech or writing. Then imagine further that this same someone is, out of the blue, tasked with transcribing the speech of an American. The American says “He thinks all short men sit on their laurels all day”. Our Spanish transcriptionist, with zippo knowledge of English, does the best he can based on the only writing system he knows: “He zinks ol shoht men seet on deir lohrels ol déi.” I do think **Nava’s** knowledge of English did influence her sample transcription, though. A native Spanish speaker/writer who is wholly ignorant of the English language would probably come up with a somewhat different transcription. But that “z” on “zinks” would be there, just as \*\*Nava \*\*had it. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/45 "2008-09-10T15:42:56Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Yeah, this is why I hate so-called “phonetic spelling”. I guess the first is meant to be the vowel of “cat” and the second the vowel of “bra”? I wouldn’t say it’s dialect. It’s more because some people seeing a Spanish name automatically assume they should try to say it with a correct Spanish accent. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/46 "2008-09-10T15:51:02Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Perhaps they’re speaking loudly and slowly so that you can understand them better. When I first moved to Canada as an adult, I ound that everyone here spoke noticeably quickly. Now that I’ve lived here for so long, I now notice that when I have to call California on business, I have to make an effort to speak more slowly. I think there are English-speaking regions that do have a more staccato rhythm compared to others. Similar to the differences in French spoken in France, Quebec, and New Brunswick. I can understand the former two, but New Brunswick French has alwyas been so rapid-fire that one sentence sounds like a single word to me. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/47 "2008-09-10T16:16:09Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > It’s the lady who sold me my last two cars. She’s from London. > > EDIT: And yes, she most definitely says both _finks_ and _veir_. Belive me, I’ve spent hours and hours listening to her. I’m happy to believe you – what you’ve transcribed looks like a credible impression of a London accent, to me. But **Wendell’s** point stands – it’s certainly not standard. My impression of American English might be something like: American English: Hah thayngs awl shawrd mayn sed awn tha lorls awl dey. You may not speak like that, but some Americans do: or at least that’s how it sounds to me. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/48 "2008-09-10T18:29:03Z")
Whereas my local dialect (Belfast) sounds like this when transliterated for American English: Hee thanks ull shore-ut may-in sit awe-hun they-yur lorls ull dey. We like dipthongs in Norn Irn and believe all vowels should be one. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/49 "2008-09-10T18:35:19Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > We like dipthongs in Norn Irn and believe all vowels should be one. Aytside nye. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/50 "2008-09-10T19:16:23Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > […] Oxford folks generally couldn’t understand Glaswegians, people in Leeds had a hard time with some London accents, Mancunians couldn’t get the accents from Newcastle. I think that would be overstating things a little. People in the south, such as people from Oxford, can _generally_ understand Glaswegians perfectly well. There have been countless nationally prominent people who speak with Glasgow accents. But a very strong Glasgow accent, of the type caricatured by the comedy character Rab C. Nesbitt, can be hard for them to understand. A wider range of regional accents has been heard on British TV in the last few decades, although London-ish accents still predominate. It’s only really strong regional accents that cause problems (_Trainspotting_, for example, did not have subtitles when it was shown in English cinemas 😉 ), and even then one can attune to them with a modest amount of effort. ---
**Author:** ![PaulParkhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@PaulParkhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulParkhead)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/51 "2008-09-10T19:21:49Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Aytside nye. I’d have written this as “Oytside noy” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/52 "2008-09-10T19:31:32Z")
Yeah, it’s somewhere between “noy” and “nye”, isn’t it? I always like how they pronounce “County Down”. Kyenty Dyne / Kointy Doin. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OuGD0vpW5Y&NR=1)’s a YouTube clip of a guy who briefly became a have-a-go hero for intervening in an attempted terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport. I think part of his brief celebrity was due to his animated description of the event in a strong Glasgow accent 😃 . See how much of it you can understand. I would say most English people would not have too much trouble with it, apart from the odd word here and there. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/53 "2008-09-10T19:39:42Z")
> [@Usram](#): > > [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OuGD0vpW5Y&NR=1)’s a YouTube clip of a guy who briefly became a have-a-go hero for intervening in an attempted terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport. I think part of his brief celebrity was due to his animated description of the event in a strong Glasgow accent 😃 . See how much of it you can understand. I would say most English people would not have too much trouble with it, apart from the odd word here and there. I actually didn’t have a problem with that guy. It’s more difficult for me to understand [Michael Bisping](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRDkuFuWCU8). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/54 "2008-09-10T20:45:54Z")
> [@kaoswolf](#): > > what u call british english i call lazy english or teen english. its a common use of shortcuts in the language popular in cockney, mancunian and liverpudlian (im not sure bout others). im from manchester and usually only hear this from kids or the termanally stupid. plus, nobody who spoke like that would every use the word laurels :rolleyes: > I dont mean to sound snobish, cos i used to speak like that… but then i grew up 😛 > . The Irony, it burns! 😛 I have met exactly one native English speaker who I could not understand due to accent- he was working class Australian. I admit that I struggle with some English dialects heard in the media. Americans\* tend\* to have more understandable accents simply due to the fact that America is bigger and dudes travel more and are traveled to more. Few small American dialects get a chance to remain incomprehensible to outsiders. Not that we don’t have some odd accents, mind you. It’s just that an outsider can usually understand them. “In England 100 miles is _far_, in America 100 years is _old_” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/55 "2008-09-10T20:47:14Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I actually didn’t have a problem with that guy. It’s more difficult for me to understand [Michael Bisping](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRDkuFuWCU8). Wow. I think I couldn’t understand about a third of what he was saying. Some entire sentences flew by as I listened, baffled. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/56 "2008-09-10T20:59:24Z")
> [@Usram](#): > > I think part of his brief celebrity Brief celebrity!? He’s still got a full page column in the Scottish Sun! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/57 "2008-09-10T21:28:44Z")
The _Scottish_ Sun? Pah, I hear that it’s a total rag. You’ve got to love the bit when he’s describing the inferno and says “you know, anyone who’s thrown a can of deodorant on to a bonfire, you know…” Yep, been there 😃 Kind of refreshing, for an interviewee to be so candid. I guess that’s why he made such an impression. ---
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/58 "2008-09-10T21:42:22Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Wow. I think I couldn’t understand about a third of what he was saying. Some entire sentences flew by as I listened, baffled. That’s a Lancashire accent, but it’s more the speed with which he’s talking that’s the problem. "\*…well he wasn’t responding to them, you know, I mean, obviously, I had to be careful, cause he might, you’ve got to be tactical, but to be honest, I’ve got real strong knees if he’d have got to grab one he’d have.. he was covering up well, but that’s all he really could do, you know… I think he caught me with one shot but erm, his tactic was to cover up and let me over-commit to my combinations and then cover up like as I was throwing shoot in, you know , which kind of excuses him a little bit but… i knew i had him hurt… i hit him with one knee, i might…he was covering up well, to be fair, with them little gloves it not easy, and he did a good job with that, but as soon as I connected with one I could see he was hurt, I knew it was only a matter of time then, erm… I was pasting him on the floor, I couldn’t believe the referee hadn’t stopped it earlier to be soon (?), when the bell went at the end of the round, you know, I was a little annoyed 'cause I thought I’ve got him here, this is my time, there’s no way he’s turning this fight round, and then the bell went, but then of course, you know, Charles couldn’t get up.\*" Now try something \*really \*challenging- Rab C. Nesbitt: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k7VoFiagfs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k7VoFiagfs) ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/59 "2008-09-10T22:05:53Z")
> [@hammos1](#): > > Now try something \*really \*challenging- Rab C. Nesbitt: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k7VoFiagfs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k7VoFiagfs) Oh my god - I can actually understand everything he’s saying. That’s not a good sign is it? ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903/60 "2008-09-11T00:08:05Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > British English: Ee finks aow shoht men sit on veir lauruws aow day. > American English: He thinks all short men sit on their laurels all day. What nonsense. If I were to say this sentence, without dropping some of my accent for the benefit of non-Southerners, it would sound sum’like this: Mississippi English: He thanks awl shoert men siyt awn thayr larls alday. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-british-and-irish-people-have-a-hard-time-understanding-americans-speak/462903.md?page=4)