# How to deal with people with foreign accents? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 9, 2011, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750 "2011-02-09T11:53:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/21 "2011-02-11T03:59:08Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > That one time I was asked whether I wanted okra and said I didn’t know what it was, could she point it out for me, and the server got increasingly angry and kept yelling, louder and louder “okra! okra is okra!” - well, let’s just say it wasn’t a high point in restaurant history. For future reference: the correct answer there is yes please 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/22 "2011-02-11T04:20:52Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I deal with a lot of Spanish speaking people in my neighborhood and it always cracks me up when they spell things and say > > “V” no “V” no the other “V” that’s right “B” 🙂 > > They’re all nice about it but it seem to the Spanish people in my area of Chicago “V” and “B” are pretty much interchangeable. > > Now the Chinese are the ones I have a lot of trouble understanding. In Spanish, they basically are interchangeable. Well, not orthographically speaking, but in pronunciation. I don’t know if it’s my English bias, but I _think_ I hear a difference, but I probably don’t. In any case, in Spanish there’s “big B” (“B”) and "little “B” (“V”), or in Spanish, “B grande” or “V chica,” where “B” or “V” are both pronounced “bay” in English. In many regions, they avoid all confusion by saying “B” as “bay,” and “V” as “oobay” (I don’t know how to spell that in Spanish, or even if there is a spelling. Nava, are you around???). ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/23 "2011-02-11T06:12:07Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I saw a TV show the other day and they used subtitles for a person from England which I thought was funny. Her British accent was not extreme, at least to me. I could have used some American subtitles when **Peter Capaldi** was talking in **In The Loop**. Apparently, I’m unfamiliar with Scottish profanity. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/24 "2011-02-11T06:54:48Z")
I’ve never had any trouble understanding people with foreign accents, which means I sometimes end up in the role of “Interpreter” at Ethnic Restaurants. Sometimes I think a lot of people don’t _want_ to understand Foreign Accents, like they’re making some kind of point by making poor Mr. Kumal repeat himself over and over again when they’re shopping in his store or whatever. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/25 "2011-02-11T07:15:07Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Sometimes I think a lot of people don’t _want_ to understand Foreign Accents. Oh no, that statement is so unfair. I speak as someone who is linguistically gifted in some areas but deficient in others - an ability to understand spoken language from people with accents extremely different to my own being the main example of the latter. I hate having to ask people to repeat themselves, only to be just as perplexed after the repetition as I was on the first hearing. Believe me, I want to understand people who don’t talk the way I do. I really, really do. There may be a few jerks out there who think a foreign accent is so funny they want to taunt and ridicule, but I suspect their numbers pale in comparison to people like me, who simply lack the auditory processing capability to make sense of what we are hearing. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/26 "2011-02-11T08:09:31Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > Oh no, that statement is so unfair. Silly me for forgetting my Disclaimer Signature (see below). You’ll note I said “_a lot of people_”. Not “Most people” or “A Signifcant percentage” or even “Everyone That Isn’t Me”. I know there are a lot of people who just can’t process what they’re hearing when it comes to foreign accents- Americans seem to be especially bad at this, for reasons which have been covered elsewhere on the boards. But I still maintain that there are lots of people (possibly even more than the “genuinely can’t process it” group) who _are_ perfectly capable of processing it, but choose not to- in much the same way there really are people with Aspergers out there, but most of the people who claim to have it are really using it as an excuse for being a tactless dick in social environments (as an example). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/27 "2011-02-11T08:59:28Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > In Spanish, they basically are interchangeable. Well, not orthographically speaking, but in pronunciation. I don’t know if it’s my English bias, but I _think_ I hear a difference, but I probably don’t. In any case, in Spanish there’s “big B” (“B”) and "little “B” (“V”), or in Spanish, “B grande” or “V chica,” where “B” or “V” are both pronounced “bay” in English. In many regions, they avoid all confusion by saying “B” as “bay,” and “V” as “oobay” (I don’t know how to spell that in Spanish, or even if there is a spelling. Nava, are you around???). B = be alta, be grande, be. V = be baja, be chica, uve. W = be doble, uve doble. De nada 🙂 Oh, and to make things more fun: if the W is Germanic, it is all the same phoneme! whisky = güiski, but wamba = bamba. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/28 "2011-02-11T10:37:53Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I still maintain that there are lots of people (possibly even more than the “genuinely can’t process it” group) who _are_ perfectly capable of processing it, but choose not to. You may be right - it’s an unprovable assertion, and likewise my response of “oh goodness no, that CAN’T be so!” is equally difficult or impossible to test. My pain, if there ever was any, is significantly reduced by your sig. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/29 "2011-02-11T11:02:31Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > I work for a company that is essentially Indian and with a ton of Indian cow-orkers. Are Indians allowed to ork cows? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/30 "2011-02-11T14:28:02Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Are Indians allowed to ork cows? cattle rustling: SVU ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/31 "2011-02-11T16:39:11Z")
There are books made for teachers of ESL that would also serve as a guide to how different languages produce different problems in pronunciation. It’s fascinating stuff, and it might actually help meet people half way. [Teaching American English Pronunciation](http://www.amazon.com/Teaching-American-Pronunciation-Handbooks-Language/dp/0194328155/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1297441797&sr=8-2) I don’t remember the name of the other book I have which is more comprehensive in discussing the phonemic catalogs of various languages and the oddities they produce when turning to the production of English, but I believe it was also part of the Oxford Handbooks for Language Teachers Series. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/32 "2011-02-11T16:52:05Z")
Whatever you do, don’t start speaking more loudly to them, as if they were deaf. I’ve seen that happen numerous times, with impatient Americans dealing with someone else speaking english as a second language. I’m willing to bet that their ability to speak english is better than your ability to speak farsi or mandarin. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/33 "2011-02-11T17:19:42Z")
I can’t understand a lot of what Yankees say so I’m willing to accept that people from as far away as India will be more dificult to understand. Just takes some practice. Sometimes I repeat what I heard, pronouncing the words the “correct” way and then they can see the word I have totally misunderstood and correct me. One part of the problem, seems to me, is that the Indian guys I work with are more polite and less direct with their language. They seem to me to be talking around the issue sometimes. Maybe that is part of their culture, or their native language structure, or is it that they like working for me os much? ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/34 "2011-02-11T17:21:53Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > **Lust4Life** gives excellent advice. For any foreigners on the Dope: **LUST4LIFE** GIVES EXCELLENT ADVICE! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750/35 "2011-02-11T17:43:38Z")
I am reminded of one late night many years ago while I was manning the front desk at Hale Manoa residence hall at the East West Center on the University of Hawaii campus. The East West Center is a federal research facility that hosts scholars of all ages both short and long term, from all over the world but mainly from the Asia-Pacific. A resident who hailed from South Asia – the exact country escapes me – came down and said to me: “I want a fuck you cleaner.” “What!?! :eek:” Again: “I want a fuck you cleaner.” Turns out he wanted to check out the small vacuum cleaner we kept behind the desk for residents’ use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-deal-with-people-with-foreign-accents/570750.md?page=1)