I can’t prove this, but I would bet that Brits are much more likely to encounter foreign accents, on average, than are Americans, except for Americans in large urban centers such as New York, DC, and Los Angeles.
Also, your average Brit probably is exposed to quite a bit more American media – TV and film – than your average Yank is exposed to British media.
I was just about to use the example of my Appalachian in-laws, who speak a dialect of English that even most Americans would have trouble with. They don’t get exposed to my accents from outside their region (they have trouble understanding my rather conventional mid-west American accent for example) and have even less exposure to British accents. They find it almost impossible to understand any sort of British accent no matter how proper and clear because they simply aren’t accustomed to hearing it.
Where I live in Indiana some of the more socially/educationally isolated farms types around here have the same problem. The Amish, for example, speak English in a manner very much like the rest of the midwest but due to their cultural isolation they have almost no experience with foreign accents and find them very difficult to understand (as English is often a second language for many of them that just makes the problem worse.)
What is a “clear accent” is going to be subjective, because it depends on what you’re used to. While I’ve lived most of my life in Australia, I lived in Yorkshire for 7 years as a child, and I’ve now lived in Ohio for 10 years, so I have no trouble with a wide range of accents. I can even understand Geordie and Lallans – to an extent – even though I’ve spent no time at all on Tyneside or Clydeside. The accent that I’m most likely to have trouble with is a very strong Southern US accent, especially from some African Americans. That means, of course, that those folk will have trouble with what I would find a perfectly neutral BBC accent, and would not comprehend a strong regional British accent.
I agree. The casts of Harry Potter, Doctor Who/Torchwood and 24Seven are all far easier to understand than the cast of East Enders or members of Bush speaking in interviews.
Would these backwater states be ones where the natives tend to speak slowly, e.g. much of the South? As already mentioned by another poster, English people often speak more quickly than Americans (I have been asked by an American customer to ask some of my English employees to speak more slowly). So take a situation where an old person, possibly without great hearing, hears a person speaking an unfamiliar accent quickly, and it doesn’t surprise me if they struggle.
And it is harder to understand by phone - seeing a person’s lips move aids understanding (I heard this on the radio just a few days ago. An interesting aside from the same program - people can identify sounds like “p” more clearly when a small puff of air is blown onto their neck at the same time. Saying “p” causes you to expell air (compared with, say , “b”), and detecting a puff of air also helps you identify.)
I have a terrible time with accents on the phone that I wouldn’t have in person. I have a pretty standard middle US accent (think US national news anchors), and while I have no problem with say, a thick Irish accent, if I can see the person speaking, if I can’t see them I lose about 90% of my comprehension. This is most problematic with Indian accents and the deep southern accents in the US.
I figured this out watching movies. If the person speaking is off screen, I’m lost. Trainspotting is fine, except for the voiceovers.
I wonder if people who claim to have no problem understanding “BBC English” have listened to the BBC in the past decade or two, since even the current-affairs programs include a dizzying array of accents. It’s not all Received Pronunciation and hasn’t been for quite some time.
As for Doctor Who, the current star is a Scot putting on an Estuary accent (and talking a mile a minute, and often mumbling), as opposed to the previous one,who spoke with a Northern accent, the one before that who was faintly Liverpudlian, and the one before that who had a bit of a Scottish accent. There hasn’t been a proper RP-speaking Doctor since the mid-80s.
My friends in NZ will still confound me but they speak very clearly. Usually it’s a matter of pronouncing words.
Like Americans say sure, to rhyme with blur or fur or purr
Kiwis will say sure as in SHORE to rhyme with more or for
So sometimes words are like that and you misinterpret them.
Another thing a Kiwi says is dirty for instance will sound like duty to me.
So I think they speak clear but the vowels don’t always sound like we do.
NZ’ers and other English speakers are bombarded with American TV and films so they understand us better as they’re used to it.
I don’t see the logic in that. An accent is just a different way of pronouncing and stressing words. If you can get past the differences and follow the words, you’re okay; if not, you’re going to have problems. But if you have difficulty following an accent, there’s no reason why a Londoner is going to sound any clearer than a Texan.
Huh? So what, then, is the proper response if you’re speaking to someone who is “speaking clearly”, but you just can’t understand them? You’re supposed to just pretend? That’s crazy. There’s nothing inherently patronizing about telling someone you don’t understand them - it’s just common sense.
It may be that some or most of the people you’re talking to are, indeed, being patronizing towards the “lowly foreigner” - depends on their tone of voice and the context of the conversation. Maybe, though I doubt it. On the face of it, this is much ado about nothing.
P.S. - For a group so sensitive about being “patronized” to, you might want to be more sensitive about calling places “backwaters”…
I do have problems with some very intelligent and well spoken English speakers. Examples would include chemistry professors (India), geology professor (British), technical help (South Asian?) and friends (USA South and South African).
They don’t seem to have any trouble with me, but their (other than American) English is just as good as my American English, and they are used to hearing American accents.
I just ask them to speak more slowly as I am not used to their version of English. They seem happy to slow down, and everything works well from that point on.
Do you have a cite for any of this?
Which English accent are we talking about? Oxford elite? Manchester? Cockney? Lots of “English” accents.
It’s not just Americans who have difficulty understanding some accents. My Thai wife cannot undrstand many British people no matter how slowly they may speak. In the teaching schools here, only Brits with certain accents will be hired; anything extreme gets shown the door.
I have a typical American broadcaster-type accent, and I’ve always been terrible at deciphering what people are saying if they have accents, even though I’m good at hearing accents and knowing where people are from. Just like the previous posters have stated, it’s easier if I can see the person’s lips. It’s fairly common. It doesn’t mean you’re not a good speaker.
I have a British friend who described a building as being a “chudah”. I had her repeat it several times, and finally had to have her spell it out. She was saying tudor.
I think that dialects are interesting – something to be enjoyed. Once you get past the idea that your accent is THE standard and correct one and everyone else’s is a variation, you may learn to get along in the world.
You may be speaking clearly, but people can say nonsense syllables very clearly. So that doesn’t really mean anything.
Most Americans are generally enchanted by British accents once we understand what you are saying and as long as you don’t insult us.
Did you ever decide what a “backwater state” is? Someone in another thread mentioned Alabama. But that’s where so many rocket scientists live because of NASA and the Marshall Field and the Space Center. People just really need to educate themselves about stereotypes or continue to look ignorant.
What is it you guys do for a living?
The irony here is that quite a few of the US national news anchors are actually from Canada and still speak with (to my ear) a definite Canadian accent.
Anecdotally here, when I first was setting up my phone f.o.b. from the states, I think the Geordie woman who was helping me had just as much trouble understanding me over the phone as I did her. She asked me to repeat myself two or three times for each question. I did not have a particularly strong US accent then (pretty solid midwestern with a bit of Chicago twang). Over the phone is always much more difficult.
I had a lot better luck with the call centre guy who was clearly in India.
My father and mother have a terrible time understand my very correct-speaking, posh friend, because she speaks quite quickly and rather quietly. They have an easier time with her boyfriend who is from Zimbabwe.
I wouldn’t be so quick to assume that these ‘backwater’ folks are just being patronising. What should they say, if they can’t understand someone?
There was a great moment in David Tennant’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? (a show in which famous people explore their family tree). Tennant arrives at the ruins of a small church in which several skulls have been excavated and delightedly exclaims “Look at the heeeeds!”.
I can see getting a little exasperated, simply because it can get annoying having to repeat yourself over and over, sort of like speaking to someone with hearing difficulties. I can’t imagine that these folks intend to be patronizing;if anything I think a lot of Americans find British accents sophisticated. I’m constantly playing interpreter for people who can’t understand my boyfriend (from the Midlands)and to me he speaks clear as day, to the point where I almost want to ask people if English is *their *first language, but as others have said, it’s all about what people are used to / expecting. Don’t be offended, mate!
The boyfriend and I are highly educated Americans who’ve been exposed to much more international media than many here. We’ve been watching All Creatures Great and Small for months now and there are whole scenes where we just look at each other and shrug. We assume there was a farm animal involved and probably a pint of beer.