# Why is the south west US so hard to understand? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 27, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796 "2014-06-27T17:11:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/21 "2014-07-01T06:39:49Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > I wonder if this Northern thing? I do find dispatchers in the north to talk slower than dispatchers in the south west part of the US. > > The dispatchers by the great lakes have more slower way of talking.They talk louder on the radio. Not really a northern thing. I’m W-A-Y south… in the Caribbean. I’m sure there is variation, a style if you will, between different dispatcher centers. The precise choice of terms might vary from one office to another; whether it’s a M-V-A, motor vehicle accident, M-V-C, motor vehicle collision, crash, car crash, accident, or car accident… there are many way ways to describe the same idea. Each center will probably have one preferred expression. I’m not so sure that the choice of term variation is regional, with the primary exception of DWI, DUI, OWI etc… variations for drunk driving offenses which tend to follow the term used in that particular state’s legislation. Cadence of speech is another factor of style. Using a consistent style within a service area aids the dispatcher and responder in being able to fill in the small blanks when the system doesn’t quite transmit clearly or at least know that some information is missing. Where I work the vast majority of license plates on cars are 5 or 6 digit numbers. When pronouncing those numbers we use a cadence that always starts with a group of two or three digits, has a brief pause, and then ends in a group of three digits. If what the officer hears is “SIX-THREE-ONE \ \-SEVEN-ZERO” then the officer knows, based upon the normal cadence, that the transmission dropped a digit when the radio crackled. Volume of speech on the radio is primarily controlled by system settings that have little to do with how loudly the dispatcher is speaking. It’s all microphones, amplifiers, and even more hardware. Even the point at which the signal is intercepted to go to the recorder or get piped to stream on the internet seems to make a subjective difference in volume. I’m not the tech guy so I can’t say why. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/22 "2014-07-01T06:50:03Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Note TV broadcasters have training to talk fast ,remove cadence or rhythmicality and tempo and harmony or variation of time between words.But that is lot of training. You type funny. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/23 "2014-07-01T07:52:55Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Are you kidding? That’s someone reading a list of words off her phone for a Youtube video. As an applied linguist by profession, I find that kind of data dubious at best, and I don’t how you could attempt to draw large conclusions about regional characteristics by using it. It’s decontextualized and inorganic. > > And it’s pretty lazy data collection. Why don’t you _get out into the field yourself_ and record _your own_ data, if you’re so convinced about this–instead of sitting around scrounging stuff off the internet. The point of the youtube accent tag is to see how a person pronounces words not how they talk. Saying words and talking is two different things.When she was reading the list both girls talked slower and paused many times.When she was talking her mind saying what ever she was going on about in the video they talked very fast ,did not paused any where ,no pitch of her voice going up at all,no tese vowels. I know not everyone in south west US or California have flat speaking but than not every one has the valley speaking too.:eek::eek: Those two girls if they where police dispatcher would be hard to understand. Not this girl at all [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8fzqjCPOfo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8fzqjCPOfo) If she was police dispatcher I would have no trouble understanding her at all!! I think what is confusing me is I’m use to how Hollywood speaks or like the girl above. The mono speaking very flat and talking like they are a sleep is confusing me. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2014, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/24 "2014-07-01T08:04:18Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > When she was reading the list both girls talked slower and paused many times. Because that’s how people read lists of words, specially when they’re reading them. As. Separate. Entities. How do people read lists of words. Which. Are. Not. Their. Shopping. List. In your primary language? You said this yourself: > [@sweat209](#): > > Saying words and talking is two different things. but you don’t seem to comprehend it. Dispatch-speak makes three different things, dispatch-speak is not how people normally speak. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/25 "2014-07-02T00:31:51Z")
Here’s a news story from Phoenix. I don’t find any of the people on the video hard to understand: [http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/25915981/2-injured-after-armored-vehicle-collides-with-truck](http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/25915981/2-injured-after-armored-vehicle-collides-with-truck) Here’s one from Albuquerque. Also, not particularly hard for me to understand. [http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3491603.shtml?cat=516#.U7NRWvldXwI](http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3491603.shtml?cat=516#.U7NRWvldXwI) Denver [http://www.9news.com/story/news/crime/2014/07/01/foot-chase-bite/11902433/](http://www.9news.com/story/news/crime/2014/07/01/foot-chase-bite/11902433/) Salt Lake City > **[74-year-old Roy man charged with murder in wife's death](https://www.ksl.com/article/30544627/74-year-old-roy-man-charged-with-murder-in-wifes-death)** > > A 74-year-old man has been charged with murder and booked into > the Weber County Jail in connection with the death of his 71-year-old > wife in February. Las Vegas: [http://www.mynews3.com/content/news/local/story/San-Diego-Coroner-IDs-boy-found-dead-at-scout-camp/aBAjqBz53EiWWKwEhQGJjQ.cspx](http://www.mynews3.com/content/news/local/story/San-Diego-Coroner-IDs-boy-found-dead-at-scout-camp/aBAjqBz53EiWWKwEhQGJjQ.cspx) Do you have problems understanding any of those news stories? ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/26 "2014-07-02T00:35:21Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Honestly, sweat, I don’t understand what the holy hell you’re talking about. > > For one thing, I can understand most of this, and I’m not from there. > > For another, you are using clips of radio chatter, which is naturally going to be of low quality and certainly not typical of the way people would normally speak anywhere. Who’d wanna understand the police? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/27 "2014-07-02T02:12:40Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Here’s a news story from Phoenix. I don’t find any of the people on the video hard to understand: > [FOX 10 Phoenix](http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/25915981/2-injured-after-armored-vehicle-collides-with-truck) > > Here’s one from Albuquerque. Also, not particularly hard for me to understand. > [http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3491603.shtml?cat=516#.U7NRWvldXwI](http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3491603.shtml?cat=516#.U7NRWvldXwI) > > Denver > [http://www.9news.com/story/news/crime/2014/07/01/foot-chase-bite/11902433/](http://www.9news.com/story/news/crime/2014/07/01/foot-chase-bite/11902433/) > > Salt Lake City > [74-year-old Roy man charged with murder in wife's death | KSL.com](http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=30544627&title=74-year-old-roy-man-charged-with-murder-in-wifes-death&fm=home_page&s_cid=topstory) > > Las Vegas: > [Las Vegas News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News](http://www.mynews3.com/content/news/local/story/San-Diego-Coroner-IDs-boy-found-dead-at-scout-camp/aBAjqBz53EiWWKwEhQGJjQ.cspx) > > Do you have problems understanding any of those news stories? Don’t bother. He assumes everybody talks like radio dispatchers and TV people are trained not to talk like the rest of us. > [@sweat209](#): > > Note TV broadcasters have training to talk fast ,remove cadence or rhythmicality and tempo and harmony or variation of time between words.But that is lot of training. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/28 "2014-07-02T05:13:02Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > The point of the youtube accent tag is to see how a person pronounces words not how they talk. How can you claim to pronounce a word without talking, or rather, what would be the point of doing such a thing? It’s like claiming to define a person’s step and saying it has nothing to do with walking. Or claiming that you eat calories instead of food. What useful data can be gained from such an exercise? When you tell someone to “pronounce” words they usually start doing things that they otherwise don’t do, so what you end up with is partially a fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/29 "2014-07-02T05:15:34Z")
I was raised in Denver, have lived the last 30 years in Albuquerque. Accent for most Anglos is minimal, though regardless of ethnicity, rough neighborhoods and gang culture will result in a peculiar accent and speech cadence. Beyond accent, There are grammatical and slang oddities. Very common to use Spanish pronunciation/accent for Spanish nouns when speaking English, which can seem a bit comic when you first hear JOe average newscaster become Ricardo Monteban for one word. Many of the Navajo and Tewa ESL speakers have a very flat, unaccented staccato accent when speaking English. It can be very difficult to understand until you get used to it. Speaking loudly is also considered rude in these cultures, so just hearing can be an issue in some situations. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/30 "2014-07-02T19:06:53Z")
It’s a fairly big issue for our OP: > **[speech rate ( fast or slow talker ) and speech volume](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=714088)** > > So I had some free time to kill .So I check out the on line police scanner and thought also I could hear the different accents in different cities.I was shocked!! Not so much accents but speed talking rate and speech volume. To my surprised , how... > **[Speaking accents and speaking pattern in the US](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=684638)** > > I have some questions on speaking accents and speaking pattern in the US. 1 How did Americans lose the British accent. 2 Where did Americans pick up all those other accents at one time it was just southern US accent and Boston and New York accent... > **[Why do people in the US say people in the south talk slow ?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=676963)** > > I have read on some messages boards and web sites saying people in the south talk slow .I never thought they talk slow. Is this how people talk in the north or north east area of US http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1vn9h8TlPs That seem really fast... > **[What is give away that some one has southern US accent ?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=671803)** > > What is give away that some one has southern US accent ? What I read on the internet is the vowel sounds and the letter R is main giveway. Anyone know here? Also anyone know of any movies , TV shows or good US presidents with southern US accent... ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/31 "2014-07-02T19:45:16Z")
After clicking one of the five links to a Team Feed, there is a menu on the left where you can “Select Language”. Maybe that will help. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/32 "2014-07-02T20:53:53Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > It’s a fairly big issue for our OP: > > [speech rate ( fast or slow talker ) and speech volume - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=714088) > [Speaking accents and speaking pattern in the US - In My Humble Opinion - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=684638) > [Why do people in the US say people in the south talk slow ? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=676963) > [What is give away that some one has southern US accent ? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=671803) Even more bizarre is the OP’s refusal to mention their country of origin or native language. It’s clear that they’re not from the US or a native English speaker - but having that info would likely be somewhat useful in providing answers., or at least context. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/33 "2014-07-02T22:47:00Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > . . . The mono speaking very flat and talking like they are a sleep is confusing me. That sounds like a good discription of dispatcher-speak. Often the police cars stand with their doors open and the radio dispatches can (or could) be heard by anyone passing by. Nothing in any announcement should draw the attentiion of a passer-by. They’re essentially talking in code. The police can pick out the information they need easily while the public ignores it. As an aside, have you ever watched an episode of **Dragnet** or **Adam-12**? The voice of the dispatcher may be different for television, but it’s always disinterested and always has the same cadence. This reminds me of a Toastmaster that I know, who had trouble speaking in a monotone. She said she used to have a normal voice. But she worked the ticket payment counter at the police department for a couple of decades. She said if you put any emotion into your voice at all, people would argue or beg or yell or try to negotiate and it just took too much time and energy. But if she kept her voice a disinterested monotone and always used the same words and just repeated the same phrases, exactly, if they argued, without responding to how upset they were, they’d give up and just pay their ticket. It’s a different cause, but the same effect. Her stream of customers trained her to speak in a disinterested monotone. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/34 "2014-07-03T04:14:18Z")
I think some people are misunderstanding me with not be able to understand vs easy. Yes the dispatch radio is hard to understand :eek:but I think people are misunderstanding me when I posted the youtube clips saying those two girls are hard at understanding.It not that I can’t understand them, it is they talk flat and fast.Like I say the reality TV show cops on fox filming in the southwest US.It not that some people on cops on fox in the south west are hard to understand!! It some of them talk quite ,flat and mono. I find accents in the North Eat and South East easy to understand.Yes even Boston and Chicago and gettos areas in New York. Even the North West US. I think it has to do with quite ,flat and mono talk that some people have in the south west and I’m not use to them.May be the North Eat and South East words are more drown out. I know some really fast talkers in Chicago ,Boston and the south and are much faster than Tucson Police , yet I can understand them way more than Tucson Police. I have read past threads that Newscasters take on a mid west accent ,learn to talk fast and editing to cut out dead air time between words. Hollywood will be slower because they want people to understand they don’t want people to say want or say that again. So it makes sense I’m use to the Hollywood and American accent with the exception of south west. Like it is not that accent is big like a UK or North East Canadian accent and some other Canadian accents but is not smooth ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796/35 "2014-07-03T04:20:25Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > How can you claim to pronounce a word without talking, or rather, what would be the point of doing such a thing? > > It’s like claiming to define a person’s step and saying it has nothing to do with walking. Or claiming that you eat calories instead of food. What useful data can be gained from such an exercise? When you tell someone to “pronounce” words they usually start doing things that they otherwise don’t do, so what you end up with is partially a fiction. It is easy to say words and pronounce a word. It other thing joining sentences , when to stop ,bring voice up ,bring your voice down ,do you puse , rhythmicality and harmony or variation of time between words. These are all regional aspects. Well reading list will remove much of these cadence. If a speaker was just saying what ever is on his or her mind you will hear more cadence of the regional than just reading list of words. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-south-west-us-so-hard-to-understand/691796.md?page=1)