Most incomprehensible English accent?

[SenhorDaGuerra]

the welsh accent is the most ******ed.

the scouse accent is just horrible as well as incomprehensable.

the geordie accent is difficult to understand, but can be sexy on the right girl... though you'd hard pushed to find "the right girl" in newcastle.

BUT, as far as ruining a language goes... id have to say that i honestly believe that the american accents (from boston to texas) have dumbed down the english language so much that it just annoys me. and i hate it when americans tell me i dont speak english, when clearly english is from england and it was here that i learned to speak the damned language!

its not aluminum, its aluminIum. there is an "i" in there. adding filler words like "like" and "totally" is rather annoying too. e.g. "I, like, made him totally spill his drink". whats wrong with "i made him spill his drink"?

not that i have a problem with americans, just the way they've decided to adopt the language. seems rather wasteful when there are so many more words in the english language apart from "awesome" and "sweet" to describe things.

you guys are like, so totally outrageous.

right, thats my rant over.

 

[Mise]

the geordie accent is difficult to understand, but can be sexy on the right girl...

You're joking...

 

[Bozo Erectus]

A couple of things that puzzle me about certain British accents: For instance, saying Afriker, Chiner, Americer. (replacing 'A' with 'er')

Another odd thing Ive noticed occasionally is the addition of a 'k' sound at the end of 'ing'. As in, thinkingk, travellingk.

 

[Mise]

Another odd thing Ive noticed occasionally is the addition of a 'k' sound at the end of 'ing'. As in, thinkingk, travellingk.

People from Birmingham tend to pronounce the g at the end instead of leaving it silent - maybe that's what you're hearing as k ? I don't know anyone who puts a k on the end.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

A couple of things that puzzle me about certain British accents: For instance, saying Afriker, Chiner, Americer. (replacing 'A' with 'er').

Oh dear crap, that turns me nearly homocidal.

I mean, it is so strong that Depeche Mode even rhymes career with Korea so that they sound the exact same.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Yeah that must be it, over pronunciation of the G. I'll pay closer attention next time to be sure. How about the ER thing, is that specific to a certain region or do all Brits do it to an extent?

 

[Che Guava]

I'm putting in my vote for Newfie english....really a tongue of its own...

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Oh dear crap, that turns me nearly homocidal.

It only annoys me a little when they repeat it a few times in rapid succession. I feel like telling the radio, 'For Chrissakes its a friggin A!'

 

[Jeff Yu]

BUT, as far as ruining a language goes... id have to say that i honestly believe that the american accents (from boston to texas) have dumbed down the english language so much that it just annoys me. and i hate it when americans tell me i dont speak english, when clearly english is from england and it was here that i learned to speak the damned language!

I think it's a disgrace that people from England can't even pronounce their own language properly. Like the matter of never properly pronouncing those 'R's. Those letters are there for a reason, why don't you people use them? "Are" gets pronounced something like "aaah", "proper" gets pronounced like "propuh", "dear" gets pronounced like "deah", "water" as "watuh". The way you guys pronounce things, "farther" and "father" sound almost exactly the same.

 

[Dann]

A bit off topic, Dann, but did you need to get a permit to live in Shenzen or were you born there? Do they require permits for people to enter or live in Shenzen as I've read? Just curious.

I'm a foreigner here. All I need is a valid China visa and I can go anywhere in China as I please.

A special permit to enter was once required for local Chinese born outside Shenzhen, but that rule has been relaxed somewhat now. Border control still exists but all one has to do is show their national ID (me I just flash my foreign passport), instead of another procedure like a couple of years ago.

Residency here (the same as everywhere else in China) requires one to report to the nearest police station and get a Temporary Residency Permit which is always issued without hassle on the spot and with no background investigation at all. Methinks it's just another aspect of bureaucracy instead of any real effort to control the population.

 

[YNCS]

Ye cannae whack Glaswegian.

Geordie comes close.

I'd have to agree.

In the middle 1980s, when I was in the Navy, the submarine I was in operated out of Holy Loch, Scotland. Our Xerox copier needed maintenance and the American Xerox tech was on leave. So a tech came out of Glasgow. I had a junior yeoman, an Alabama Black, escort the Glaswegian. The two of them were reduced to writing notes to each other. They had no trouble reading the other's written English, but the two accents were so strong that their spoken English was mutually incomprehensible. However, if you had asked either of them, they would have told you that they were speaking their native language, English.

 

[diablodelmar]

Highlander Scottish
Yorkshire/Lancashire
Some Irish accents are practically Gaelic.

 

[diablodelmar]

I think it's a disgrace that people from England can't even pronounce their own language properly. Like the matter of never properly pronouncing those 'R's. Those letters are there for a reason, why don't you people use them? "Are" gets pronounced something like "aaah", "proper" gets pronounced like "propuh", "dear" gets pronounced like "deah", "water" as "watuh". The way you guys pronounce things, "farther" and "father" sound almost exactly the same.

What are you on? We invented this frickin' language, I think we have the right to pronounce it as we please. And also, there are many British accents which do pronounce the "Rs" (like Dorsetshire). I think the American accent is much worse - it sounds so uneducated.

Has it never occured to you that maybe your pronunciation of stuff is the one that is incorrect?

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

Cockney is the most difficult to understand because any time a person speaks to me in that accent I put my fingers in my ears. They are usually trying to sell you somethink or blind you with rhyming nonsense.

 

[thetrooper]

I watched some 'Special features' to The Thorn Birds DVD yesterday, comments by the Australian actor Bryan Brown. Not incomprehensible, but difficult to follow.

 

[IglooDame]

its not aluminum, its aluminIum. there is an "i" in there.

You don't pronounce the "u" that you have in "colour", but you expect us to pronounce a non-existent "i"?

right, thats my rant over.

Don't get me started on the overuse of 'right'.

I'd say Cockney or Scot is least intelligible to my Northeastern US ears.

And regarding Boston, it's little-known that at the Boston Tea Party, they also heaved some R's and a few E's into the harbor as well.

 

[Winner]

I guess 50% of Americans and 90% of British speak a language I would hardly identify as English.

 

[diablodelmar]

I guess 50% of Americans and 90% of British speak a language I would hardly identify as English.

90% of british???????!?!?!?!??!??????????????!?!?!??!?!????

How?

 

[Winner]

90% of british???????!?!?!?!??!??????????????!?!?!??!?!????

How?

Don't take me wrong, the pure and clear British English is fantastic, but when I hear the opinions of people from the streets of London, I don't understand a word. They speak something only remotely similar to English I've been taught. The same for other parts of Britain.

Ironically, thanks to the US movies and TV shows, I can probably understand their slang better then yours.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Don't take me wrong, the pure and clear British English is fantastic, but when I hear the opinions of people from the streets of London, I don't understand a word. They speak something only remotely similar to English I've been taught. The same for other parts of Britain.

It's true ... 2 of my english teachers said this too, when they traveled to London.
They said that only 10% of the ppl of the UK speak the crystal clear language we hear on Discovery.