Board 8 > So does anyone else here have an exceptionally hard time understanding foreign.

(+) Yeah! (+)

individuals who speak English? I know mostly everyone has a harder time understanding individuals who don't share the same primary language and speak with an accent.I feel like I'm a step below that though.

I'll have a foreign individual repeat themselves 6 times and still not pick up on what their saying when a coworker can find It out in two attempts.
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No I find it incredibly easy.
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Menji posted...

No I find it incredibly easy.

I'm jealous
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Really depends on a Case by case basis
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Depends on the accent.

I find European accents(Eastern Europe is a big one other people seem to have trouble with that I don't) and African accents really easy.

Asian are harder.
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I have extreme difficulty understanding foreigners that speak English. Not sure why.
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Yeah, accents really trip me up.
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Glad to know I'm not alone. I feel like a jerk every time.
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I feel like I'm about average. Have difficulty with some, but still decent at it overall. I really suck when it comes to Indian accents, though. Also some of the thicker European ones. Like when I was watching Hannibal, it took a couple episodes before I grew accustomed to Mads Mikkelsen's accent.

As another TV example, on The Expanse, some of the Belters give me trouble too (and occasionally the Earth lady, but I'm not sure if that's the accent or just because of how gravelly her voice is).
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this reminds of the last european speedrun assembly when one of the interviewers had a very thick british accent and tons of the people in chat were going "wtf i can't understand a word he's saying."

having difficulty understanding people whose primary language isn't english is one thing, but how is it possible for americans to not understand british people? >_>
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There are some American accents I can't understand and some foreign accents that almost make understanding easier than normal.

Mr Lasastryke posted...

having difficulty understanding people whose primary language isn't english is one thing, but how is it possible for americans to not understand british people? >_>

You're honestly surprised?

I think some Americans take great pride in not being able to understand British accents. Some of us still haven't gotten over the revolutionary war, for some reason.
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British accents are almost worse than like, Indian accents sometimes. Partly because of how quickly they speak (ESL speakers typically speak slower).

I'm Canadian, incidentally.
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asians I feel are the hardest to understand.
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I struggle mightily with it, I understand your plight.
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Depends entirely on the person.

I had a math tutor who was Iranian, no problem with her. I had a math professor who was Indian and everyone complained behind her back that she was incomprehensible. I only passed the class because I spent extra time studying youtube videos and the book.
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Obviously it depends but even the thickest accent I can usually understand
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indian accents are definitely my weak point

i think i've hammered down what it is. my indian coworkers tend to make voiceless sounds when i'm used to voiced ones

it's the difference between the 'b' sound and the 'p' sound, and the difference between 'd' and 't'. it also has the side effect of allowing one to say certain syllables waaay faster, and my brain just has trouble parsing
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Indian I do well with. Ethiopian I can't even
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It's difficult sometimes, but not impossible. I have to do it for a living (insurance companies outsource their call centers a lot of the time). I try not to take my frustration out on the folks on the other side of the world trying to make a living.

I'm pretty good at least getting the gist of what someone is saying if they speak with an accent. Met a guy from Togo the other day, and I understood him just fine, but my friend struggled due to how thick his accent was.
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Mac Arrowny posted...

British accents are almost worse than like, Indian accents sometimes. Partly because of how quickly they speak (ESL speakers typically speak slower).

I'm Canadian, incidentally.

Yeah kind of agree with this. Though watching British TV has helped. I used to need subtitles when I watched The Office lol
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I have enough trouble understanding native speakers tbqh
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I would say I'm above average overall

this is based mostly on me being able to understand math, science, and physics professors that other students had trouble understanding in the past. unless other people were lying about having difficulty understanding those professors or if I was repeatedly paired with fluke cases that do not represent the general population at all, this seems like a good indication that I'm above the average when it comes to something like this.

there are some cases where I've met other ESL individuals in a non-academic context and they clearly do not speak English very well at all. I don't think that matches the spirit of this topic though since I can imagine anyone would have trouble understanding a person that cannot speak comprehensible English.

then there's other cases where I met ESL individuals who could speak English fairly well and I had no trouble understanding them. so yeah I mean I guess I'm not the master of deciding who can and can't speak English but it at least appears to be the case that as long as a person is capable of speaking English I can understand them pretty much fine, accent or not.

I would say the accents that have given me the most trouble were thick southern US accents. those can be hell to understand sometimes.
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I should probably link this as an example of native English speakers being incomprehensible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le_uNGdpa4c
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"Bawstigmatic"? I understood "You the dad" and "Scumbag", so that's something.

I have more trouble with British accents for some reason
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