Poll of the Day > Why do some people pretend they don't understand people with accents?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Among the helpdesk team at the company I work for there is one Spaniard guy , One German guy and one Scottish guy,

For they Spaniard and the German guys English is their second language. They have an accent but other than that their English is perfect Their Accent is even lighter than Antonio Banderas or Arnold...English is the Scotish guy's first language obviously...

For some reason every now and then we get some costumers who don't want to speak to them on over the phone pretending they do not understand them...which is obviously false because everyone has heard their calls necause we record them, and everyone can understand them perfectly...Even the Scotish guy sometimes gets costumers who tell him his English is bad and they do not understand them... What is hilarious is that those costumers are always someone whit a heavy ''redneck'' or ''Ebonics'' accent...

I would get it if their English was bad but why do they pretend that they don't understand them?
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Because they don't listen with their <3

Lack of exposure? If you've never heard someone talk that way it can difficult to interpret.
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Certain Scottish accents are actually hard as fuck to understand if you're not used to hearing them.

Cuz they're a right bunch of c***s
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brWB8ivjjJA" data-time="

Creole type accents can be difficult since they marry a number of accents.
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TheWorstPoster posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brWB8ivjjJA" data-time="

That's not a problem of accent, that's a problem of dialect. Even with the subtitles I still have no idea what they're saying.
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SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

TheWorstPoster posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brWB8ivjjJA" data-time="

That's not a problem of accent, that's a problem of dialect. Even with the subtitles I still have no idea what they're saying.

Imagine if GTA VI made you play as Badman, with no subtitles whatsoever.

TheWorstPoster posted...

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

TheWorstPoster posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brWB8ivjjJA" data-time="

That's not a problem of accent, that's a problem of dialect. Even with the subtitles I still have no idea what they're saying.

Imagine if GTA VI made you play as Badman, with no subtitles whatsoever.

No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind blue eyes
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yourDaddie posted...

English is the Scotish guy's first language obviously...

Scots don't speak English, we have to subtitle them.
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African accents are hard as hit to understand sometimes
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SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

Lack of exposure? If you've never heard someone talk that way it can difficult to interpret.

Proper use of being understanding.

Andromicus posted...

Cuz they're a right bunch of c***s

Proper use of being an intolerant dummy.

yourDaddie posted...

For some reason every now and then we get some costumers who don't want to speak to them on over the phone pretending they do not understand them...which is obviously false because everyone has heard their calls because we record them, and everyone can understand them perfectly...

You might be acting on false assumptions here.

Just because YOU can understand them doesn't mean that everyone can. I know from my experience in retail forever and a day ago, there were people whose accents I couldn't understand over the phone, and I had to pass them over to someone else in the store (who COULD understand them). But then, if I spoke to those same people in person (which I did occasionally), I could understand them much better. There was something about the way phones distort sound that made the difference between my being able to understand them or not. And the fact that my coworker COULD understand them illustrates pretty clearly that it wasn't a universal issue.



yourDaddie posted...

What is hilarious is that those costumers are always someone whit a heavy ''redneck'' or ''Ebonics'' accent...

And this might be even more proof of that theory. It's entirely possible that they have more trouble understanding the accent than you do because their own accents are so thick, and they're more used to talking to people with the same accent. It's possible you have an easier time understanding their accents because you're more used to dealing with "neutral"-sounding English, whereas two people who both have accents are effectively trying to communicate across an even wider gulf.

To be fair, it's entirely possible that you're just dealing with ignorant hick racists to whom any hint of an accent triggers "Dey took our jerbs!" knee-jerk antipathy, but it's also possible they sincerely DON'T understand, no matter how clearly you think the person is being.


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yourDaddie posted...

I would get it if their English was bad but why do they pretend that they don't understand them?

Maybe people can't understand them, maybe they keep calling them costumers instead of customers
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SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

TheWorstPoster posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brWB8ivjjJA" data-time="

That's not a problem of accent, that's a problem of dialect. Even with the subtitles I still have no idea what they're saying.

only us Jamaicans can understand other Jamaicans.
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Why do you think they're pretending? I've certainly talked to people with strong accents and had trouble understanding them, especially over the phone.

Kimbos_Egg posted...

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

TheWorstPoster posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brWB8ivjjJA" data-time="

That's not a problem of accent, that's a problem of dialect. Even with the subtitles I still have no idea what they're saying.

only us Jamaicans can understand other Jamaicans.

I certainly can't. I had a jamaican teacher in 9th grade, and I had a lot of trouble understanding what he was saying.
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I'm Scottish and it has always irked me that a lot of people of other english speaking nationalities don't seem to understand us even though we understand them regardless of their accent.

I'm very bad with accents. Some accents just screw me up completely and I have a very hard time understanding the person and it's not just foreign accents. I have issues with heavy accents from just being different regions of the US. I have a very hard time understanding people with a heavy southern accents or heavy ebonics.
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GeneralRaiden posted...

I'm Scottish and it has always irked me that a lot of people of other english speaking nationalities don't seem to understand us even though we understand them regardless of their accent.

Scottish accents sound cool, but they're hard to understand sometimes.
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I don't like talking to people with accents on the phone because I'm hard of hearing and I can't see their lips moving.
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yourDaddie posted...

Among the helpdesk team at the company I work for there is one Spaniard guy , One German guy and one Scottish guy,

For they Spaniard and the German guys English is their second language. They have an accent but other than that their English is perfect Their Accent is even lighter than Antonio Banderas or Arnold...English is the Scotish guy's first language obviously...

For some reason every now and then we get some costumers who don't want to speak to them on over the phone pretending they do not understand them...which is obviously false because everyone has heard their calls necause we record them, and everyone can understand them perfectly...Even the Scotish guy sometimes gets costumers who tell him his English is bad and they do not understand them... What is hilarious is that those costumers are always someone whit a heavy ''redneck'' or ''Ebonics'' accent...

I would get it if their English was bad but why do they pretend that they don't understand them?

So you mean everyone who works the helpdesk, who's probably overall younger and had more exposure in their lives to other accents, especially ones these two guys have...somehow has an easier time understanding them than the old lady living in the country calling for help who's possibly never heard those accents before?

SHOCKING
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Jen0125 posted...

I don't like talking to people with accents on the phone because I'm hard of hearing and I can't see their lips moving.

Turn up your phone

If you had ADD you'd have a problem.
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Yellow posted...

Jen0125 posted...

I don't like talking to people with accents on the phone because I'm hard of hearing and I can't see their lips moving.

Turn up your phone

If you had ADD you'd have a problem.

That doesn't always work if the call quality isn't great. That just makes the call louder, not clearer. I'm not sure why you think your advice was wanted or relevant.
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DrYuya posted...

So you mean everyone who works the helpdesk, who's probably overall younger and had more exposure in their lives to other accents, especially ones these two guys have...somehow has an easier time understanding them than the old lady living in the country calling for help who's possibly never heard those accents before?

SHOCKING

Dude, just let him virtue signal in peace lmao
Also laughing at "costumers" instead of "customers."

Kimbos_Egg posted...

SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

TheWorstPoster posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brWB8ivjjJA" data-time="

That's not a problem of accent, that's a problem of dialect. Even with the subtitles I still have no idea what they're saying.

only us Jamaicans can understand other Jamaicans.

I can understand every word, but I grew up with Jamaicans. It's not hard if you just listen and use context clues.
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SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

Lack of exposure? If you've never heard someone talk that way it can difficult to interpret.

This. Family that hasn't watched BBC programs sometimes has issues with UK accents.

it actually could be real that they don't understand. I recently turned off Coast to Coast (the paranormal radio show) cause a guest had a very thick scottish accent and I had no idea what he was saying.

Zikten posted...

it actually could be real that they don't understand. I recently turned off Coast to Coast (the paranormal radio show) cause a guest had a very thick scottish accent and I had no idea what he was saying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kue42kO0hY" data-time="

Zikten posted...

it actually could be real that they don't understand. I recently turned off Coast to Coast (the paranormal radio show) cause a guest had a very thick scottish accent and I had no idea what he was saying.

But that is dumb is that they were saying he has to learn English if he is a natuve speaker
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Watching the last Dr on Dr. Who took me awhile to catch what he was saying. I even turned on closed captioning at times to get what the hell he was saying.
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@Jen0125 posted...

Yellow posted...

Jen0125 posted...

I don't like talking to people with accents on the phone because I'm hard of hearing and I can't see their lips moving.

Turn up your phone

If you had ADD you'd have a problem.

That doesn't always work if the call quality isn't great. That just makes the call louder, not clearer. I'm not sure why you think your advice was wanted or relevant.

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as snarky.
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Yellow posted...

@Jen0125 posted...

Yellow posted...

Jen0125 posted...

I don't like talking to people with accents on the phone because I'm hard of hearing and I can't see their lips moving.

Turn up your phone

If you had ADD you'd have a problem.

That doesn't always work if the call quality isn't great. That just makes the call louder, not clearer. I'm not sure why you think your advice was wanted or relevant.

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as snarky.

Well it's like telling someone who says they're almost blind so they can't read something to just get stronger glasses. Gee why didn't we think of that.
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I have a hard time understanding characters in Game of Thrones sometimes and their accents aren't even that thick. I definitely think it has to do with exposure.
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