Depends on how good looking the news reader is
I would rather be bored and have eye candy.
Regards
M. Gregg
I think in one Russian TV channel you can watch topless girls while listening to the news. Way off topic. Maybe it should be moved to the lounge.
Whats the Chinese news channel like? Can you only hear it with 3 tubes?
Regards
M. Gregg
To be honest, I can't understand East Londoners when they talk. One of my good friends on this forum is from Yorkshire and although our written communication is fluent, when we're face to face, he has to repeat things three or four times before I understand them. For whatever reason, he understands me better. And I had a fellow from Southampton working for me once- I noticed that one of our contractors, who was also from Southampton, had a very different accent. I asked about this and my employee looked embarrassed and answered, "Class."
But the linguistic differences here go beyond pronunciation and include grammatical construction and actual meanings of words. For example, where I grew up on the East Coast, a bag was made of paper or plastic, a sack was made of cloth. A purse held a woman's money and was kept in her pocketbook. A bun was sweet and a roll was not. I moved West and everything was opposite. And let's not get into "You-all" and its variants! There's at least as much difference among different regional American English dialects as there is between any given American dialect and any given British dialect.
In liverpool you can have a lolly ice...in midlands its an ice lolly. I guess in America it's a Popsicle?
In Spain it's a Magum because It's the only thing I can ask for that dosen't need translation! LOL perhaps it needs translating "Magnum".
Regards
M. Gregg
In Spain it's a Magum because It's the only thing I can ask for that dosen't need translation! LOL perhaps it needs translating "Magnum".
Regards
M. Gregg
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It has been suggested that the reason we can understand Americans better than they understand us is that we see more American TV and films than they see British ones. There are British accents which I find harder to understand than some of the less extreme US ones.
I did an MSc about 10 years ago. Most of the class were from overseas (Chinese, Arabs). They generally found the foreign lecturers easier to understand than the British ones; the opposite of the few home students! I assume the slightly simpler vocabulary and more regular sentence construction (i.e. wrong!) was better for them, but sometimes confused me.
I did an MSc about 10 years ago. Most of the class were from overseas (Chinese, Arabs). They generally found the foreign lecturers easier to understand than the British ones; the opposite of the few home students! I assume the slightly simpler vocabulary and more regular sentence construction (i.e. wrong!) was better for them, but sometimes confused me.
In my opinion Standard British accent sounds better than Standard American - too nasal for my taste. A bit like comparing triodes with pentodes. In Europe, French and Italian sound pretty good (musical) while Dutch and German are too harsh sounding for my taste.
I have no trouble understanding Americans, OK, some better than others but not as extreme as not being able to understand a thing which happens to me with some British accents.
I have no trouble understanding Americans, OK, some better than others but not as extreme as not being able to understand a thing which happens to me with some British accents.
One of my friends in Paris was from Glasgow. Very, very difficult to understand his English. I got maybe 1 in 3 words. His French was very good, so I always had him speak to me in French - that I could understand!
He never had trouble understanding my American English, oddly enough.
He never had trouble understanding my American English, oddly enough.
Aluminum, sidewalk, windshield, enrollment, analog, encylopedia, maneuver, jewelry, theater, meter, color and tubes to name a few.
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I still have to meet an American who I have trouble understanding.
Hardest ever was a chap from Newcastle (UK). And a mate of mine in South Africa who was originally from Scotland I could understand perfectly until we went to his house and he started speaking to his parents.
Hardest ever was a chap from Newcastle (UK). And a mate of mine in South Africa who was originally from Scotland I could understand perfectly until we went to his house and he started speaking to his parents.
But that's just spelling. The Third Worlders in Canada spell things incorrectly as well.
(Ask a Frenchman about the word "nonante" and why "quatre-vingt dix" is better)
(Ask a Frenchman about the word "nonante" and why "quatre-vingt dix" is better)
I would not call American spelling incorrect. Apart from the aluminum. 🙂
It is the American spelling period. As a matter of fact American English IS the de-facto English on the internet.
Over the years I've spoken english with a lot of people, and I had to go way back in my memory to remember a case where I couldn't understand a native english speaker, but it has happened, a bloke from Scotland. "Can I borrow your lighter?", 'lighter' became something like 'loi'uh' and I won't go into detail how the rest sounded..😀 Very working class probably..
For native British English speakers like me the hardest accents to understand are probably some lowland Scots (especially from Glasgow) and Geordies (from Newcastle). The Black Country (to the west of Birmingham) is not far behind in lack of intelligibility.
My North-East London accent would be understandable by most (apart from SY!) but would be considered scruffy and lazy - lots of dropped H's and glottal stops where T should be.
My North-East London accent would be understandable by most (apart from SY!) but would be considered scruffy and lazy - lots of dropped H's and glottal stops where T should be.
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