Native English speakers: are there any dialects or accents of English that you cannot understand?

[Daco Celtic]

The vast majority is very easy to understand with the notable exceptions being Cajun English and certain Scottish or Ireland dialects. It's the pronunciation, not the vocabulary that is difficult to understand. Might also add Hawaiian Pidgin English.

[hmaohma78]

The vast majority is very easy to understand with the notable exceptions being Cajun English and certain Scottish or Ireland dialects. It's the pronunciation, not the vocabulary that is difficult to understand.

I completely agree with this^^^^^

[Creoda]

Prefixing a family member with 'Our', (pronounced are)

eg, my grandparents would call my cousin 'Our Rach', which her bogan mother complained about because she thought they were calling her 'R.H.' for some reason.

[Ouistreham]

Fang = to Catch

Obviously related to German fangen = to catch.
Interesting, that in the heart of the Northern Midlands an old Germanic root has been preserved in its original meaning.
Is it specific to the Stoke-on-Trent area or are there instances in other places?

[Daco Celtic]

eg, my grandparents would call my cousin 'Our Rach', which her bogan mother complained about because she thought they were calling her 'R.H.' for some reason.

Do Aussies also use the word rubbish vs trash/garbage? My New England grandparents used "rubbish" regularly but that is very uncommon in the US.

[Creoda]

Obviously related to German fangen = to catch.
Interesting, that in the heart of the Northern Midlands an old Germanic root has been preserved in its original meaning.
Is it specific to the Stoke-on-Trent area or are there instances in other places?

As far as I'm aware it's specific to North Staffordshire, but it was probably used more widely in previous centuries and survived longest there. Duck however is commonly used across the North Midlands, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire.

Do Aussies also use the word rubbish vs trash/garbage? My New England grandparents used "rubbish" regularly but that is very uncommon in the US.

Yes, when specifically talking about the bin/waste it's most commonly Rubbish, trash/garbage are more often just for something being bad (rubbish also).

[Ellethwyn]

Scottish accents...




especially Glaswegian Scottish accent...

[Roy]

Not really. Maybe 50-100 years ago when the local dialects were still broad and strong, but rarely any more, just many words are pronounced differently and a few local expressions. My grandparents were from there, and didn't have trouble being understood.

Some old Stoke pronunciations/expressions:

Duck = friend, mate, love etc (my parents still call each other this)
Ey up duck = How are you mate
Nesh = to be soft
Father etc = pronounced Fayther/Faither
Cook, Book, Look etc = pronounced like the oo in Soon
Out, House etc = pronounced Ite, Hise etc, so Outlander is Itelander
Canna = Can't
Mither = bother
Narky = bad tempered
Horse, Worse = pronounced oss, woss etc
Snapping = Dinner
Scran = food
Right = pronounced rate
Old, Told etc - pronounced Owd, Towd etc
Fang = to Catch
Slat = to Throw
Prefixing a family member with 'Our', (pronounced are)

Also some archaic English like thee, thine, yon etc

The pronunciation remains odd though. My female cousin who is as fluent as I am in English very often could not understand their speech. I noticed that the vowels vary crazily between various English (especially British) accents. I've heard many native Britons pronounce like ... like ... laaawik /lɔɪk/ instead of the standard /laɪk/ I think.

[Norb]

all except South-Eastern accent

[Hithaeglir]

Non native and comfortable with all accents except the ones straight from the Indian subcontinent (outsourced call center employees).