Question about British accents

Jack · January 09, 2009, 10:37:19 AM

I'm quite a fan of British comedies, but one thing has always puzzled me: With some shows like "Keeping Up Appearances" and "Are You Being Served?" I can understand the actors perfectly. They've obviously got British accents, but other than the occasional slang term, I have no problem. But with other shows like "Last of the Summer Wine" the accents are so heavy that I can barely follow what they're saying. The same with movies like "The Descent", I missed almost all the dialog in that whole movie.

My question: What's up with that?

Are these accents from different regions?

trekgeezer · January 09, 2009, 10:51:41 AM

I'm certainly not a Brit, but yes they do have regional dialects just like we here in the US do.

I lived in Scotland for two years and I can tell you that some people had such thick brogues, you couldn't tell they were speaking English.

I guess it must be exposure, but I don't really have a problem understanding British tv, I watch BBC America all the time.

schmendrik · January 09, 2009, 11:24:20 AM

I love British regional accents. When I was first listening to Monty Python I just thought the same as you, "how come sometimes I can understand these guys and sometimes I can't". It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized they would put on different accents for different skits. There's an upper-class accent, the one we think of as "proper British". John Cleese often used that. But I think there's actually more than one upper-class accent. There's one I've heard sometimes that almost sounds like a lisp: "Vewy nice". Then there's Cockney of course (East Enders, or the musical number "Always Look on the Bright Side" from Life of Brian).

There's the Beatles' accent (Ringo especially), which is the city of Liverpool.

There's the Yorkshire accent, which Monty Python used in the "Four Yorkshiremen" skit of course. "Chicken Run" is Yorkshire (the Tweedys) but the chickens have various accents. So are all those James Herriott "All Things" series. "Full Monty" and "Calendar Girls" were also Yorkshire I believe.

We think Michael Caine sounds proper, but in interviews he says that's a working class accent.

If you've ever seen "Notting Hill" the character Spike (Rhys Ifans) is Welsh.

I'm sure there are many many more that I don't know about, even just in England. I just had a conversation with a Scottish friend about that Taysiders in Space skit that was posted in another thread here. He says he can't understand it either.

asimpson2006 · January 09, 2009, 12:35:22 PM

I always enjoy women with British accent. If her voice it's annoying she could sound quite sexy. We used to have this lady call into the help desk that I worked at who lived was British. If she didn't sound so annoying her voice would be some what sexy. Of course she herself was quite ugly so that didn't help at all.

I'm used to hear various accents from all over the world at my job so I don't have many problems understanding people with accents. The accents that I have trouble with are people who come from Eastern Africa like around Kenya and Uganda. Heavy accents are tough but People from Kenya and that region I have had the most trouble with.

Psycho Circus · January 09, 2009, 01:16:25 PM

NO! NO! NO! I'm sick of the rest of the world thinking we all talk really posh, like it's 18th century london and we're all royalty. All those shows are from the 70's when most actors were well educated and well mannered, with shows focusing on spoofing the upper class and well to do. Britain is mostly down to earth folk, who language is quite relaxed most times and quite abrasive other times. We're not all rich, happy people that drink tea all the time.

Yes there are many regional accents, Mancunian (mine), Yorkshire, Lancashire, Midlands, Cockney, sort of posh southern, Devonshire...so on and so on....It depends on the county you're from, just like in the USA with all you guys' seperate states. My mom's boyfriend is from Liverpool, so he has a scouse accent, but it is very mild. I do understand that some thick accents are impossible to figure words out from, but they are mostly stupid drunken idiots that are really old and stuck in their ways.

I'm from Manchester, but I don't really have much of an accent, just a pretty plain speaking voice and decent pronunciation. I live in Preston in Lancashire though, where the accents are quite thick and most people sound very stupid (because they are) and miss out letters when sounding simple words. Luckily I haven't picked anything up from these parts, even though it's only 30 mins from where I used to live by car.

Oh well

Doggett · January 09, 2009, 02:43:04 PM

Quote from: Circus_Circus on January 09, 2009, 01:16:25 PM
NO! NO! NO! I'm sick of the rest of the world thinking we all talk really posh, like it's 18th century london and we're all royalty. All those shows are from the 70's when most actors were well educated and well mannered, with shows focusing on spoofing the upper class and well to do. Britain is mostly down to earth folk, who language is quite relaxed most times and quite abrasive other times. We're not all rich, happy people that drink tea all the time.

Yes there are many regional accents, Mancunian (mine), Yorkshire, Lancashire, Midlands, Cockney, sort of posh southern, Devonshire...so on and so on....It depends on the county you're from, just like in the USA with all you guys' seperate states. My mom's boyfriend is from Liverpool, so he has a scouse accent, but it is very mild. I do understand that some thick accents are impossible to figure words out from, but they are mostly stupid drunken idiots that are really old and stuck in their ways.

I'm from Manchester, but I don't really have much of an accent, just a pretty plain speaking voice and decent pronunciation. I live in Preston in Lancashire though, where the accents are quite thick and most people sound very stupid (because they are) and miss out letters when sounding simple words. Luckily I haven't picked anything up from these parts, even though it's only 30 mins from where I used to live by car.

Oh well

I agree, but can't blame foreigners for thinking that we all talk posh. I think all Americans have a Californian accent as all the US telly shows and movies are made in LA.
Britain's a small island but there are over 100 accents here, apparently.
In my entire life I've never lived anywhere longer than 3/4 years, I moved a lot gowing up and have people consider me having a posh accent and it really isn't. It's a bland voice.

asimpson2006 · January 09, 2009, 03:55:36 PM

Quote from: doggett on January 09, 2009, 02:43:04 PM
I agree, but can't blame foreigners for thinking that we all talk posh. I think all Americans have a Californian accent as all the US telly shows and movies are made in LA.
Britain's a small island but there are over 100 accents here, apparently.
In my entire life I've never lived anywhere longer than 3/4 years, I moved a lot gowing up and have people consider me having a posh accent and it really isn't. It's a bland voice.

I wouldn't say that everyone thinks that people from Britain talk posh. I certainly don't think that way since I've talk to many people from Britain over the last few years. I think other may just because of what they may hear in a TV show or a movie and think well they all talk that way.

Doggett · January 09, 2009, 04:00:40 PM

When I watch American telly with a Brit character in, it's nearly always played by a American with a silly false accent. Which is odd when you consider all the Brits in LA at the moment. And they're always played as pompous idiots.

Here's a genuine pompous Brit...

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u3G618-hxgA

Only he has that accent. I've never met anyone who sounds like him. Ever.

JJ80 · January 09, 2009, 04:50:17 PM

I don't actually speak with much of an accent, in fact some local people still ask me if I come from another part of the country. The famous Glaswegian/West Of Scotland accent revolves around missing out the letter 'T' in words. However, a lot of people in the Village area of Cumbernauld are descended from farmers and speak with a somewhat different, lilting accent and talk at a slightly slower rate.

Raffine · January 09, 2009, 04:57:16 PM

QuoteI'm sick of the rest of the world thinking we all talk really posh

QuoteI wouldn't say that everyone thinks that people from Britain talk posh.

With the casual use of the word 'posh' I now suspect you both of being in fact, veddy, veddy 'posh'.

JJ80 · January 09, 2009, 05:15:43 PM

I say, steady on there Old chap!

Psycho Circus · January 09, 2009, 05:16:23 PM

This is one of my favourite comedic pieces, by Michael McIntyre (southern), poking fun at the north of england.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=znW7Anwrmd0&feature=related

Mr. DS · January 09, 2009, 07:49:54 PM

QuoteI think all Americans have a Californian accent as all the US telly shows and movies are made in LA.

What does a californian accent sound like just out of curiosity?

AndyC · January 09, 2009, 10:41:38 PM

Quote from: Circus_Circus on January 09, 2009, 01:16:25 PM
All those shows are from the 70's when most actors were well educated and well mannered, with shows focusing on spoofing the upper class and well to do. Britain is mostly down to earth folk, who language is quite relaxed most times and quite abrasive other times. We're not all rich, happy people that drink tea all the time.

Funny, I remember reading a while ago that "the Queen's English" used to be the standard in broadcasting for many years, in spite of being relatively rare among the population of Britain as a whole. Apparently, one of the reasons this has changed is that regional accents are more appealing to the average consumer.

It's actually quite dramatic to compare the original Doctor Who to the new series. After a long line of posh-sounding doctors, along comes Christopher Eccleston from Salford, followed by David Tennant doing Mockney. I have yet to hear what the new guy sounds like.

Newt · January 10, 2009, 09:09:28 AM

Quote from: doggett on January 09, 2009, 02:43:04 PMIn my entire life I've never lived anywhere longer than 3/4 years, I moved a lot gowing up and have people consider me having a posh accent and it really isn't. It's a bland voice.

I have been told that is the key to acquiring the 'posh' British accent: take all the regional peculiarities out, and the bland, average result that is left is BBC 'upper class'. Do the same with Americans and you get (what used to be) the typical bland 'newscaster' accent (which was once called 'Mid-Western').

What makes me laugh out loud is when subtitles are present when people are speaking accented English! Most of the time, the accent involved is not all *that* strong - not incomprehensible. Perhaps the 'ear' of the general public is becoming less versatile or less adaptable? Seems odd, given that we are all likely to encounter *more* variety in the people we meet (and presumably their accents) these days.

Linguistics is cool. 'Isoglosses' are an interesting phenomenon. There are regional accents everywhere. Some approach the level of dialects. I grew up in an area where the older local farmers could be very hard to understand. And a good few of my classmates in high school were Francophones, but even they found it well nigh impossible to understand the tapes our French teacher brought in of people speaking 'joual' in backwoods Quebec.

My brother had a prof in university who, after hearing my brother speak, was able to tell him exactly where he had spent time growing up. All the places. Accurately.

That was way cool!