Here in France I have a lot of students who say they don't understand AE, including one bilingual, Portsmouth FC supporter with an English father and a Hampshire accent, who just flunked a listening test based on an NPR podcast. I myself had trouble understanding the first 10 minutes of Thelma and Louise until I tuned into the accents, while I'm sure American visitors to the Wiltshire villages of my childhood would be baffled by the older residents.
It's purely a question of what one is used to, be it Indian, British, American or whatever.
How different are these Englishes really?
Moderators: Dimitris, maneki neko2, Lorikeet, Enrico Palazzo, superpeach, cecil2, Mr. Kalgukshi2
re cognize
Hey all.
I personally believe (which means that I am not stating any TRUTH) that comprehension comes basically from recognition. If the language isn't somewhere in your mental bank, you won't recognize it and thus won't comprehend it. And so, I don't understand what my Irish boss or English workmate is saying to me because of accent or word choice or even word order. "Half seven" they insist on saying when I say "seven thirty". It wasn't until I began to use "Half seven" that I understood it without having to pass through an AE filter.
And since (wow, I've begun two sentences with a conjunction, you will all be kicking me out of the forum soon....) it is impossible to have a 100% mental bank, we will all, natives, non-natives, semi-natives, sometimes find it hard to understand other natives, non-natives or semi-natives. But well, that's why we have such wonderful expressions as:
"Can you run that by me one more time?"
peace,
revel.
I personally believe (which means that I am not stating any TRUTH) that comprehension comes basically from recognition. If the language isn't somewhere in your mental bank, you won't recognize it and thus won't comprehend it. And so, I don't understand what my Irish boss or English workmate is saying to me because of accent or word choice or even word order. "Half seven" they insist on saying when I say "seven thirty". It wasn't until I began to use "Half seven" that I understood it without having to pass through an AE filter.
And since (wow, I've begun two sentences with a conjunction, you will all be kicking me out of the forum soon....) it is impossible to have a 100% mental bank, we will all, natives, non-natives, semi-natives, sometimes find it hard to understand other natives, non-natives or semi-natives. But well, that's why we have such wonderful expressions as:
"Can you run that by me one more time?"
peace,
revel.