Very strong foreign accents

I am from Northern Ireland. I accept that some of our accents are difficult. People from country areas talk very fast. There are many accents in Ireland, just like England.

As a hearing aid wearer I'm completely lost with the accents on TV (all accents) unless I have the subtitles on.

I find it very difficult to understand some accents especially when ringing banks etc. I don't want to offend by saying I can't understand what you're saying so always revert to the' it's a very bad line can you speak more slowly please'. Doesn't always work but if not I ring again later and hope for another assistant. Very frustrating.

Hang up because they are usually trying to sell something I don’t want or they are scammers.

I am from the North and have huge difficulty with East London, Essex accents, can't understand them at all. Irish accent is difficult too, especially northern Irish accent..

My MIL is Scottish, so is my OH. I have hearing problems & can't understand her at all, I tend to lip read with most people but she doesn't move her lips. Fortunately my OH was in the Royal Navy for 20 years & was a radio communications officer & has no accent as such, he lost it very young when he moved to England as a young lad & was bullied coz of it so changed it himself.
I agree though with accents on the phone, can be very difficult. I'm from the Midlands so you can imagine the accents I come across. I'm not particularly broad West Midlands but you would tell I'm from the Midlands.

Having struggled to understand the lady on the end of the phone who was in a foreign call centre, I eventually lost patience and demanded that I was put through to a UK call centre. I had been trying to get the problem sorted out for weeks and it was absolutely the last straw. After much arguing, the supervisor came on the line and after yet more arguing (and time wasted) he agreed to transfer the call. A long wait later, the UK call centre picked up the phone and woman with the broadest Yorkshire accent came on the line who was equally hard to understand. I was almost glad when the line got cut off!

I also have a problem understanding accents on the phone .
It's embarrassing to ask people to repeat what they've just said .
Then ask them again .

I find it harder to understand strong accents than I used to. I think it’s a type of age-related deafness. When I was a child we had a very Scottish GP. My Yorkshire grandfather, who lived with us, couldn’t understand him at all. I, a child, had no problem.

I do find that poor diction is more common on TV than it was. There is a fashion to sound ‘ordinary’, and a fear of sounding intimidatingly ‘superior’, to dumb down rather than strive upwards. In my youth, people tried to discard regional accents and speak RP. Now it’s more or less the other way round in many cases.

Funny story

When Harry Potter came to the US for the first time, some movie theaters put subtitles as accent was a problem - hard to understand

Funny story no. 2
I was put in charge of calling my company's provider in the UK as I was the only one able to "decipher the accent"

the clearest ones i've had have been south african and irish.
think it was BT.

I'm glad I'm not the only one having problems! I've tried calling back and end up with a different foreign accent. I often hand the phone to my DH who at least is not deaf, but he has problems too, trying to make out what they are saying. Sometimes I just despair!

Lived in London all my life but its the old school east London accent I have difficulty with, especially if it's a man talking. There seem to be no consonants.

Different folks... different ears!

Do you ever listen to 'This American Life'? One of the best podcasts ever regarding content but the main presenter, Ira Glass, so swallows his words I have to strain to listen to him!

Interesting, Riv! I don't like Kate Andrews' voice – rather grating to my ear – but I find her very clear.

Baggs

*Riverwalk*, I thought it was just me re Fraser Nelson. I think he 'chews' his words and that's what makes them indistinct. There is a woman broadcaster I have the same difficulty with. Katie Balls, I think.

I think we are both referring to The Spectator podcast?

The K with the indistinct voice is Kate Andrews (north American accent) not Katy Balls, in my opinion.

Truly, sometimes I can barely understand a word Andrews says.

This is the problem with many podcasts - writers, bloggers, journalists, whatever, no matter how talented or otherwise they may be, doesn't mean they have a good voice for broadcast.

beg pardon – Katy with a y

Riverwalk, I thought it was just me re Fraser Nelson. I think he 'chews' his words and that's what makes them indistinct. There is a woman broadcaster I have the same difficulty with. Katie Balls, I think.

Well funnily enough I have more trouble with some of the regional accents and like you watermelon some of the strong Scottish accents can be difficult and that’s not meant to be a dig at Scottish GNs I like the Scottish accent but sometimes it can be difficult especially if it’s a subject you’re not too hot on

They don’t need to be foreign, I can’t understand British people with strong northern or Scottish accents. Of course we don’t want everyone speaking the same but to give important information we need the person answering the telephone to be comprehensible.

We have a call barring phone, so that if your number is not recognised, you have to announce yourself.
This works fine, mostly, but if the caller is 'cold calling', they just announce themselves as " *#% /*#" absolutely cannot understand them.
So now I just put the phone down.
If they really want to speak to you, why not just say a name, clearly?

I had someone today ring me and I’m always thinking are they genuine or are they scammers lol couldn’t understand him don’t know how many times I said sorry don’t understand in the end I put phone down

It's the reason I changed from TalkTalk (call centre in India) to PlusNet (call centre in Sheffield).

Mind you, TalkTalk was so unreliable that I was having to phone every few months but I'm not that good with technology and what with the jargon and the heavy accent, I was baffled.

Happens all too often. I reply clearly and loudly, asking them to do the same. Very frustrating.

I say, I'm sorry but the line is not very clear can you please say that again.

Not long ago I spoke to someone with a UK accent - honestly I could barely make out what he was saying.

He had a kindly soft voice but very indistinct diction - rather like the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, and Fraser Nelson of The Spectator. Just too soft for phone work!