I have a hard time understanding some accents

Toomuchstuff

Toomuchstuff

Member
Location
Wisconsin
Is it just me ? If someone has a heavy accent (especially over the phone) I keep having to ask them to repeat themselves. My hearing is good , I just have trouble with my brain processing the words ! For example , I've seen 2 different doctors in the past year and both had such thick Indian accents , I felt self conscious while they were talking to me. I changed doctors and I would never dare tell anyone it's because of their accent . In this day of " Political Correctness" ,I'd probably
be labeled racist !

Do you have trouble with some accents ?
 

Yes, sometimes. I get frustrated when I can't understand a cashier or customer service rep, and I try to be polite and ask them several times to slowly repeat what they said. I've had to ask to speak to someone else. It's not racist to tell someone you're having trouble understanding them.
 
It's a common complaint from those who have to call a service center for help on their computers.

I have trouble sometimes even with children. I miss what they are trying to say.
 

Maryland has an interesting history with accents. The eastern edge of the state, somewhat cut off by the Chesapeake Bay, had a culture of its own for many years. Their accent was a kind of
Shakespearean dialect (not only the accent, but the vocabulary). That has largely faded away now, since technology has pretty much made us all one culture, at least in our language (though obviously not in our politics). I think this has probably happened in many locations.

In England, I suspect that even Henry Higgins would have trouble finding extreme enough differences in dialect to bellyache about.
 
I have trouble understanding English spoken with a strong Asian accent, and it is worse with women's voices than men's. I was getting help with my computer not long ago and had a woman with such a strong accent I could not understand her, so I asked to speak with someone else.

And there are a couple UK accents I have trouble with, where my ear can't seem to sort out the words. They sound mumbled and all crunched together. I hear them on an occasional show on Acorn TV, which is a streaming service with UK programs. I LOVE the programming, but once in a while run into something I have a hard time understanding. It's never the major characters, but some of the minor characters, people in the street, etc.
 
We like to watch old movies on TV, but some of the British accents are a bit difficult. What is really annoying is when the "background music" drowns out the dialog.

Turner Classic Movies and GetTV have some good really old films. A few are silent films from the 1920s.
 
I've noticed that about myself also. My hearing is fine, but when I'm watching tv I have a terrible time deciphering accents. I just change the channel.
 
I've never had a quick ear for accents but past few years it has been worse. Don't know if it's me or if I'm simply encountering more people for whom English is a second language. I understand the need for bi-lingual staff but if I must conduct business I must be able to understand what is being said. If not, my business goes elsewhere.
 
It helps to be reading lips with Asians and some are impossible to understand even then. God help you if you have a cable problem on the weekend. Those of us with Spectrum (formerly Time Warner Cable) are patched over to East India, and it can be a pulling your hair out experience. Sometimes I just say I'm sorry, and ask to be transferred to someone I can understand. That usually helps.
 
I have a Dell service contract, and a lot of their people are in India. I generally do very well with them. The one I really have trouble with is a kind of sing-songy Asian accent, especially in a woman's voice. I REALLY have trouble with them.
 
I have a terrible time understanding accents and what makes it worse is my hearing problem. Thank goodness most shows have captions and I have a caption phone. Some of the accents are so bad on the phone that the caption phone keeps writing inaudible on the screen.
 

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