British Accents Ranked from Easiest to Hardest (+ Free PDF & Quiz)
Ranking 10 British / UK accents from easiest to most difficult. I sent 10 clips of celebrities with distinctive English accents to my students in a survey. 📝 GET THE FREE LESSON PDF here 👉🏼 FREE PDF: bit.ly/10AccentsPDF 📊 FIND OUT YOUR ENGLISH LEVEL! Take my level test here 👉🏼 bit.ly/EnglishLevelTest12 👩🏼🏫 JOIN MY ONLINE ENGLISH COURSES: englishwithlucy.teachable.com... - We have launched our B1 and B2 Complete English Programmes!
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Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction & Test Instructions
2:29 - Free PDF download instructions
4:50 - 10 - Queen Elizabeth - RP
7:02 - 9 - Jason Statham - Cockney
8:41 - 8 - Gemma Collins - Essex
10:29 - 7 - Charlotte Church - Cardiff
12:12 - 6 - Louis Tomlinson - Yorkshire
14:04 - 5 - Adrian Chiles - Birmingham (Brummie)
16:23 - 4 - Nadine Coyle - Derry
17:46 - 3 - Cheryl Cole - Geordie (Newcastle)
19:55 - 2 - Frankie Boyle - Glaswegian
21:19 - 1 - John Bishop - Scouse (Liverpool)
🎥 Video edited by La Ferpection
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Ranking 10 British / UK accents from easiest to most difficult. I sent 10 clips of celebrities with distinctive English accents to my students in a survey. 📝 *GET THE FREE LESSON PDF* _here_ 👉🏼 FREE PDF: bit.ly/10AccentsPDF 📊 *FIND OUT YOUR ENGLISH LEVEL!* _Take my level test here_ 👉🏼 bit.ly/EnglishLevelTest12 👩🏼🏫 *JOIN MY ONLINE ENGLISH COURSES:* englishwithlucy.teachable.com/courses - _We have launched our B1 and B2 Complete English Programmes!_
Love your videos... Your videos have helped me a lot to learn English ❤️.....Big Fan from Nepal ❤️🇳🇵
Lucy, hello! What is Esther Smith’s accent?)) HELP ME PLEASE
Every time , i Listen to you , Every time i fall in love with you , Love you ma'am ❤🙏🏻 , Love from India 🇮🇳
wish you had chosen better examples tbh. John Bishop isn't that hard to understand, try Jamie Carragher...
In TV, all people talk clearly but in real life, all native speakers sound Norwegian to me from Northern Europe😝. Thanks, your presentation is interesting.
I think we need to hear people from the streets rather than celebrities who train to speak clearly. The difficulty goes up exponentially in this case.
True but using celebrities generates a lot more KZhead views than using ordinary everyday people.
agreeeeeeed
@@adamcarlo7666 Bearing in mind I didn't know until I watched the video that she was using celebrities, I'd have to disagree, as that had no effect on me being interested to watch. I agree with Dagnir - chose the most impossibly strong accent (that's not faked) you can find and do it again.
She should have showed roadmen
if its two locals speaking to each other it becomes borderline impossible
I once had to interpret between a Cornish waitress, and an American couple, in a cafe. They were ordering tea and scones, when the waitress said "Zalroytjawunanthnelsethenm'lovelies." The look of panic on their faces was a picture, so I leaned over and said, "That's alright, do you want anything else, then, my lovelies."
😆😁😆😁😆😁
Geddonmaboody!
I had to do the same between my now ex husband and an American waitress because she couldn’t understand his St Helen’s accent
Hahaha!
I did the same between a Spanish waitress in Mallorca and some Geordies, they were asking for "boorrer" (butter), the waitress thought they were asking for a donkey ("burro" in Spanish)...
I am English from Kent . Back in 1989 I had my real first encounter with a group of Scots -from different parts of the country - having a joint meeting . I was there to take notes . When the meeting was finished I was asked by the meeting chair -who was from Edinburgh - to summarize the meeting , I said that aside from him I did not understand a word !! I was never asked to join the group meetings again . This is no joke …. I Understood nothing !
My fav program was Rab Nesbitt and I spent a summer in Inveraray on the dole...So I am bilingual ! kzhead.info/sun/mZqOXa5-jpeJpoE/bejne.html
I’m an American, originally from New York City. When vacationing in rural Scotland, my family and I stayed with a couple from Kleish, Kinross. The wife’s accent was so thick, when I asked my English brother in law to translate, he said in his perfect University English “I have no idea what she is saying!”.
I have to say, one of my favourite things about the Harry Potter film series is the vast range of different accents. I feel each character speaks in a different way and it is so fascinating to listen to!
0
@@ItsNoUseKeepUsingThis3
Imaginea a Scouse Draco Malfoy
@@doncorleole2356omg that’d be so funny Harry and friends paying out his accent when the slytherins were not around
@@judelbugsrutter6727 xD Also I have the sudden need to see a Yorkshire Voldemort. Just couldn't be mad at the lad could ya
It was funny watching Frankie as a Glaswegian and thinking how well spoken he was! 🤣 pick someone on the street and you’ll really be in trouble
I’m pretty sure the video will be instantly demonetised 😄😄😄
I went to both Glasgow and Edinburgh (I'm a native French-Canadian but I'm fluent in English)... They had a harder time with my accent than me with theirs! :D
I phoned for a taxi in Sterling once. I just had to repeat the street number over again and that I wanted a taxi. I had no idea what the girl in the other end said, not one word.
Did u watch world friends
The English the average guy on the street speaks in Glasgow is nothing like anything Americans would recognize as even being the same language.
I'm Canadian but I watch a lot of British television shows. I used to have difficulty with some of the accents, some of which sounded like another language to me, but, over time, got to the point where I had no difficulty understanding what was being said. The same goes for a lot of the idioms and expressions used over there. I'd have to say that some of the local Scottish dialects spoken in remote locations were the most difficult for me to get a handle on.
as a German it is so much fun trying to understand the many british accents, I love the scottish ones and listening to commedians as Billy Conolly, Sarah Millican and alike frequently helped a great deal to enjoy.
i've just started learning deutsch and curiously looked at the accent differences going from north germany down to Switzerland (As I'm trying to learn deutsch for frankfurt) and I couldn't even tell they were the same language. I hope to be able to understand most of them one day, I've got a lot to learn 💀
Sarah Millican is from the north east of England. Newcastle, maybe Middlesborough.
@@E-A-Z-Y I see, but for me her accent sounded scottish 😉
Sarah Millican's accent is geordie, from Newcastle. Newcastle is not too far from the England Scotland border
You Germans have the same sound as Scottish people use at the end of "loch" don't you? Like, that Scottish "ch" sound is the same as the German one?
The ability of British, Scottish and Irish actors to speak specific regional dialects in the United States always amazes me. I watched The Wire, set in Baltimore, without realizing Idris Elba and Dominic West were British until I later heard them in interviews speaking in their normal accents. Kate Winslet is another one. She spoke in a very specific regional dialect in her recent HBO Max series Mare of Easttown. The attention to detail of these actors and their dialect coaches is remarkable.
kzhead.info/sun/dbeenJiukF-AhZ8/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/l8l_n7imqHZ5jJE/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/Z9xwoLWNbKaDla8/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/hKpsmrGwfGJqqoE/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/pJR9dZuhoHyGfZE/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/g6iLeNVqfpxvdHA/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/pJR9dZuhoHyGfZE/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/g5WiladohnqLhI0/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/gsh6krRxp6eCmKM/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/qseko8WglomOZJ8/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/iMh9mrWNqHidZa8/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/fbGSZq-Oop1jnY0/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/ga-iabKIZ3yJaH0/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/gKybYN6mZItrdKs/bejne.html kzhead.info/sun/Z9xwoLWNbKaDla8/bejne.html
Don't forget about Hugh Laurie. He seems more American than Americans in House M.D.!
James McAvoy is another example. In SNL he had to do a Philly accent and people said it was really good
Gillian Anderson, I had never heard her speak with her natural accent until recently. Christian Bale, Henry Cavill.
@@LautaroTessi I concur. Ewan McGregor is another actor whose American accent was flawless, in the 2005 film "The Island". And, not to forget two of my all-time favorites: Gary Oldman Tim Roth
I am a native Spanish speaker living in the USA, I've always been passionate about the British Accent, So Beautiful!
That's cool
Which British accent?
Learn English here: kzhead.info/sun/q7h_pa-IboOrrYk/bejne.html
@@xWHITExEAGLEx I reckon RP.
@@xWHITExEAGLEx For non-British people, every variety of English in the UK is similar.
Just letting you know, as an American with hearing difficulties, I did struggle most with the last 2 clips. So even though US and UK share a common language, I had trouble understanding the speakers. It makes sense to me that non-English speakers, or second-language English speakers would have the most difficulty with them as well. And since you asked about regional prejudice, in the US, the 'southern' accent is often perceived most harshly in terms of intelligence by others in the US. The prejudice is even held by some southerners against other southerners, usually ones who grew up in a different region of the south, but also urban vs rural, and dialects termed 'black' English vs 'white' English (I apologize, I don't know what else to call them since I am not a linguist).
oh for real tho! in my part of the south instead of black/white (which, lets be honest is implied when most folks talk about it 🙄; ur ok b❤) was “street talk” or “proper”; also just learned the word ebonix? apparently a fancy way of saying “street talk” 😂
Non-English speakers wouldn't experience difficulty ... they would experience IMPOSSIBILITY!
@@jallan9578 Especially if the person was talking fast. I can't imagine the utter terror LMFAO.
@@jallan9578 Yes!
As an American the last two were hard, but I do recall an episode of Primeval where I could not understand a single word one of the actors said. I don’t know what it was but it sounded like a mouth full of marbles.
I thoroughly enjoyed this tour of UK accents and dialects. I loved the way you presented them as well: with a appreciation, humor and even love for the accents that others thought more challenging to understand. Bravo !
I'm American, and I remember a time I was speaking to an Australian, and she said a sentence I did not understand, and I asked her to repeat it (twice), and I still didn't understand, and I finally asked her to repeat it one more time really slowly, and I finally figured it out. It was not complex, just that the pronunciation was so different I could not parse the individual words at normal speed.
I went to college in the US and I remember one time trying to understand an Australian guy. It was impossible despite of all our efforts. Same thing in the highlands.
@@guk2740 centuries ago all these national English accents would have diverged into separate languages, but globalization is reversing the process.
I am Hungarian and I learned English in school and cartoon network when I was a kid, so I had some "posh English" and kind of US accent mixed with my Hungarian pronunciation. Must be funny to hear me for a native English speaker. Then I moved to a small town close to Liverpool and started to work in a warehouse with English co-workers (I was the only foreign there)...it took me literally 7-8 months to understand like the 80% of what they saying. 😅 From that point it was much easier to understand any native accents. Later I moved to Manchester, that took some time to get used to their accent too, but it was way faster. I love Scottis accent and I like the sound of Irish but for me maybe that's the hardest to understand. Thank you for the interesting video I really enjoyed it.❤
A lot of the Eastern Europeans I have met seem to have a CNN accent mixed with the politeness of the Canadians (they attribute this to listening to the news on TV)
A lot of fluent non-native English speakers sound quite American. I think of them as having American school or MTV accents.
I agree that the Derby/Northern Ireland accent is hardest to understand.
@@dianehoag682 South African accents can also be difficult to understand.
@@andrewgarner2224 Haha. Funny. It's a good thing they don't listen to the Fox Network!
When I was giving Customer Service telephone training, I told to all my students, who were from all over the world, that, "EVERYONE has an accent that SOMEONE finds difficult to understand." I would stress to them that clear diction, pronunciation and slower-than-seemed-normal pacing were the keys. Also, repeating oneself as if the subject had never been mentioned before. Plenty of my very sharp, clever foreign-born Customer Service Representatives would throw their accents under the bus to make it easier to get callers to clarify their questions and also to repeat what they had just told a caller. Instead of getting complaints about people not being able to understand our foreign-born CSRs, people would call and ask for them specifically. "Oh, I have to speak to X (who had a very heavy accent)! S/He's the only one who understands me." As part of my job, I would have to "monitor calls for quality assurance." Many of my CSRs had accents, but they also had very warm, sympathetic telephone manners, (which were often at odds with their office personalities). I was so proud of them all!
Can you help me how to deal with customers 😊
I have travelled to many countries , I am an English speaker and I find in the India that most people who speak English don't understand my spoken words so I usually have to write them in words , the same doesn't happen in Thailand where most English speakers understand me fully so I am not sure of the reasons why the difference between the two countries.
When I came to America I hardly spoke English. People were very patient with me. They would speak clearly and slowly, repeat and rephrase things for me. They used simple sentences and limited vocabulary, so I could get what they were saying. Today when I talk to someone who is new to English, I try to do the same thing.
Your “English with Lucy” channel is delightful. I’m a native English speaker from the US. I really enjoyed your “British Accents Ranked from Easiest to Hardest. “ I wonder if you could do a similar program about American English?
I love listening to people speak with different accents, particularly accents from the UK. I grew up in the Appalachian mountain region of Virginia. My mother always corrected my English, which helped later on when I moved away. One of my professors called me a "code-switcher", meaning that I will almost unconciously change my own speaking to match that of my surroundings. Later, when I was married and went back to where I grew up, I often had to serve as interpreter, because my wife could not understand what people in that area were saying. I also studied Russian and picked up a Muscovite accent, because all of my instructors were from Moscow.
Coolest thing is that the UK has so many accents in such a small country.
@@Assdafflabaff 87.1% White, 7.0% Asian, 3.0% Black, 2.0% Mixed and 0.9% others. Britain has been a melding-pot for thousands of years...grow up.
@@Assdafflabaff sounds like you voted for Boris Johnson
@@Assdafflabaff random outbreak but okay😂
@@immanuellasker4273 Lol as if Boris Johnson gives a fuck about White people at all. He wants more worker visas. You should vote for Mark Collet and Patriotic Alternative.
@@moymo6125 The guy responded with some random 11 year old wikipedia stats and has no idea how demographics even work. Give me a break.
As an Aussie, we got a show here called "All Creatures Great and Small". The thing I loved was the great variation in age of the people, and how different the age groups spoke. I absolutely adored the Yorkshire accent as a result. Particularly the old guy in the show that still used Ye, thee, and Thou, Mr 'errioott! If I come back after I'm gone I want to come back as a wee Yorkshire boy!
Great show.
WOW!!! I loved watching this. My auntie is a dialect coach and have always been so fascinated with accents. As I was watching this, I was just thinking about all the American actors trying to mimic British accents and all the nuances- so cool!! I could nerd out on this stuff for hours.
The fact that you used Louis Tomlinson as an example for someone who speaks with a Yorkshire accent made me happy for some reason.
same
Same here luv, I was like OMG, LOUIS ! I love him and his strong accent is so beautiful 🥰
omg same
Same, just look at my pfp 😂
bc he just IS Yorkshire at this point and that for some reason makes me proud of my bb
I wish that you had included a Highland Scottish accent, which is almost never represented in the media, despite the fact that it is the most beautiful. Whenever the part of a Highland Scot is cast, it usually goes to a Lowlander, whose accent is completely different. It would be like portraying a Mexican by speaking in a Canadian accent.
And I've never seen a broad geordie accent represented. Cheryl coles accent isn't too thick (it's similar to mine) but broad geordie is almost unintelligible to those who haven't heard it before
yeh i agree with you, last time i was in scotland i was taken to an irish bar in glasgow, where i encountered about 4 different scottish accents, they made glaswegian seem easy!! they were all islanders from the hebrides!!
So true! It's lovely
@@carlaa1773 lovely isnt the word I'd use!
Watch “Shetland”! I loved the way the speak ❤
Although this video lasts almost 25 minutes or so, you have this special ability to convey so much information in a very entertaining way....we never get bored. This video reminded me when I was at the university training to understand all of those accents, adding to overseas accents like in America, Australia....funny but harsh 😅
Oh my goodness all of the accents were so beautiful and still lovely to hear! Although the number one pick for the most difficult sounded absolutely beautiful! I could listen to him talk all day! Surprisingly I understood I understood it. But yes it's extremely thick, but for me it wasn't that hard to understand. Absolutely love all the accents in this video!
Honestly, all of them speak quite clear. It is totally different in reality.
Fully agree, the last one though, that was tough. Could not get anything of the first thing he said. While I had basically no problem at all with all others.
Idk I’m American born and raised and the last one I couldn’t understand
I wish Lucy had lessons in podcasts. Her voice is so relaxing and easy to comprehend, I'd be listening to her while doing something unimportant in my everyday life.
@@sinanprof7264 What Telegram podcast?
Learn English here: kzhead.info/sun/q7h_pa-IboOrrYk/bejne.html
Friend reply to me , I need a friend to speak to English each other please 🙏🙏🙏 reply me
I thought this *was* a podcast. I knit while I listen.
Meu Deus como vc é toda linda . Mesmo o inglês britânico seja difícil vou assistir suas aulas. Nédir Brasil
When I spent 6 months traveling throughout the UK, I was often at a loss to understand some of the accents. But some local ALWAYS stepped in to help. So much for Brit's being cold/standoffish. My biggest challenge? Liverpool. I still have no idea what was said or how I made it through an entire week. I couldn't understand the kind strangers who tried to help either. One of the best trips I've ever had.
Yeah, as a Scouser I do agree with you. It's a difficult accent, I'm being serious
@@gaffer2602 I never had any problem understanding the Beatles, but now I'm wondering if they toned it down when speaking with American media? I'm from the mid-Atlantic part of the US, and I was a teen then.
I once worked with a woman who had a VERY broad Highland Scottish accent (home was "hame", head was "heed" etc. plus all the slang thrown in), and we became good friends. I of course learned to understand her perfectly - not so the rest of our workmates, for whom I wound up having to translate!! 😅😅 🇦🇺👍
I've been learning English for nearly 7 years, I understood most that has been said, though by the end I had to listen real closely. The last one I couldn't fully understand, I only caught words. Nice video, Lucy, I loved it 😊 Thanks.
Don't feel bad. In America we often laugh about how we have to turn on subtitles to understand some accents when we watch British shows. I've watched enough that I can mostly understand them except for some slang but I usually can figure it out through context.
I have difficulties when I hear people that I don't have heard before, but after a short period hearing the person talking I can understand more. First time hearing someones voice is always the worse to me!
@@gigglehertz, I was seeing a woman from a town just 40 miles from me, in London (she had an accent similar to Lucy). I have a cockney accent (like Jason Statham), and so do my pals. She could understand me pefectly, as you'd imagine. But when me and my friend's would be in full flow conversation, she couldn't understand a word we were saying😂
Absolutely *adore* the Yorkshire accent! Not for its “melodiousness,” but because it seems homely and warm. 🥰
Yes, I like it too.
Yep.The Yorkshire accent reminds me of the Downtown Abbey.
It's a Doncaster accent. Then there's Huddersfield, Sheffield, Barnsley, Pontefract, Beverley, York & the Dales - all distinctly different.
@@wessexdruid5290 Mine is Huddersfield (Go, Terriers!), Jackson Bridge, Holmfirth, Barnsley, Upperthong all rolled together.
They sound like straight up hobbits to me.
I’ve lived in Liverpool for 1 year and I before getting there I did know NOTHING about the scouse accent. The minute I tried to communicate with people on the streets or restaurants it blew my mind because I could NOT understand a single word. As weeks went by, I became more and more familiar to the sounds, the distinctive /j/ sound in words like back or chicken when it comes to the letter “k”, and also to the melody of this accent. Anyways, I’m an English Philologyst and it was such a challenge to survive 1 year in Liverpool.
Lol I feel for you (despite being a native English speaker from Liverpool who speaks with a scouse accent). We do definitely say the word 'chicken' as 'chi-kken'. Compared to the other English accents it is quite unclear but glad you sort of understood it eventually. ^^
@@novalovaaa do you mean"chichun" (with a gutteral sound as in German)?
@@josephinelevy1670 hmm?
@@novalovaaa the sound what scousers make in the word „chicken“ is pronounced the same as the „ch“ in German. For example „back“ is pronounced like the German word „Bach“ in scouse. Basically a scouse „ck“ is like the German „ch“.
@@Anna9473 exactly! back of the throat sound... The Scouse tone is very similar to the Irish tone just over the sea
Wow what a Beautiful pronunciation! I am from the Dominican Republic and I have been learning and improving my English Speaking skills by talking at work! I always say that it will take me the rest of my life that I have left to get to an advanced level! I really love the British Accent and this is the reason why I decided to learn English! Thank you for this video I will improve my English here by watching your channel! 😁😁
As an American from the intermountain west, I'd say the Queen's English is the easiest to understand. The same for Lucy herself. The most fun is the Glaswegian accent.
Fun? That's a polite way of saying horrible
Get a glaswegian drunk.......itll be harder to understand
I'm from the intermountain west as well (Salt Lake City) and have been trying to convince people, specifically Utahns, that we have a very distinct accent---especially in more rural areas. The only problem is I can't really describe or mimic it, but I know it when I hear it!
@@MikeP2055 - A professor of English I had at BYU, a guy from Idaho, called the Utah dialect something like a "western twang." I'm from Utah county.
Lucy herself XDD
Every one of the celebs have a corrected version of their accent for the regions they represent. It's a reconditioned version of the accent to accommodate the viewing public. I know that as a lad coming from the North East of England, when I first came to live in the USA ( Florida specifically ) I very quickly had to learn to slow my speech down and really try and accentuate certain words in a more "proper" form otherwise I got the "what the hell did you just say" look LOL! So while I still have my accent 20 years later, as soon as I meet a fellow native or when my friends I fall right back into my native accent and even my wife has problems understanding me again LOL!
I'm a Scouser and had the exact same issue when I lived in LA. No one could understand me, they thought I was Russian. I had to dumb my talking down so they could understand.
@@technationuk5802 No, you didn't have to dumb it down, you had to step it up.
The corrected version is so true in other countries as well. They use it on TV and in movies to indicate a local yokel, but they don't allow the full blown version. If they did, the audience would limp two, three beats behind the dialogue.
@@jdrancho1864 Step it up in order to speak with Americans? Is that a joke? Seriously 😂🤣😂
I'm a Yorkshireman living in Kentucky for 35 years - I completely understand.
I spent my childhood imitating accents as and when I came across them. My father used to listen to me with amusement for the first day or two but after the third or fourth day he'd usually clout me! But that is how I developed the ability to speak with so many different British accents.
Thank You for explaining the Queens English / Public scool Enlish. My English teacher in my gymnasium here in Sweden, told us that the Queen of England had the best accent and pronounciation. I love this survey You have done in this video ! 👍♥️🏆 Cockney - without slangwords - is not impossible to understand, as some people have told me ! Bless You !!!
The Queen's is really a good one: pronunciation, enunciation, articulation, emphasis, shadowing. All checked! I found the Yorkshire accent the hardest. Both Welsh and Northern Ireland sound like from a fairy tale. Cockney sounds like some kick-a** attitude, love it!!! Gemma is in her own lane!
Northern Ireland sounds like a British hillbilly.
Jason Statham for the Cockney accent, does like to sound like a tough guy ! I guess it's part of the act. Have a listen to Ray Winstone, if you really like that kind of thing !
@@karlosh2422 thanks it’s not an act ! That’s how working class talk here in and around London
@@tabitha4135 True, but I was born in Bethnal Green, so much much closer to East London that Jason Statham ever was ! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Statham He was born in Derbyshire according to that , although I guess he might have lived in East London for some time.
@@karlosh2422 thanks yes he’s maybe faking his accent!
During my Erasmus in Italy I met a girl with a very traditional Brummie accent and I LOVED IT! I told her it might be my favourite British accent and then she told me that it is actually "discriminated", as you said. I don't understand why, it's so beautiful :) Greetings from Poland, great video!
Because people think it makes you sound stupid. I live near Birmingham so I hear it all the time.
A wonderful video! I'm an American who's fascinated with all of the English accents... and this was charming, starting with the Queen's English and then some more difficult ones. You were quite gentle with us, if you'd gone with street Glaswedgian, it could be impossible to translate!
Love that you used Louis as an example :) I've been a fan for a while. I absolutely love the different accents of the UK because of the patterns and melody.
As a native American English speaker, #1 was the one that was difficult. I've heard a lot of Scottish accents that were even more difficult in my lifetime, but I love listening to them.
Yeah, I can't understand his first sentence even with subs.
@@nimakh5176 Scot here; I was surprised when she rolled the video back with subtitles, as he actually fully pronounced the words and didn't use slang, i understood him very clearly and would not call that a Glaswegian accent. if you really want to hear what a glagweigen sounds like watch this video- kzhead.info/sun/pseHfMqqaHeGY3A/bejne.html
@@IacoLaconic I agree. Boyle was talking very clearly in that clip. Visit Glasgow and you will hear much broader Glaswegian.
Im still completely in love with all the Scottish accents. Most of the others actually just remind me of watching little Britain, but thats probably because I spent a ridiculous amount of time watching that...
I have a Scottish friend ..her accent is very easy
Scottish accent is a sweet one in my opinion
@@mouniakettaf7244 that's cool
Learn English here: kzhead.info/sun/q7h_pa-IboOrrYk/bejne.html
I thought she would pick James McAvoy and his pristine and beautiful Glasgow accent (to my American ears)
Canadian here, I enjoyed listening to the Ricky Gervais Show with Stephen Merchant (Bristol) and Karl Pilkington (Mancunian). The three having their own accents made it a joy to listen to and got me curious to different accents. I even started following a Manchester United podcast "Stretford Paddock" to get more familiar with the Mancunian accent.
It’s interesting what you say about prejudice. My first language is Spanish but I’m a complete bilingual in English and have lived 15yrs in London. To me, the scouce, Newcastle and Scottish accents have always been my favourites!
I have lived my whole life in Southern California; born and raised in San Bernardino. The cardiff accent is very close to my accent. When she came on, it was very comfortable and easy to understand. She just sounded like someone from SoCal. I'm not really sure if that means anything but it's interesting to me.
Yeah, same here. When the teacher said "notice how she says 'unusUAL', like she's adding a syllable" I'm like "really, that's exactly right!" Rolled r? I just heard an r !
I thought "adding a syllable? More like acknowledging that there's an 'a' in there" lol
I know what you mean. I feel like I’m a mix with Cardiff and queen, only because I speak on the slower side much like the late queen.
My mom is from the Rhonda valley in South Wales lovely nice south accent
Im from spain and im so proud of myself for being able to understand every single one of the accents. Well done, Miguel!!!
Молодец!
Atta boy Miguel love from estados unidos wey!!! 🇲🇽 🇺🇸
@@jahnj2523 that's a Mexican flag I think. Miguel said he was from Spain, 🇪🇦 which is a different country.
Enjoyed the presentation, charmed by Lucy, but I have to say she picked the clearest, most polished examples of accents. In limited travel to and in the UK, I have instances of greater difficulties in understanding local accents almost anywhere I've been. my ship was docked in Southampton in 1964 and I went to a department store to find some work shoes and the lady who greeted me said "{something incomprehensible}...boots" and I wondered how she knew what I wanted before I had asked. Then I realized she'd been asking if I worked on the "boats", i.e., ships, and I had to laugh at myself.
I lived in Glasgow for almost 5 years, and at the beginning it was really difficult for me. I couldn't understand a word, not even "hello". It took me a year to be able to understand them, now I don't have any problem with them or any other accents, probably only the Newcastle one still impossible to understand for me. Scouse, I love it.
Jason Statham was born and raised in Shirebrook, which is a small town near Chesterfield. He definitely isn't a cockney or at least not naturally.
Born there, but Wikipedia says he was raised in Yarmouth, which is a lot closer (linguistically) to Essex and cockney.
I thought Charlotte Church was from Swansea?
I must say that my favorite is John Bishop saying "Enough". Its just as pleasing as hearing Canadians say "About". Just a Norwegian's point of view.
Learn English here: kzhead.info/sun/q7h_pa-IboOrrYk/bejne.html
The funny thing is, in that clip he's actually making an effort to speak more clearly and "properly" than he normally would. If you see him on chat shows his accent is stronger, e.g. when he says a word like "book", that "k" will sound more like the "ch" in "loch" - a very back-of-the-throat sound that you hear a lot in Scottish and Irish accents. (Which makes sense because a major influence on the Scouse accent comes from the Scottish and Irish people who came to Liverpool to work on the docks.)
My Canadian friend gets really annoyed when I use "aboot". She says it's only Newfies say "aboot".
Some Canadians say a boot instead of about.
Robert Voge, thanks for the appreciation. Canadians often get teased about this by Americans.
Love this video, Lucy! I need to watch more to get my English refreshed. Thank you
Great great content! Love to explore different dialects and would love to try and pick up some cool accents. Thanks Lucy!
Lou's accent is so beautiful I just love it and I completely understand him.
@@Wajidh. It is Lou short for Louis Tomlinson(from One Direction) not Lucy.-_-
Her! Not Him
@@ginareyes355 lol
I agree!
@@ginareyes355 they weren’t talking about Lucy 😂
Kudos to you for having learned the Andalusian Accent. I am from Seville and I agree it is hands down the most challenging one. But also very charming and unique, the most different one in the entire country. I would TOTALLY LOVE to hear you speaking Spanish, now you got me curious.
You chose the best pronounced examples of each, hardly a challenge there!
The presentation was as charming as the presenter. Absolutely adorable!
Love this video so much! I am so pleased, and actually chuffed to bits because I bumped into your amazing videos. I am from Romania, and I am learning English so I can take the Cambridge English exam for C1- C2 level. I love to watch your videos. You're a brilliant communicator. Keep up the amazing work! I have learnt so much from you, and hearing all the pronunciations from you, made me have so much more confidence for the Speaking exam. I'm studying English as my second languages for almost one year, and when I began to watch your videos, my English level has improved dramatically. I was more confident as I say some words, or practice a conversation myself even though my English is not bad. Thanks for your help, I have achieved much. Wishing you all the best and to inspire many of us! More than that, I am learning myself ( self-taught) because don't have money for a tutor! ha!
I am a native English speaker from the United States, and even I had trouble understanding the Geordie, Scottish and Scouse accents. It also goes without saying that we have our own distinctive accents in my country.
Enjoyed. My Scottish cousins came to visit us in that U.S. when I was young. I knew they were speaking English, but I couldn't understand a word they said. I asked them to speak more slowly. Then, I understood a bit more. We could manage to communicate...
Lucy, I am Peruvian living in California, US. I can understand clearly most of the accents clearly except 1 and 2 which I had to really pay attention. English is not my maternal language. I love your videos because I want keep learning. I love to read novels, biographies, history, and anything that brings my interest.
When I saw the title of this video I was like “oh, maybe Yorkshire accent is here, that would be great”. Then, when she said that she was going to put videos of celebrities speaking, I was like “omg please put Louis!”. And I got SO excited at 12:12 😍❤️ Great video, cheers ! ✨
I'm pretty sure the One Direction fandom skewed the results in favour of Yorkshire. I bet it would have placed lower if all the clips were of ordinary members of the public, rather than celebrities.
I took part in its challenge:D Thank u Lucy this is one of the most unique videos you've ever made🥰
aaah thank you! I am so glad you liked it! Thank you for participating!
I think so 💝💝
As an American I would LOVE for you to give me a tour of the various UK accents!! Love this video
Born in Fife but moving to Glasgow when I was 3 1/2 I never knew I had any noticable accent at all until my first trip to London and discovered some people couldn't understand a word I said. Similarly on a school trip to the Bradford /Leeds area in the north of England my B&B host asked me a question. I asked him at least six times to repeat what he said and then gave up. To this day, 55 years later ,I haven't a clue as to what he was trying to tell me .
Lucy every 2 minutes *Now this is one of my favourite actors*
The hardest for me (native English speaker from western US) were #1 Scouse and #8 Essex. The subtitles actually hindered it; it was easier to ignore the subtitles and just listen. My favorate accents were #4 Derry and #3 Geordie. The easiest to understand were you and #3 Cockney. Here's a story for you. The first time I saw Quadrophenia in the 1980s, it took fifteen minutes before I realized they were speaking English.
Lovely episode. I'm Dutch and apart from the Scouse I understood it quite well. That's the benefit of not knowing how it "should be pronounced'. Thanks for sharing!
When I was travelling in the UK the hardest accents for me were Hull and Brixton. I speak US English (Texas) and watch a lot of British TV so I did not think it would be so difficult but those two places I surprised (and embarrassed) myself at how bad I was at parsing them. In both cases I was asking people for directions.
I consider my English being quite fluent. But when I‘ve been assigned to a project near Liverpool for 6 months I had to adjust to the scouse accent. The first pub quiz in our hotel‘s pub was probably the toughest of my life… ;-)
Me, a native American English speaker, not having any problems. This is so interesting to think about how non native English speakers have these levels to overcome in understanding! Because us natives just hear English with different tones. In some ways, the deeper you get into the accents, you start to hear actual dialects. I have so much respect for anyone trying to learn English... it's so confusing 😂
You say American English speaker but we also have very distinct accents/dialects. North Eastern/Midwestern/Southern/Texas ... all of Canada. If you go to the south and use the word "Pop" which is what we call Soda in Detroit down in Georgia where they call everything "Coke" regardless of what brand it is, they're gonna go "wtf is pop???"
This is interesting.
I think it depends on one’s exposure to particular accents. When I was a teenager, I was more American English-oriented (still am), so whenever I heard an RP or some other British accents, it was quite hard to catch what it’s about. Later, I started to watch more shows and clips in different accents of English, and, eventually, the challenges in understanding them disappeared. Regarding this video, the only one I found a bit hard to understand was a Scottish one but mostly because the man spoke too quietly. On contrary, Scouse was one of the easiest to understand; perhaps, that’s because its pronunciation is somewhat similar to that of Eastern Europe, where I’m from.
Haha, tell me, a native Russian speaker, about confusion while learning a foreign language))) just try to pronounce this - zaschischayuschikhsya, which means “those, who defend themselves”, and tell the difference with zaschitivshikhsya, which means “those, who could defend themselves”)))
@@Veelaru Interesting! Never heard of someone saying scouse was easy 😄 turns out it really depends on your native language.
I have found that the stronger (broader) the accent the more narrow the person's cultural values. I also believe this generally is a reflection of education but not always so.
As an American, other than a few, I wasn’t aware there were so many variations in UK accents. Very interesting and educational video!
I’m American and traveled to England 4 years ago. We visited Liverpool and had a really tough time understanding people. So, yes… a Scouse accent is super hard!
not as bad as visiting the southern states
@@ejokurirulezz 😂 Depends on which one. Certain ones speak very slowly and it’s easy to understand them. Others (like Tennessee, where I have family), it’s like Boomhauer from King of the Hill!
@@ejokurirulezz a backwoods Cajun accents pretty difficult to understand sometimes
They confuse themselves sometimes.
@@BryanJohnson1969 Hella hard
That was a gem of a lesson Lucy! Expect more such wonders. Well conceived and Scrupulously edited!
Hi Lucy! It's an interesting lesson because you highlighted every aspect of the accents. Thanks & regards.
Hi Lucy. Pity I'm not a linguist, though I do enjoy watching your videos; it helps me brush up my English as I'd left the English shores since '76. For today's topic my favorite has always been the Yorkshire accent to me it sounds more ancient english. The Corkney is has become to popular (even people who've never been to England know about it. As for those rated 1-3, I'd have said they're Italian, Spanish & Dutch speaking English with their native accent.
I'm from Kent but lived in Birmingham for 6 years. I LOVE the Birmingham and Black Country accents. They're often unfairly mocked.
I'm from London. Some years ago I went to a football match at Villa Park. When I was walking back to my car two middle aged women were walking along the road chatting and the accent was so thick I genuinely couldn't understand a single word. I think it's probably easier face to face with some context but without that it was just noise.
as someone from the black country this brings a tear to my eye finally seeing our accent getting appreciated :,)
@@ianz9916 I am so sorry you had to suffer through a football match at Villa Park.. that is more punishment then anyone deserves
@@LordGoose-zr6jj It was the F.A. Cup semi final against Wolves and we won 2-0 and went on to win the cup beating Manchester United 3-2.
@@LordGoose-zr6jj It's bostin mate.
American here. I found this video interesting because I am a retired ESL instructor whose emphasis was on accent reduction. For me the hardest one to understand was really number two. The rest of them I thought were quite easy for the most part. As you rightly point out, a lot depends upon the speed at which the speaker is speaking. Always interesting stuff!
That’s my accent and his isn’t even that broad! It’s so funny to see people comment that it’s hard understand when you hear it everyday and speak it.
@@robbieadam8667 haha I know right! I'm from Liverpool and it surprised me that it was the hardest but I suppose we do things quite differently, for example we sometimes say 'me ma' instead of 'my mum/mother' (sometimes as in, in some parts of Liverpool people have a stronger accent, but where I live in Liverpool we don't speak entirely the same, I would say 'me mum' but I wouldn't say 'me ma'.
Thank you. As an American, who's traveled all over the UK, I love all the stuff. Thank you for this guide - I'm actually saving it. i've had the hardest time with the Geordie accent: one day I was up there, talking to somebody, and he was talking about this poob was no good and that poob was great. I just sort of nodded, not really understanding what he was talking about. after 15 minutes It dawned on me that's how he said "pub"....
I remember watching a Big Country interview in the 80s and they used subtitles because their Scottish accents were so hard to understand.
I'm glad I took part in this survey. Totally love the scouse accent.
It is still amazing that a country that will fit three and a half times into New South Wales and 26 times into Australia can have so many different accents.
English accents formed before telecommunication and rapid transit, so people were more separated from each other in the past and their accents developed in semi-isolation. Television and the internet has blurred some of these distinctions as types of speaking have been transmitted widely versus the past.
@onlyLimey I'm from Solihull where we speak like the Queen. I ended up living with a guy from Hartlepool in the North East a few years ago. It took about 2 weeks to be able to understand him. The first day I met him, I genuinely didn't understand a single word. I was mortified. I couldn't even figure out what his name was.
Sooo, Americans measure things in Toyota Corollas and Australians in Australias...
@@LautaroTessi Nope it is custom here to try to paint a picture instead of just using normal measurements.
@@LautaroTessi It's good because many Australians know only a small portion of Australia on the East Coast so we're using a measurement that we can't visualise either.
it's amazing that your channel has grown up 10 times since I saw it first in 2016!!
Thank you Lucy very much ! It is really difficult but very interesting to learn British English ! I love English language and culture ! Love your lecture and your accent, your intonation sounds very beautiful !!! Love you and love your style very much !!!!
Hi Lucy, I just discovered your channel and I love it. I’m originally from Liverpool, but I moved to the US (Miami of all places) when I was 13. They found my Scouse accent SO difficult to understand, that they believed I was not actually speaking English at all! I remember Many times when someone was having trouble understanding me, I’d often hear them asking if I knew any English, or on rarer occasions asking where I was from so that they could maybe find an interpreter. Sadly, after those experiences (which were legion) I completely lost my accent and went full American (I was always good with accents, and with living here, and going to school, I Americanized my accent in no time. As I got older, I really regretted giving up my identity as a Liverpudlian, and tried getting my accent back, but I just ended up with a weak English accident and am rarely recognized as being British at all anymore. Thanks for doing this, pointing out the discrimination that ppl from Liverpool, Newcastle, Brum, and N. Ireland face is something that is real, and needs to stop. Again, thanks 🙏.
Loved this video!! So neat to hear all those different accents! The Derry and Scottish, Glasgow accents were my favorite!
The Glaswegian is difficult for me. I watch a lot of British tv and have heard all these. Essex is hard too, but no worse than accent in Tennessee, which is in our American South in U.S. Enjoyed this!
It's lovely to listen to you, Lucy. It would be a bliss if everybody spoke like you. .
Britain would lose its identity if we all sounded like Lucy...
I took the survey even though I’m not actively learning English anymore as I consider myself pretty much fluent now, however, I’d have to say I did have a little bit of trouble understanding some of the accents mostly because of the way they pronounced some names of people they mentioned during their interviews. That’s all I couldn’t make out at first listen, but it was all worth it. Thank you, Lucy! I've always supported you and I will continue to do so as I truly believe you’re doing an incredible job!
I agree! I also had trouble understanding the names))
Sonveer malik GS Strategy
Exactly! Same goes for me
I bet your 1st language is English and you just want us to believe you know another language
I agree
Lucy, I love your videos! I am an American woman, and I appreciate the correct usage of the English language. I have one major pet peeve, and that is the use of “you guys”. It is widely used in the States and hearing it is akin to fingernails scraping on a blackboard. I broke my granddaughter of that habit by responding “I am not a guy” every time she used it. She no longer says it. The word “guys” is superfluous since the word “you” is singular and plural. Slang can be so hard on the ears!
I find this lesson very interesting! Never thought of having so many different dialects in English
I am also living in Andalusia atm and the locals do find it amusing that I speak with their accent and also that I picked up some of their flair. Catalonians tend to get more outraged by it. It was funny to me when I visited a friend from Ukraine in Barcelona who was dating a catalan guy who sadly passed away, so my husband from Granada and I went to give his family and my friend our condolences. The family of our deceased friend didn't know us before that. After we've spent half a day together, they were shocked to hear me chatting with my friend in Ukrainian, they thought I was Andalusian. I would even say it was cringy to them, that me, a Ukrainian, would choose to speak Spanish with Andalusian accent (their mom is from Seville btw). It's not that much of a choice though, you pick up what you hear on a daily basis. It is funny because my Spanish accent is quite good, but not to the extent to trick people in Granada into thinking that I could be Spanish, once a man thought I was basque though. Anyway, there's definitely bias against Andalusian accent in Spain, which is really unfortunate, I even heard people from Madrid and Barcelona say they wouldn't hire someone from Andalusia to speak to the customers because of their accent. In Ukraine, except for some heavy accents from the Western rural areas, our accent is pretty standardized. It's more about the dialects and a phenomenon called surzhyk, which is a spontaneous mix of Ukrainian, Russian and sometimes even Polish or Romanian vocabulary (a reflection of our neighbours' linguistic influence mainly due to century long forced russification). Surzhyk is what gets the worst press, it is widely used for comedy and looked down upon, especially by Russians and Russian speaking part of population in an attempt to make it appear a language of uneducated or peasants. That's also a shame, because I find all the dialects unique and endearing.
Interesting tour in your accents over there! For me, as a Swede, I understood them all without subtitles. Maybe it has to do with my Scottish heritage, but when it comes to shows from the US, I encounter more difficulties. If it isn't subtitled into Swedish or Danish, I have to use closed captures to be able to follow the dialogues. Love your channel too, by the way. :)
First time I was in England, I was on a summercamp for a fortnight (16 years old). We were in a camp-village with people from Macclesfield, Halifax area and from Peterlee. The first two days, the grown-ups had to translate everything to us. After some days I had no problems understanding the English. Today I would say it helped me, understand a lot of different accents. Didn't have any problems understanding any of the accents in this video. Today if I hang out we any one from the Brits isles for a week or more, I start talking with Northern accent. My America friend some time has I hard time understand what I am say :P
Picked the lightest accents imaginable for all of those.
Such a charming teacher! The video is so important for me to understand English better!!! Thank you for your great work!
I recommend watching Derry Girls if you want to learn and understand more about the Derry accent! It's definitely helped me a lot as a non native English speaker
I was friends with an older gentleman who has a Masters in Mathematics from Cambridge. He had spent a lot of time working overseas for the British Government. Quite an accent, and a sense of adventure. He once joked about getting some plants through Australian customs with his diplomatic passport. Quite the adventure!
When you mentioned Charlotte Church's pronunciation of "unusual", the song "It's Not Unusual" popped into my head. Tom Jones, another South Wales person. Along with Richard Burton (THE most beautiful voice/accent ever), and Dylan Thomas.