The English Dialect

I am not very good at understanding a person who speaks English but is originally from another country. I struggle with this issue but not very often as my friends just happen to be from the US and all my family. It's amazing anyone can learn English since it's suppose to be the most difficult of languages to learn.

it is discernible if the accent is british or american or australian. however, for some distinguishing factors, it helps to look at the ethnicity of the speaker. chinese speaks differently from japanese. indian say words swiftly or in a hurry. european english sounds more like a british. new zealander is more like australian. filipinos have some peculiarity too, but they more or less an american accent.

This is the only language that I can understand easily regardless of the person who speaks.I kind of enjoy it.I have listened to Chinese,Sinhalese,North Indians,People from Various parts of South India,English,Irish,American,German and why even French too.lol

Do you mean can I tell which part of the United Kingdom someone is from? If so, I can usually tell in about two sentences.But when it comes to formal territories of the U.K., I am not that good.English is a universal language and it takes on many forms.As long as I can understand what you are saying, I am okay.

English is our second language here in the Philippines. We write more than we speak through we do the reverse once in a while for an ordinary employee like me. As a person who can speak english, I think that I am not very fluent or spontaneous in speaking in public. So it is hard to catch up with those who can speak and have a hard time pronouncing the words. I experienced being interviewed by a Taiwanese. He can speak english well, but my problem was, I can't understand the way he pronounce the words. I know that I need him to make his voice to get louder before I understand him clearly. I failed in that interview sadly. Maybe because I am not used to speaking with foreigners. Those who have a tongue of none english country. I can only improve it if I talk to aliens. LOL.

I've lived in a diverse community, so I'm pretty good at identifying accents. I can tell if its' American standard, Boston, Brooklyn, Southern, English (UK), Australian, South African, Indian, Asian, Russian, South American, etc etc. Yeah basically 99% of the time just by listening I can tell where the person is from :)

Talking about English accents, India has a whole set of them. I can actually make out which state a person is from when I hear them speak English. Having lived in the middle east where I've come across people from different countries and people from different states of India, I've got used to a lot of different dialects. But I must say I had a hard time when I visited Africa a few years back...and most of the time I wouldn't understand unless I was looking at them speak. Telephone calls were the most difficult ones. I didn't like asking someone to repeat themselves more than once and not for everything they said. It would be rude....but now I can pick up a LITTLE bit of their accent too.

I come from the UK and as I have lived overseas have acquired a different accent than I used to have when I was younger. When I came back to England from being in Australia I had to show my passport to prove I was British. I could talk to Australians and they thought I was also from Australia. When I meet a traveler with a North American accent I ask where they are from. I can't tell the difference between an American and a Canadian accent. I can pick out an Australian and a New Zealand accent. I can identify a South African accent quite easily. I can notice a Welsh, Scottish or Irish accent. I can understand an Indian accent. I once had an African lecturer at college and I couldn't understand his speech. Other students found the same. When I was a child I couldn't understand my friend's mum. She was from Glasgow in Scotland. Nowadays I am used to all sorts of different accents.

Not at all, but this clears up why in one of my old Doctors office, I could understand one doctor better than another.. I am very poor at understanding someone speaking with an accent, especially a very thick one. I feel bad for them. One time I had computer security problems and I ended up with this guy who was trying to help, but I was lost in the translation. So he ended up sending me a link so that he could fix the problem himself..