Is Scottish Accent Understandable?

Can you understand the kind of Scottish accent in this YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v1jmVvF4gM

I find it very difficult, and I can catch only a few words like "right", and "kinda". (Does he say "football field"?) I wouldn't even recognise it as English, were there not the title and other information.

Here is another video of his:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWwIC3JpfG4
I easily understood "the Glaswegian predator, a vicious beast" at the very end of the video.

(PS I know there is not a Scottish accent, but just a bunch of regional accents in Scotland, most of which aren't as odd as this.)

I understood about 85% of what he said.

I could only understand about 1% of what he said. Did he mention that he got those fancy curtains in the background on sale?

<<I understood about 85% of what he said.>>

Can we assume most folks from the UK understand about 85% of what this guy says?

I, on the hand, only got the other 15% -- most of it was pure gibberish, with only a couple recognizable words floating to the surface here and there.

No way lads, even as an Englishman I literally couldn't understand what in God's name that 1st bloke was on about either!! The 2nd geezer was easily understandable mind and is much more typical of an 'average' Scottish accent that I hear (spend a fair bit of time in the West of Scotland you see).

I was tempted to say that the first video was a bit of a put on but I have to admit that when thinking about it a few Irish, Scottish and English accents (strong West country and Geordie) have left me equally as baffled -even when talking face to face to that person!! So in truth this bloke's accent is probably real.

Damien??

Oi Antimoon - what's these annoying questions all about?? "What French word describes the colour of this page"?? I had to google that one!

The laddie has Cambuslang or Shettleston oozing out of every spoken syllable....as you would expect I had very little difficulty understanding him and I can wander into any pub in the East End of Glesca to hear all this in full flow.

The American writer Bill Bryson did just during his stopover in Glasgow while travelling around Scotland, England and Wales for his book "Notes From a Small Island" and as far as he was concerned he may well have dropped into the saloon bar of a pub on Planet Pluto for all the sense the chatter of the locals made to him.

<<as you would expect I had very little difficulty understanding him and I can wander into any pub in the East End of Glesca to hear all this in full flow.>>

Can we then assume that you also speak this way, as do most folks in Scotland?

I don't think that this sample is a fair representative, since he keeps breaking into laughter. This both makes it more difficult to understand him, and suggests that perhaps he is drunk.

I think this guy mentioned in the comments that the accent on this tape was a bit exaggerated, and that another of his tapes has a more typical sample of his real accent (still not understandable, though).

As I said before the guy is obviously a wacky Glaswegian - his accent isn't typical of that fair city except at weekends.

Let's go the other extreme - a church minister preaching from his pulpit in this even fairer city of Edinburgh. The picture is a wee bit hazy but you should at least understand some of what he is saying:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WpaUIRJ4HGk

<<The picture is a wee bit hazy but you should at least understand some of what he is saying:>>

I guess I can understand about 50-75% of what this guy is saying.

Still, it's a lot harder to understand than the following guy, perhaps the most celebrated pastor of our time, delivering his signature sermon in his instantly-recognizable voice and style:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvMbeVQj6Lw

I think most folks would understand well over 99% of what this guy is saying.

Here's a US accent that I (as a Northerner) have a hard time understanding. It's not quite as tough as the Scottish accent, though:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGcWNI6TyXg

Do people in the UK have a hard time understanding this?

<<Here's a US accent that I (as a Northerner) have a hard time understanding. It's not quite as tough as the Scottish accent, though:>>

Nope couldn't understand a dickie bird, and from the looks of that fidgeting little lad on the left - he couldn't understand it either!!

I bet your average yank couldn't understand what that bloke was on about!

Come to think of it, the geezer talking probably didn't even know because if we're honest he doesn't look quite the ticket does he?

<<I bet your average yank couldn't understand what that bloke was on about!>>

I'm from the North (except for perhaps 2 years in Kentucky), and could understand perhaps 5-10% of what that guy was saying. The guy from Scotland was totally incomprehensible (except for one or two phrases here and there,)

<<Come to think of it, the geezer talking probably didn't even know because if we're honest he doesn't look quite the ticket does he? >>

I think he was exaggerating his accent a bit while telling the story, because right at the end, his speech gets a bit more undersatndable when he says "... Gullah 101."

Mad Scottish Accent? I just had to tune in to his accent.