accents

As an American English speaker, I have difficulties understand someone with a heavy Scottish accent, and to a lesser extend, Irish accent. But I have no problems with English speakers from the Nordic countries. Can anyone explain why that is?

Because there is NO Nordic ''accent''. Their accent is just NOT native speaker's one. Nordic speakers pronounce EYES as ICE. You won't find any Scottish or Irish man/woman making this mistake: eyes is [aiz], ice is [ais] these words don't rhyme. So, I guess it is fair to say that: Native speakers of English will always speak better than foreigners, no matter the accent. No-native accent is just FAKE!

**Native speakers of English will always speak better than foreigners, no matter the accent**

If you mean "speak better" in the sense of more correct English grammatically, more expressive and well structured and with a good vocabulary, then I dispute that statement. I have met "foreigners" (ie non-native English speakers) whose standard of written, and definitely spoken, English was, and is, well above that of many a native Brit. And I speak as a Brit myself. Believe you me on that one. I met them at uni, I served them at a supermarket checkout, I've met them in the pub and elsewhere, and now I see them in this Forum.

I'm staying in this evening..a rare occurrence. Now I'm off to watch The Bill on TV.....I must see my cute coppers.......especially Steve........ :-)

I agree with Damian about foreign people speaking better than many British people. The reason is simple; those people have left their native countries to work, study or travel and want to be understood. Native speakers often refine their speech patterns in much the same way when they go abroad. Those who don't either don't travel very far from home or aren't understood when they do!

Yes, and native speakers don't find BBC English fancy but stuffy. According to linguists ALL NATIVE SPEAKERS SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE PERFECTLY. -Whom did you see- and -Who did you see are- are both correct. I don't see why we should consider those who stick to traditional rules (Whom did you see, I shall) ''better'' speakers. I can find many mistakes in foreigners' English: speakers of German/Dutch/Nordic languages don't know how to pronounce final [s]: they pronounce it: noise [nois], boys [bois], eyes [ais] instead of [noiz], [boiz], [aiz]. This is
Heidi/Pippi longstocking English :)

KUMAR: we were not really referring to the pronunciation of English words so much as to the correct usage of those words and overall style of presentation, either written or spoken. Of course foreigners don't pronounce words or sound patterns in quite the same was as we do as natives.....that stands to reason. We have sounds in English that don't quite occur in other Languages.....the TH sound in its different forms is the most well known example. But even so, I've met foreigners who pronounce that sound spot on. The French seem to have the most difficulty, the Scandinavians the least.

In Scotland and Ireland, English was the language of ascendancy and was learned imperfectly by the people of both countries. The situation was different in the Nordic (Scandinavian countries) where people learned it voluntarily, free of British rule with all the conveniences of modern travel and communications cars, planes, radios, televisions, books, journals etc.

Ironically, in the past 125 years or so, many Scots and Irish have learned to speak standard English and have become some of the language's finest writers. J.M. Barrie, Saki, Robert Louis Stevenson, James Joyce, William Yeats and Eugene O'Neill have all been cited as examples. Someone once said that the Irish were the only people in history who took the language of a conqueror and improved it.

Kumar:

Yes.

By definition, native speakers ALWAYS speak their own language fluently.

The notion of what is or is not "correct" in terms of pronunciation and grammar, is of course, entirely arbitrary and subjective.

<< Someone once said that the Irish were the only people in history who took the language of a conqueror and improved it. >>

Not that many Americans or Brits would agree, but I'm sure someone also once said that about French, too. : P

Alex, it may also be a personal thing. I'm American, too, but I find Irish accents refreshingly easy to understand -- much more so than English. (I'm with you on the Scottish ones, though. I watched Trainspotting with the remote in hand -- "What the f-- rewind!")

I had "Snatch" on in the main dayroom (basically a large room with a TV where people gather) a few weeks ago. I overheard a few people commenting that they couldn't understand what people were saying. I don't just mean the pikey characters, I mean just about everyone in the movie.

I usually understand English of any variety, but there are a few accents that make my brain work harder than usual. A few years ago I was watching a VH1 "Behind The Music" about Oasis. I think I already mentioned this in another thread awhile back. Whenever one of the Gallagher brothers--I can't remember which one--would speak, there would be subtitles telling us what he was saying. I thought "that's crazy, he's speaking English! I can understand just fine!" So I closed my eyes, tried to listen, then opened them thinking "Well, I guess I really do need the subtitles."

Thank you all for your inputs. I raised this question after watching a PBS documentary about some Scottish fishermen affected by the diminishing cod population in the North Sea. I was suprised to see subtitles used in part of the program.

"<< Someone once said that the Irish were the only people in history who took the language of a conqueror and improved it. >> "

What about the inhabitants of what is now England when the Anglo-saxons arrived?

=>What about the inhabitants of what is now England when the Anglo-saxons arrived? <=

Hahahahaha! You should thank the people across the channel for that!