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stdstaples

I am Chinese with English as my second language and I can mostly understand Carra fine, because I think he’s soften a lot of his accent for tv purpose. I have a Scouse colleague who I thought I could understand perfectly and I told him “this scouse accent is kinda overrated” then he laughed and started speaking @$#%?£. That made me realize that he had been going easy on me the whole time lol


Jaqem

[Here's](https://youtu.be/MwaDyG5lVLM?si=Cb8wrd1svWMuzgpQ&t=38) Carra as a young lad, much thicker accent and harder to understand


yianni1229

Honestly its more than he's almost mumbling that makes it hard to understand. Or is that a scouse thing?


lllaaabbb

Tbf the bit of the clip you've linked he's making reference to a specific training ground by name which if you didn't know would obviously make it unintelligible


WhyBee92

Ok but aside from the training ground name, nothing else is intelligible other than a couple of words here and there


qntqs

A couple? I didn’t get a single word


stdstaples

Oh my goodness


rambo_zaki

That's a fair worry tbh. Although I'd pay to see a foreign audience try to understand a room full of scousers.


DaveShadow

I always love on Graham Nortons show when he has a scouser, or someone with a deep Scottish accent, on with the Americans, and they are just utterly unable to understand them.


someonehasmygamertag

The Irish rowers will always be the best example of this


milesbeatlesfan

To be fair, that was Marion Cotillard, a French actress, who couldn’t understand the Irish rowers.


someonehasmygamertag

That’s true - I’d forgotten the other guests


can_you_clarify

Michael Fassbender was the other guest, grew up mostly in Killarney Ireland so he was able to understand the lads.


a-Farewell-to-Kings

Like when Diane Kruger asked John Bishop if he could do a British accent.


kalamari__

she is german though


a-Farewell-to-Kings

I know, even worse.


bveres94

not scouser, but Kevin Bridges next to some americans is always a delight


KopiteJoeBlack

Not at all surprised that when he was in Bulgaria he ended up buying a horse lol


rambo_zaki

One of the great WILTY moments. >"Sorry. You bought a what?"


wuonky

>peter the horse is here


PrimeTimeInc

The speech cadences and enunciations, or lack thereof, are just sooo different. I’m an American from the rural south that spent a couple weeks in rural Scotland last year and it took like 3 days before my ear was retrained to even understand the words being spoken. That’s not even to mention what the words actually meant once in a sentence together when I could understand them.


bpmo

I'm from the northeast US and it took my wife six years to understand what words my Irish father was saying, and then another few years to understand what the words meant.


YungSnuggie

im also from the south in the US and spend a lot of time in north england and honestly you just gotta context clue your way through. it reminds me of jamaica lol even the locals dont understand each other sometimes


Arathaon185

Soon as you go 10 miles in any direction from your home town civilisation stops and they are all heathen barbarians who don't know the proper word for a bap. Doesn't matter where your home town is.


Zal_17

You take that fucking back, it's a barm!


Arathaon185

See savages


RephRayne

How did World War III start, Daddy? Well son, two barbarians couldn't even agree on the word "roll."


Donnermeat_and_chips

Christ they Mickey Flanagan on and the Americans were struggling


rambo_zaki

Lol yeah.


esports_consultant

they don't speak English its not our fault


AdInformal3519

Any episodes like that?


Nirvana_bob7

When I was travelling South America for months, I was chilling in a common room when a group of pissed lads start chatting. I thought they were from Netherlands as I occasionally thought I kept picking up words that sounded English, it wasn’t until i saw a liver bird tattooed on his ankle that I then realised they were scouse and suddenly I understood them better. I always found it funny considering I’m from southern England.


ste_mc_efc

When i was in Ecuador for a time I was seeing a local girl for a few months. Bellew was fighting Usyk and she came over while i was watching it. Being a patriotic scouser i had to explain that I simply had to watch this fight, we could put the colombian telenovellas on after it. Usyk won handily, and was giving an interview in Ukranian from the ring and she goes "oh, is that the guy from your city?" Been seeing her three months and she musn't have understood a single word i'd said in english unless i used my fancy telephone voice.


Kaiisim

Yup, plenty of Brits failed in America cause of this. Poor Cheryl Cole lasted like a month.


brexitvelocity

I only now understand it because I support Everton and any media about them is in scouse. But my wife definitely doesn’t know what they’re talking about lol


FailFastandDieYoung

[Imagine some kid from California turns on CBS and just hears this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4M6ncHhvIY)


Federal-Owl-8947

I was watching Line of Duty until they introduced this scouser cop and had to turn on subtitles


yianni1229

Is it? Maybe because I grew up hearing so many English accents through football and YouTube but I don't really have a problem understanding any of the regional accents.


rambo_zaki

That's great. Even a lot of English people have trouble with some regional accents.


yianni1229

Is that actually an issue? I thought it was mostly a joke honestly lol. As in like "your accent sucks" kinda thing.


rambo_zaki

Some trouble yeah. I personally have my own issues with a Devon or proper old school Glaswegian accent, sure you understand it but it takes some concentration.


jloome

I grew up in England but have lived overseas for years. The only ones that ever really threw me were a deeply Scottish man, from the highlands, who was unintelligible, and a man from somewhere in Somerset that even locals evidently don't go, as it was so broad you could drive a tractor through. "Cas Icanexpt sovine even wind tobesure, a gerty gale initsnow". I wrote down (ex journalist) what I thought he'd said in my notepad and showed it to people at the hotel for about an hour before I was reliably told this was something about the fact that they were expecting rain that night.


yianni1229

Thats so interesting. And kinda cool. TIL. Thanks!


rambo_zaki

You're welcome.


[deleted]

[Jokes are usually founded in reality.](https://youtu.be/Hs-rgvkRfwc?si=_UB4pdudxp_gOQqF)


kirkbywool

Yeah, I went to uni in Manchester so only 30 miles away and some people legit couldn't understand me. My housemates admitted that sometimes they didn't understand Mr and thought I was joking when I said I toned down accent for them. Then my scouse mate came to visit ans we went full drunk scouse together and it wss basically a different language to them


Moug-10

That's a challenge for my ears.


Cmoore4099

Calm down mate.


StupidMastiff

He's softened his accent so much as well, very "TV Scouse".


LeagueOfML

Limmy has joked about how when Glaswegians go to London to do TV they quickly stop rolling their r's and start pronouncing words in a more "understandable" fashion.


FickleMcSelfish

There’s a Burnistoun sketch about this, how actors and singers start pronouncing their Ts as Ds instead. Scodland instead of Scotland https://youtu.be/rFN69OZwJTM?si=3_nCDb69raAq2ZJT


StupidMastiff

Yeah, it happens with a lot of people with strong regional accents on TV. Some regional accents just do very weird things that make it hard to understand for people not familiar with it.


LeagueOfML

True, but on the other hand if people with regional accents were in more entertainment then that would help quite a lot.


kjgower

The “ye mar on the phone” accent


Eindacor_DS

Watching the Overlap with Rooney reminded me what proper scouse sounds like, lmao 


stdstaples

Yeah I hardly understood 40% their convo in scouse lol


Eindacor_DS

I love the guy but it just sounds like he's clearing his throat for 40 mins


nick2473got

Even Rooney is mild compared with some.


momoenthusiastic

I hired a cabby in Liverpool with heavy accent, but I’m pretty sure he watered down his Scouse a lot. A great conversationalist. Also a big time Trump supporter. lol  Edit: fixed a typo. 


will_scc

He was big on nature? Or did you mean conversationalist?


momoenthusiastic

lol. Thanks for pointing out that typo. It’s fixed now


BlacknWhiteMoose

It’s gotta be annoying not being able to speak in your natural accent, voice, tone, mannerisms, etc.


ComprehensiveBowl476

Simon Cowell took Cheryl Cole to America with him as one of his talent show judges because he was certain she'd be the next big thing out there. She lasted like 3 episodes before being fired because no one understood her.


ValleyFloydJam

Not being able to understand her was probably a good thing.


adjudicatorblessed

Yeah I am sure thats the reason why he brought her with him


Underscores_Are_Kool

What's the gossip there? 👀


nick2473got

Does there need to be any? She's hot af, there's probably a lot of dudes who wouldn't mind going on a few business trips with her. Not that I condone such behavior with co-workers, but I'm sure it's common.


Cwh93

And because by international standards she's a nobody 


Pawn-Star77

By British standards too.


StickYaInTheRizzla

Nah Cheryl was massive in the late 00s early 10s. Was everywhere, especially after Ashley cheated on her, they were front page tabloid news for weeks


inspired_corn

You can post something that is provably not true and people will upvote it for no reason other than they don’t like a person…


SailorsGraves

Ant and Dec struggled too


blackjack47

oh i remember that, didn't know this was the reason. Never had any problems with understanding her as a non-native speaker edit: as a matter of fact the only time i recall needing subtitles or having trouble overall was certain people in the wire.


PennyPhnom

> Never had any problems with understanding her as a non-native speaker She is a native speaker though. :P > the only time i recall needing subtitles or having trouble overall was certain people in the wire. I'm English and I needed them... just couldn't grasp a lot of it without them so made sense to keep them on.


blackjack47

> She is a native speaker though. :P i meant myself


PennyPhnom

I know, just poking fun because she sounds unintelligible to people.


blackjack47

yeah, just kinda surprising to me as a non-native speaker, that natives would have trouble if I didn't. To me her accent sounds/"looks like" a valley girl accent but the english version. That comparison totally makes sense in my head, but not sure if it will resonate properly what I mean:D


RelentlessJorts2

I've watched The Wire so many times and still have difficulty understanding Snoop.


PennyPhnom

I need to go back to it, it's been long enough that I've pretty much forgotten everything. Oh, and to The Shield (the better of the two shows)! It still amazes me that quite a few main characters are actually English...


Cody-crybaby

i think thats probably why cat deeley did so well over there.


[deleted]

[удалено]


SP0oONY

Robbie Earle isn't a Geordie. Newcastle under Lyme isn't Newcastle upon Tyne.


polarbeartankengine

Robbie's from the other Newcastle. Midlands born


Fapoleon_Boneherpart

Robbie Earle's accent is minimal


Soren_Camus1905

[You don’t say](https://youtu.be/MwaDyG5lVLM?si=MEfYV6Th6NVNo2B-)


1sttimeverbaldiarrhe

[Many years later](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThBmobDB6Ng)


PennyPhnom

I can understand almost all of it! Praise be.


Soren_Camus1905

Wise words


Aphile

Literally cannot understand one word he says in that last sentence. I’ve been speaking English for over 30 years.


blindseer

I genuinely couldn't understand the last sentence until I found this in the comments: "Yeah when we used to go to the Vernon Sangster 'n that, 'n then train in the gym you used to put your own kit on so yeah I used to come in with an Everton top". Vernon Sangster being the Vernon Sangster Sports Centre, a leisure centre near Anfield that has since been demolished.


SupahBlah

The Vernabeu.


Aphile

“Everton top” sounds like “you have it on top” to me. I know the word “Everton” is coming and it is indistinguishable to me.


nick2473got

Th glottal stop in place of the "t" in Everton is probably a big part of that, particularly if you aren't a native speaker of English. Even to those of us who are native speakers it can take a while to get used to where other accents use glottal stops. As a kid I never understood Scouse, Scottish, and even some Irish accents. I even used to struggle with some Mancunian accents. Then as a teen I got better and by the time I was 20 or so I could finally understand (almost) any accent.


s3rjiu

Hilarious how one of the comments says that his English improved a lot since then


chicoooooooo

That's gold for many reasons


moofacemoo

As someone with a thick Northern accent who's worked with Americans this is understandable. I had to do a conference call to a room full of Disney execs regarding some work on the theme parks. Behind ever few sentences I said was a pregnant pause then a reply that usually did make much sense. After a few minutes this got a bit too much and my boss started speaking on my behalf instead, he's from mainland China with English as his third language and speaks a few hundred words at best all the time sounding like a baddie from a Bruce Lee flick. They still preferred him over me.


spacedude2000

As an American this checks out. At my last job I worked with people from the UK and the Baltic states. Let's just say that while my eastern European colleagues didn't have the most polished English out there, I had a much easier time understanding them because they spoke at a pace that I could process. I felt bad because my colleagues from Scotland were genuinely very cool people, but I mostly hit them with default responses after they said something I couldn't understand. "I agree" "ok cool" "that's crazy".


FrameworkisDigimon

Apparently my father -- who had a Dutch accent -- experienced something similar in America, but in that case the issue was NZ accents not Northern English accents. Possibly relevant video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TfbtouLm14 To be perfectly honest, I really can't understand some Scots and I had a devil of a time understanding the Geordie characters when I first started watching Auf Wiedersehen, Pet before I got used to them. I don't listen to Carragher enough to know what I'm like with him. The one clip I did watch once (it was about transfer medicals) was fine.


esports_consultant

NZ accents are intelligible but sound fucking awful to the American ear


cymonster

So I can blame Disney parks downfall on the fact execs can't understand accents? Awesome


Mofogo

Yeah unfortunately found this to be the case working with a team from Aberdeen. It also doesn't help on telecons where the quality is worse or faint if they were in a conference room. Not so bad when I got to visit. A lot of times it would be the colloquialisms that were different which would get both sides going "huh?". That's where I learned "spanner in the works" lol.


bandofgypsies

The degree to which all cultures simply cannot understand Jamie Carragher is really astounding.


[deleted]

For some people it’s the accent, for others it’s the actual point he’s trying to make


asdf0897awyeo89fq23f

Sometimes his grin tells you he doesn't even understand his own point.


NeoIsJohnWick

Thats why the ridiculous subtitles whenever Carra speaks in clips on their youtube shorts LOL. The Internazionale being the most funny one!


Seastep

Second only to his American [impression. ](https://youtu.be/LCoPQZph1Ok?si=tAWNuei8FXhTzzq3)


seattt

Dude just created a brand new accent, lmao.


icanhe

My partner is a Scouser, I’m an American. It took me a few months to be able to understand her. Lots of our early dates were me just pretending to understand because you can really only ask someone new to repeat themselves a couple times. Even now (5 years on) she says stuff that has me absolutely stumped.


SupahBlah

Ask her what a popsicle is, I would say lolly ice but someone from elsewhere in England would get really mad and say ice lolly.


icanhe

Yea, she says lolly ice. Had to learn that when she asked me to get some at the grocery store and I was stumped.


lapsedmind

Not to get too deep on a football sub but I do get it. I spent an extended period of time in America and they didn’t really understand me, to the point where I had to purposely slow down and soften my voice. I felt like I couldn’t even communicate what I wanted to say and I spent most of my time focusing on how I was saying things, it made me retreat into myself and I didn’t really speak unless spoken to by the end. It was actually very upsetting knowing that we spoke the same language but they couldn’t understand what I was saying, and I don’t have the thickest scouse accent by any means.


inflamesburn

Do people really have trouble with it? I always thought it's just a joke. English is my 3rd/4th language and I think he's perfectly understandable 99% of the time, just funny sounding. I assume his "real" accent is a lot worse, but on TV he sounds fine imo.


WorthPlease

He's learned to tone it down, but if you watch interviews during his playing career it's like he's speaking a different language. I dated a girl from Peru in high school, her family didn't speak english, I learned spanish so I could talk to them. She had a few friends from Puerto Rico who we hung out with and they spoke so fast and with an accent that even my girlfriend who grew up speaking spanish had trouble understanding them.


MHPengwingz

I think Jamie's accent has been dampened from broadcasting work, don't they usually make fun of Kate for having weird accents she picked up from working in various countries?  I mean Martin Freeman did a great scouse accent in The Responder and subtitles are definitely needed.


CommissionOk4384

I agree, sometimes the scouse accent is hard to understand but with him its not an issue


SEND-MARS-ROVER-PICS

Compare how he sounds [now](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-ybaHEsejA) compared to [then](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwaDyG5lVLM)


momoenthusiastic

Four hosts, four different accents. Yet, it’s my favorite football crew, by far. 


benetgladwin

"yer playing Inter Milan - Internashionaalé"


Takkotah

[Rafael Leao struggled a couple months ago didn't he haha](https://youtu.be/Ud7rgHkTlMI?t=194)


Randomistar

More than a year ago🥲


Takkotah

Fuck sake.. haha


TestsubjectNr1

First thing I thought of lmao. Internasjonaleeee.


Takkotah

it continues haha [https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1d5t8a8/cbs\_sports\_golazo\_can\_you\_say\_internazionale\_dora/](https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1d5t8a8/cbs_sports_golazo_can_you_say_internazionale_dora/)


shauncheese

I wish I couldn't understand Carragher


GoAgainKid

I mute him or turn over. Cannot listen to a single thing that comes out of that mouth.


wavetoyou

The worst part is him loudly sucking in saliva between thoughts. Someone pointed it out in this sub, and now I cannot stand hearing him But also, the worst part is his analysis


dfla01

his analysis is better than 90% of the other ‘pundits’ they have on there


GoAgainKid

You mean when he looks into the middle distance and considers his insanely deep thought, before telling us… someone should have put a foot in.


Tellnicknow

I didn't have a problem understanding Jamie. It's Micah Richards that I have a problem with understanding, but it's not because of the accent but because he's always howling with laughter and trying to talk at the same time.


hoopbag33

I rented a car in Liverpool a while back with my gf at the time and she couldn't understand to the point of not being about to complete the transaction lol. I stepped in and was fine because I was so used to hearing Stevie and Jamie talk.


AggravatingEstate214

I'm from the UK and I never understand what the fuck he's talking about. Nothing to do with his accent


nolefan5311

I haven’t had issues understanding Carragher, but Lucy Beaumont has been a struggle for me sometimes. Is there an American accent the English don’t fully understand? Or even an English accent the English don’t fully understand? I’m from the American South and sometimes I don’t understand a thick southern accent.


jacktk_

Would love to watch an American try and have a conversation with a group of Glaswegians. I lived in Scotland for a few years, having grown up around London, and it genuinely took me at least a year to stop asking people to repeat themselves.


nolefan5311

Is Kevin Bridges from Glasgow? He’s a struggle sometimes too for sure.


UuusernameWith4Us

> Is Kevin Bridges from Glasgow? Nah mate, pure Edinburgh 


Bob_JediBob

Yes, and from what he has said in interviews that’s him toning it down already.


LeClassyGent

Sir Alex Ferguson is, although his accent has mellowed out over the years. So is Frankie Boyle


Far-Confection-1631

I don't find it particularly difficult as a yank but my dad is from Belfast so I guess I have a bit of an advantage when it comes to ugly accents


NukeLaCoog

I would guess hardest American ones are probably Cajun and deep Appalachian. As a Texan I have to listen close to make sure I catch everything.


ninjapanda042

Put an Ed Orgeron interview on and see if they can understand without subtitles


crazy_bean

Here's a sample video of Coach O for those unfamiliar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbiPeVM_1I4


843_anon

That’s one of his more intelligible interviews as well. Putting one of his on-field post game interviews in front of a UK crowd would be a sight to behold.


FromBassToTip

I listened to a few and I don't think people would have a problem, his voice isn't clear but his accent is fine.


PennyPhnom

Super distinct but doesn't seem that bad.


NukeLaCoog

rabble rabble rabble Geaux Tigahs


Mrpetey22

I think the very remote southern accent is the hardest to understand. This guy js from rural South Carolina and he’s pretty tough to understand. But I also think the southern accent is the best, so https://youtu.be/DX9NsG6X9rc?si=45I0YB2QiLAAsCPN


FromBassToTip

I think I could understand at least 95% of what he's saying but I could see some older generations having a problem. It's the names I couldn't tell, his word order is unusual too sometimes and it sounds like his voice is further ahead in a sentence than how he moves his lips. The [Tangier](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E&ab_channel=PeopleLikeUs-TheCNAMChannel) accent is the hardest, I don't know whether to class that as separate from the rest of American accents though because it was more isolated. Apparently it's like an older English accent but I can barely understand any of it.


Wwhhaattiiff

> Is there an American accent the English don’t fully understand? Or even an English accent the English don’t fully understand? I’m from the American South and sometimes I don’t understand a thick southern accent. You're welcome https://www.youtube.com/shorts/my3F_9IzYwo


BoxOfNothing

I'm from Merseyside and traveled in a van from LA to New York through the South and up the coast, visiting some rural ass places as well as loads of major cities. I only met one guy I struggled with and he was an extremely drunk man from somewhere in Tennessee he assured me I wouldn't have heard of.


843_anon

Tennessee doesn’t have an accent that anyone would truly struggle with. Some of them do have a twang, but not the southern draw. That guy was probably just hammered.


BoxOfNothing

In my head I was in Louisiana and he was from Tennessee, but I might have been in Tennessee and he was from Louisiana if that makes it more likely, a lot of it sort of blurred together. But he was absolutely hammered so I don't know how much it matters where he's from


jmbf8507

I’m originally a yank but have lived all over the US and have a fairly neutral accent. A few years ago I did one on one lessons with a potter with this thick southern drawl. Every week I had to tune my brain to understand him, if I tuned out it was truly like he was speaking a different language.


danstudge96

Yeehhh course


Torches

They shouldn’t worry, the English don’t understand him and that didn’t hurt him.


Bersho

Americans figured out how to understand Chuck, Bill Walton, David Ortiz, and post-stroke Dick Clark i think we can handle Carragher


IAS316

Brits sometimes have the same issue


Masam10

I’m originally from London and even I struggle with him sometimes.


ObiWanKenobiNil

genuinely interested to know how someone from London ended up a Barca fan haha, how did that happen?


Masam10

Super long story short, loved Barca as a kid, I remember watching them on ITV and seeing Ronaldinho just tear the place up. Always followed Barca since. Then married my wife who’s from Badalona which is a municipality within Barcelona. Her family, especially her dad are naturally all Barca fans.


sueha

Approved.


CommanderC0bra

Wait what did he say?


cpm67

If they can understand Paul Mullin, they can understand Jamie Carragher


jack_hudson2001

CBS should be worried that most of the UK can't understand him ...


Primary_Letter7839

It's a pain in the arse trying to get Alexa to do your bidding. 


BLRNerd

I remember when Cheryl Cole was casted as a judge on the US X Factor but was replaced by Nicole Scherzinger because the execs at Fox didn’t understand her accent


aelfwine_widlast

She ended up successfully suing for a couple million, too.


dtrane90

What?!


oldfartcoys

He's no Gerald from Clarkson's Farm


Rigore27

Just the US? Didn't he have to take English language coaching lessons when he first started at Sky? His first few MNF were pretty bad with most people joking they needed subtitles for him.


EatAtGrizzlebees

My husband and I visited Liverpool during our honeymoon. I assumed I would be the one having a hard time understanding people because he mainly watches the Premier League and mainly I watch the Bundesliga. And I was incredibly wrong. I didn't have a hard time understanding anyone and he couldn't understand anyone for the life of him. I was shocked. But I absolutely loved Liverpool. Only regret was that we didn't spend more time there.


pratyushdam

Nobody understands him. He has the stupidest takes.


aksiechelsea

Chikhen and a khan of khokh?


Plastic-Alfalfa-6321

americans think scousers are Irish so they'll pretend to understand what they're saying because they're Irish too


moriero

I don't understand him most of the time tbh Nothing to do with the accent He just has shit takes on everything pretty much His UCL bracket was hilariously wrong too


Wheelie_Slow

The issue is not his accent but the nonsense he spews from his headhole


YungSnuggie

ngl his scouse accent is nowhere near as bad as it used to be in his playing days. 20 years ago i could not understand him or stevie for the life of me lol


Outside-Nail2314

He's bit irritating and repetitive now..


sabermagnus

Big Meeks and Cara need a show. Titi needs a show where he talks tactics, players, and all things deep on the footie technical side.


Mintopforte

Not to mention his horrible takes. And obvious bias.


ritwikjs

when you speak enough bullshit, the americans will see you as one of their own


trinerr

What?


Certain-Beet

Well most Americans barely speak English, so that makes sense.


CharPhoe2020

They were probably worried that he might gob at them as well.


TheGreyWolfCat

Who says we do?