11 Difficult English Accents You WON'T Understand

I’m from Appalachia. I hated my accent so much growing up. I was ashamed of it, and would get made fun of when visiting anywhere. I did my best to lose it and I mostly have. I wish I’d known then that it was nothing to be ashamed of and the people mocking me were ignorant.

I’m a Texan, and I understand my Appalachian countrymen perfectly well. I love hearing all the dialects!

I'm New Zealander/Australian and I have no trouble with Appalachian English. I did an online University course and some of the content was delivered by an agriculturalist in Scotland - could barely understand a word. I think maybe the english accents you think are difficult depend on which type of english accent you have.

Proud Appalachian and voice actor here! My grandaddy used to say "I'm so hungry, my stomach thinks my throat's cut," all the time!! It's true you can find Shakespearean phrases spoken by older people. I wish it wasn't dying out! My favorite Appalachian thing is adding an "a" to the beginning of "ing" verbs, as in, "I was just a-sittin' on the porch." I also love the addition of the word "done" to past -tense verbs: "I'm not hungry. I done et." I've heard dialects in the UK use the word "et" as past tense for "eat." I've also heard folks in the UK use "I reckon" in the same way we do. One more good'un: we pronounce "wh" at the beginning of a word differently than a "w." "White is not "wite," but 'whah-ite." (We push air through by pronouncing the "h" sound. Love this video!

Appalachian English is such a comforting sound to me. My family lost it a few generations back when they moved to the cities for work, but I’m certain our ancestors all spoke that way. Incidentally, most folks from the region say “App-uh-LATCH-an” not “App-uh-LAY-shun.” I often hear the joke, “If I hear you say Appalaysha, I’ll throw an apple atcha!”

When the Appalachian started, I got such a big smile. My great-aunt spoke this way. Apparently my grandfather used to as well, but he did his best to tone it down so the grandkids could understand him. My great-aunt had no such reservation. She was a hoot, a huge storyteller, and I would listen to her tales for hours.

I experienced the same with French accents. My mom's side is Acadian (Acadien) from PEI. They immigrated from the west coast of Brittany in 1604 and settled "up west" in PEI (except for the mid-1700s and the Expulsion of the Acadians/La Déportation des Acadiens). So it's a very isolated ancient French.  We lived in New Zealand in elementary school and my mom taught me French so I'd be ok whenever we moved back to Canada and I had to take French class. ... But French was Parisian/standard French and I knew the equipment of circa 1600s French (with some Irish Catholic Gaelic influence). I had no idea what was happening! My Nana (grandmother) in New Zealand was a Geordie - occasionally when I'm tired or one of my cats is especially naughty out comes some random Geordie (She had a naughty cat.). So apparently I was picking that up along with Kiwi English and Acadian French. .... which led to the following... I read text books onto tape in university for a friend who was blind. She had a first degree in linguistics. She said that she couldn't have me read for her because she spent all that time decoding my accent and not focusing on the material I was reading. I was waiting for Newfoundland English! I've spent much of my adult and teen years in Toronto, Canada, so I actually either got most of the accents or was close. BTW Hello to "cousins" in Louisiana who speak Cajun. Thousands of Acadiens ended up in Louisiana after "La Déportation des Acadiens" in the 1700s.

I’m from central NY, at the foothills of the adirondacks, and my father was from Saratoga. The Appalachia accent was no struggle. That’s how he sounds and some of my teachers back in school too. The phrases and pronunciation were the same. 😃 I should note that my husband, who is Romanian and learnt English in NYC as a teen, still complains and struggles with comprehending my father’s speech sometimes.

I’m Australian. I understood significant parts of most of the accents. The development of accents and dialects is super interesting.

Got Trinidad, Guyana, and Jamaica. Only because I'm West Indian 😅 Side note: Each English speaking Caribbean country has a unique and distinctive dialect also, so whenever Caribbean people meet, we usually can tell where they're from just by their dialect😊

The only one I knew about and understood with ease was #4 - Appalachian. While it isn't exactly the same, it shares enough of the characteristics of my native Southern English that communication isn't much hindered. My own accent has become much more 'standardized' American English over time, but my grandparents spoke in such a thick Southern that some of my friends from other places found it difficult or impossible to understand them. I find myself slipping back into it when I'm around others speaking it.

9:25 Aww, this guy seems like a sweetheart. Very friendly and hospitable.

My late husband came from Appalachia, and his family speaks this way. He trained it out of his voice because he felt it was holding him back in his career, but when he'd speak to them on the phone, it would come right back. The accent he ended up with was so soft and lovely, I miss it. When my mom (native Philadelphian) came to our wedding at his parents' home, she didn't understand a thing anyone said!

I trained with the Singapore military. Not all had the same accent, but I'd say 75% could easily converse with the American Marines. Great group of guys.

im ethnically guyanese and trini. one of my great grandmas was actually arawak and carib! im so happy to see caribbean culture featured in this video ❤ much love!

Before I retired in 2018, I worked for a US Midwestern Bank's call center (It was Harris Bank Chicago, later absorbed into the BMO Canada corporation). Soooooooooooooo many times, I had clients from the southern part of the US say to me, "Slow down, I can't understand that fast Northern speak!"

Years ago I stopped at a cattle station in the Aussie outback that was larger than some European countries and spoke to the old bloke that had been left in charge of the homestead while the owner spent the next six weeks or so inspecting the boundary fences. Yep. Six weeks. His Aussie accent was so broad that I struggled to understand him and I’m actually Australian! What a character. Not many of them left now. I still think about him all the time…

Hi Olly. Ewan Bremner (Trainspotting clip) is from Edinburgh and his accent is East coast, not Glaswegian. He is speaking fast because he is speeding, not because he is a Weegie. The most difficult dialect in Scotland is probably Doric from one of the fishing villages along the Moray Firth coast, or some of the islands, like Orkney. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le3cBRlWSE8

I'm from East Tennessee and my whole familys from Appalachia. My grandmother taught me to speak without my accent cause people would think I was stupid if I used my hillbilly English. Today I can speak without it but I'm proud to have my accent and usually just talk regular. We say things like toosdee for Tuesday, haint for haunt or ghost, holler for hollow, and use lots of phrases like ive know him since he was knee high to a grass hipper and well im finer than a frogs hair split 3 ways. I love that you included Appalachia in the video I only have one issue with you... its Appalachia with a soft 3rd A no with a long 3rd A. i aint really sore at you but it is a soft A lol

‘My stomach thinks my throat is cut’ was an expression used by my mum to express feeling hungry. My family all born in Liverpool England but Mum’s heritage was Ireland / Welsh. Nice to know this expression is medieval Irish xx