Ah yes, the ol' British Isles card. I don't think it would hold up in a debate laddy lolol, Ireland isn't in Britain. Irish accents are Irish, not British
@@brummiesalteno-81 when people say British they're referring to great Britain - Scotland, England and Wales. Absolutely nobody thinks British isles when they hear British
🇮🇪 to my Irish friends… I am aware that we’ve managed to remove the necessary nuance in our final edit of this video! Hopefully it goes without saying that Ireland is not British, but we have a responsibility to make that clear, and we screwed up! I will attempt to fix it in the title and thumb, please let me know if we succeed or not! And apologies for any offence caused.
Its amazing how overwrought people can get about this kind of thing. I recently had a taxi driver, a grown man, break down in tears when, in an effort to make small talk, I asked him "Oh, is that a New Zealand accent I hear?" (He was, of course, Australian!) I get that if you are a taxi driver "with an accent" you must get some variety of that question, 40 times a day, which probably wears a bit thin after a while - and when people _presume_ to know the answer - and get it wrong - that must be especially tiresome; but this guy?! I apologized straight away and tried to unobtrusively change the subject, but even at that, I was kind of afraid that the guy was about to turn on me - physically! I can't think what got him quite so upset (beyond the obvious) but it didn't seem 'discreet' to ask! Another time, back in the '90's, when I lived in London, I said to a friend in pretty much the following manner, " -- Though one often hears the word 'Ulster' used synonymously with 'Northern Ireland', it is in fact the case that three of the counties of Ulster are on the 'Southern' Irish side of the Border..." I can't remember how the subject had come up, but I only mentioned it in the spirit of a 'fun fact', I wasn't trying to make some heavy political point or anything. Nonetheless, I found myself having to do some very fast talking to these three passing yobs who were very desirous of re~arranging my features, having overheard the discussion - this, in spite of having never in their lives been nearer to Ireland than Kilburn High Road, I would wager a week's wages! I should say the Northern Irish 'Troubles' were still very much 'a thing' though - and I had made the mistake of not realising that just because something is objectively _true,_ it doesn't simply follow from that, that it is politically _neutral..._ Oh, and my Cork 'twang' didn't help I'm sure! There is a certain irony in the fact that my Dad, who was born and raised in London, when in Belfast for an interview, was given a friendly warning about wandering into _Loyalist_ neighbourhoods - he had lived so long in the Irish Republic that the local accent had 'rubbed off' on him! Speaking only for myself, I have no problem whatever if someone refers to where I live (the Republic of Ireland) as being part of the British Isles. *Because it IS.* × And as long as it's obvious that no offence is intended, I don't care too much whether someone assumes I'm Irish _or_ British. Rightly so, I expect, since I have dual nationality! Although generally I tend to _think_ of myself as Irish - it's where I was born and it's where I've spent the greater part of my life - I'd like to think I wasn't overly hung up on the Irish/British thing even if I _didn't_ have dual nationality... Nationalism _does_ have its place - usually in football grounds, or during the Eurovision Song Contest. As my _American_ mother - in - Law would have put it, it's "not worth getting up in a heap about" - so sad then, that people see it worthy of dying - or, more usually, _killing_ over. I'm not stupid, I understand that unfortunately, but necessarily, it is also a part of wars and 'national struggles'... One would just hope it is the war that gives rise to the nationalism rather than vice versa! Further, 'One would hope', that at the conclusion of the war, the nationalism could be packed away, perhaps being taken out to let off a little steam in World Cup years! Or at the very worst, if it has to exercised, then (to paraphrase someone) let it be clutching a ballot paper rather than an AR - 15! But I _also_ still leave teeth that have fallen out under the pillow for the tooth fairy! × "British Isles" -- Nope! Not getting into it! "No correspondence [on the subject] will be entered into!"
@@benbenim826Ireland is geographically Irish. Northern Ireland is _politically_ British. FYI The term ‘British Isles’ has no validity according to the Irish government and foreign diplomats are advised accordingly. The term first entered the English language when Britain completed its colonisation of the island of Ireland - it’s very much a political term. The Romans (who never invaded Ireland) called it Hibernia and they clearly didn’t consider it part of Britannia.
@@richiehoyt8487 You’re being a bit disingenuous. At one time Britain colonised part of France. Do you seriously think the French at the time considered themselves to be British? Would you be surprised if they were upset at such a categorisation? Of course, it’s disrespectful to refer to Ireland (the country) as British and anyone who does so should be _politely_ corrected (no need for a huge fuss, particularly if they’re from very distant lands). However, if the entire continent of Europe can manage to make the distinction between British and Irish, then it behoves the people of that strip of land currently clogging the sea and blocking the view between Ireland and mainland Europe to do the same. 🤣😂🤣
I’m British, Welsh to be specific, and I got 1. Didn’t get this one 2. Liverpool, easy - correct 3. I said Yorkshire, correctly not specifically Hull 4. I said Scottish isles! Correct, and pleased 5. I didn’t this, he made the example really hard 6. Clearly Irish, but didn’t get kerry 7. I’m Welsh, obviously I got this 8. Irish traveller! Nailed it! 5/8 5.5/8 if you count knowing Irish but not kerry
The West Country is insanely hard to combine into one section, as someone from Plymouth, I can hear the difference between each county, and we also don’t roll our Rs in Devon!
Being from Ireland, I’m not fond of the idea of being part of “British isles” but it what it is… but with the travellers, most Irish people can understand them
@@sunnyjim1355 LOL. Coming from (London)Derry, I'm offended by both the British AND the Irish. Now shake hands with @federz666, and be nice, and share the "Western Isles" with grace and humility.
As strange as it is, since I’m an American from the Midwest, I can understand: Isle of Man, Hull, Outer Hebrides, West Country, a little of Kerry, Welsh, a little of the Nomadic Irish. Thank you for a very fascinating video!
Well, all the ones you mention are western British accents, and influenced American speech through seafaring and immigration. Not that that necessarily makes it easy, so well done! As a west Brit myself, I struggled with some of them, though I might have done better with a little more time and some context.
Scouser here , fun fact the different areas of Liverpool have slightly different accents . The first scouse girl had a north end accent , the same as me . Usually found in Walton , Kirkdale , Norris green , Croxteth etc. . Kirkdale and croxteth are both Viking names . Walton is Anglo Saxon for walled settlement. Great place Liverpool for history . Great vid by the way la .
Same in Hull. Anyone not local would think all of Hull, and surrounding areas including Beverley have the same accent. I can pin point the difference between West Hull and East Hull and Beverley.
I find the West Country to be the most similar in terms of sound (maybe not vocab) to a Broad American accent. Our vocab and grammar are most similar to other areas of Southern England and our accent probably sounded very similar to theirs when theirs was still rhotic in the 18th century.
Both colonies and remote areas in general preserve more archaic features in their accents. 18th century London speech would sound a lot more like American English than modern British English does
Swede here 🙋🏼♀️ I absolutely didn't understand all of it, but definitely more than I expected. Funny thing is that #7's rhythm/melody is quite similar to the Swedish's. It almost sounded like (overblown) swenglish 😂
I’m from the West Midlands and have moved to different parts of the southern part of England but after moving to Yorkshire, it’s been a struggle for me sometimes understanding some people😅
I take exception to Irish accents coming under the header of British accents, but much respect for that clip of TD Michael Healy-Rae. I actually remember that speech he made. I don't ever really look at the Dáil sessions, so it's funny that it was this one.
Very Interesting! Many years ago, there was an excellent series on the US Public Broadcasting Network called 'The Story of English" They went all over the world to show the origin and to describe the various 'varieties of English'. They went to Yorkshire and showed a 'regular' Yorkshire accented postman making a delivery to an old farmer who had a completely different accent that had Norse sounds. I looked it up and this took place somewhere near Hull. We lived in Yorkshire for a while when I was around ten and went to school in Harrogate. All the kids spoke about the same, except this one kid who lived way out on the moors and had a completely different accent and I think used words like thee and thou! He was brought to school by taxi, and I remember he was always teased about the way he spoke.
The Celtic people of the island of Brit9n were called the Britons. It cimes from an old word for "tin", since the Britains had tin, which was very rare and ne essary for making bronze. As such, the Geals ARE related to the Britons. They aren't English, though. English is not British.
@@sunnyjim1355 Define "indigenous". The mediterranean world of the Bronze Age traded with a far off north western island for tin. The word "Briton" comes from an old word, I think Latin though that doesn't fit with the time, that meant tin. Those "tin people" were Celts. Hence, the Celts in those islands were Britons. How long after migration to an area can a people be said to be "native" to that area? A generation? 5? 50? Are local cultural differences important in defining "native "? How many differences qualify? If you go to the ultimate extreme, we're all Africans and not "native" to any place outside Africa. Are Germans European? Their Indo-European amcestors were Asian steppe nomads, so are Germans Asian? Are the First Nations people of the Americas Americans, Asians, or Africans? I'm not saying you become "indigenous" the minute you set foot in a new place, and I don't have a set period of time in mind, btw. I'm just raising the question.
My elderly mother was from the Hebrides and learnt English at School. We lived in England due to my father's work. Most people on meeting my mother assumed she was Irish or Polish.
i like that you said learnt which we still say where i grew up and burnt but people don’t still consider it “correct” other places i’ve been… only learned and burned other parts of the US i’ve been to…
I understood every word that each of them were saying, but only correctly guessed six of the accents. Then again, I've never been to Europe, so I was going based strictly on the linguistic characteristics.
As an American I understood almost all of these. But I assume that’s from (1) a lot of premier league soccer and (2) working on ships with people from all over
I'm learning Scottish Gaelic and I understood almost every word of the little Manx part. Also, I thought the Hebridean accent was Welsh at first!! Very cool
My great-great-grandfather came from Kerry, when he and his pals got together they would speak Irish Gaelic so his Dutch wife couldn't follow the conversation.
I understood most of them but not where they were from. Growing up in Kenya we had people from all over the world so you learned a lot of different dialects and English accents. 😊 have a great weekend.
#1: no trouble at all with guy in the car. Others were harder to practically impossible for me to understand. #2, #3, #4 - easy #5 - harder, but after a few seconds I adjusted and could understand it #6 - first guy was impossible, but the next guy I managed. #7 - not too bad. I worked with a scot who mimicked Welsh accents so I knew this one #8 - harder, but I could understand it. So #7 was the only one I correctly identified, but most I could understand no problem. Btw I grew up in Canada but lived in the US southeast for 20 years.
For some reason I got the Welsh right. I think it was from listening to Dylan Thomas reading his short stories, in which the characters speak to each other in various shadings of Welsh.
Hello, as you are from British, i will like to know when someone is adopting an English rp accent,i guess you can distinguish that he is trying to do it ....what makes you distinguish it.....this tip will help me.
Maybe I watch too much UA-cam but I have heard most of these enough that I didn’t have a problem with any of them (although I did have to slow a couple of them down a bit).
Due to the expertise of the video maker I got my hopes up, that mention would be made of the one Scottish accent that is always ignored- the one in Wigtownshire known as Galloway Irish. It's quite unlike anything else found in Scotland but it shows the close relationship across the North Channel.
Its called Hiberno English in Ireland, not British English, The grammar and lexicon are influenced by the Irish language Hiberno english is now the dominant form of English spoken in the EU. at least 5 EU prime ministers learnt english as kids in Ireland.
Great video. Would love you to do a deep dive on the Norfolk accent (where I'm from). We've got some pretty mad words and phrases like bishy barnabee meaning ladybird.
I had no trouble with any of the accents when I moved to Ireland from Canada...except for one. I travelled all over the UK. Went to Scotland, Wales, Liverpool, Manchester. Spent a lot of time in Belfast. The one accent I could not get was Cork.
“The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, and over six thousand smaller islands.”
Kerry County Welsh and Gypsy English accents were quite hard to understand for me, but I'm probably just not used to it. I'm French and we also have gypsies on our territory, I can understand them most of the time, in addition to some French regional expressions and I would say that my accent is pretty natural, probably because I'm used to work with different languages so I also learned to speak slowly when I speak my own native language. 😄
They were travellers . Gypsies and travellers are not the same thing . Romani come from India originally and they have their own language and their own part English part Romani dialect . Those were Irish travellers they prefer to be called Pavees
I only struggled understanding the old man in no 6 because he talked so fast. I also don't know the meanings of all dialect words. However, I couldn't tell where any of the accents came from, and that's not just about English accents! I simply don't have an ear for languages. 😞 I'm not a native speaker but I lived in England for 18 years, in a small town near Manchester, Cornwall and South-east, and my walking hobby took me in many parts of Wales and Scotland, I even stayed with travellers as a gurst during some bad weather. I shared a house with a person from Hull (and Nigerians: their official language is English) studied with an Irish woman who struggled to speak English (and, of course, you find Irish people with thick accents everywhere). I guess, having to rely so much on inference as a language learner and having to communicate so much with other non-native speakers has its advantages.
Brazilian here; I couldn't understand any more than 2 out of those 8 accents (I understood some words of the remaining 6 accents but was unable to make sense of the conversation or comments). P.S.: The Welsh accent reminds me of Norwegian 🤔
I only know one Manx person, Joe Locke from Heartstopper, but he speaks with RP. Scouse is easy. So is West Country, but only because I'd seen that clip so many times lol, and I still don't know what they were talking about. I could only get Wales, not the exact place.
This video was just delightful, thanks so much. I understood the first FOUR accents just fine...no problem. #5 really threw me, though. I had to put the headphones on. After that, I caught about 85% of it. #6 from Kerry was interesting, truly. 7 was Welsh, yes. 8 was right out! Travelers, hmm. High marks, Olly! Cheers!
@@benbenim826 People might refer to it as such, but it doesn't mean they are right to do so. There is categorically no such thing as "the British accent". There are only British accents, in the plural sense.
@@michaelkobylko2969 I am agree with you but this is done everywhere. I am Turkish and samething with Turkish. Standardized İstanbul Turkish is called Turkey Turkish although there are tons of different accents spoken in the country
I'm surprised you didn't show a clip of "One Punch" Mickey O'Neil for the Travelers' Accent. I'm told it was the best representation in film of it. Again, that's just what I've heard a number of times...dunno of it's true.
What about Doric - the accent (dialect actually) in Aberdeen and NE Scotland? Quines and loons instead of girls and boys; faur instead of where; fit like instead of how are you - and much more besides. Beautiful melodic version of the Scottish accent, but can be hard to decipher - worth investigating.
This video very misleading. The Irish accent is not one of your British variant accents. Try telling telling Kerry Politician he is British! Ireland is a separate country (not in Uk) it be the equivalent of saying ‘guess what Spanish accent this person from Lisbon has’ 😮
Polish here. "Won't understand" is completely wrong. Only #7 and the first sample of #6 are mostly impenetrable. #2 takes quite a bit of concentration to understand fully. The rest - not a problem at all. Of course placing them is another thing, I wouldn't even take a guess in most cases, but understanding is not a problem. This might however be a result of my background. English learned not in a formal school, but from a multitude of sources with different accents, then used for more then a decade at work... as a scientist, involved in many international (mostly EU, but not only that) projects. Meetings, conferences, etc. with speakers from all around the world. If you spent so many hours trying to keep up with a discussion in English between French, Japanese, Korean, German and Italian colleagues... you'd become rather immune to accents.
Me too, I'm American and have a hard time hearing the difference between regional British accents. It all sounds like a British accent to me for the most part
The problem with calling "these" Islands The *British* Isles is that it is a politically loaded term to describe or to refer to this particular archipelago off the north west coast of mainland Europe. Consisting of two main islands, Great Britain & Ireland. (Britain being the bigger of the two) Up until 1921 when Ireland became a Free State and certainly by 1948 when it became a Republic describing "These Islands" as the *British* Isles was acceptable. 6 northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom. Post 1948 the term to describe the two islands is now more geographical (& maybe cultural) Historically the two islands inevitably share a lot of history (for good or bad!) BUT saying "British Isles" is still politically insensitive to the Irish (Republic) Norman Davies wrote and excellent book about the British I......oops "The Isles" He even realised this dilemma when naming his book and thus called it by that title! But coming up with a "politically correct" term for "These Islands" is rather tricky. You can just say "Britain & Ireland" William G. Stewart on the Channel 4 quiz show Fifteen To One would say "The *geographical* British Isles" as a sort of clarifier or compromising term.
The accents are perfectly comprehensible*. Most of the audio recordings are awful. And there's gonna be some vocabulary differences but that not the same as an accent. *Edit for spelling
The first speaker, the woman in the black tank top, and the Hebridean sound 100% understandable and normal to me, a US Great Lakes native. About the Irish being picky, don’t fret, everyone calls us America when they mean US. America could refer to practically the whole Western Hemisphere. To say someone sounds “American” means nothing. I guarantee I sound nothing like a Quechua tribeswoman in Bolivia even if she speaks English. And I don’t think she’d appreciate being called “American,” though she is on a continent that bears that word in its name. Geography matters. Look at maps. Read books.
Can you guess these Irish and Scottish accents? 👉 ua-cam.com/video/styynTNHpVo/v-deo.htmlsi=1YCt_esTPvT0UjPK
you're going to ruffle some feathers with the title "british accents" but covering irish accents in the video!
Until you realise that Ireland is part of the British Isles.
Ah yes, the ol' British Isles card. I don't think it would hold up in a debate laddy lolol, Ireland isn't in Britain. Irish accents are Irish, not British
@@brummiesalteno-81 when people say British they're referring to great Britain - Scotland, England and Wales. Absolutely nobody thinks British isles when they hear British
He said English accents in the intro 😂
@@brummiesalteno-81go to ireland and tell them they’re british bc they’re in the british isles and watch what happens next
🇮🇪 to my Irish friends… I am aware that we’ve managed to remove the necessary nuance in our final edit of this video! Hopefully it goes without saying that Ireland is not British, but we have a responsibility to make that clear, and we screwed up! I will attempt to fix it in the title and thumb, please let me know if we succeed or not! And apologies for any offence caused.
Tbh it's funny as a insider to see people freak out
Its amazing how overwrought people can get about this kind of thing. I recently had a taxi driver, a grown man, break down in tears when, in an effort to make small talk, I asked him "Oh, is that a New Zealand accent I hear?" (He was, of course, Australian!) I get that if you are a taxi driver "with an accent" you must get some variety of that question, 40 times a day, which probably wears a bit thin after a while - and when people _presume_ to know the answer - and get it wrong - that must be especially tiresome; but this guy?! I apologized straight away and tried to unobtrusively change the subject, but even at that, I was kind of afraid that the guy was about to turn on me - physically! I can't think what got him quite so upset (beyond the obvious) but it didn't seem 'discreet' to ask! Another time, back in the '90's, when I lived in London, I said to a friend in pretty much the following manner, " -- Though one often hears the word 'Ulster' used synonymously with 'Northern Ireland', it is in fact the case that three of the counties of Ulster are on the 'Southern' Irish side of the Border..." I can't remember how the subject had come up, but I only mentioned it in the spirit of a 'fun fact', I wasn't trying to make some heavy political point or anything. Nonetheless, I found myself having to do some very fast talking to these three passing yobs who were very desirous of re~arranging my features, having overheard the discussion - this, in spite of having never in their lives been nearer to Ireland than Kilburn High Road, I would wager a week's wages! I should say the Northern Irish 'Troubles' were still very much 'a thing' though - and I had made the mistake of not realising that just because something is objectively _true,_ it doesn't simply follow from that, that it is politically _neutral..._ Oh, and my Cork 'twang' didn't help I'm sure! There is a certain irony in the fact that my Dad, who was born and raised in London, when in Belfast for an interview, was given a friendly warning about wandering into _Loyalist_ neighbourhoods - he had lived so long in the Irish Republic that the local accent had 'rubbed off' on him!
Speaking only for myself, I have no problem whatever if someone refers to where I live (the Republic of Ireland) as being part of the British Isles. *Because it IS.* × And as long as it's obvious that no offence is intended, I don't care too much whether someone assumes I'm Irish _or_ British. Rightly so, I expect, since I have dual nationality! Although generally I tend to _think_ of myself as Irish - it's where I was born and it's where I've spent the greater part of my life - I'd like to think I wasn't overly hung up on the Irish/British thing even if I _didn't_ have dual nationality...
Nationalism _does_ have its place - usually in football grounds, or during the Eurovision Song Contest. As my _American_ mother - in - Law would have put it, it's "not worth getting up in a heap about" - so sad then, that people see it worthy of dying - or, more usually, _killing_ over. I'm not stupid, I understand that unfortunately, but necessarily, it is also a part of wars and 'national struggles'... One would just hope it is the war that gives rise to the nationalism rather than vice versa! Further, 'One would hope', that at the conclusion of the war, the nationalism could be packed away, perhaps being taken out to let off a little steam in World Cup years! Or at the very worst, if it has to exercised, then (to paraphrase someone) let it be clutching a ballot paper rather than an AR - 15! But I _also_ still leave teeth that have fallen out under the pillow for the tooth fairy!
× "British Isles" -- Nope! Not getting into it!
"No correspondence [on the subject] will be entered into!"
Ireland is geographically British. I think he was referring to the geography not country
@@benbenim826Ireland is geographically Irish. Northern Ireland is _politically_ British. FYI The term ‘British Isles’ has no validity according to the Irish government and foreign diplomats are advised accordingly. The term first entered the English language when Britain completed its colonisation of the island of Ireland - it’s very much a political term. The Romans (who never invaded Ireland) called it Hibernia and they clearly didn’t consider it part of Britannia.
@@richiehoyt8487 You’re being a bit disingenuous. At one time Britain colonised part of France. Do you seriously think the French at the time considered themselves to be British? Would you be surprised if they were upset at such a categorisation?
Of course, it’s disrespectful to refer to Ireland (the country) as British and anyone who does so should be _politely_ corrected (no need for a huge fuss, particularly if they’re from very distant lands). However, if the entire continent of Europe can manage to make the distinction between British and Irish, then it behoves the people of that strip of land currently clogging the sea and blocking the view between Ireland and mainland Europe to do the same. 🤣😂🤣
My mother met a man with a Kerry accent the first day she moved to Ireland. She was left questioning her own English 😭
I’m British, Welsh to be specific, and I got
1. Didn’t get this one
2. Liverpool, easy - correct
3. I said Yorkshire, correctly not specifically Hull
4. I said Scottish isles! Correct, and pleased
5. I didn’t this, he made the example really hard
6. Clearly Irish, but didn’t get kerry
7. I’m Welsh, obviously I got this
8. Irish traveller! Nailed it!
5/8
5.5/8 if you count knowing Irish but not kerry
The West Country is insanely hard to combine into one section, as someone from Plymouth, I can hear the difference between each county, and we also don’t roll our Rs in Devon!
Does anybody roll their Rs in the West Country?
Yeah I live Exeter and they sound different to Cornish or Bristol people I'm Oxford so I've got a working class south east accent
Being from Ireland, I’m not fond of the idea of being part of “British isles” but it what it is… but with the travellers, most Irish people can understand them
Most English can too and usually confuse them with Irish. And then some remember that terrible movie with Brad Pitt and Mr Madonna
I sympathise, but "British Isles" is a geographical, not a political, term, so I don't mind.
Geographically Ireland is completely separate to England and politically even more so
As an Englishman, I'm not fond of Ireland being considered part of the 'British Isles' either, but it is what it is.
@@sunnyjim1355 LOL.
Coming from (London)Derry, I'm offended by both the British AND the Irish. Now shake hands with @federz666, and be nice, and share the "Western Isles" with grace and humility.
Would be cool if you did one only for Ireland. Theres a lot of unique accents in Ireland
As strange as it is, since I’m an American from the Midwest, I can understand: Isle of Man, Hull, Outer Hebrides, West Country, a little of Kerry, Welsh, a little of the Nomadic Irish. Thank you for a very fascinating video!
Well, all the ones you mention are western British accents, and influenced American speech through seafaring and immigration. Not that that necessarily makes it easy, so well done! As a west Brit myself, I struggled with some of them, though I might have done better with a little more time and some context.
The Kerry accent hit my ears very similarly to the Gambo Bay accent from Newfoundland.
Scouser here , fun fact the different areas of Liverpool have slightly different accents . The first scouse girl had a north end accent , the same as me . Usually found in Walton , Kirkdale , Norris green , Croxteth etc. . Kirkdale and croxteth are both Viking names . Walton is Anglo Saxon for walled settlement. Great place Liverpool for history . Great vid by the way la .
Same in Hull. Anyone not local would think all of Hull, and surrounding areas including Beverley have the same accent. I can pin point the difference between West Hull and East Hull and Beverley.
@@marcom9103 got a cracking mate from Hull . John Hendy . Ex Royal Navy lad
As someone from the US, I found the woman from the Outer Hebrides by far the easiest to understand despite the remoteness of the area.
I find the West Country to be the most similar in terms of sound (maybe not vocab) to a Broad American accent. Our vocab and grammar are most similar to other areas of Southern England and our accent probably sounded very similar to theirs when theirs was still rhotic in the 18th century.
I agree - I understood the Outer Hebrides accent the best
Both colonies and remote areas in general preserve more archaic features in their accents. 18th century London speech would sound a lot more like American English than modern British English does
Swede here 🙋🏼♀️ I absolutely didn't understand all of it, but definitely more than I expected. Funny thing is that #7's rhythm/melody is quite similar to the Swedish's. It almost sounded like (overblown) swenglish 😂
I thought Italian.
I’m from the West Midlands and have moved to different parts of the southern part of England but after moving to Yorkshire, it’s been a struggle for me sometimes understanding some people😅
I take exception to Irish accents coming under the header of British accents, but much respect for that clip of TD Michael Healy-Rae. I actually remember that speech he made. I don't ever really look at the Dáil sessions, so it's funny that it was this one.
'British' just means 'of the British Isles' which includes Ireland. Look at a map. 🤦♂
I only got the last 2 remarkably as an American: Welsh & Irish Traveller. I knew about Irish travelers from a UA-cam video I saw a few years ago
Very Interesting! Many years ago, there was an excellent series on the US Public Broadcasting Network called 'The Story of English" They went all over the world to show the origin and to describe the various 'varieties of English'. They went to Yorkshire and showed a 'regular' Yorkshire accented postman making a delivery to an old farmer who had a completely different accent that had Norse sounds. I looked it up and this took place somewhere near Hull.
We lived in Yorkshire for a while when I was around ten and went to school in Harrogate. All the kids spoke about the same, except this one kid who lived way out on the moors and had a completely different accent and I think used words like thee and thou! He was brought to school by taxi, and I remember he was always teased about the way he spoke.
Fun fact: In the Republic of Ireland, the islands of Ireland and Britain are officially referred to as ‘The Irish Isles’.
Careful. The British get really sensitive about that I’ve found.
The Welsh gentleman reminded me of how Americans imitate Italian accents. Not the sounds but the stressing and melody if that makes sense.
Well, something important to take into account is that "Irish" is not related to "British"
Yes… I think we’ve somehow managed to lose the nuance in our edit of this video. I will fix it !
The clue is in the title ! 😢
The Celtic people of the island of Brit9n were called the Britons. It cimes from an old word for "tin", since the Britains had tin, which was very rare and ne essary for making bronze.
As such, the Geals ARE related to the Britons. They aren't English, though. English is not British.
@@wfcoaker1398 Neither are Celtic people 'British' either then, as they are also not the indigenous peoples of the British Isles.
@@sunnyjim1355 Define "indigenous". The mediterranean world of the Bronze Age traded with a far off north western island for tin. The word "Briton" comes from an old word, I think Latin though that doesn't fit with the time, that meant tin. Those "tin people" were Celts. Hence, the Celts in those islands were Britons.
How long after migration to an area can a people be said to be "native" to that area? A generation? 5? 50? Are local cultural differences important in defining "native "? How many differences qualify? If you go to the ultimate extreme, we're all Africans and not "native" to any place outside Africa. Are Germans European? Their Indo-European amcestors were Asian steppe nomads, so are Germans Asian? Are the First Nations people of the Americas Americans, Asians, or Africans? I'm not saying you become "indigenous" the minute you set foot in a new place, and I don't have a set period of time in mind, btw. I'm just raising the question.
My elderly mother was from the Hebrides and learnt English at School. We lived in England due to my father's work. Most people on meeting my mother assumed she was Irish or Polish.
i like that you said learnt which we still say where i grew up and burnt but people don’t still consider it “correct” other places i’ve been… only learned and burned other parts of the US i’ve been to…
I understood every word that each of them were saying, but only correctly guessed six of the accents. Then again, I've never been to Europe, so I was going based strictly on the linguistic characteristics.
I understood the first 4 quite well except for the gentleman in court. The 5th one I was lost. The last 3, i understood parts of it.
After living in London for over 20 years I got used to all kind of accents possible 😅
Even Pakistani?
As an American I understood almost all of these. But I assume that’s from (1) a lot of premier league soccer and (2) working on ships with people from all over
Love it. Having lived in the UK (Wales), I could recognise most of them.
I'm learning Scottish Gaelic and I understood almost every word of the little Manx part. Also, I thought the Hebridean accent was Welsh at first!! Very cool
Spoken Manx is really similar to Irish Gaelic. Wow.
My great-great-grandfather came from Kerry, when he and his pals got together they would speak Irish Gaelic so his Dutch wife couldn't follow the conversation.
I understood most of them but not where they were from. Growing up in Kenya we had people from all over the world so you learned a lot of different dialects and English accents. 😊 have a great weekend.
I remember Brad Pitt trying to play Irish Traveller in Snatch. He sounded like a Newfie with a speech impediment.
I got the Irish Travelers accent correct.
#1: no trouble at all with guy in the car. Others were harder to practically impossible for me to understand.
#2, #3, #4 - easy
#5 - harder, but after a few seconds I adjusted and could understand it
#6 - first guy was impossible, but the next guy I managed.
#7 - not too bad. I worked with a scot who mimicked Welsh accents so I knew this one
#8 - harder, but I could understand it.
So #7 was the only one I correctly identified, but most I could understand no problem.
Btw I grew up in Canada but lived in the US southeast for 20 years.
For some reason I got the Welsh right. I think it was from listening to Dylan Thomas reading his short stories, in which the characters speak to each other in various shadings of Welsh.
I love Mel C's accent; I could listen to her all day. But there are times when I can't understand her 😂
I do love British accents, i as a Brit can’t understand some people sometimes haha!
happens to me too!
Hello, as you are from British, i will like to know when someone is adopting an English rp accent,i guess you can distinguish that he is trying to do it ....what makes you distinguish it.....this tip will help me.
Maybe I watch too much UA-cam but I have heard most of these enough that I didn’t have a problem with any of them (although I did have to slow a couple of them down a bit).
Got South wales (actually said Pembroke, so pretty close with Llanelli)
North wales is markedly different though
Due to the expertise of the video maker I got my hopes up, that mention would be made of the one Scottish accent that is always ignored- the one in Wigtownshire known as Galloway Irish. It's quite unlike anything else found in Scotland but it shows the close relationship across the North Channel.
Its called Hiberno English in Ireland, not British English, The grammar and lexicon are influenced by the Irish language Hiberno english is now the dominant form of English spoken in the EU. at least 5 EU prime ministers learnt english as kids in Ireland.
The second the older gentleman from the west came on, I went “that’s how my Nan spoke!” 🥰
Great video. Would love you to do a deep dive on the Norfolk accent (where I'm from). We've got some pretty mad words and phrases like bishy barnabee meaning ladybird.
Beautiful, lovely to hear. In my head I speak only perfect English but for whatever reason English speakers from other parts don't understand it.
Great video! The West Country people sound like our folks on Ocracoke
The West Country folks don't really roll their r's so much as voice them, like an Irishman or a Texan.
I had no trouble with any of the accents when I moved to Ireland from Canada...except for one. I travelled all over the UK. Went to Scotland, Wales, Liverpool, Manchester. Spent a lot of time in Belfast. The one accent I could not get was Cork.
Ireland is not British nor part of the British Isles
“The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, and over six thousand smaller islands.”
@@hathi444 let me guess, your English 😂
@@seustaceRotterdam My English what? 🤔
Kerry County Welsh and Gypsy English accents were quite hard to understand for me, but I'm probably just not used to it.
I'm French and we also have gypsies on our territory, I can understand them most of the time, in addition to some French regional expressions and I would say that my accent is pretty natural, probably because I'm used to work with different languages so I also learned to speak slowly when I speak my own native language. 😄
They were travellers . Gypsies and travellers are not the same thing . Romani come from India originally and they have their own language and their own part English part Romani dialect . Those were Irish travellers they prefer to be called Pavees
I don't know if it's accurate but the accent of the Pikey's in the movie Snatch was incredibly hard to understand.😊
I only struggled understanding the old man in no 6 because he talked so fast. I also don't know the meanings of all dialect words.
However, I couldn't tell where any of the accents came from, and that's not just about English accents! I simply don't have an ear for languages. 😞
I'm not a native speaker but I lived in England for 18 years, in a small town near Manchester, Cornwall and South-east, and my walking hobby took me in many parts of Wales and Scotland, I even stayed with travellers as a gurst during some bad weather. I shared a house with a person from Hull (and Nigerians: their official language is English) studied with an Irish woman who struggled to speak English (and, of course, you find Irish people with thick accents everywhere). I guess, having to rely so much on inference as a language learner and having to communicate so much with other non-native speakers has its advantages.
Brazilian here; I couldn't understand any more than 2 out of those 8 accents (I understood some words of the remaining 6 accents but was unable to make sense of the conversation or comments). P.S.: The Welsh accent reminds me of Norwegian 🤔
😮That guy by the gas station!
I understood Zero words.
Z e r o
Dialect in Hull, while it has some borrowed words from the Danes, it is still undoubtedly a subset of Yorkshire
I understood all the British accents but not the Irish one number six
I only know one Manx person, Joe Locke from Heartstopper, but he speaks with RP. Scouse is easy. So is West Country, but only because I'd seen that clip so many times lol, and I still don't know what they were talking about. I could only get Wales, not the exact place.
Accents #6, 7, and 8 were really hard for me! But I’m American, and I haven’t heard anyone speak those ways ever. That’s my only excuse!
SO GLAD I FOUND THIS CHANNEL❤🎉
In the US really the only terms most people hear in regards to British accents are cockney and posh. That’s what I’m hoping you’ll explain. 😂
How about doing the variations of Australian English? #OllyRichards
This video was just delightful, thanks so much. I understood the first FOUR accents just fine...no problem. #5 really threw me, though. I had to put the headphones on. After that, I caught about 85% of it. #6 from Kerry was interesting, truly. 7 was Welsh, yes. 8 was right out! Travelers, hmm. High marks, Olly! Cheers!
Just for reference Scottish Gaelic is pronounced as "Gal-ick" whereas Irish Gaelic is pronounced like "Gay-Lick"
Actually watched further and you do pronounce it correctly later was probably a mistake; will leave the OG comment as most people don't know this.
The Irish language is not called Gaelic, it's called Gaeilge.
Hopefully in some small way this will help do away with the idea that there is something called "the British accent".
The BBC newsreader?
@@storylearning That's "a British accent", not "the British accent".
I think it is the standardized London accent which is called the British accent
@@benbenim826 People might refer to it as such, but it doesn't mean they are right to do so. There is categorically no such thing as "the British accent". There are only British accents, in the plural sense.
@@michaelkobylko2969 I am agree with you but this is done everywhere. I am Turkish and samething with Turkish. Standardized İstanbul Turkish is called Turkey Turkish although there are tons of different accents spoken in the country
The Welsh examples sound so Skandinavian.
Welsh accents vary. North Welsh sounds like Scouse. Hard to explain Southern but it's not all Valley sounding . Cardiff and Newport sound similar
As weird as it might sound, as a foreigner I sometimes understand the stronger English accents better than some British people lol.
do a video on the gibraltarian accent aswell as celta
Olly, can you understand any english speaker’s region or country from his accent?
Nr. 5 is the english pendant to the german man from saxony. 😂
I got 1, 3 and 5 pretty well
The others? Not so much
I am Turkish. The Scottish accent is the most difficult to understand to me
None of these accents are difficult to understand unless you've never left the confines of the M25.
I'm surprised you didn't show a clip of "One Punch" Mickey O'Neil for the Travelers' Accent. I'm told it was the best representation in film of it. Again, that's just what I've heard a number of times...dunno of it's true.
It seems to me that the Liverpool accent has changed since The Beatles. Yes?
I got #1, 3, and 4 :)
What about Doric - the accent (dialect actually) in Aberdeen and NE Scotland? Quines and loons instead of girls and boys; faur instead of where; fit like instead of how are you - and much more besides. Beautiful melodic version of the Scottish accent, but can be hard to decipher - worth investigating.
I love british accent 🇬🇧. Thank you for sharing some of the unique variants. 💙
That's why I could never understand the meow of a cat without a tail.
This video very misleading. The Irish accent is not one of your British variant accents. Try telling telling Kerry Politician he is British! Ireland is a separate country (not in Uk) it be the equivalent of saying ‘guess what Spanish accent this person from Lisbon has’ 😮
I appreciate only the RP accent. The others are a mixture of I don't know what.
Polish here. "Won't understand" is completely wrong. Only #7 and the first sample of #6 are mostly impenetrable. #2 takes quite a bit of concentration to understand fully. The rest - not a problem at all. Of course placing them is another thing, I wouldn't even take a guess in most cases, but understanding is not a problem.
This might however be a result of my background. English learned not in a formal school, but from a multitude of sources with different accents, then used for more then a decade at work... as a scientist, involved in many international (mostly EU, but not only that) projects. Meetings, conferences, etc. with speakers from all around the world. If you spent so many hours trying to keep up with a discussion in English between French, Japanese, Korean, German and Italian colleagues... you'd become rather immune to accents.
I got Welsh *but not the region) and I assumed 8 were gtpsies.
I'm American and I easily understood them all.
I am Turkish and I understood them all too. Just turn on the subtitles.
@@benbenim826😅
Me too, I'm American and have a hard time hearing the difference between regional British accents. It all sounds like a British accent to me for the most part
Even the old man from Kerry? Yeah right!
Why of course you speak Americanish.
Where is show Keeping up with Appearances from?
I used to love getting high and watching some classes
Clicked cos you marked Ireland in a title called “British”
You have een very sporting with these accents. But I guess it would've been cruel to subject folk to Saltcoatsian
I remember from sunday-school trips....
The problem with calling "these" Islands The *British* Isles is that it is a politically loaded term to describe or to refer to this particular archipelago off the north west coast of mainland Europe. Consisting of two main islands, Great Britain & Ireland. (Britain being the bigger of the two) Up until 1921 when Ireland became a Free State and certainly by 1948 when it became a Republic describing "These Islands" as the *British* Isles was acceptable. 6 northern Irish counties remained part of the United Kingdom. Post 1948 the term to describe the two islands is now more geographical (& maybe cultural) Historically the two islands inevitably share a lot of history (for good or bad!) BUT saying "British Isles" is still politically insensitive to the Irish (Republic) Norman Davies wrote and excellent book about the British I......oops "The Isles" He even realised this dilemma when naming his book and thus called it by that title! But coming up with a "politically correct" term for "These Islands" is rather tricky. You can just say "Britain & Ireland" William G. Stewart on the Channel 4 quiz show Fifteen To One would say "The *geographical* British Isles" as a sort of clarifier or compromising term.
Everyone gangsta until these people speak English.
Interestingly all use the Hindu-arabic numeral.
One... 😬 The Travelers accent, shame is on me the
Does Wayne Rooney count as a separate accent or that's also scouse?
If you've ever seen Snatch, no way you didn't nail the gypsy accent :D
Overall I think the old man form Cornwall was hardest to understand.
I only got #8 :).
The accents are perfectly comprehensible*. Most of the audio recordings are awful. And there's gonna be some vocabulary differences but that not the same as an accent.
*Edit for spelling
I'm sorry I can't let this one go. Ireland is not in Britain and therfore not a British accent.
Am i unique in having a deep voice and speaking scouse? Nope! Im just not a scally!
NOBODY rolls their Rs in the West Country. Where on earth did you get that information? Are you getting confused about what rhoticity is?
The first speaker, the woman in the black tank top, and the Hebridean sound 100% understandable and normal to me, a US Great Lakes native. About the Irish being picky, don’t fret, everyone calls us America when they mean US. America could refer to practically the whole Western Hemisphere. To say someone sounds “American” means nothing. I guarantee I sound nothing like a Quechua tribeswoman in Bolivia even if she speaks English. And I don’t think she’d appreciate being called “American,” though she is on a continent that bears that word in its name. Geography matters. Look at maps. Read books.
@07:50 oh now I'm sure people will be forgiving of this little geographical detour...
*checks comments*
...oh, there it is!
idk about calling kerry a british accent..
Today there's a lot of dodgy money passing through London! (The Isle of Man has nothing on that place...)
Never see Aberdeenshire Doric on these videos