British Accents Ranked from Easiest to Hardest with TEST Examples

hello everyone and welcome back to

english with lucy today we are going to

be talking about the big topic of

accents in particular the accents that

you guys find to be most difficult to

understand now when it comes to accents

you can’t just say this one’s easy and

this one is difficult it doesn’t work

like that it all depends on where you’re

from and what you’re used to what you’re

used to hearing i speak english with a

modern received pronunciation accent and

lots of people tell me that they find it

very clear and easy

but that probably is because my accent

is an accent that’s commonly taught in

schools you might hear it in films and

tv shows quite a lot one of the most

important things that you can do if you

want to improve your comprehension and

improve your english listening skills is

to familiarize yourself with as many

accents as possible and this is such a

fun task as a starting point i thought

it would be really fun to identify some

of the accents that learners of english

commonly find hard to understand so that

you can focus on familiarizing yourself

with them even more in order to do this

i created a survey this is just for fun

it’s not scientific but i think it gives

quite a good indication i took 10

celebrities who speak 10 of my favorite

accents and i took little clips of them

speaking i then asked my students on my

email list to tell me on a scale of zero

to ten

how easy they found it to understand

that little bit of speech

i averaged the scores i’ve put them in

order

and i’m really really excited to show

you the results

to make this even more interesting i

will play each clip twice

once

without subtitles and again

with subtitles so that you can test your

own understanding of each accent clip

obviously there will be many variables

the speed at which the person’s speaking

the setting in which they’re speaking

whether it’s formal or informal but

hopefully it will give you a good idea

as always there is a pdf that goes with

today’s lesson it’s got all of the

information that i shared today plus

links to the full clips and some extra

bits as well if you’d like to download

that just click on the link in the

description box you enter your name and

your email address you sign up to my

mailing list and then immediately the

pdf will arrive in your inbox and then

every week after that you will

automatically receive my lesson pdfs

you’ll also receive all of my news

updates and offers and the opportunity

to participate in any future surveys you

don’t want to miss out on that important

research

now a lot of the clips that i’m going to

show you come from tv shows mainly

british tv shows i always recommend

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let’s get started with the video so we

have 10 accents and the person who’s

ranked at number 10

i.e the easiest to understand according

to my students is queen elizabeth ii of

course

it helps a lot that she speaks very very

slowly and this was a formal broadcast

let’s have a listen king james may not

have anticipated quite how important

sport and games were to become

in promoting harmony and common

interests

but from the scriptures in the bible

which bears his name

we know that nothing is more satisfying

than the feeling of belonging to a group

who are dedicated to helping each other

and now let’s listen one more time

with subtitles on screen so you can

check how much of it you understand king

james may not have anticipated quite how

important sport and games were to become

in promoting harmony and common

interests

but from the scriptures in the bible

which bears his name

we know that nothing is more satisfying

than the feeling of belonging to a group

who are dedicated to helping each other

so the queen speaks the queen’s english

she speaks with a received pronunciation

accent on the very top

posh end of received pronunciation now

this is an accent that is traditionally

regarded as the standard for british

english but things are changing

originally this accent was called public

school pronunciation

and public school actually means private

school so an independent school

in in the uk state school is education

paid for by the government public or

private school you pay for yourself so

this is an accident that was

traditionally learnt

and

and it’s quite interesting because it

doesn’t have a specific geographical

location it was originally spoken in

public schools all across the british

isles it was kind of a

sign of class a couple of decades ago

the majority of what you would hear on

the radio and on the television would be

received pronunciation but now that is

not the case and rightly so

let’s move on to number nine

and this is a very attractive to me

celebrity

it is jason statham speaking in his

gorgeous cockney accent i know a lot of

you are huge fans of the cockney accent

let’s have a listen

and you have to accept that i mean we’re

at the end of the day we shouldn’t be

moaning because we’re you know we’re

hired actors you come in you get paid

shut your mouth do your work and go home

it should be a little bit of that but

sometimes you want to try and get

involved and you try to try and

collaborate and get things done can we

just have a moment of appreciation for

men rocking bald heads

absolutely love them right let’s listen

again with subtitles and see how much

you understood and you have to accept

that i mean we’re at the end of the day

we shouldn’t be moaning because we’re

you know we’re hired actors you come in

you get paid shut your mouth do your

work and go home it should be a little

bit of that but sometimes you want to

try and get involved and you try to try

and collaborate and and get things done

okay a dorth’s accent

it originates from the east end of

london supposedly you were only a true

cockney if you were born with an earshot

of bow bells within earshot means within

listening distance within hearing

distance

and bow bells are the bells in a church

a historic east london church now the

east end of london is changing

and a lot of the people who were born

there or who grew up there are moving

further out to essex so it’s very

interesting to me to see that number

eight

was the essex accent so let’s play a

clip of that we have a celebrity called

gemma collins who i personally adore she

is

so sassy

so entertaining if i ever feel sad i

look at her top moments on youtube

because

ugh what character she’s just completely

herself i have become one of the biggest

reality stars in britain i am a global

icon

it’s weird but that’s the gc and that’s

what i do i make great tv i provide you

with entertainment

um and i kind of explain it to people

it’s like paul o’grady and lily savage

you know it’s it’s it’s how i make my

money i mean she’s so confident isn’t

she i loved the guy eamon holmes’s face

just as she was praising herself

brilliant let’s listen again with

subtitles i have become one of the

biggest reality stars in britain i am a

global icon

it’s weird but that’s the gc and that’s

what i do i make great tv i provide you

with entertainment

um and i kind of explain it to people

it’s like paul o’grady and lily savage

you know it’s it’s it’s how i make my

money okay so the essex accent is found

in and around essex a lot of people from

the east end originally cockney did move

to essex or are continuing to move to

essex it is like a mixture of the

estuary accent and the cockney accent

it’s become incredibly popular over the

past decade due to a tv show called the

only way is essex it’s a reality tv show

that follows young people in essex very

glamorous people and gemma was one of

them and her career has just exploded

okay moving on to number seven we’re

going to another country we’re not in

england anymore we are in wales and it

is the cardiff accent as spoken by

charlotte church who is an opera singer

well i suppose in terms of uh

what the film would end the milk woods

is such an incredible um play uh dylan

thomas’s writing is so unusual

um

yeah and i i just i’m not really i’m

quite a newbie to acting i’ve done bits

and bobs in the past

very interesting there can you hear her

say unusual

uh well i’d say unusual

so it’s almost like she’s adding in an

extra syllable there

and she also said incredible uh with

an r sound i struggle to do it’s like a

thing it’s like a a rolling r sound

i love listening to the welsh accents

they’re very

melodious to me

let’s listen again with subtitles well i

suppose in terms of uh

what the film would end the milk woods

is such an incredible

play

dylan thomas’s writing is so unusual

um

yeah and i i just i’m not really i’m

quite a newbie to acting i’ve done bits

and bobs in the past

if you are interested in learning a

little bit more about the welsh accents

then i highly recommend a comedy called

gavin and stacy

actually goes quite well with this video

because it shows an essex family and a

welsh family

joining because the son and the daughter

are getting married hilarious some

fabulous welsh accents in there

let’s move on to number six it’s the

yorkshire accent as spoken by louis

tomlinson from one direction

basically right i mean my name is louie

but i didn’t love it when i was younger

like once i was old enough i don’t know

why i just didn’t really love it so i

got known as louis all my friends from

home call me louis

and then i get there it’s close enough

sorry

and then i get there on me on my first

day at the x factor with simon and you

know i mean all the judges and he called

me louie so for me one of the most

distinctive things about his accent is

that he says me

instead of my my name instead of my name

that’s really distinctive to me where

i’d say love he says love

i didn’t love it

but for me it’s i didn’t love it i find

this accent very warm love

yeah it’s just lovely isn’t it let’s

listen again but with subtitles so you

can see how much you understood

basically right i mean my name is louie

but i didn’t love it when i was younger

once i was old enough i don’t know why i

just didn’t really love it so i got

known as louis all my friends from home

call me lewis

and then i get there it’s close enough

sorry and then i get there on me on my

first day at the x factor with simon and

you know i mean all the judges and he

called me louie did you also hear him

not pronounce the h in home he said um

i would say home from home from um

from um i’m not sure if that’s quite

right from um

um i need a bit of help with my

yorkshire accent another thing i noticed

he said i were instead of i was when i

were younger

when i was younger is what i’d say

that’s part of his dialect okay number

five so this is sort of mid-range in

difficulty for you it’s the brummie

accent which is the accent from

birmingham and we have adrian charles

speaking it so anyway look you actually

when they’re trying to get me to come on

here they give a list of all the

brilliant people you’ve uh you’ve had on

the past that has the opposite effect on

me i said you know

richard e grant and stuff why would

anybody be interested so anyway that’s

my i suppose that’s my turn you’re just

the best i could get

well many a true word said yeah so

adrian doesn’t actually have the

strongest brommy accent that i’ve ever

heard

um

but if you find him hard to understand

he is speaking quite quickly here so if

you’re managing to understand him you’re

doing a really good job

let’s listen again with subtitles

so anyway look you actually when they’re

trying to get me to come on here they

give a list of all the brilliant people

you’ve uh you’ve had on the past that

has the opposite effect on me i said you

know

richard e grant and stuff why would

anybody be interested so anyway that’s

my i suppose that’s my turn you’re just

the best i could get uh

well many a true word yeah also how

awesome is that sign language

interpreter she was really conveying the

comedy quite well now as lovely as this

accent may sound to you this is actually

one of the british accents that faces

the most discrimination within the

country there is another one that i’ll

talk about as well when people run

opinion polls it often comes up as one

of the most disfavored very

interestingly

when they run similar opinion polls to

overseas visitors

so non-native english speakers the

brummie accent seems to do quite well

they find it very melodious this implies

that it does badly in poles because of

prejudice rather than a genuine

dislike of the sound of it

i’d be interested to know your thoughts

and

to know if there are any accents in your

country that you think are kind of

unfairly regarded i know that living in

spain i learned spanish with an

andalusian accent

and i have definitely been on the

receiving end of criticism some of it i

take as well meaning

a lot of it comes from people from other

countries who are saying ah this sort of

accident’s ugly you should learn my

accent

but it can be quite hurtful to be honest

because

that’s the accent i speak with now let’s

move on to the next one you’ve rated

this as number four

and i know i shouldn’t have favorites

but i think i can this is my favorite i

absolutely

love the way this accent sounds and i

love the person who has this accent it

is nadine coyle from girls aloud

it’s just a blessing on the ears it

really is she speaks with a dairy accent

have a listen of this

i enjoy cooking baking and stuff working

with flyer and making sweet things i’m

not so used to more savory chopping kind

of

when you just zone out you put your

music on and you just chop just have

loads of stuff does anyone else want to

just

chop and cook with flour with her

it’s just lovely see if you can notice

that where i would say flower she says

something more like flyer

and she also says meccan instead of

making as i would say it chopping

chopping

really really distinct differences let’s

listen again with subtitles i enjoy

cooking baking and stuff working with

flyer and making sweet things i’m not so

used to more savory chopping kind of

when you just zone out you put your

music on and you just chop just have

loads of stuff

lovely truly lovely love it

uh let’s move on to number three we have

another girls allowed member so you

voted these two quite high up on the

difficulty scale cheryl speaks with a

geordie accent which you’ll find in the

city of newcastle and the surrounding

areas let’s have a listen we did three

hours the night before and those girls

are so there’s a girl out there called

charm who i used when i did my own solo

tour

i just absolutely adore her i love

working with her and we did three hours

with those girls and those girls were

sick yes i was just watching them the

whole time like i don’t want to do it

like her she’s so softly spoken and she

she speaks really really gently

let’s listen again with subtitles and

then i’ve got something to say about

this accent we did three hours the night

before and those girls are so there’s a

girl out there called charm who i used

when i did my own solo tour

i just absolutely adore her i love

working with her and we did three hours

with those girls and those girls were

sick yes i was just watching them the

whole time like i don’t want to do a

laker did you hear her use the word sick

sick i think i’ve mentioned it in a

video recently it’s a slang word for

cool i remember finding it very

confusing as a child because i thought

it went bad but that’s sick is that’s

really cool

okay so i wanted to talk a bit more

about accident discrimination here

because

cheryl i remember she was in the news

quite a lot i’d say around 10 years ago

she was a judge on the x factor a

singing talent competition in the uk

and she was invited over to the u.s

to be a judge on the u.s version

and then she was quickly fired from it

supposedly and apparently

it was due to the producers being

worried that her accent would be

difficult to understand now i don’t know

if this was just

to generate publicity

but it sounded pretty harsh i remember

feeling really bad for her at the time

i feel that even if her accent was kind

of new

to viewers of the x factor in the u.s

they would have gotten used to it quite

quickly so

i don’t know if i agree with that

decision

but i imagine that it was just for

publicity maybe this was all decided

before right let’s move on to number two

number two is a comedian that i’m very

fond of he’s called frankie boyle he

tells the most outrageous jokes he

really pushes the boundaries and

oversteps them quite frequently but he

speaks with a glaswegian accent from

glasgow in scotland let’s have a listen

my um

cousins when i was growing up

in ireland their dad was like a

fisherman like on a trawler in ireland

and he would go away for two weeks at a

time i remember thinking that’s the

worst thing you could possibly imagine

you know is that your dad’s gonna just

disappear for two weeks and now it’s

like you know two months would be quite

standard on a tour

very very distinctive tour

i’m not even gonna try to mimic it this

for me is one of the hardest accents for

me

to mimic one thing i find quite

distinctive is that what i would say is

they say as

or instead of kind for me they say caned

let’s have a listen again with subtitles

see how much you picked up

when i was growing up in ireland their

dad was like a fisherman like on a

trawler in ireland and he would go away

for two weeks at a time i remember

thinking that’s the worst thing you

could possibly imagine

you know is that your dad’s going to

just disappear for two weeks and now

it’s like you know two months would be

quite standard on a tour and the last

accident the accident that you voted as

hardest to understand

in all fairness i don’t think i gave you

the easiest clip he’s speaking very

quickly but his name’s john bishop and

he speaks with a scouse accent and

there’s been a lot of press recently

of people who speak with a scouse accent

coming out and talking about the

discrimination they’ve faced let’s have

a listen to the comedian john bishop

speaking with his scouse accent

have a listen to those distinctive

features they have roosevelt them in the

book i’ve called them generation zed

because i’ve given them a full title

because i’m old enough to call things by

his full title rather than yourself he’s

gone gen z

yeah that’s also the only clip with

music in the background as well so i’ll

bear that in mind for next time to make

sure it’s as fair as possible however it

is a very distinctive accent when he

says but i he almost says

it’s very hard for me to reproduce he

almost rolls his r sounds another thing

i notice is when they say things like

school or cool they tend to say skewel

or kiwill

almost adding in an extra syllable they

have rules about them in the book but

i’ve called them generation zed because

i’ve given them a full title because i’m

old enough to call things by his full

title rather than yourself he’s gone gen

z

right

that is the end of today’s video those

were the 10 accents that you helped me

rank from easiest to understand to

hardest to understand

i really enjoyed making this video

i love looking at the ins and outs of

lots of accents i’d love to make another

video like this so tell me if you

enjoyed it and if you’d like more don’t

forget to download the free pdf that

goes with this video it’s got links to

all of the full clips so that you can

explore more of the accents that you

like just click on the link in the

description box enter your name and your

email address and you sign up to my

mailing list you’ll receive pdfs every

week along with my news course

information and updates don’t forget to

check out nordvpn at nordvpn.com

lucy you can take advantage of their

amazing offer you can connect with me on

all of my social media i’ve got my

instagram and my website

englishwithlucy.co.uk where i have a

really cool pronunciation tool where you

can click on phoneme and hear me

pronounce those phonemes in words that

contain those phonemes it’s very fun

e

word

no

i’ve also got my personal channel where

i document my life here in the english

countryside there are some big changes

going on so

could be interesting to watch

all of the videos are fully subtitled so

you can use them for listening practice

and to improve your vocabulary this way

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i will see you soon for another lesson

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you