English Accents Ranked from Easy to Hard to Understand with TEST Examples

hello everyone and welcome back to

english with lucy

i’ve missed you a lot has changed

firstly

new background uh we have moved house we

have moved to another part of the

country i’ve got lots to tell you about

that but i’ll speak about it on my

personal channel lucy bella

other big news is that

can’t quite believe it

i’m married

i got married to my husband william and

my name is now lucy bella

simmkins instead of lucy bella earl i

did choose to take my husband’s surname

so enough about me and more about you

today we’re looking at different accents

from across the world different english

accents and we’re going to rank them

from easiest to most difficult to

understand i recently made another

similar video

uh ranking accents from all across the

uk

today we’re going to look further afield

and compare how easy different accents

are i put out a survey to my audience

with lots of different clips and over 10

000 of you participated it’s not the

most scientific survey on earth so take

the results with a pinch of salt

but

i think it’ll be really really fun to

compare these accents this is a great

listening practice opportunity for you

as well i’m going to play each 15 to 20

second clip twice the first time without

subtitles and the second time

with subtitles so you can check your

understanding it’s also excellent to

familiarize yourself with as many

different accents as possible this will

help you improve your listening skills

and your general understanding as always

there is a free pdf that goes with

today’s lesson if you’d like to download

that just click on the link in the

description box enter your name and your

email address and the pdf will go

directly to your inbox and then every

week after that you will automatically

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play or the app store all right let’s

get started with the ranking of the

accents so number 10 the accent that you

voted most difficult to understand

is the melbourne accent from australia

as spoken by chris hemsworth let’s have

a look firstly without subtitles see how

much you understand and then we’ll

repeat it again with subtitles

i really knew nothing about

what the film was going to be or yet the

rest of the town did not sort of just

arrived and and i hadn’t i’d sent a tape

early on and and it was sort of

last-minute phone call where jj abrams

the director called and said um look can

you come in tonight like friday

afternoon i was like

okay yeah and i said i don’t know the

script or whatever read at the desk with

him in his office and he goes okay great

you got the part you start monday so

he’s talking in a very casual informal

way as if he’s chatting with friends

he’s also speaking very quickly

a couple of things i’ve picked up on is

he says new instead of new when i say

instead of i mean i pronounce it new i

speak with a modern rp accent

but obviously part of his dialect is

no in american english they do this as

well let’s listen again with subtitles

and see how much you understand i i

really knew nothing about

what the film was going to be or yet the

rest of the town did not sort of just

arrived and and i hadn’t i’d sent a tape

early on and

it was sort of a last-minute phone call

where jj abrams the director called and

said um look can you come in tonight

like friday afternoon i was like

okay yeah and i said i don’t know the

script or whatever read at the desk with

him in his office and he goes okay great

you got the part you start monday yeah

very quick i’m not surprised some of you

found that challenging right let’s go to

number nine this is a uk accent this is

kimberly walsh speaking with her lovely

yorkshire accent let’s have a listen

without subtitles it was fun actually i

quite liked her sort of settled back

into it and the kids were lovely

so they made me feel quite welcome and i

had i don’t know if you know but i’ve

got a little baby in the film vomiting

beer she’s cold

so i was there kept occupied with her

for a lot of the time just kind of

making sure that she didn’t stop crying

in the middle of the scene so one thing

i notice about the way kimberly speaks

is she uses the glottal stop a lot so

where i said lot she might say lot can

you hear her say quite welcome instead

of quite welcome one word i love from

her is

lovely with the yorkshire accent

my a sound becomes a o sound i say

lovely she says lovely yeah that’s

really warm and lovely

let’s listen again with subtitles see

how much you understood it was fun

actually i quite liked her sort of

settled back into it and the kids were

lovely

so they made me feel quite welcome and i

had i don’t know if you know but i’ve

got a little baby in the film

vomiting beer she’s called

so i was there kept occupied with her

for a lot of the time just kind of

making sure that she didn’t stop crying

in the middle of the scene really nice

that’s definitely not the strongest

yorkshire accent i’ve ever heard though

i’ve heard some really really strong

ones sometimes especially with

celebrities they alter their accents

when they’re in interviews so sometimes

you get a more reduced version of their

natural accent okay at number eight we

have someone from the caribbean it is

the wonderful rihanna from barbados this

is a very early video

because i’ve kind of noticed as she’s

gone along she has started to alter her

accent slightly that’s probably because

she’s spent so much time

in the u.s and possibly because of media

training as well so i’ve taken one of

her really early interviews have a

listen see how much you understand and

see if you can notice any differences as

well any characteristics of her accent

my influences are beyonce

mariah carey

alicia keys whitney houston i always

used to sing in the shower i used to

stay at home

neighbors would complain because i used

to be singing so lovely but i’ve never

met a celebrity and to have to audition

for one

and meet him at the same time like jay-z

someone like him i was so i was

hysterical gorgeous saxon gorgeous big

characteristic for me is where i say a

beyonce

jay-z

maid she says er beyonce

um

jay-z

i’m feeling really embarrassed trying to

imitate her accent there i’m not doing

it any justice at all i’d say

jay-z she says sort of jersey

i say neighbours she says more of it

neighbours

i find that vowel sound that she creates

there really hard to imitate and to

replicate

but i find her accent absolutely

stunning

let’s listen again see how much you pick

up on my influences are beyonce

mariah carey

alicia keys whitney houston i always

used to sing in the shower i used to

stay at home

neighbors would complain because i used

to be singing so lovely but i’ve never

met a celebrity and to have to audition

for one

and meet him at the same time like jay-z

someone like him i was so i was

hysterical oh it’s amazing to hear that

and how she’s never met a celebrity yeah

and to think how fast she’s come since

that was shot amazing right let’s move

on to number seven this lady is from new

zealand she’s actually from auckland and

her name is lord you might know her

let’s have a listen to lord and her

accent i don’t know i mean i

am always pretty guest to be in an award

show and i find it like very um

entertaining so much going on but i’m

sure if you

like had more skin in the game maybe it

would be uh you know a stressful

environment but i feel like i’m still

kind of

the outsider who

really right so i recently did a video

with rosie from not even french she’s

from new zealand

um and we compared accents and one

really clear characteristic is where i

say er stressful

people from new zealand in general say e

stressful

so

stressful stressful so the f becomes an

e sound red pen

rid pin have a listen again with

subtitles and see how much you

understand i don’t know i mean i

am always pretty guest to be in an award

show and i find it like very um

entertaining so much going on but i’m

sure if you

like had more skin in the game maybe it

would be uh you know

a stressful environment but i feel like

i’m still kind of

the outsider who because you’re just

like you’re drinking that

really

that person interrupting her at the end

ah right so at number six we have sasha

ronan she’s from ireland

um she speaks with a dublin accent

some people have said to me

that you can definitely notice that

she’s traveled around as well i find

this accent to sound incredibly delicate

and beautiful i hope you enjoy it too

let’s have a listen pajamas we get into

pajamas

we get into our christmas pajamas i got

i got a christmas jumper a few years ago

from this irish company can’t remember

the name of them but it says happy

birthday jesus on it i just found it

really funny very sweet

so um i wear that and we just eat all

day and have a few

tipples and

watch movies because i think that’s what

everyone does you have a favorite movie

so one characteristic that i really

notice with her accent

is she almost whistles her teeth in a

way and i would say eat but she says eat

almost as if she hasn’t completely

closed the gap between the roof of her

mouth and her tongue

eat

um i find that very very pleasant to

hear the way she says the i sound irish

irish beautiful let’s listen again

pajamas we get into pajamas

we get into our christmas pajamas i got

i got a christmas jumper a few years ago

from this irish company you can’t

remember the name of them but it says

happy birthday jesus on it i just found

it really funny very sweet

so um i wear that and we just eat all

day and have a few

tips and

watch movies

a tipple is an informal kind of slang

word for a drink it doesn’t always mean

alcoholic but the way she’s saying it i

think she’s meaning we’re naughty we

have a cheeky drink a tipple do you

fancy a tipple what’s your tipple is

what’s your favorite drink next at

number five at the midway point we have

shill pachetti and she’s speaking

english with an indian accent and i

asked some of my indian followers

where they would kind of place her

accent and i got various responses but

in general people said well she’s from

the south of india so it’s kind of like

southern indian english in a way let’s

have a listen

honestly it wasn’t that contrived it has

to come from um fun

and

then you realize

with the encouragement and the likes on

these various social media handles that

they’re liking what you’re doing and

then you’re like okay let me just do

this again and then that again becomes a

trend um for example the sunday binges i

mean it was just a it was just really

one of those one-off crazy things that i

did on a sunday to prove my proof to my

friend that i do eat

with shilpa’s accent what really sticks

out to me is the vowel sounds i say

social with an o sound she says it more

with an or

sound social um

almost sounds a bit like northern

english

and also the r sound

i really struggle to reproduce the r

sound that is common in indian english

accents but you can hear when she says

trend i say er trend and hers is more of

a trend with the word realize

she says realize and it’s that r sound

again and i i kid you not i cannot do it

i’ll just sit at home going

trying to do it let’s listen again but

this time with subtitles oh honestly it

wasn’t that contrived it has to come

from um fun

and

then you realize

with the encouragement and the likes on

these various social media handles that

they’re liking what you’re doing and

then you’re like okay let me just do

this again and then that again becomes a

trend

for example the sunday binges i mean it

was just a it was just really one of

those one-off crazy things that i did on

a sunday to prove my proof to my friend

that i do eat

okay at number four we’ve had quite a

few females we’ve got another male this

man is all right all right all right

i wonder if you’ve guessed who he is it

is matthew mcconaughey speaking with his

gorgeous texan accent have a listen uh

yes mcconaughey here and i want to

welcome you to my youtube channel it’s a

destination where i’m going to share who

i am who i’m not what i believe in what

i don’t what i’m doing what i’m not

doing along with some approaches to life

that i’ve found useful and constructive

along the way do you hear he said

youtube as well that’s like chris

hemsworth he said new

youtube for me an rp it would be new

and for youtube

we actually say youtube

kind of a cha sound the t

together becomes a cha youtube

youtube for him youtube for us another

thing i picked up on is he said doing so

he is saying an

sound instead of an

sound as i would say at the end of an

ing

word

doing doing

let’s have a listen again with subtitles

uh yes mcconaughey here and i want to

welcome you to my youtube channel it’s a

destination where i’m going to share who

i am who i’m not what i believe in what

i don’t what i’m doing what i’m not

doing along with some approaches to life

that i’ve found useful and constructive

along the way

okay at number three we have cindy

lauper

she speaks with a very strong new york

accent i put my mom in the video and i

tried to put as many different races of

women that represent new york because

that’s how we live

and

i

i was always watching mtv honestly wendy

and and it was either you know it was

very segregated to me and i just thought

you know

hell’s bells let’s just mix it up she’s

very cool for me the biggest giveaway

that somebody is from new york is the

way they say new york

did you hear her she says new york york

like that

new york york it’s hard to do see if you

can pick it up when we watch it the

second time with subtitles i put my mom

in the video and i tried to put as many

different races of women that represent

new york because that’s how we live

and

i

i was always watching mtv honestly wendy

and and it was either you know it was

very segregated to me and i just thought

you know

hell’s bells let’s just mix it up

with the word thought as well for what

yeah that’s very distinctive

characteristic okay at number two we

have the accent that you voted

second easiest to understand it’s a

victoria’s secret model

she is called candace swanopole i’m

hoping that’s right if anyone’s from

south africa because she speaks with a

south african accent please could you

correct me and give me some advice in

the comments section swannapool i did

look it up but it was a journalist

saying it and we all know that

journalists don’t always get everything

right now i will say in this clip

candace speaks very slowly and clearly

so that could have influenced the result

um but

i love the south african accent one of

my closest friends

is from south africa in fact two of them

actually great people we had so much fun

doing those looks

i mean i didn’t feel like a fit model at

all i just had so much fun trying

everything on like

it’s such a

lovely experience and

you you asked me earlier

if i thought about the different outfits

that i didn’t get

not at all i was just you know happy to

be a part of the family so for me what’s

very distinctive

is her vowel sounds and the way she

pronounces them

for example i would say at all

hers is a very graceful way at all i say

at she says moreover it it’s hard to put

my finger on it but i feel like her

vowel sounds are almost a bit shortened

so it sounds choppier when she speaks

have another listen with subtitles

and see how much you understand i had so

much fun doing those looks um

i mean i didn’t feel like a fit model at

all i just had so much fun trying

everything on like it’s such a

lovely experience

and

you you asked me earlier

if i thought about the different outfits

that i didn’t get

not at all i was just you know happy to

be a part of the family

very graceful okay finally let’s talk

about the accent that you voted

as number one the easiest to understand

it is the scottish

sort of edinburgh accent

spoken by karen gillan now as with all

accents there are various different

strengths um and she is on an american

talk show so she might have adapted her

accent slightly to the situation but you

can definitely hear strong

characteristics of the scottish and

edinburgh accent in there let’s have a

listen what do you eat there on

christmas well i eat this is not just

christmas but this is every single

morning black pudding do you know what

that is no does anyone know what that is

here

okay there are two fans who love

blackpink

okay so i don’t think i can eat it

anymore because i just googled what it’s

made of like before i came on stage and

it’s the main ingredient is fresh pig’s

blood

she’s talking about black pudding it’s a

typical sausage in the uk and it’s made

from blood basically i know there are

versions in spain which contain blood

and rice morphe

um

and it is nice

but it’s not to everyone’s taste i

personally think it’s good to use waste

parts of the animal that might not be

used elsewhere

but other people

can’t get their head around that

so a strong characteristic of her accent

is the way she says as i say a

hers is more of an ear so for example i

made

and she would say mead also did you

notice when she says morning as i would

say she said morning

with an in instead of an ing as i would

say with an ing word we had another

accent that did that as well didn’t we

matthew mcconaughey he said doing i

think it’s quite common to do that what

are you doing in fact i would say that

actually quite frequently if i’m talking

to someone casually what are you doing

what are you doing

instead of what are you doing

let’s listen again once more with

subtitles what do you eat there on

christmas well i eat this is not just

christmas but this is every single

morning black pudding do you know what

that is no does anyone know what that is

here

okay there are two fans who love

blackpink

okay so i don’t think i can eat it

anymore because i just googled what it’s

made of like before i came on stage and

it’s the main ingredient is fresh pig’s

blood

yes so you voted that to be the easiest

to understand but i will say it was very

tight between the south african accent

and the scottish accent right that is it

for today’s accent analysis i hope you

enjoyed it and i hope you learned

something i’m really really enjoying

these videos if you have any

recommendations for accents that i

should look at or different ways i

should do the survey because it’s

it’s hard to make it fair i must say um

or if there are any celebrities that

you’d like me to take a look at please

put it down in the comments section

below i will take a look at it don’t

forget to download the free pdf that

goes with today’s lesson just click on

the link in the description box you

enter your name and your email address

and it will go directly to your inbox

and then every week after that you will

automatically receive my pdfs

also don’t forget to check out

woodpecker learning i’ve got the links

for the app store and the google play

store in the description box don’t

forget to check out my personal channel

i’ve just moved house i’ve just got

married there’s a lot going on and i’m

going to tell you all about it there all

of the videos there are fully subtitled

and show our life here in the english

countryside i can’t wait to share

a little bit more about the big changes

that have been going on in our life

don’t forget to connect with me on all

of my social media i’ve got my instagram

and i’ve got my facebook i’ve also got

my website englishwithlucy.co.uk

where i’ve got a really cool

pronunciation tool you can click on the

phonemes and hear me pronounce said

phonemes and words that contain those

phonemes

ed

no

it’s a lot of fun i will see you soon

for another lesson

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