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
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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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