Trouble comprehending foreign accents

That is a complex issue, and the reality is that pronunciations develop regionally. It happens in the UK as well as in North America. There is probably only one correct formal way to pronounce a word, but many different ways it is actually pronounced.

One word that really irritates me is the the word “important”. I believe I pronounce it the correct way, but many others including Millennials pronounce it in a slang form that I find irritating. They turn the first “t” into a “d” (to my ears). And the one well known guy that I notice it the most with is Jagmeet Singh (our NDP leader). What I hear him say is “impordant”, and it just grates on my ears… However if you look for the correct pronunciation on line, you will find some people go to great lengths to say that the “correct way” is actually the “wrong way”. And I think that is the basic root of the problem. If we don’t like the right way, just do it the wrong way, and declare it the norm. I suspect that is where all the regional dialects start from. We copy each other, and decide it is right. In any case here is a link which goes over the ways to say “important”.

How to Pronounce Important8

If you really want an experience just go to a remote rural part of Newfoundland like Fogo Island1, and try to understand a conversations between two long time locals. They will change their language to talk to a “townie”, but between themselves it is simply not understandable. It seems to be some combination of Scottish, Irish, English, Gaelic, and perhaps a Viking or two thrown in!

Good one! I served on a Frigate in Her Majesty’s Royal Canadian Navy for a short time and the crew was half Newfoundland lads. Funny guys and indeed with their own way of expressing themselves.

I guess I cringe when I hear important pronounced “impornant” with an “n” where the “t” should be. I have observed that it seems that young female millennials use this pronunciation the most - certainly in the Greater Toronto Area.

You mean “Greater Trunna” don’t you? We lived there for a year…

People are speaking more quickly than they used to. And more casually.

Sometimes I wonder whether untreated hearing loss was so pervasive during war times that it had a cultural influence on speed and enunciation.

I have single-sided deafness (SSD) and profound hearing loss and have had an aid for 50 years. I’ve always had lots of trouble understanding people with strong foreign accents.

I do a couple of things that have helped me:

1. If I’m talking to someone whose native language is Spanish, I will often ask them to switch to Spanish, in which I’m fluent. Then, my ears expect the accent (or lack of one) that I hear! Of course, not everyone has this option available to them.

2. As you’ve probably found, lots of online tech support people, and sales people, have strong foreign accents. I often ask them to slow down and/or talk louder. However, about four or five times, I’ve said something like “I’m sorry, but I’m hard of hearing, and non-English accents are hard for me to understand. Would you mind if we ended this call and I called back to see if I can understand the next person better?”

I make it very clear that it’s my situation that’s the problem, and not the fault of the person I’m talking to, in any way. People have been very understanding about that.

A related thing I do is to start online calls with sales people or tech support people by saying that I’d greatly appreciate it if they could talk a bit slower, and a bit louder (if I find that I don’t understand much when the call first starts). People have also been very understanding, and very helpful, about that.

Sometimes they’ll start speaking too quickly for me again (especially if they’re supposed to minimize the time they spend on calls). When that happens, I try to gently remind them that I need them to talk more slowly every time they say something.

Like Karentoo, I’ve found that when talking to someone in person one on one, I can understand a strong foreign accent better – probably because I can see their lips.

Tech support foreign people get offended even if you explain that you have hearing aids. They usually reply " I speekie perfect English" Right!!! so I just hang up and hope when I call back I get someone else.

Before losing my hearing i did well with foreign accents. Now it is overwhelming
I had a tech person who refused to slow down so i could process what she said. Rapid fire jibberish
Called back and got another similar person. After going through all the menus on phone to teach a human being and hit a wall again i was in tears and lost it
And they were insulted!
Had my husband have to make the call again
I dont want to pay for landline to get special eqpt
Wish there was something we could do with phone like when we use it to dictate messages

I gave up my landline because of my hearing too. No regrets. Among other things, I don’t get the level of sales and other calls I don’t want on the cell. The thing I still have trouble with is voice mail. I have trouble understanding a lot of messages left. If I had a phone that allowed custom messages (don’t, inexpensive Tracfone, and since I don’t use it a lot, I’m not buying something fancy), my message would be, “Don’t leave a voice message. Text me.”

Even in my teens when my hearing was as good as it ever was, I had trouble with foreign accents, so the fact I can’t understand them now with aids isn’t anything new.

Hell, I have problems understanding someone from Tennessee.

don’t we all? Just kidding WHY?