Problems with Accents

[u/thslightofmine]

I have an online friend from Scotland. She’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever had in my life, I love her with all of my heart. But in all of honesty, I’m having hard times, I may only understand like >75% of what she’s saying whenever we have phone/video calls, due to her thick Scottish accent

English is not my first language, I still have a very long way to learn. I have communicated my difficulty with her, and she took it very lightheartedly, telling me to not hesitate to ask her repeat her words if I didn’t catch something. I’m learning to accustom myself with Scottish accent and I’m getting better and better. But it still pains me to this day, knowing that if I may have another friend with accent, I may not understand them right away

Dear native English-speaking people, what do you think / how do you feel when a non-native frequently ask you to repeat the things you said because they didn’t catch it?

And to those who might have similar experience, how do I get better at understanding different accents?

Thank you in advance

[u/LAM_CANIT]

My experience and studies have been in cases like this:

• eliminate other realistic issues like hearing difficulties and similar
• understand it is less about accents than vocabulary, idioms and subject matter - I can't understand quantum-mechanics no matter how clearly the person speaks
• learn to understand by context - this is true no matter the accent, dialect or similar
• learn to use more generic words and hope the other person is empathetic enough to learn to do the same ... I find I have become extremely fast at finding alternative words for things by defining them in my head. Instead of repeating the same word they don't understand, use synonyms. Personally, if the other person refuses to do the same, I lose interest in communicating with them ... unless they're paying me big dollars.

It's true what u/learningENGdaily wrote about 'even native English speakers struggle with strong Scottish accents.' It's not just you. But, so are 'accents' from people in other parts of the world. I just found people who were exposed to more language differences growing up are more sensitive to using techniques to communicate better with others. It is also a question of time and etiquette.

Make mental notes of repeated vocabulary ... they're probably using English words which are either less common or with slightly different meanings than you're used to. Learn to recognize those in context.

Expressions and idioms can be difficult in all languages when you first hear them. Look at context and try to fill in the blanks. This is what people who are losing their hearing have to do to understand normal conversations.

At a certain point if you've tried all the tips people are giving you here, and it's not working, you're gonna have to accept that person isn't planning to be well understood. It's a question of motivation on each person's part. Also, social skills.

But, at 75% comprehension, you should be thanking your luck stars!

IMHO IHTH