3 ms·

I have been in the same room with other people, listening to a person speak in English with a heavy accent from wherever, and I will be the only person who unde

I have been in the same room with other people, listening to a person speak in English with a heavy accent from wherever, and I will be the only person who understood what was said. “What did they about X, I couldn’t understand the accent?” I have also seen native English speakers, turn on subs on English movies, with the volume at a perfectly normal level to understand things. The only thing going on is that people really like their subtitles.

asveikau 8y ago
Sometimes there will be a movie or TV program where nobody is subbed, except the one person with a completely understandable foreign accent. That is a phenomenon I have seen. Usually in media for an American audience, from what I've seen. (A lot of Americans have trouble even with native speakers from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, etc. We as a nation seem to have very little patience or habituation for accents.) It's the broadcast equivalent of your first scenario.