3 ms·

This is called multiple language norms. English is "virtually" a lot of languages.

ptaipale 11y ago
Or dialects and vocabularies. And at least to me (non-native speaker), the most difficult dialects are English. I mean, accents from England. I can usually understand very well people who come from the Indian subcontinent, or China, or Africa... but Manchester? Liverpool? Northern English dialects perhaps sound funny but for me they are not that hard, despite some describing the Newcastle accent as most difficult.
- teh_klev 11y ago
  I'm a Scot and as a child was brought up, until around ten years old, in rural north east Scotland. The local tongue around those parts was heavily influenced by Doric [0] (this was the 1970's - we didn't see many "incomers" :) ). When our family moved to the central belt (Perthshire) no-one in primary school could fully understand half the things I said. I had to learn how to "speak properly" as one fairly unpleasant head teacher put it. My north east accent and pronunciation is but a long lost memory, though I do still have an interest in the "Scots Language" [1][2], or "Mither Tongue" [3] as it's affectionately known. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doric_dialect_(Scotland) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doric_dialect_(Scotland) [1]: http://www.lallans.co.uk/ http://www.lallans.co.uk/ [2]: http://www.scotslanguage.com/ http://www.scotslanguage.com/ [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Kay_(writer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Kay_(writer)
  - panglott 11y ago
    Scots is an amazing language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EwquC6wBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EwquC6wBU Though it seems like Scots is so overwhelmed by British Standard English to exist more on a creole continuum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-creole_continuum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-creole_continuum
    - teh_klev 11y ago
      The woman in that video, as you've probably noticed, is speaking Shetlandic. What's strange is that I've found that folks from the Borders sound very similar, especially from around Hawick, Kelso and Galashiels, yet they're ~400 miles apart and over the sea.
      - jccooper 11y ago
        In pre-industrial Scotland, the Shetlands may have been nearly as close to the Borders as Edinburgh, especially if the Tweed was navigable (even for small boats) at that point. Before good roads and (especially) mechanized transport the sea was not an obstacle, it was an opportunity.
- lordnacho 11y ago
  The interesting thing about English in England is class. You know someone went to an expensive boarding school if they speak a certain way. Or, if they come from a place with a strong regional accent, whether they went to private day school.

Or dialects and vocabularies. And at least to me (non-native speaker), the most difficult dialects are English. I mean, accents from England. I can usually understand very well people who come from the Indian subcontinent, or China, or Africa... but Manchester? Liverpool? Northern English dialects perhaps sound funny but for me they are not that hard, despite some describing the Newcastle accent as most difficult.

teh_klev 11y ago
I'm a Scot and as a child was brought up, until around ten years old, in rural north east Scotland. The local tongue around those parts was heavily influenced by Doric [0] (this was the 1970's - we didn't see many "incomers" :) ). When our family moved to the central belt (Perthshire) no-one in primary school could fully understand half the things I said. I had to learn how to "speak properly" as one fairly unpleasant head teacher put it. My north east accent and pronunciation is but a long lost memory, though I do still have an interest in the "Scots Language" [1][2], or "Mither Tongue" [3] as it's affectionately known. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doric_dialect_(Scotland) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doric_dialect_(Scotland) [1]: http://www.lallans.co.uk/ http://www.lallans.co.uk/ [2]: http://www.scotslanguage.com/ http://www.scotslanguage.com/ [3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Kay_(writer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Kay_(writer)
- panglott 11y ago
  Scots is an amazing language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EwquC6wBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0EwquC6wBU Though it seems like Scots is so overwhelmed by British Standard English to exist more on a creole continuum. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-creole_continuum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-creole_continuum
  - teh_klev 11y ago
    The woman in that video, as you've probably noticed, is speaking Shetlandic. What's strange is that I've found that folks from the Borders sound very similar, especially from around Hawick, Kelso and Galashiels, yet they're ~400 miles apart and over the sea.
    - jccooper 11y ago
      In pre-industrial Scotland, the Shetlands may have been nearly as close to the Borders as Edinburgh, especially if the Tweed was navigable (even for small boats) at that point. Before good roads and (especially) mechanized transport the sea was not an obstacle, it was an opportunity.
lordnacho 11y ago
The interesting thing about English in England is class. You know someone went to an expensive boarding school if they speak a certain way. Or, if they come from a place with a strong regional accent, whether they went to private day school.