Do some Brits really don't speak English that well?

I watched The Killer Elite with Clive Owen the other night and there was some parts in the movie, where you could barely understand the dialogue from the characters.

I went to IMDB and someone posted a thread titled:

No one spoke audible English in this movie

Someone posted this as a reply to the thread:

We are talking about Clive Owen here and he speaks like a stroke victim. Many of the SAS guys are mumbling.

A lot of us British don't realise this, but though we developed the English language here and are supposed to speak it better than foreign people because of this, we don't.

If you really listen to how we speak to each other you will see how lazy we are. We shorten words all the time, we use slang a lot, our dialects make many sentences trail of into a mumble. Put yourself in their shoes and hear how we sound to foreign people.

I have met many people from overseas who speak English much better than us British. I'm not embarrassed by this, it's how we speak in our country and despite us understanding each other, I can see how foreign people will struggle sometimes.

Example, speak fast .....

"I 'spose yer want summin nah?"

"Leave it ahhht, jus sayin yer oughtta ear ow the sen'ences sound to dem broad en other places. We inglish vented the language so we speak it how it's ment ta be, innit. All proper like."

We drop the word 'The' all the time and we don't realise how we sound to foreign people which is highlighted by this thread. Chuck in slang words and the same things being said with different accents and you'll start seeing why English is considered the hardest language to learn.

I myself have been to England and on several occasions, I had to ask people to repeat themselves because I wasn't sure what they were saying and it's not because of the British accent.

A few Americans seem to struggle too...

Santa wrote:

A few Americans seem to struggle too...

yes, some of the people here belonging to a couple of ethnic groups.

2/3 of the time, I can't understand a word of English that's coming out of their mouths, if that's even English!

I have a good friend from South Afrika!!

These are HIS words, not Mine!!

"I can't understand what they are saying! They speak Blackanese and Mexicanese!!"

Yep. Those were the people I was thinking of.

J7 taught me all I know.

Erica Ambler wrote:

J7 taught me all I know.

stick with me and you will have a whole new enlightening outlook and view of life

:cheers:

Oh yes. He needs that.

Thanks, but I'm happy being a miserable bastard.

If I had to choose I'd rather be English than American.

That's not much of a choice.

j7wild wrote:

Do some Brits really don't speak English that well?

Yes, you aren't correct. Some Brits really don't not speak that well.

Also, some of my Asian friends have trouble pronouncing my name. They call me Ravity's Rirrorett.

English is among the most abused and butchered languages in the world, even by its native speakers - nothing surprising about that. I actually find that immigrants of former colonies, such as India or the West Indies, speak the most articulate and clear English.

This is all correct, but I like my cockney accent, and it ain't goin nowhere.

Sharky wrote:

This is all correct, but I like my cockney accent, and it ain't goin nowhere.

Dare I ask what your avatar means?

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Sharky wrote:

This is all correct, but I like my cockney accent, and it ain't goin nowhere.

Dare I ask what your avatar means?

The previous one was a strange painting I found of Armond White holding a baby Morrissey.

It originated from this piece:

http://www.nypress.com/article-19563-pop-you-can-believe-in.html

Sharky wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Sharky wrote:

This is all correct, but I like my cockney accent, and it ain't goin nowhere.

Dare I ask what your avatar means?

The previous one was a strange painting I found of Armond White holding a baby Morrissey.

It originated from this piece:

http://www.nypress.com/article-19563-pop-you-can-believe-in.html

That's one thing I love about BOND AND BEYOND: the ability to change avatars on a weekly basis (much like Republican primary voters choose their presidential nominee favorite every week: First Trump, then Bachmann, then Perry, then Cain, now Gingrich....and Romney always the bridesmaid but never the bride). It gives people the ability to express themselves more betterer, unlike some forums where people are locked into one small, tiny avatar and never allowed to switch. This forum is like the Chaz Bono of Bond forums: just change your identity whenever you get bored.

Too bad about the signatures thing, though :(

Could change about on the old MI6 but after a while grew bored with what avatars there are. Then again I was Sam Neill for bleedin' ages.

Hilly wrote:

Could change about on the old MI6 but after a while grew bored with what avatars there are. Then again I was Sam Neill for bleedin' ages.

I think you could also change over at CBn, but the avatars were really small, and weren't most of them avatars that you had to pick from that they chose?

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Hilly wrote:

Could change about on the old MI6 but after a while grew bored with what avatars there are. Then again I was Sam Neill for bleedin' ages.

I think you could also change over at CBn, but the avatars were really small, and weren't most of them avatars that you had to pick from that they chose?

Have no idea about CBn, I never registered there. Definitely no Pinder avatars over yonder.

When I studied for a year in England, in Lancaster to be precise I had a hard time with local lingo as well. The regional differences do however make the whole thing charming. But I have met very few people in the North of England that spoke High English.

I've met crackheads who speak perfect High English.

Sharky wrote:

I've met crackheads who speak perfect High English.

Not quite my scene.

saint mark wrote:

When I studied for a year in England, in Lancaster to be precise I had a hard time with local lingo as well. The regional differences do however make the whole thing charming. But I have met very few people in the North of England that spoke High English.

But no one finds a person questioning other peoples ability to speak proper English with this question: "Do some Brits really don't speak English that well? " even slightly ironic?

I believe JWild7 is a genius. I believe he's actually a lot smarter than he appears, and that his persona as a 15 year old, linguistically-challenged adolescent is an act. Why does that seem so familiar?

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

saint mark wrote:

When I studied for a year in England, in Lancaster to be precise I had a hard time with local lingo as well. The regional differences do however make the whole thing charming. But I have met very few people in the North of England that spoke High English.

But no one finds a person questioning other peoples ability to speak proper English with this question: "Do some Brits really don't speak English that well? " even slightly ironic?

I believe JWild7 is a genius. I believe he's actually a lot smarter than he appears, and that his persona as a 15 year old, linguistically-challenged adolescent is an act. Why does that seem so familiar?

I have decided a long time to mostly ignore his initial quest or remarks, somehow along the way we find out that he is actually nuts or has a very different view on the world from the average person. Both options are fine by me.

This time I presumed he had trouble with the different accents from the various parts of the UK.

saint mark wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

saint mark wrote:

When I studied for a year in England, in Lancaster to be precise I had a hard time with local lingo as well. The regional differences do however make the whole thing charming. But I have met very few people in the North of England that spoke High English.

But no one finds a person questioning other peoples ability to speak proper English with this question: "Do some Brits really don't speak English that well? " even slightly ironic?

I believe JWild7 is a genius. I believe he's actually a lot smarter than he appears, and that his persona as a 15 year old, linguistically-challenged adolescent is an act. Why does that seem so familiar?

I have decided a long time to mostly ignore his initial quest or remarks, somehow along the way we find out that he is actually nuts or has a very different view on the world from the average person. Both options are fine by me.

This time I presumed he had trouble with the different accents from the various parts of the UK.

I think I remember JWild7 from over at CBn, and if I recall correctly, he irritated a lot of people over there with his postings about every inane piece of minutiae that went on in his life (one post about his car dying on him generated tons of hateful responses). But I find him harmless. I get he might not be everyone's cup of tea, but that's what "diversity" is all about: tolerating people that are different from you.

Still, I believe he's a stealth "genius" and by "genius" I mean he intentionally dumbs it down in order to be more memorable; and for the most part I think it's working.