do Americans realy not know how to speak english

[cooky37]

As i Watch BBCAmerica's Doctor Who Marathon, Every Eppisode begins with a PSA asking you to turn on the close captioning so you wil understand the show better. Maybe because I grew up watching shows like , Monty Python, Benny Hill, Fawlty towers..... i don't need the subtitles but do most Americans need the close Captions?

Will someone shut that man up
NEVER!

[rayman]

I think your thread should say "Do Americans Understand British Accents?" I speak English perfectly and don't need close caption to understand the British on BBC America. Although there are people like my mother that sometimes misses a word British actors say because some speak their sentences too fast.

[cooky37]

Well, My mom has comfirmed that the untrained American can't understand the brittish tongue.
As we watched Christmas invasion She thought all the Characters sounded like parakeets

Will someone shut that man up
NEVER!

[offworldgirl]

I've never had any problems understanding British (or Scottish or Irish or Australian or New Zealand) accents, which I gather is a bit odd since I grew up in Minnesota - a state widely regarded to have a very "flat" accent (for the record the Minnesota accent in the movie "Fargo" is purposely exaggerated).

On the other hand, one of the three TV channels we could get when I was growing up was PBS, so I ended up watching a lot of re-broadcast BBC stuff. Also, the mother of my best friend from grade-school is a British ex-pat. So I guess I really grew up hearing the British accent every bit as much as I did the Minnesotan one. Later on, "while at University," as the Brits would say, I spent a half-year living in the UK as well.

So I'm a bit surprised when people say they can't understand British accents, though I think some of the mental disconnect is the different word usages and, of course, slang expressions. Still, I thought it a bit sad when I saw the news coverage of the terrorist act at Glasgow airport and the video footage of eyewitnesses telling what they saw was subtitled! I think it, perhaps, says Americans are too ethnocentric and culturally isolated. I suppose it's only to be expected, though. Europeans have so many different languages, ethnic groups, cultural traditions within a stone's throw, while the United States is bordered only by Canada, Mexico, and two oceans.

Now people from the Deep South of the United States - THERE's an accent I can barely understand! LOL

[feedback]

This is for those of you who can handle thick accents: (removed)

[janepk]

I've always been good with accents, so I've never had to use the CC. I did come close once though. When I first watched Torchwood the Welsh accents had me straining. It took a few minutes to get to the point where I could just watch the show without having to mentally back track to a missed word.

I like the BBC America psa's though.

"This show contains British accents- something you would have heard a lot more of had you not thrown our tea into your harbor."
I almost died laughing!

Jane

[cookinbubbles]

`I always use the CC because I am a bit hard of hearing but mostly because I have a tough time with accents in general. And yes I live in America and if there were a tv series that was set in the deep south and has a heavy accent as people from there speak, I would have to use the CC then too.
Even with the CC which sometimes translates totally wrong, I make use of the DVR system and rewind to play over a part I miss now and then.
I have the hardest time with slang or a Cockneyaccent but I must say I am getting pretty good at it and find myself reading less and less of it as time goes on.
And Janepk, I too love the PSA on BBC America. Its a hoot.

[fraxinus]

`I have never met anyone who needs the CC on BBCA who wasn't at least partially deaf... actually, I've never seen the PSA. Maybe I should pay closer attention, though.
Or I could be weird, having grown up with neighbors from Britain and frequenting their house. :/
My littlest brother understands it just fine, too.

[glenn4244]

`I've never had an issue understanding English, or Irish accents. The languages are all close enough that anyone can use context clues to figure out th meanings of th differences in the languages. I know some Irish folks, and their use of language is almost identical to American English.