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Do You Understand British English w/o Subtitles?

I’m just curious, but do American people or people in other English speaking countries (except for the UK) understand what the characters are saying in movies or series where they speak British English?

I’m a native Japanese who was born and raised in Japan, yet I prefer to watch anime with Japanese subtitles. I recently watched Harry Potter movies and I’m wondering if people can really understand English with a different accent than their own.

I’ve been learning rather American English in school, so I hardly understand when people speak English with a quite strong British accent... (as well as other strong accents. I can understand English with a strong samurai accent tho XD)

If you’re an English speaker and not from the UK, can you understand everything what the characters say in Harry Potter movies without subtitles?

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MarsRedSky · 26-30, M

As a Brit I can understand most people just fine.

But when you talk to someone from the West Country, after they’ve had a few pints of cider, there ain’t ever a chance of understanding a single word they say.

Khenpal1 · M

@MarsRedSky cider ? 😂

Arukas3 · 18-21, F

@MarsRedSky it’s so interesting that we all speak the same language but we can’t understand each other when our accents differ, isn’t it lol

MarsRedSky · 26-30, M

@Khenpal1 yeah, it’s like a fermented apple drink, usually very high alcohol %!

@Arukas3 it is. I’m amazed by how many accents we have in the UK for such a small country. I can drive an hour in any direction and get something totally different.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

The accent should not matter provided it not so strong that it makes it difficult to work out the words. Dialect and slang are the greater problem, as may be terms for things that do not exist in that form in other countries.

Britain consists of four countries all speaking English, but with a huge range of national and regional accents and dialects. For example, a native Londoner sounds nothing like someone from an English Midlands town only 100 miles (about 160km) away. Sometimes even Britons from different parts of the British Isles cannot understand fellow-Britons' strong, dialect-rich accents!

Dialect and slang words should be correct for the characters and story but I can understand viewers from other, even English-speaking, countries being puzzled by them.

It works the other way too. I do not watch many films but sometimes hear clips from them, and many Americans anyway, on the radio here in England; and many of them are very hard to understand. The films clips are worse because their sound quality is poor, with loud background sounds and slurred, mumbled speech in thick accents.

It must be hard to write sub-titles that are clear to everyone but do not spoil the characters' speech or miss subtle points.

MrAverage1965 · 61-69, M

Hi I am British and here in the UK there are many different accents and in truth even British people can struggle to understand people from other parts if the British Isles.
Despite speaking English the Welsh, Scottish and Irish each have their own distinct accents.
In England there are many accents but some of the most difficult to understand are;
Geordie, spoken in Newcastle
Scouse, spoken in Liverpool
Cockney, spoken by some in London
Brummie, spoken in Birmingham

There are many, many others.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@MrAverage1965 That's even before we consider many Welsh are bi-lingual, also speaking Welsh! (Gaelic speakers are rarer.)

A friend from Dudley, I think, told me at one time people from one side of the Birmingham conurbation, roughly 15 miles across, would struggle to understand ones from the other, yet the individual towns are only a few miles apart!

[Dudley is about 8 miles from the centre of Birmingham.]

SW-User

I’m British English. I’m from southern England so I don’t have much of an accent. I find it hard to understand always what Scottish people are saying on tv or Welsh. Even Yorkshire accents and up north I sometimes miss the odd word. We all speak the same language but up north and in Scotland there are sayings that Southern English people do not know or understand.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@SW-User LOL! So am I, and we do have accents!

It's just that we don't notice our own when most of those around us everyday have basically the same accent.

I have friends in Yorkshire and I certainly sound different to their ears. Though I've picked up a few of their mannerisms like "were that" sentence suffix as an emphasis-maker (E.g. "It were a good do, were that!") ; and I know a few of the Norse words in Northern English place-names, like "fell" and "beck".

Dust057 · 46-50

I'm a voice actor with multiple English-speaking accents in my repertoire, which makes it quite a bit easier for me to understand most accents of English-speaking varieties. There are still some which can elude me, or at least in part. But for the most part, the really difficult ones are those that use a patois, which is really practically another language. Examples include Jamaican, Creole, or Cockney rhyming slang. If you don't know the particular words used in those cultures, you don't stand much of a chance without experience.

Harry Potter movies are a product intentionally designed to be fairly accessible to almost all native English speakers. My guess is that less than 5% of native speakers will have difficulty understanding the British accents.

BohemianBabe · M

Yes, British English is very similar to American English. It's pretty much the same difference as the English spoken between American states. Even with strong accents, if you speak English fluently, you can understand them all.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@BohemianBabe I take it you have never been to Glasgow.

BohemianBabe · M

@ninalanyon Scotland is a different beast. I can still understand them, but it is harder than understanding the English or Welsh.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@BohemianBabe Many years ago while hitch hiking I was given a lift from Perth to Glasgow by a Glaswegian road maintenance contractor in the back of his van. I don't think I understood more than one word in three in the whole trip and British English is my mother tongue!

MasterLee · 56-60, M

I don't speak brit. Just english.

Zeusdelight · 61-69, M

@MasterLee From that response it would seem you speak American English, not British English. You spell like an American, rather than like a British person too.

SammyJo · 51-55, F

I'm from Sheffield, UK and we use the term 'duck' all the time...but, I digress...

One thing that always makes me chuckle are those TV interviews with Ozzy Osbourne in which they need subtitles...

So very funny...

I understand him perfectly!

😊

JimboSaturn · 51-55, M

As a Canadian I can, but I watch a lot of British stuff. I'm sure that there are some Canadians that can't understand.

CookieCrumbs · F

I watch a lot of British tv shows and movies. I have no problem understanding the dialogue of the characters.

I don’t have any experience interacting with anyone from the UK that has a very strong accent that’s distinct for their dialect. Not sure if I’d have difficulty there.

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CookieCrumbs · F

@helenS
I haven’t watched that. I followed Spooks for 10 seasons. There is also Line of Duty and Strikeback.

helenS · 36-40, F

@CookieCrumbs You watched all seasons of Spooks! 😳
Regarding Midsomer Murders, check it out, chances are you won't be disappointed. It's extremely "English", in a silly way. In a sense it's a parody of "Merry Old England".

CookieCrumbs · F

@helenS
Yes! Loved the show…. After a while you get attached to the characters and what happened to them.

pride49 · 31-35, M

Yeah. But British words like drafts, squib, git, kipper, etc. Are British slang. Through context clues they are mostly easy to understand. Otherwise all H's are silent. And the accents a bit hoity toity for me. But yeah I like Harry Potter and can listen. I always read subtitles with everything though. Never know if a character made a quieter snarky comment I don't want to miss.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@pride49 LOL - but gently, not in ridicule!

Let me, as a British native and resident, help you!

For a start, the board game or unwanted flows of air, e.g. under doors, is spelt "draughts". However, the American spelling "draft" has crept into British English in terms like "draft report" and "drafting" ('technical drawing').

A "squib" is not slang but a type of firework - but "damp squib" is colloquial for a minor failure or something not meeting expectations. (A damp firework will not go "BANG!")

"Git" is a slang insult, accusing the victim of being stupid.

"Kipper" is not slang but the culinary word for a smoked herring. It is also an old style of neck-tie.

All H's are not silent. Apart from within the gh, ph, sh and th constructions ('thought', etc.), the H is sounded except in a few accents, mainly London ones, that drop the 'H' and often the 'T'. Most of us from any other part of the country would say we live in houses, not "ouses"; and call field-boundary shrubs, hedges, not "edges".

'

I do note you ask of accent, not dialect. Local dialect words are a different matter and can even puzzle people from barely 50 miles from the speaker's home area. I had to think for a moment what is a "ginnel" when once given directions in a Northern English town, but I found it (a very narrow street), thence the shop I was seeking! That though, was 300 miles from my home.

'
British accents "a bit hoity-toity"! Errr, no. Not the natural ones.

Anyway, which British accents have you heard? From Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England? Of those countries, which of their regional accents? The geographical British Isles - covering the separate nation of Eire as well as those of the UK & Northern Ireland - host a vast range of regional and local accents, and dialects; and many change markedly over very small geographical ranges.

There is one accent that many Britons would agree sounds "hoity-toity", but it a largely artificial one created by elocution-tutors in the past: "Received Pronounciation". It is very precise enunciation combined with a cultivar of the generic Southern English voice that typically gives a soft 'r' sound in words like 'bath' and 'castle' (but not sand); but some users affect it to the point of self-parody.

RP was used by BBC announcers and presenters until perhaps the 1960s when the BBC started to let them keep their natural accents if not too strong, as you hear in archive recordings; and some people still do use it fairly naturally. A form of RP tends to be used by some operatically-trained singers in performing art-arrangements of folk-songs, giving a rather peculiarly synthetic effect.

None of the accents of London, Lancashire, Devon, Norfolk, Northumberland, the West Midlands... let alone Belfast, Glasgow, Cardiff... sound like each other, but I don't think anyone would call any of them, "hoity-toity"!

Magnolia21 · 22-25, F

You have english, then you have accents. I'd say both British and American english are pretty easy to understand as long as the speaker has a more "neutral" accent and pronunciation. But go outside of the cities and major population hubs of either nation and you'd better hope you have a translator.

Lived in the south all my life, I can understand most people, but god damn there are some where I can't even guess.

This message was deleted by its author.

Lonelyandyb · 36-40, M

I have trouble with some Scottish, Yorkshire and Welsh English .

DrWatson · 70-79, M

I am American. As a child, I had difficulty with British movies. But over time my ear got attuned to the accent.

Harry Potter movies are not a problem for me. But there are a few old British black and white films where I have to concentrate carefully. I suspect the technology for recording sound was not as good back then

stound

for things like harry potter, I'm pretty much fine; for other shows that delve into some hard-core accents coupled with rhyming slang and/or other slang variants and I'm likely to get lost (Guy Ritchie seemed to do that quite a bit). or I'll hear a string of words that just can't be [for me] parsed into anything remotely meaningful.

Pretzel · 61-69, M

for me the hardest of the UK accents is either Scottish or Welsh

oh and sometimes the subtitles don't help when they use their slang (American slang is different) and I have to google what they mean even when I read the words.

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@Pretzel There really isn't a single Scottish accent. The speech in Glasgow is markedly different from that in Aberdeen.

Pretzel · 61-69, M

@ninalanyon ahh. my ear isn't tuned to it yet. I can hear a few different accents from England - that's interesting.

funny how regional dialects vary - we have it in the US as well.

Nimbus · M

Yes, as long as it isn't Scouse.

craig7 · 70-79, M

Here in Australia,those of us with English as a first language generally have no problems at all - though many would have to concentrate when listening to some regional accents,especially the "Geordie" accent of the north-east.

Belladonna · 41-45, F

Yes, but I was obsessed with David Bowie for YEARS. Still love him. I spent so much time studying him, lol. Understanding his accent goes a long way towards understanding other British accents. :)

hippyjoe1955 · 61-69, M

Other than a few colloquialisms yes I can understand English from the UK. However I have great difficulty understanding the English from some outports in Newfoundland Canada. I was born and raised in Canada.

ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M

Most of the time, yes, except for the really extreme accents. But I've also been watching British TV and listening to British radio plays for 40 years or more, so I'm kind of used to it.

Arukas3 · 18-21, F

@ChipmunkErnie wow, that’s amazing! If I keep listening to British English a lot every day, will I be able to understand Harry Potter movies without subtitles? 😁

Zeusdelight · 61-69, M

Harry Potter no worries, but some of the more regional accents can be a challenge and Scottish is altogether another issue:)

Arukas3 · 18-21, F

@Zeusdelight Most of the casts in Harry Potter movies speak rather clearly , but still I can’t get what they say when they speak fast 😅 I love an actor from Scotland so I watch some interview videos of him, but I understand nothing so I just keep watching them to enjoy his voice and facial expressions lol

Zeusdelight · 61-69, M

@Arukas3 Same for me for certain fast speaking Irish Lasses:)

caPnAhab · 26-30, M

I think I've watched enough Harry Potter and other such that I can understand british accents and vocab just fine. I don't have to think about it.

Arukas3 · 18-21, F

@caPnAhab maybe it’s because native English speakers can predict what the person will say without understanding every single word? Or can they actually hear every word?

SW-User

Yes I use subtitles all the time on shows from uk and murka lots for certain reasons but yes some accents are hard to understand..

SW-User

I generally have no problem comprehending. There have been a few occasions. Especially with fast talking Brits

plungesponge · 41-45, M

[media=https://youtu.be/rfpDiAJsZKs]

SW-User

When I was a kid , No. But I still watched them repeatedly.

Now, Yes.

I still get confused over a few words in Harry Potter.

blackitalian · M

It drives me crazy I have tried to watch peaky blinders so many times I can't understand anything they're saying

Waxfoot · 56-60, M

lol being a Brit does help, it is after all our language, the rest just screwed it up although our own are good at that as well 🤣

ReneeT · 61-69, M

It really depends on what part of the UK they are from. The only ones I have a hard time with are the Geordies!

PhilDeep · 51-55, M

Hollywood films come with English subtitles because we can't understand you either.

Teirdalin · 31-35

@PhilDeep She's Japanese, so that does make sense. 🤔

TheSirfurryanimalWales · 61-69, M

Yeah....but Scottish accents can be challenging.

helenS · 36-40, F

@TheSirfurryanimalWales When I speak English, I rrrrroll the "Rrrr" overrrrr my tongue – the famous voiced alveolar trill.
I feel right at home in Scotland 🤭

TheSirfurryanimalWales · 61-69, M

@helenS Rolling the R would make you Welsh.
Essential when speaking Cymraeg😀

ninalanyon · 61-69, T

@TheSirfurryanimalWales Or from the West Country. When I went to uni I was studying with a lot of Londoners, they found my West Country accent exotic and kept asking me to pronounce words with the letter r. More than forty years of living outside the area has worn it almost completely away though.

SethGreene531 · M

Most, of British decent, and a fan of many of the tv shows/radio broadcasts.

Adogslife · 61-69, M

My fiancé is from the UK. She’s easy to understand. I also find the accent very sexy. 😉

southerngent · M

Yes I can understand English English.

I can’t understand why colour has the extra u.

DearAmbellina2113 · 41-45, F

I probably understand British English better than Us English tbh.

Fukfacewillie · 56-60, M

Depends, for Pinky Blinders I had to have subtitles on. I don’t need them for Harry Potter (when the kids watched, lol).

Adogslife · 61-69, M

@Fukfacewillie Peaky Blinders is a great series on Netflix. I didn’t need subtitles.

It’s definitely a must watch!

Fukfacewillie · 56-60, M

@Adogslife I watched it a couple of times during Covid. It’s a good series to watch more than once.

Confined · 56-60, M

No problem with Harry Potter. I may have difficulty with the welsh.

Teirdalin · 31-35

Yep we can, it's admittedly a little weird sometimes though

Sidewinder · 36-40, M

Yes, as a matter of fact, I once had a teacher who was British.

deadgerbil · 26-30

Yes unless it's a really strong accent

Arukas3 · 18-21, F

@deadgerbil I wish I could understand both American and British English… British sounds so cool for me but I can’t speak it at all

GuyWithOpinions · 31-35, M

Most of it yes. But they have some of their own words.

WolfGirlwh0r3 · 36-40, T

british english yes, Welsh english NOPE

Neoerectus · M

Yes, but Scottish English is graduate level... 😜

Roundandroundwego · 61-69

O sod off.

BohemianBabe · M

@Roundandroundwego Bullocks!

craig7 · 70-79, M

@BohemianBabe Er,the word is actually "bollocks".

BohemianBabe · M

@craig7 Not where I'm from!

Emjay · 18-21, F

I do, unless it's really local slang.

SW-User

I have trouble with the Scotts.

Fukfacewillie · 56-60, M

For anime my son and I watch in Japanese with English subtitles.

bijouxbroussard · F

I’ve watched a lot of British television, and many of the nuns in my schools were Irish, so usually I can understand if I listen carefully. I have family members from the American South whose regional accents are harder to decipher.

DDonde · 31-35, M

Yes, I do, for the most part, unless it's like a really specific hard to understand accent. Some Scottish accents are hard for me to understand. But if it's in a movie or tv show I'll understand it.

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