I think most people in the UK can understand American accents okay. We are
exposed
to a wide variety of Americanese on British TV. I don't know how good we'd
be at pinpointing
actual localities. I can tell a Southern accent from a Northern one. Jilly
can tell a Canadian accent
from an American.
In Britain it can be difficult for the British to understand regional
accents. Once upon a time the BBC only
allowed people to talk in received English, as spoken by The Queen. Now
regional accents seem to be in vogue.
The Geordie accent from the North East (Newcastle, Sunderland) has to be the
most difficult. Jilly had to answer questions on a local
radio show up that way and she couldn't understand a word anyone said. She
had to guess.
Then, of course, there are dialect words...
Ciao
Roger
Children's poetry in The Poetry Zone
www.poetryzone.ndirect.co.uk
