Can you repeat that?
One of the reasons I chose this dialogue is because languages really stress me out. I took french for over four years and I know nearly nothing. So I felt like if I came to London, I wouldn’t have to worry about there being a language barrier. I found that to be mostly true. However, there have absolutely been moments where I have had to have people repeat themselves several times because I just couldn’t get my brain to process what they were saying. And I know I’m not alone! During the first week or so it was something everyone on my dialogue talked about. We all had at least one moment where we felt like an idiot because we couldn’t understand people that were speaking our own native tongue. If you recall, I told a funny story about just that a few blogs ago.
After a week or so understanding all the accents one comes across in London became second nature. I would just say English, but that’s really not representative of the accents in London. First of all, there are a ton of different English accents spoken around England. My supervisor Michelle is from Yorkshire and she sounds different than another one of my colleagues, Rachel, who is from the London area. Secondly, it’s also really common to hear accents from other neighboring countries like Ireland and Scotland, as well as countries that are much further away. What I found interesting was listening to people whose first language wasn’t english but who had learned english in England. For example, I went to a Chinese restaurant and the woman waiting on us had a bit of a mix of accents— I could hear the foundations of her Chinese upbringing but her english also had characteristics of a Brit. It was one of those things that are obvious once you come across it, but that are still fascinating because you would have never thought about it had you not been confronted with it. In my head, a person speaking english with a Chinese accent accent sounded a certain way and she didn’t conform to my schema.
Of course, there are differences in vernacular between American english and British english as well. I would say the most common one that pops up immediately is the difference in how one makes small talk. In America, we ask, “How are you?” but in England they say, “You Alright?” At first this really threw me off. I thought, ‘Yeah, I think I’m okay…why? Do I look sick? What’s wrong with me?” Then again, if you weren’t used to it and someone asked how you were, you might think it was intrusive. It’s interesting how little differences can make a big difference.
One more fun fact: the British say “cheers” for pretty much everything. Saying hello? Cheers. Goodbye? Cheers. Was something exciting? Cheers! Was something disappointing? Cheers *said with a sarcastic inflection*. Finishing this blog? Cheers.
