Hacker News Reader

Comment by matthewking | Hacker News Reader

Also from the UK and I have the upmost respect for anyone that can speak a second language. I find it incredibly difficult to get beyond a base vocabulary to actually being able to use the language without sounding like a cave man. I assume there'll be a "click" moment somewhere but its hard work getting there.

View on HN

Incidentally, if you're sticking with Indo-European languages, once you're past the base vocabulary it gets easier, as the "complicated" words are more or less all the same:

telecommunication, Telekommunikation, Télécommunications/communication électronique, telecommunicatie, telecomunicación, etc.

Funny, I'm from the US and find it difficult to understand some of the accents from both North-Eastern Americans (ayy Boston) and some of the UK folks I've met (when they write exactly how they speak).

I'm non-native English speaker and find that I can understand the severely broken pronunciation of people from China or India, but many of the English accents from England are quite impossible. I can ask them to repeat over and over again, and can't understand a thing, and feel rather silly.

I'm a native English speaker with the world's most broadcast accent (the main Hollywood movie accent) and I'm a fan of Sherlock and Doctor Who. Those programs are produced with the most well known UK accents.

And yet I still have to rewind a few times in every episode for dialogue that I just can't decypher. Sometimes I never quite get the words.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com