I know it wasn't an option, but I find the Welsh accent to be hard to understand (well....thick welsh accents). I can usually understand English, Scottish, Irish, and Australian accents just fine.

I'm not surprised that a Welsh accent might be hard to understand. I've heard that Welsh, itself, gets spoken quite a bit in Wales, having survived in UK somewhat better than Irish or Scottish Gaelic.

It isn't just the accents, whether American, Scottish or Australian, it is the amount of colloquialisms that are used or different words for the same thing. For instance, a Canadian-born colleague still refers to the letter Z as zee, whereas we call the letter Z, zed.

When watching movies like Dukes of Hazzard or Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie I couldn't really understand the American accents used, not only because of the sounds of the words but also because they used a lot of words I hadn't heard beforehand. But then I wondered why when an Australian movie went to the USA they said in the press that the audience wanted subtitles.

I normally like to have the DVD subtitles on especially when I watch
British/Australian/any accented-actored movies, because sometimes they do use words/idioms/slang I've never heard of before, and sometimes I want to make sure I understand exactly what I thought I heard them say.

Question to Americans--which accent is more difficult for you to understand-- British? Australian? or Scottish?

I'd say that Scottish is hard to understand of the three, cuz normally when I hear it (in movies ) it's a really thick accent... But what I find hardest to do is tell all of the northern UK accents (welsh, scottish, even irish) apart...

I am not american but i do find scottish accents hard to understand at times.

Thought only the first bits about how Prince William will sound more 'normal' and less 'posh' were interesting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_royals/20 ... ngs-speech

What a pity about that. I do not think that the way the Queen speaks (which is the comparison they seemed to be drawing between Her Majesty the Queen and her predecessors' way of speaking, and the "next generation" of the Monarchy and how they "do" it) is posh or snooty at all. I think it is rather beautiful, and of a definite higher quality and standard than that of which we speak now.

I find it hilarious when my mother watches Harry Potter/Doctor Who/Gordon Ramsey/etc with me and she always says, "What are they saying? I can't understand a word...."

I don't get it. They are speaking the same language afterall!

Thought only the first bits about how Prince William will sound more 'normal' and less 'posh' were interesting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_royals/20 ... ngs-speech

What a pity about that. I do not think that the way the Queen speaks (which is the comparison they seemed to be drawing between Her Majesty the Queen and her predecessors' way of speaking, and the "next generation" of the Monarchy and how they "do" it) is posh or snooty at all. I think it is rather beautiful, and of a definite higher quality and standard than that of which we speak now.

No, the Queen has spent a lifetime having to give speeches not just in UK but around the world. The English the Queen speaks is actually what we used to call the King's English, and it is the standard form of English, as Professor Higgins would let us all know.

I really want to see a film called 'The King's Speech' which is out at the moment. This was the story of Her Majesty's father, George VI, who was king during World War 2, and who died in 1952. Growing up as a prince of the blood royal was anything but easy, and George VI, as a younger son, wasn't expected to rule. Bertie as he was known as a child, had a bad stammer, and wasn't trained to do any public speaking, so you could imagine how terrible it was for him to have to be king when his older brother abdicated.

I've never had trouble understanding British or other accents in movies, but in RL...
I used to work for a British man and I could NEVER understand him! He had such a thick accent, I was always asking him to repeat stuff, which got a little embarrasing.

No, the Queen has spent a lifetime having to give speeches not just in UK but around the world. The English the Queen speaks is actually what we used to call the King's English, and it is the standard form of English, as Professor Higgins would let us all know.

I really want to see a film called 'The King's Speech' which is out at the moment. This was the story of Her Majesty's father, George VI, who was king during World War 2, and who died in 1952. Growing up as a prince of the blood royal was anything but easy, and George VI, as a younger son, wasn't expected to rule. Bertie as he was known as a child, had a bad stammer, and wasn't trained to do any public speaking, so you could imagine how terrible it was for him to have to be king when his older brother abdicated.

Ah, yes. As my brother says, she speaks normal English, it's the rest of us that speak a sadly a version of English that tends to be sloppy. In any case, I like how she speaks.

Yes, King George VI is an inspiration, and one of my heroes. I have read some conflicting reviews about The King's Speech, and as such probably won't see it. I will take the real Bertie over a Hollywood script version any day.

Conflicting reviews of The King's Speech? Really? I've only heard and read numerous reviews that praise it for being a great movie.

I have always wondered how hot does it get in Australia?
I live in Arizona and in summer it is usually around 103 and it can reach 110 degrees at times in the summer.

I once experienced 119 Fahrenheit in South Australia but our summer days usually doesn't go any higher than 107. We sometimes have a number of days in a row sitting at that. The average Summer temperature is between 95-100. Admittedly that's a dry heat but it's still much too hot for me. We get some humid weather but very little (not like Queensland, the Northern Territory and parts of New South Wales).

Thanks Warrior! I guess if we ever go to Austraila I'll be able to take the heat.
I don't much care for the heat, our winters here are way to short for my taste.
In another two months it should start getting hot again (ick).
I was born here though so I'm used to it.

I have always wondered how hot does it get in Australia?
I live in Arizona and in summer it is usually around 103 and it can reach 110 degrees at times in the summer.

Sydney can get quite hot, especially in the Cumberland Plain behind Port Jackson, upstream along the Parramatta River, up to the Blue Mountains. And this year, because of La Nina, it was horribly sweaty humid heat as well. For weeks on end, until a nice storm or Southerly Buster gave us some relief.

We've had temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) on quite a few occasions, though temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) are more usual.

I'm notoriously bad at maths, having been brought up on the old Imperial system with its furlongs, rods, poles and perches etc. On Valentine's day 1966 we changed to Decimal currency, and by the time our oldest daughter started school in 1977, we had changed to metres, kilometres, grams, kg etc, plus Celsius temperatures.