Anyone who thought the hegemonic West would surrender easily was wildly off base. They’ve had 500 years to perfect their boundless barbarism. It will likely be a very long and very bloody process. Victory is in no way assured and planetary annihilation is a real possibility. An important start has been made but many battles and setbacks loom.
Sure wish I could understand more of what Mikail had to say. I have been listening to heavily accented English my whole life, but unless I can read lips simultaneously, accents that strong are really tough for me. And one thing I have never heard Mark say, in response to anyone’s statement, is “that’s really depressing.” Iyiyiyiyi. Or, ‘ACK’, as the Cathy of comic strip fame often said.
Ex-expat from Italy here, I have lived and worked all over the world for 15 years including 5.5 years in the US which is where I really learned English (we in Europe basically study "British English" in school but most people me included can't really speak English by the time we are done). I have worked with colleagues from all of the English native speaking countries and I can tell you that the English that I find BY FAR most understandable (and most pleasant to hear!) is American English, closely followed by the Canadian English.
After that, I start to have troubles understanding the thick accented native speakers...
The easiest (or least hard) are the English, then the folks Down Under and then the rest of the Brits (almost unintelligible when speaking with a heavy accent).
The funny thing is that I often find non-native speakers MORE understandable (if they can actually speak English that is) than NON-North American native English speakers...
For example, I didn't really have much trouble following Mikhail :P
N.B. My wife is from the Donbas and I have lived and worked also in Russia and Belarus and we have an apartment in the Donbas so (even though I can read Cyrillic and speak a basic Russian) I am used to hear Russian accented English, but then again so (and even more) am I hearing other non-North American native speakers and still I can't really understand them if they have a heavy accent...
Anyone who thought the hegemonic West would surrender easily was wildly off base. They’ve had 500 years to perfect their boundless barbarism. It will likely be a very long and very bloody process. Victory is in no way assured and planetary annihilation is a real possibility. An important start has been made but many battles and setbacks loom.
Sure wish I could understand more of what Mikail had to say. I have been listening to heavily accented English my whole life, but unless I can read lips simultaneously, accents that strong are really tough for me. And one thing I have never heard Mark say, in response to anyone’s statement, is “that’s really depressing.” Iyiyiyiyi. Or, ‘ACK’, as the Cathy of comic strip fame often said.
Ex-expat from Italy here, I have lived and worked all over the world for 15 years including 5.5 years in the US which is where I really learned English (we in Europe basically study "British English" in school but most people me included can't really speak English by the time we are done). I have worked with colleagues from all of the English native speaking countries and I can tell you that the English that I find BY FAR most understandable (and most pleasant to hear!) is American English, closely followed by the Canadian English.
After that, I start to have troubles understanding the thick accented native speakers...
The easiest (or least hard) are the English, then the folks Down Under and then the rest of the Brits (almost unintelligible when speaking with a heavy accent).
The funny thing is that I often find non-native speakers MORE understandable (if they can actually speak English that is) than NON-North American native English speakers...
For example, I didn't really have much trouble following Mikhail :P
N.B. My wife is from the Donbas and I have lived and worked also in Russia and Belarus and we have an apartment in the Donbas so (even though I can read Cyrillic and speak a basic Russian) I am used to hear Russian accented English, but then again so (and even more) am I hearing other non-North American native speakers and still I can't really understand them if they have a heavy accent...
Very interesting perspective. I wish I had that much insight into why some accents are less difficult for me to understand than others.