Americans and Brits

Even us Brits dont always understand other Brits without subtitles

It depends on the accent and the film. Many movies are badly mixed so that you can’t easily understand the voices even if it’s your own accent. And uncommon UK accents are probably the hardest accents to understand in English as a whole IMO (as an American English speaker)

American here with British in-laws: It really depends on level of exposure, and the “thickness” of the accent in question. Harry Potter? Sense and Sensibility? Not a problem for most Americans, since they mostly use the “Received Pronunciation” accent, which is pretty much universally comprehensible. As for Scotland, that is more problematic because it sounds “thicker” to us, and we do not hear it as much and as early. Trainspotting, for example, is difficult for many Americans.

Americans are generally very easy to understand, especially the kind of accents you're likely to hear in a movie. I've almost never heard an American accent I couldn't make sense of.

yes

American here. Mostly. Scottish is hard to understand. But I usually have subtitles on all the time anyway. Sometimes they use some words or phrases that sound kind of odd but I understand in context.

Usually, yes, of course. The only time we might struggle is when the accent is really, really heavy, like in Limmy's Show. Your ears adjust to the accent after a lot of exposure, but I mean a LOT of exposure to the accent. The only thing that might typically throw someone off is different slang or words used and familiarity and exposure to those words, and this even varies by region in the US. But it's all very highly intelligible and easily understood a lot of the time, like 99% of the time. What I'm reading here is that people struggle with Scottish accents as well.

Depends on the level of slang or jargon. As a Brit, I had to watch The Wire with subtitles, not only because of the African American slang, but also the jargon used by the police.

Usually but some accents are more difficult than others. It depends on how thick they are and how familiar you are with them. I can understand RP no problem but sometimes Scouse speakers sound like they're speaking a different language

There’s not a barrier to general understanding, but there are particulars that go over my head as an American when I listen to British media, and I bet the reverse is true. There’s a really good example of this I think in the show *The Office.* If you don’t know, the show was first produced and aired in the UK, then picked up and adapted for the US a few years later. So at least the first season is a similar story. In the UK version, one of the major plot points is that there are going to be “redundancies.” In the US version they keep this plot points but use the word “layoffs.” “Redundancy” is definitely used this way in the US, but it’s way less common than “layoffs,” so I was confused at first by what the hell they meant.

It depends on the accent and how fast people are talking. I would say that most Americans would understand Downton Abbey without subtitles just fine, but Snatch or Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels are much more difficult. In the reverse, I think most mainstream American media is pretty easy to understand, but dialects like AAVE or really thick southern accents or NY or Boston accents are harder.

Usually Americans understand Brits pretty well, but sometimes when the person has a particularly thick East London or Northern English Accent, it can get a bit challenging. I remember one character on Absolutely Fabulous (Magda?) that I found borderline impossible to understand.

Ameican, here. I frequently use subtitles when watching British TV.

Sort of. Dialect differences are easy (and very charming). *Accent* differences can be hard (...and also very charming, once you figure out what the heck the other guy just said). But that can also be true within the same country! 🥲

We don’t even understand all the accents in our own countries. It gets ridiculous enough that comedians have even made jokes about it, like this great clip from Airplane. https://youtu.be/yzIcec_bQss?si=18pAnv16C7-GVHLl Although I guess I should say those two gentlemen exaggerated the “jive” accent for the joke. That said, I have heard people claim to understand them!

I have no trouble understanding British people unless they have a very heavy local accent

Between standard dialects, like say General American English and Standard Southern British English, the pronunciation is 100% understandable and the only thing that might cause confusion is some different vocabulary. But if we're talking about regional dialects, it would be more difficult.

It depends on the specific dialect, im Canadian and i had to have a slang cheatsheet to play "thank goodness you're here!" Because it takes place in northernish Britain. I also have no clue what some people from the southern US say

Yes and yes

I struggle with British TV. I can't speak for all Americans or British.

I’m British and I admit I sometimes struggle with thick American dialects in movies, particularly from the Deep South. But standard US English is completely comprehensible - despite a few vocabulary differences, it’s very much the same language.

Standard British English and American English is pretty easy. We’re Americans and watch a decent amount of British TV and movies (my wife loves British period pieces). When you get into harder accents like Glasgow, Irish, rural Scottish, it gets a lot harder, but the same is true when you get into rural Appalachia or Louisiana/Mississippi/East Texas.

I use subtitles when an idiom is used I've never heard of, otherwise televised English flow smoothly between US, UK, and Australia. I needed to read "We're not here to fuck spiders" to believe it. In person, Newfoundland was hard and some Scots are impossible to figure.

depends on the show. if it's Sherlock, sure. if it's Peaky Blinders, not without subtitles. RP is only one out of dozens of UK accents.

I’m an American teacher. I never need subtitles because I grew up watching imported British television shows and I’ve also visited the UK multiple times. On the other hand, if I show a British film in class, my students ask me to turn on the subtitles.

For British accents, general it just depends. For Americans it's typically very easy unless you have a DEEP southern voice

I mostly understand Americans as a Brit, but I find they are easier to understand on TV than in person, and that there are still many words they use that are different and I don’t understand which can be a barrier. I think the exposure to US dialects through film and TV over the years has certainly made it easier, although I do need subtitles for some films or TV programmes still because the accent is too twangy for me. AAVE as a sub-dialect can also be challenging because it’s quite different in vocab and annunciation, but again, depends on the person/area.

Yes, we generally understand each other. And we almost always understand each other’s movies.

we can understand what brits say 99% of the time. when it comes to thicker accents (like really thick) then americans will have a harder time understanding, but that isnt typically seen in movies. the same goes with british people and american accents

British media like Monty Python, Peaky Blinders, and Doctor Who are super popular in the states without subtitles. At this point, Americans are familiar with many of the differences in British English such as the use of “rubbish” instead of “garbage” and will not be confused when they hear such words. But they will find *A Hard Day’s Night* a difficult film to watch because they will probably not understand anything the Fab Four are saying in it.

I'm Australian and grew up watching mainly British TV, so those accents are basically easy for me to understand. The 'standardised' accents you hear in Hollywood movies I can understand, but documentaries and reality TV shows with real Americans speaking... Some of their accents are absolutely wild and borderline incomprehensible. That said, as a Millennial, I use subtitles for everything.

Im a pretty big fan of Guy Ritchie movies and generally speaking I don't need subtitles to understand. Sometimes when they speak very fast in a thick accent I might need to rewatch or put subtitles in, but generally no. 

As an American, the more common/"posh" British accents that you usually see in movies and scripted TV are no problem, but there are tons of regional accents in the UK and some of them are borderline incomprehensible to me. The first time I watched Love Island (UK) I was stunned 😂

Most of the time, yes. Some regional dialects can give me trouble.

As an American, one of my favorite bits from the British show Father Ted is when the Irish characters meet a trio of visitors from Northern Ireland, and they can’t understand a word they’re saying. Does that answer the question? Lol

Normally no problem, but I find with a lot of US series and movies some actors seem to mumble (not sure if it's the sound) but I have real trouble making out what they're saying what they're saying.  

I’m British and don’t understand all British accents that clearly. See the clip in Hot Fuzz where they have to get a local to translate for the farmer. I understood that well enough as I’m local. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cun-LZvOTdw